'Primate' review: Where are you, you little chimp?

Paramount Pictures

We're going to have a collective crash out of epic proportions if we don't get a January movie with a chimpanzee every year from now on. This year providing the ape mayhem is Primate, a horror thriller with a thirst for human blood.

Three college-aged friends (or acquaintances, depending on who you ask)—Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah), Kate (Victoria Wyant) and Hannah (Jessica Alexander)—travel back home to Hawaii during their holidays, arriving at Lucy's luxurious family house. They're soon joined by Kate's brother Nick (Benjamin Cheng). Lucy's dad Adam (Troy Kotsur), a famous author and an enjoyer of wild beings, leaves for a bit because of a work thing, and so the four youths and Lucy's kid sister Erin (Gia Hunter) are left to their own devices. Well, there's also the family's pet, a chimp named Ben (portrayed by Miguel Torres Umba) lurking around. Chaos erupts when Ben unexpectedly goes cuckoo and becomes violent towards humans.

Hey, we are not dealing with anything super challenging or profound here. This is a blunt, bloodstained and enjoyable creature feature that gets in, has some fun and then gets out before you get too tired of its antics. There's practically nothing to ruminate on afterwards regarding relationships, class or animal welfare, plus screenwriters Ernest Riera and Johannes Roberts (who is also the director) produce flimsy relationship drama and half-baked characters for the actors to work with, so the whole project is on a short leash. Now, would it be more memorable and worthy of rewatches if we cared about these characters or there was a wicked sense of humour guiding us? Of course, but for what the film is trying to be, it ticks enough boxes to be a fun, disposable time at the cinema.

So, how do we get there? Roberts as a director and other collaborators step up to the plate to provide proper B-movie thrills when it counts. Firstly, editor Peter Gvozdas knows how to keep things tight—you get 90 minutes of suspense—and builds up to the lunacy with enough patience and a few swerves to keep you slightly off balance. Guesswork is always just guesswork but "no fat" seems to have been the communal mantra.

This also allows the special effects (undoubtedly enhanced with some unnoticeable VFX), FX makeup and gore to grab the wheel and drive Primate towards success. Whatever mix of Torres in a suit, possible puppetry and full CGI was used to make it all happen was the correct recipe, and the fact that you can't really see the seams is a testament to the craftsmanship on display. At some point, you even forget that you're staring at a set surrounded by blue screens on a soundstage because the havoc is so immersive (Simon Bowles' production design and solid VFX contribute to this as well). The bloodshed is absolutely the main dish and you will be satisfied in that regard.

Composer Adrian Johnston understood the assignment almost as much as the creature artists. Sure, the influences are rather evident but Johnston's score is nonetheless a breath of fresh air in the modern "studio horror" space thanks to diverse synth work and wonderful sense of dread—harmonising with the editing, too, as far as creating tension goes.

The two aspects that are definitely most undercooked and could've elevated Primate the most if done right are the sound and language. Both Kotsur and his character are deaf, and you get a healthy amount of ASL in the film since Lucy, Kate and Erin are also fluent, but a smarter film would've done more with it. Horrors are often known for the weaponisation of silence and noise, and sneaking around quietly becomes a part of the narrative here, but just when you think the screenplay will bring back these language skills for a clever payoff, it fumbles the ball and the tension evaporates. In fact, there are multiple sequences where the sound mixing and dialogue do only the bare minimum; a real shame since so many other artists went bananas. If you have a chance to devise a mesmeric soundscape, you need to bring your A game. A letdown is not an option.

At least Roberts gets decent performances out of his cast to make up for some of those missed opportunities so you're still along for the ride somewhat. Sequoyah brings plenty of intensity in her final girl role and her young co-stars recognise the goofiness that surrounds them so the performances aren't too dour by any means. Kotsur has the most screen presence in the cast, and although he is scarily underused for no good reason, his scenes have life and spark in them and even the ending resonates a little bit because of it. Lucy? Bad. Movie? Pretty good. Writing? Done.

Smileys: Makeup, pacing, score

Frowneys: Sound mixing, dialogue

When you just want to fool around with a hot guy, but end up pooling around with everyone instead :(

3.0/5

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