When watching the movie “Primate,” my first thought was “Wow, people still think apes can learn languages,” and my second one was, “That’s about what I expected.” It’s a mediocre horror movie though fair warning there is a lot of gore.
Directed by Johannes Roberts, “Primate” stars Johnny Sequoyah as Lucy Pinborough, Jessica Alexander as Hannah, and Troy Kotsur as Adam Lucy’s father. Lucy and her friend Kate are flying home from college to Hawaii when it’s revealed Hannah Kate’s friend is also coming, much to Lucy’s annoyance. They meet up with Nick and all four head to Lucy’s house. They arrive home and meet Adam, who is deaf, and also a novelist, along with Erin, Lucy’s younger sister, who is upset that she has been gone for so long.
Ben the chimp then pops up, and it’s revealed he can communicate through a soundboard, and was taught by Lucy’s deceased mom. Ben and Hannah interact near the pool where Ben begins to act aggressively. Adam finds a dead animal in Ben’s cage the next morning along with a bite mark on Ben. Adam calls a vet to check on Ben before leaving to go to a book signing. Ben kills the vet, escapes the cage, and begins attacking everyone at the house. They all go into the pool for safety, because Ben has rabies. They stay in that pool for a while trying to come up with a plan.
The best thing “Primate” has going for it is its rather atypical premise, which is the most redeeming thing it has. Besides that the movie has major flaws. There is no discernible theme at all in the movie besides maybe a vague notion of family. But this gets thrown out when you realize Ben was a part of the family. So, is the message not to adopt chimps into your family? Additionally, the film is 90 minutes and could have easily been shorter.
At a lot of points, you feel bad for Ben, which really takes away from the horror elements. I thought it was kind of stupid that he was going out of his way to fully brutalize all his victims. He has rabies. He should be a wild crazed animal, not a killer that is hunting his victims. The acting is a really mixed bag and there are too many characters for the movie to juggle. The gore and special effects were really good though, and might leave some queasy. The film is good if you’re not looking for something super deep and just want to have some dumb fun.
Overall, I thought “Primate” was okay. There are always going to be far worse movies someone could be spending their money on, and it’s not a bad choice. If you like gory horror movies that make little to no sense at all, this movie is for you. If you at all care about the monkey like I did, maybe it’s not. “Primate” gets a 5.8 out of 10.