The Monkey’s Paw 2013

Jake Tilton [CJ Thomason] works at Trident Supply in Louisiana with his friends Tony Cobb [Corbin Bleu] and Catfish [Corbin Bleu], under the watchful eye of Gillespie [Daniel Hugh Kelly] and the top manager Kevin [Andy Favreau], who happens to be married to Jake’s ex-wife Olivia [Michelle Pierce]. When Kevin fires Gillespie, the blame lands on the crew’s supposed underperformance, and the tension between the shop floor and management begins to simmer.

After hours, outside a bar, the trio notices a sleek GT Mustang idling in the lot. Over drinks, Cobb reveals that his ex-wife Abby [Tauvia Dawn] has a restraining order that keeps him from seeing his young son Corey [James Minor III], a fact that colors their mood with a mix of resentment and desperation. The mood shifts when Jake and Cobb stumble upon Gillespie nursing his sorrows, and on the table rests a monkey’s paw—supposedly a talisman that grants three wishes. Gillespie spins a cautionary tale about the curse, then hands the paw to Jake and urges him to make a wish. In a reckless moment, Jake wishes for the GT in the parking lot, and Gillespie solemnly informs him that he has just become the paw’s new owner.

The goodwill moment spirals quickly. Cobb discovers the Mustang’s keys and convinces Jake to take it for a joyride. A sudden swerve to avoid an alligator in the road sends the car careening into a tree. Cobb is thrown through the windshield and dies on impact. Jake flags down a passing car, but, overwhelmed by a desire to reverse what just happened, he makes a desperate wish that Cobb would not be dead. The wish takes hold in an instant as Cobb reanimates. A woman who takes Cobb home to help him heals only briefly before Cobb overpowers her and kills her, leaving Jake to grapple with the consequences. In a moment of anger and fear, Jake tosses the paw away, hoping to sever its hold on their lives.

The morning after, Detective Margolis [Charles S. Dutton] spots Jake outside the police station, contemplating whether to report Cobb’s death, yet Jake leaves without saying a word. Cobb confronts his ex-wife about his desire to see their son—an ominous nod to a deeper longing that the paw has inflamed. Later, Jake finds Cobb in a cemetery, where the specter of the talisman’s potential third wish resurfaces: Cobb intends to use it to reunite with his son Corey.

Aware that Jake might use the last wish to pull Olivia back from Kevin, Cobb commits a brutal act, placing Kevin’s head in a machine press and killing him. He also murders Jake’s cancer-stricken mother, an act meant to lift the financial burden off Jake’s shoulders. Realizing his family is now in real danger, Jake convinces his brother Charlie [Grayson Berry] and Charlie’s wife Sandy [Sabrina Gennarino] to leave town for a time, hoping to keep them safe from the paw’s reach.

Jake seeks out Gillespie again, and Gillespie lays bare the grim truth: the paw’s power comes at a dire price, accelerating tragedy rather than delivering lasting happiness. Cobb retaliates by killing Gillespie and then turning his attention to Charlie and Sandy. Margolis continues to hunt the killer, growing more convinced that Cobb is responsible, only to be cut down by Cobb as the detective tries to shepherd Olivia to safety.

With the paw finally in his possession, Jake confronts Cobb outside Abby’s home, where Olivia is held hostage. In a last effort, Jake uses the third and final wish to demand Cobb’s soul return. The moment is devastating: Cobb stabs Olivia, fraying the fabric of the rescue, then breaks down emotionally and takes his own life with Jake’s gun.

The violence leaves Jake battered, but alive enough to be wheeled away by an ambulance, his mind racing with questions about the paw’s whereabouts. In a final, chilling image, Abby and Corey drive away from their home, and the monkey’s paw gleams in Corey’s hand, hinting that the cycle of fate may not yet be finished.