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Primate Review
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures
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Directed By: Johannes Roberts
Written By: Johannes Roberts & Ernest Riera
Runtime: 89 minutes
MPA Rating: Rated R for strong bloody violent content, gore, language, and some drug use.
Johnny Sequoyah – Lucy
Victoria Wyant – Kate
Jess Alexander – Hannah
Troy Kotsur – Adam
Gia Hunter – Erin
Benjamin Cheng – Nick
Charlie Mann – Drew
Tienne Simon – Brad
Miguel Torres Umba – Ben
Primate is not a groundbreaking horror film, and it’s full of genre clichés and flaws. Still, writer-director Johannes Roberts fully embraces the creature feature premise of a rabid chimpanzee and delivers exactly what the film promises.
That’s the gist of Primate. A group of friends goes to a tropical paradise home for vacation, their pet chimp gets rabies, and all certifiable hell breaks loose. It’s a very simple, straightforward setup, and for the most part, it works.
The story follows college besties Lucy (Sequoyah) and Kate (Wyant), who are on summer break from school and spending the weekend at Lucy’s house with her little sister, Erin (Hunter). They’re joined by another classmate, Hannah (Alexander), who Lucy quietly hates. Meanwhile, Lucy and Erin’s deaf father, Adam (Kotsur), is stressing out over the release of his latest novel. Their family is also the caretaker of a chimpanzee, Ben, a seemingly harmless and affectionate fellow.
Lucy and Erin’s late mother used Ben as a test subject, teaching him human sign language to see if humans and chimps can communicate. Unfortunately, Ben gets unknowingly infected with rabies after being bitten by a mongoose. An inept doctor unlocks Ben’s enclosure, and Ben goes feral, making his previous caretakers into his prey. Lucy and her friends’ tropical vacation soon turns into a living nightmare.
As mentioned earlier, there’s nothing masterful about Primate. The human characters follow many of the tiresome tropes of the genre. Hannah was introduced as the unlikable, vain persona of the friend group. It’s never clear why Lucy hates her, except possibly jealousy. There are a couple of scenes where Primate has the opportunity to subvert the trope, but Roberts fails to seize the opportunity.
The movie contains minor subplot about Lucy liking her best friend’s brother, Nick (Cheng), but he seems more interested in Hannah, so maybe it’s jealousy. However, the weird rivalries and dynamics between the characters are woefully underdeveloped. Lucy and Kate are best friends because they wear heart pendants, but Lucy hates Hannah for some reason. Yet, Hannah and Kate are bunking up for the summer, even though her BFF hates her guts.
That said, people are not going to this movie for the teen melodrama. Moviegoers want to see Primate to watch a rabid chimp rip people’s faces off, and the movie delivers on that. Considering the terror of a chimp going feral and causing irreparable damage has occurred in real life, Roberts uses those real-life scenarios and fears as a jumping-off point for the movie.
Considering chimps are highly intelligent, what happens if a highly intelligent chimp gets infected with rabies and turns on its caretakers? The film takes that question to its logical conclusion and reinforces that chimps are not, and never should be, pets to be kept in a family’s home. They are wild animals, and even without rabies, something seemingly innocuous could set off a chimp and make it angry.
Primate easily could have turned into a comedically absurd and campy premise, but Roberts impressively transforms Ben into a terrifying horror movie villain and monster. However, despite how scary Ben becomes, the movie is not without its moments of sadness. At times, a quiet unhappiness emerges from Ben, showing that he’s clearly in pain and suffering, despite his murderous intent.
Ben’s performance throughout the movie becomes quite the visual achievement, created mostly through practical effects, with Miguel Torres Umba performing as the character in an impressive animatronic suit. Ben ultimately becomes the best performer in the movie.
Additionally, credit to Roberts’ direction because he does achieve some incredibly suspenseful and tense sequences, such as when Kate and Lucy venture into the home where Ben is lurking and could pop up at any second. The tension achieved through simple editing and strong cinematography, and sound design can be cut with a knife.
Roberts and his sound team effectively utilize Adam’s hearing impairment as part of the narrative, showcasing it throughout the second half. The technique nicely immerses the audience into Adam’s perspective, letting moviegoers “feel” how Adam experiences the world. Despite the weak characters and hammy dialogue, Roberts’ direction demonstrates a visual confidence with his direction and ratchets up the tension. Horror and gore fiends will enjoy some of the movie’s gleefully unhinged and shocking moments of violence. Primate depicts the horrific brutality of a rabid chimp scenario.
Roberts and co-writer Ernest Riera find another strength through their dark, wicked sense of humor throughout the story. After one particularly grisly moment, Ben experiences his crowning horror movie villain moment, where he uses a remote key fob for a car to lock it once he finishes off his latest victim.
Primate is by no means a crowning achievement as far as horror movies go, but it’s entertaining and wears its influences on its sleeves. Horror fans game for a night out should see the film with the biggest crowd possible, and moviegoers will undoubtedly have a raucous, entertaining evening.
Where To Watch Primate
Primate arrives in theaters on January 9 from Paramount Pictures. Showtime and ticket information are available on the movie’s website.
