REVIEW: ‘Primate’ is an Annoyingly Mediocre Film but Also a Blast at the Cinemas
- Christopher Mills
- 6 hours ago
- 4 min read
January is usually a quiet month for movies at the start of the year, and it’s often that we get releases that don’t end up being either memorable or just worth talking about in general. It seems like Hollywood has given itself a new year resolution that we haven’t been aware of, because it’s taking the “new year, new me” motto seriously by releasing several films that have impressed in one way or another. It’s more impressive that there have been several horror movies that have been released this year, and I can safely say that we’ve yet to receive one that’s a reminder of last year’s Presence, which was dull, or 2024’s Night Swim, which had an out-there concept.
Johannes Roberts’ Primate falls more in line with Night Swim, but the only thing they share is a concept that sounds ridiculous. The difference is that Primate’s storyline is an actual possibility; it’s just that the likelihood of some of the kills and fights might be slightly too far-fetched.
Primate follows Lucy Pinborough (Johnny Sequoyah) who returns back home to Hawaii after years away, reuniting with her friends, family, and most importantly, Ben the chimpanzee (Miguel Torres Umba). When Ben catches rabies from another animal, he becomes aggressive and lets loose, forcing Lucy and friends to survive a vicious night alone with him.
When hearing the name Johannes Roberts, I think of the two movies that I’ve seen from him: The Stranger: Pray at Night and Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, with one of these being pretty mediocre but still the best movie in the franchise, while the other was quite easily the worst adaptation we had received yet of the IP. Safe to say, I went into Primate believing that I’ll likely have a fun time despite the film being bad.
I wasn’t entirely wrong. To call Primate a bad movie would be an insult to some of the beautiful craft behind it that gives it that realism, but to also call the movie good would be to gaslight myself. Primate is merely an entertaining movie that just happens to be an okay watch. There’s a lot to like about it, but there’s also a lot that leaves you scratching your head in confusion.
There’s nothing more I love than a genius and captivating cold open that sells you on the idea of the movie. Primate delivers on all angles in that field, as we’re instantly introduced to Ben and are brought to our first death of the film. It’s a scene that builds up the tension well into the kill, which is not only gruesome but also highlights the strength of a chimpanzee and just how crazy the remainder of the movie is going to be.
When it comes to Ben and how he’s portrayed and written, I’m genuinely quite satisfied. Instead of opting for a fully CG chimp, which would’ve been a horrifying outlook for a low-budget horror movie, they take the direction of getting the very talented Miguel Torres Umba to portray Ben inside a practical suit. It makes all the interactions he has with the people around him feel realistic, and when he goes on his violent rampage, the kills seem to have weight to them. It can get a laugh from the audience with how Ben plays around with his victims, laughing at them or tricking them, but overall, the idea of a man in a suit works better for Primate than a completely CG creature that wouldn’t have provided the same type of emotion.
The human characters in this story are all rather boring to watch, and Roberts and Ernest Riera try their best to develop their characters in hopes that the audience will connect with them by the time Ben’s rampage begins, but each character comes off as dull, one-dimensional and irritatingly annoying. It’s a struggle to care about Lucy having a crush on her childhood friend, Nick (Benjamin Cheng), or that Nick wants to sleep with Rachel (Jessica Alexander), his sister Kate’s (Victoria Wyant) friend. I also don’t care for Lucy and Kate’s father, Adam (Troy Kotsur), who’s a famous author trying to get a movie deal.
Roberts and Riera try their hardest to make these characters interesting, but their interactions with each other may easily be the worst part about the movie, with dialogue that’s just outright cringe and out of place. When these characters are interacting with Ben, the film is at its best, and whether that’s because I’m rooting for him to slaughter them all or simply because there seems to be an emotional connection between him and the family that seems to be nonexistent with any other relationship in the family is hard to tell, but I think it’s a bit of both.
Primate is, frustratingly, an irritating movie with a script that’s beyond stupid, a plot that’s ridiculous and performances that are laughable, but you didn’t come here for a well-written and thought-out movie. You came to watch a chimpanzee rip faces and pull jaws off its victims, and Primate delivers by producing some shockingly gory kills that make for an entertaining experience full of nonstop relentless violence.
About Primate
Premiere Date: January 30, 2025
Writer: Johannes Roberts, Ernest Riera
Director: Johannes Roberts
Production: 18Hz Productions
Distribution: Paramount Pictures
Cast: Johnny Sequoyah, Jessica Alexander, Troy Kotsur, Victoria Wyant, Gia Hunter, Benjamin Cheng, Miguel Torres Umba
