I was on Amazon Prime and I saw a film that grabbed my attention immediately. It was a rental called Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round, a horror movie with an intriguing hook.

According to IMDB, “A children’s TV show host, ensnared in a case of amnesia, must confront his missing memories as his puppet co-stars turn on him.”

This is really creepy and there is a solid performance at the center of it by Michael Gilio. The Mr. Rogers Neighborhood feel is obvious and it is subtle at first with the slow burn on the mystery of Mr. Jensen and what had happened to him.

When I first saw this, I immediately thought about Bray Wyatt and the Firefly Funhouse from the WWE. I could absolutely see Bray Wyatt doing something like this. The movie listed something about “Freak” which immediately made me think of The Fiend. I have a hard time believing that the Firefly Funhouse wasn’t an inspiration for this movie.

This developed into a creepy, downright frightening film with the puppets and Mr. Jensen. The flashbacks were so effective and were doled out slowly, creating a great pace for the movie.

The character of “Kneel” had me yelling out loud.

Aiden Leary made his feature length film directorial debut with this movie and he does an admirable job with some of the creepy shots and lighting of the show. He provided a movie that played with people’s anxiety and gives us a top notch psychological horror/thriller.

It has been a solid year for horror movies so far and this one adds right to the list of strong newcomers. It is currently available for rental on Prime or for free on Screambox.

4.3 stars