Primate
review by Bobby Blakey
The horror genre constantly brings some of the more unique ideas to the masses. When using the idea of real animals, it can deliver some of the best of the genre, especially when there have been issues in the news with the same animals. The latest from The Strangers: Prey at Night and 47 Meters Down director Johannes Roberts takes on the pet chimp turns crazed story with Primate. Could this bring a convincing chaotic animal terror feature, or will it sink to soon?
Primate follows a group of friends’ tropical vacation turns into a terrifying, primal tale of horror and survival. The film stars Johnny Sequoyah, Jessica Alexander, and Troy Kotsur, Victoria Wyant, Gia Hunter, Benjamin Cheng, Charlie Mann, and Tienne Simon.
The trailer for this film was promising but was also the kind of film that could go horribly wrong if not handled right. I was all in for the idea and was ready to get into some chimp fueled chaos and while it has some initial pacing issues it does in fact bring the bloody fun. The idea is simple and keeps things trimmed quickly, wasting no time to get to the violence, but initially it does limp a long a bit.
Nothing it does early on is bad or anything, but I just found myself struggling to care about these characters initially as it falls into the typical horror character teen tropes that we have seen a million times before. Thankfully once Ben the chimp enters the picture things take a turn for the violently better and it delivers everything I had hoped for right until the end.
There are plenty of bad decision making that might frustrate some and a few of the characters are so unlikable that you cannot wait for them to be killed and it
doesn’t disappoint. The variety of kills in the film are graphic and straight forward with a few more over the top than the others in the best way. What makes this film work more than anything is Ben himself that appears to be mostly practical man in suit and looks both fantastic and terrifying.
Big props to actor Miguel Torres Umba who plays Ben and brings a real-life quality that it needs and is insane, beautiful and horrific all at once. There is some great camera work that further enhances the menace of Ben as well as the intensity of the situation in this beautiful setting. The known inspiration from Cujo shines through, but it is fully its own thing and one that I had a blast with.
Decide for yourself and check out Primate in theaters now from Paramount.