Primate Review

It’s January once more, which means it’s the time of year when studios are notorious for dropping absolute stinkers that audiences will instantly forget. It’s very much become a running joke, yet there are always films that do stand out and break the mould. A creature feature is always a great way to start the year, and it comes in the form of Primate this time around.

Lucy’s (Johnny Sequoyah) tropical island homecoming turns deadly when her family’s clever chimpanzee, Ben, becomes rabid. With her father away and no help coming, paradise becomes a prison as Lucy and her friends fight for survival against a pet they once trusted.

Primate is a film that brings with it hard-hitting levels of gore that will make the easily squeamish want to look away. From the opening scene alone, a whole new meaning is given to the term face-off, a gnarly attack from the titular ape setting the tone perfectly. Honestly, this is such a gruesome film that general audiences will be getting the shock of their lives, so proceed with caution. There’s impressive usage of practical effects throughout, only adding to the heinous nature of the gore, and nature once again warns us that sometimes nothing can get in its way. There’s an inescapable feeling while watching Primate, though and that is whether or not the reaction from the audience, which was wild, is actually masking the quality of the film or not.

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Now, it’s a fun time at the cinema for sure; however, there are plenty of flaws the film possesses that can be ignored, due to the high levels of gore and stupidity from characters on show. Maybe it’s designed this way as a tactic to distract people away from these things. It’s not unusual to see people make dumb decisions in horror films, and I can always see past it, as drastic situations such as this might not have you thinking so clearly. With that in mind, everyone in this film just seems to be annoyingly stupid beyond belief. Two meat-head jocks who turn up at the house a little drunk later on in the film, have a look around a house belonging to someone they don’t even know, only for one of them to smash a framed photograph on the floor. We get it, they’re supposed to be douchebags, but even in a film with a killer ape, it just feels ridiculous. Justice was served only moments later though in a scene that got one of the best reactions of the film.

With nearly all of the characters being highly irritating, it feels like these are performances you can have a lot of fun with, and this cast sure do that. Yes, the characters make dumb choices, but those dumb decisions are brought to life by the likes of Johnny Sequoya and Jessica Alexander in an entertaining fashion. It’s great to see Troy Kotsur after his award-winning performance in CODA, bringing some fatherly warmth to a film that needs a bit of adult behaviour amidst all the teen chaos. The performance of the film comes from Miguel Torres Umba as Ben, the chimp; his movements and facial expressions add a new layer to the film’s grounded nature. It’d be nowhere near as good with CGI being utilised for the titular character.

Imagine Planet of the Apes meets Cujo, and you get Primate. It has the feeling of a film destined to become a cult classic – maybe for all the wrong reasons – but if you are looking for a fun night at the cinema, this is the film for you.