‘Primate’ Review: Wild Gore, Weak Story

Primate is a slasher movie where the killer is a rabid chimp. The film follows best friends Lucy and Kate as they head to Lucy’s childhood home in Hawaii for the weekend to spend time with Lucy’s sister, Kate’s brother, and their friend Hannah. Their fun tropical weekend is turned upside down after Lucy’s family pet chimp, Ben, becomes rabid. With no help in sight, the group must fight for their lives against the animal they used to call family. Even though the plot of Primate is really not the star, this film includes amazingly grotesque practical effects that really end up stealing the show. Read our full review for Primate below. 

As I said above, the story of Primate is really not important. There are a plethora of plot holes that, if taken too seriously, would make this film impossible to watch. First off, rabies is not in the state of Hawaii and the state has strict laws regarding having exotic pets making this films set up absolutely impossible. Now does this really matter? Well, it is up to the viewer. For me, it is kind of just laughable because all of this could have been avoided if the film was just set in Florida or somewhere else in the United States. So from the jump the film is hard to take seriously, but the real setback in the story is how it is set up. This is an extremely poorly written film. The beginning includes inklings of drama that could play out throughout the movie: a childhood crush, friendship rivalry, and, to top it all off, the loss of Lucy’s mother. None of this thirty minutes of average setup we watch in the beginning turns into anything. It is just empty noise to string the audience along until the chimp can start murdering people. This is usually one of the main flaws with slashers, but this one really struggles in this regard. This setup time should be used to make us actually care about the people who are about to have their lives threatened. Raise the stakes by making us care, but I was left rolling my eyes at the petty drama and waiting for the chimp to go wild.

Once Ben starts killing people off, the film becomes a really wild ride. Ben is played by Miguel Hernando Torres Umba, a movement specialist in a chimp suit, and it was really a remarkable performance. I am no chimp expert, but despite me knowing that it was a man in a monkey suit, I was never taken out of the film. It is an exceptional physical performance, enhanced by the insanely realistic prosthetics and mannerisms. Ben is not the only aspect of Primate that is practical though, almost every single kill was done primarily practically. This is the kind of thing that can take a bad movie and make it watchable. There is a lot of surprising, unique gore that really elevates this film. My only gripe with the kills was that this is not what a rabid chimp would do. Ben is strategic, almost playing with his food. It is so incredibly unrealistic to the point that it made the film really funny. That is all this film is, a really funny gory thrill ride with a slow start. 

I could see a lot of people having a great time in the theater with Primate. It is almost so bad that it makes for a good time, yet I will never think about this film again. The main characters are incredibly forgettable and for the most part annoying, so I had nothing to grasp on to. While watching the film I just could not stop thinking about how much better this movie would be with a stronger lead. Without the practical effects this film really has nothing to offer. If the quality of the film matters to you, do not go see Primate. If you want to turn your brain off, go see Primate. 

Primate was directed by Johannes Roberts and stars Johnny Sequoyah, Jessica Alexander, Victoria Wyant, Gia Hunter, Miguel Hernando Torres Umba, and Troy Kotsur. The film was released on January 9th.

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