The Reel Review
A year after the death of her primatologist mother from cancer, Lucy’s homecoming with friends at the family’s remote, ultra posh cliffside villa in Hawaii becomes a nightmare when the family’s pet chimpanzee Ben contracts rabies and goes on a brutal killing rampage. Johnny Sequoyah (Believe) and Oscar-winner Troy Kotsur (CODA) star in this horror/thriller.
Primate‘s co-writer/director is Johannes Roberts, the schlockmeister behind such cinematic masterpieces as The Strangers: Prey at Night, 47 Meters Down and The Reelness’ Worst Movie of 2019, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged. As gruesomely violent creature features go, Roberts wastes no time giving his audience exactly what it wants – lots of creative, gory killings of obnoxious houseguests and visitors who seem to be sharing only one brain cell among them. With that, who needs character development?
Mercifully clocking in at only an hour and a half, and slightly better than the director’s aforementioned movies, the third act of this horror/thriller is comically frustrating, as Lucy’s deaf dad (Kotsur) returns home from a business trip unable to hear the gnarly Donkey Kong carnage happening all around him. (He does eventually see it though.) Despite stretching the bounds of believability, Primate still succeeds in being a satisfyingly thrilling, jaw-ripping creature feature for fans of the genre.
REEL FACTS
• Contrary to Primate‘s story, owning a pet chimpanzee is illegal in Hawaii, which also is the only U.S. state that is rabies-free. Chimps also CAN swim, by the way.
• Primate is Boise-native Johnny Sequoyah’s first starring role in a feature film. She is known for the TV series Dexter: New Blood and her starring role in the 2014 sci-fi series Believe.
• Although set in Hawaii, Primate was filmed on a London soundstage with exteriors shot on Portugal’s Madeira Island.
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