Primate Review - A Fun, Gruesome Animal Rampage Horror

Disclaimer: Preview screening attended courtesy of Grimmfest on behalf of Paramount Pictures.

It’s not uncommon for successful films to kickstart production trends. Capturing lightning in a bottle makes it easier to copy and sell it on as new, improved, bigger, better lightning. Think Psycho laying out the building blocks for decades of slashers. Or the early 2000s obsession with slo-mo action and black clothing, born from The Matrix (which itself borrowed liberally from the heroic bloodshed era of East Asian action cinema). Let’s not forget the time two blokes called George and Steve released a shark movie and a space opera, changing the mechanics of the movie business forever.

What is less common is for individual sequences to go on and inform wider cinematic trends. Primate, the new simian horror from Johannes Roberts, who is no stranger to man vs nature horror, would likely not exist if it weren’t for the chilling subplot of Jordan Peele’s Nope. 

In that film, TV chimp Gordo goes bananas and savages his co-stars. Someone at Paramount must have thought that was a great premise for a feature, so now we have Primate.

A rogue chimpanzee might sound like a silly idea for a horror flick, and you’d be forgiven for expecting something as goofy as George Romero’s Monkey Shines. But after leaving the screening of Primate, I was sweaty, rattled, and left with a firm re-affirmation that mankind really shouldn’t fuck around with other species.

Primate is the simple story of a pet chimp that gets rabies and goes on a rampage. It’s set in an isolated mansion in Hawaii, where Lucy returns home and brings a group of friends for the usual bout of booze, drugs and sex. Her hearing-impaired dad heads off to a book signing, and her little sister Erin mopes in her room. Ben (a classic movie animal name) is the beloved family pet, who immediately starts acting strangely, possibly due to a scuffle with the local wildlife that’s left him with a nasty bite.

Announcing its tone early on with some shocking violence, Primate will absolutely not disappoint people who want to see Ben go ape on his loving family. We’ve got torn flesh, broken bones, clawed skin and a deeply disturbing scene involving a jawbone. As a throwback to the animal B-horror subgenre that gave us classics like Alligator and Cujo, Primate succeeds. Roberts does good work here, keeping the camera hovering close to the action and giving everything a claustrophobic feel. He brings the tension and sense of isolation that made 47 Meters Down and its sequel so effective. 

Ben is a formidable presence, presented in both practical and CG form. Drooling and growling, with the occasional terrifying shriek, he’s an iconic villain. There’s a fun sequence in which he turns into a furry Michael Myers and stalks a couple of victims around the house. 

His victims are mostly expendable, young and attractive fodder who don’t really get enough time to establish themselves before Ben goes rabid. Troy Kotsur is interesting as the neglectful dad, delivering a mournful, world-weary performance. It’s a shame he doesn’t get much screen time.

As enjoyably gory as Primate is, I found it a bit of a shame that there wasn’t more of an eco message. There is little emotional impact to Ben’s turn. He simply becomes a monster, and his owners quickly accept that their beloved family member is gone and that they must survive this mindless killer version of him. It’s mentioned early on that Ben was adopted to help Lucy’s mother research human-simian communication, and we get one cute scene between Lucy, Erin and Ben. The teddy bear-loving chimp turns into a mindless beast soon after, and the motivation of the characters becomes either escaping him or killing him. I may be unfairly sappy here, but I would have liked some dialogue exploring the hubris of caging nature.

That mild thematic gripe aside, Primate is an enjoyable, gruesome and frequently funny killer ape flick. Special mention must go to Adrian Johnston’s gorgeous synth score, which gives everything a woozy, dreamlike atmosphere.