Primate

Primate
Starring Johnny Sequoyah, Jessica Alexander, Troy Kotsur, Victoria Wyant
Directed by Johannes Roberts

January is notorious in cinema for having movies that studios want to dump with little fanfare because hardly anyone goes to the movies after a busy holiday season and the chilling cold, but there's times where a movie comes in January that blows everyone away. A movie so good, so innovative, so unique and so fascinating that people can't help but talk about it for months to come. "Primate"...isn't one of them. However, it's more fun that I was expecting, and blew away my low expectations - but that's not saying much.

Lucy (Johnny Sequovah) returns to her Hawaiian home to visit her father, successful writer Adam (Troy Kotsur) and younger sister Erin (Gia Hunter), and brings along some friends including her best friend Kate (Victoria Wyant). She also wants to visit the other member of her family - Ben, a chimpanzee, who's been with the family for years. When Adam goes off for a book signing, the girls throw a party at the house and Ben is bitten by a rabid mongoose, coming down with the sickness.

When Ben starts attacking, the group dives into the pool because Ben is afraid of water and can't swim, but also find themselves stuck with no way to communicate with the outside world. Lucy and her friends then attempt to escape, but Ben is always watching.

It might be unfair what I said earlier, but after seeing trailers for "Primate" throughout 2025, I had very little expectations when I actually saw it. Maybe that's why I enjoyed it more, and I went into it not expecting anything spectacular. The acting is terrible. The story makes no sense. The actions of the characters make even less sense. But it's incredibly violent (even from the opening scene), the movie runs at a scant 89 minutes, and it hearkens back to the classic creature feature horror films of the 80s like "Monkey Shines" and "Link." I found myself enjoying myself more than rolling my eyes (and there was a lot of that too), but it's one of those movies you need to go into with friends and just enjoy the ride.

The characters in the movie aren't developed outside their tropes, and that's perfectly fine. I honestly didn't remember any of their names, but knew them as their types: the main girl, the sister, the mean girl, the best friend, the love interest, and those who existed just to be added bodies to Ben's pile. We don't get to know much about them at the beginning, as within twenty minutes Ben is rabid and the terror begins, and again I honestly didn't mind it. In today's world where each movie seems to want to be over two hours, "Primate's" 89 minutes is a refreshing breath of fresh air. You're in, enjoying the view, and out in no time flat. 

Ben is also an effective yet sympathetic villain, as he's not a bad chimpanzee at all - just an animal that succumbs to a rabies bite that leaves him with no choice but to act out. It's also conflicting as you know bad stuff will happen to Ben so the girls can survive, but it's painful to see it because he's not responsible for his actions, especially seeing how loving he is before the bite. Ben was played by movement specialist Miguel Torres Umba, and for such a low budget director Johannes Roberts manages to make Ben very believable as a character, using a practical man-in-a-suit costume to play the chimp. CGI is also used but in a way that is even better than "Thor: Love & Thunder," and the gore and violence is a mix of said CGI and practical effects that will have you squirming in your seat, and includes a scene that'll already be hard to top as the most over-the-top kill in horror in 2026.

Going into "Primate" with high expectations will leave you disappointed, but if you go in expecting a gory, stupidly written movie with moronic characters but a lot of heart, you'll find yourself pleasantly surprised by the outcome.

The Score: B+