Primate review: Brace yourself for this gnarly creature feature
I had been warned going into Primate that it was gory but even I was unprepared for just how far it goes, even within the first five minutes. Brace yourselves, it’s going to be a horrifying ride!
The film stars Johnny Sequoyah as Lucy, a college student who returns to her secluded family home in Hawaii for the first time in years with her friend Kate (Victoria Wyant), Kate’s brother Nick (Benjamin Cheng) and an unexpected tag-along, Hannah (Jessica Alexander). The family’s pet chimpanzee Ben, who has lived with them since he was a baby, is bitten by a rabid mongoose and goes on a killing spree while Lucy’s author father Adam (Troy Kotsur) is out of town.
The idea is simple and unoriginal (hello Cujo) but well executed. It is lean, mean and does exactly what it says on the tin. Normally, horrors build up to the nastiest kills, but Primate starts with a bang and gives us a brutal death within the first five minutes. It feels like a statement of intent, like director Johannes Roberts is declaring exactly what type of movie it is and getting you mentally ready. And you better heed that warning because it is super gory and gross and you see a lot of injury detail.
It’s impressive that Roberts managed to sustain this idea for 90 minutes, given that Ben could have probably killed everyone in no time. He manages to long it out by the main group – including Lucy’s younger sister Erin (Gia Hunter) – jumping into a cliffside infinity pool where Ben can’t get them. It then becomes a fight for survival – how do they get out and call for help? Roberts makes good use of the house and its grounds, and builds the intensity and threat, especially when you know where Ben is but the character doesn’t. Plus, there’s the dread of knowing that person is going to die horribly, but you’re not sure exactly how, because there is a solid range of kills.
The characters aren’t written particularly well and make some terrible decisions, so it feels very silly at times. Alongside the game cast of relative unknowns, it’s surprising to see Oscar winner Kotsur, but it turns out this is only his second movie since winning the Academy Award for CODA in 2022. You don’t see a deaf character in horror (or mainstream films in general) very often so it’s interesting to see and/or hear certain scenes from his perspective. He’s not in it much, but he brings gravitas and a groundedness to the ridiculous story.
Primate is a classic creature feature with a good body count and excellent practical effects (Ben is played by an actor in a realistic ape suit). This is one to watch with a crowd as it’s so entertaining hearing everyone’s reactions to the violence.
In cinemas from Friday 30th January