Primate is an 88 minute horror movie about a chimpanzee companion who is bitten by a rabid mongoose, which inevitably infects him with rabies and, ultimately, turns him from a loving member of a family to a violent animal.
The film opens up with a particularly gruesome scene, setting the tone of the movie near-immediately. Dr. Doug Lambert (Rob Delaney) is in the chimpanzee enclosure, where we learn the prime chimp in question is named Ben (played by creature actor Miguel Torres Umba). As Dr. Lambert tries to provide medication for the seemingly sick chimpanzee, Ben lures him into a dark corner and savagely mauls him to death.
We then jump to 36 hours prior to the attack, where best friends, Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah) and Kate (Victoria Wyant), embark on a trip back to their picturesque Hawaiian home to visit Lucy’s dad, Adam (Troy Kotsur), her younger sister, Erin (Gia Hunter), and the aforementioned Ben. To Lucy’s surprise, her frenemy Hannah (Jessica Alexander) is also tagging along, having received an invite to join the festivities from Kate. We also meet a duo of ignorant and arrogant frat type boys on the plane, Drew (Charlie Mann) and Brad (Tienne Simon). When the group arrive at the airport in Hawaii, they’re greeted by Kate’s brother, Nick (Benjamin Cheng), which quickly fills us in on the dynamic that Lucy harbors a serious crush on him.
With its short runtime, the film leaves little room to meaningfully develop its characters or establish truly satisfying plot threads. Instead, it rushes through introductions, outlining each character and their intentions within the first 20 minutes – just enough time for audiences to form only the most surface-level impressions of who these people are and how they relate to one another, before the chimpanzee goes rabid and the film’s true intentions are revealed.
Ultimately, the film exists to deliver gory horror spectacle, packed with effects designed to make your skin crawl. Beyond the central hook of a vicious chimpanzee hunting a group of teenagers, there’s little attempt to revisit or meaningfully develop its earlier plot threads. Still, the film has begun to cultivate a modest cult following, likely driven by its deliberate homage to ’80s creature features – a sensibility shaped by director Johannes Roberts and writer Ernest Riera.
Primate is a movie filled with cliches; best friends who hold onto their matching BFF necklaces to really solidify to audiences that they are in fact besties; crude frat boy characters whose purpose is to solely give audiences a duo of satisfying death scenes; and a messy love triangle. This is not necessarily a bad thing though, because the movie is clearly meant to entertain rather than evoke an intellectually driven conversation on the basis of chimpanzees. It is pure horror, but there were moments where it felt like those scenes played into cliches a little too hard, making it feel superficial at times.
The movie was also lit so darkly that it was hard to see what was going on half the time. Maybe it was a deliberate choice to create an atmosphere that felt dark and eerie, but it could also be a purposeful move so viewers aren’t looking too attentively at the chimpanzee. Either way, it made the viewing experience less enjoyable.
Primate delivers exactly what it sets out to do: entertain and thrill. With a handful of jump scares, grotesque body horror sequences that will make audiences cringe, and a short, fast-paced story that keeps the action moving, it never slows down. But for viewers seeking anything deeper or more substantial, this isn’t the film you’re looking for.
TWO AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Primate is now screening in Australian theatres.
