A group of friends’ tropical vacation turns into a terrifying, primal tale of horror and survival.
Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah) returns home to Hawaii with friends to visit her father (Oscar winner Troy Kotsur) and their beloved family chimp, Ben. When a rabid mongoose bites Ben, he contracts rabies and goes feral. What follows is a gory killing rampage.
“Primate” delivers on its physical horror. Ben is brought to life through practical effects and motion performance by Miguel Torres Umba, and the result is unsettling. Director Johannes Roberts understands that for a movie like this to work, the creature has to feel real, and for the most part, it does. And though there were some instances where I didn’t believe that the chimp was real, I prefer practical effects to CGI any day.
Not to mention, I found all the makeup work on the kills genuinely impressive. There was very detailed work of multiple people’s faces being torn apart. The kills don’t feel cartoonish. Instead, they are quite gory and horrifying. I don’t cringe much in horror movies, but “Primate” sometimes had me hiding behind my hand, anticipating the next disgustingly graphic kill.
Yet for all its gory effects work, “Primate” suffers from the usual horror tropes. Characters are paper-thin and dumb. The script is eager to get back to the carnage rather than deepen any character relationships, leaving the family and friend dynamics underexplored. The film feels like a collection of kills rather than a fully realized story. Like, why does this family have a pet monkey? That is never explained. Is it just because they can, since this family is extremely wealthy? They live in an isolated, all-glass house off a cliffside somewhere in Hawaii.
I must say, I am slightly disappointed that Tony Kotsur took this role. He can, of course, do what he likes, and I hope he got a good payday for this. But he is an Oscar winner, for god’s sake. I would love to see him in more movies, but I want him in films with more substance, playing a fully fleshed-out character. His scenes with the chimp, though, did amp up the tension. The sound cut out to help put the audience in his shoes.
Ultimately, “Primate” does work, or at least works for what it is. It isn’t trying to redefine the genre, and it’s not aiming to be “elevated” horror. It understands that some people just want to watch a chimp commit brutal murders.
In Theaters Friday, January 9th
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