The giddily unevolved gorefest ‘Primate’ makes humanity look like a species in decline

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The plot of “Primate” is incredibly simple: a group of young people are at a pool party in Hawaii when the family’s dangerously aggressive chimpanzee attacks and kills them. Anything suggesting a more complex story – like romance, family drama, or a medical mystery – is just a distraction meant to mislead the audience into thinking there’s more to it than there is.

I don’t think cinema is dying, and I actually enjoyed the action in “Primate.” My issue is with the slow parts in between – those moments where the movie just isn’t engaging.

The story centers around Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah), a college student who returns home with her best friend, Kate (Victoria Wyant), and a classmate she can’t stand, the outgoing Hannah (Jess Alexander). Hannah surprisingly joins them on the plane without telling Lucy beforehand. This immediately makes you question the characters’ motivations, but it quickly becomes clear that the screenwriters, Johannes Roberts and Ernest Riera (who also directed the film), are signaling that logic won’t get you very far in this story. It’s a similar approach to their previous collaboration, the 2017 shark thriller “47 Meters Down.”

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We asked the movie team which 2026 releases they were most excited about. They expressed enthusiasm for upcoming films from established directors like Nolan, Spielberg, and Gerwig, as well as a new Wile E. Coyote movie.

Lucy’s dad, Adam (played by Troy Kotsur from “CODA”), and her sister, Erin (Gia Hunter), are still mourning the loss of their mother, a scientist who studied primates and died of cancer a year ago. They’re both feeling isolated, but they have Ben, her research chimpanzee, for company. Ben can communicate using a special touch pad, and is played by Miguel Torres Umba.

The chimpanzee communicates in simple phrases, like saying, “Lucy’s back, Ben is missing,” while pressing keys. This broken language extends to everyone, including a couple of college guys the women met on a flight – and it’s intentionally funny. Brad and Drew arrive boisterously, acting like they own the place and attempting to impress the women with surprisingly childish conversation. Brad, played by Charlie Mann, nervously tries to befriend Ben, saying, “I won’t hurt you, okay?” and clapping his hands. For a brief moment, it’s almost as if the apes and these guys understand each other.

The movie ‘Primate’ is delightfully raw and shocking. It doesn’t shy away from violence, and the opening scene is shockingly brutal, actually eliciting cheers from the audience. Within the first two minutes, it delivered on its promise of over-the-top action, featuring a snorting monkey, a hapless victim in a floral shirt, a creepy shot of a tire swing, and a disturbingly close-up view of an exposed cheekbone.

If the movie had kept up its fast pace, those of us who enjoy over-the-top horror would have loved it. However, at just under ninety minutes, “Primate” mostly consists of slow scenes of people hiding and trying to stay quiet while a large, unstable man wanders around. Any loud noise instantly makes him extremely violent.

The actor playing Umba, the character behind the ape effects, is believable. However, the film portrays him as a typical horror villain, relying on predictable scare tactics like sudden jumps, blurry appearances, and the villain inexplicably recovering after being defeated. The director doesn’t give the character much depth or sympathy, except for a brief moment where Ben sees his own reflection and is accompanied by a haunting piano melody.

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The film does have some strengths, particularly the acting. Kotsur, a recent Oscar winner, brings a relaxed confidence to his role, making his character believable – until a bizarre scene where he attacks a monkey. Another actor plays a somewhat pointless but energetic character, and the director rewards him with a lengthy and impactful death sequence. This scene, taking place in a bedroom, feels darkly humorous and raises uncomfortable questions about consent, hinting that the character may have a problematic past.

Hannah, played by Alexander, is a mischievous character who steps in on Lucy’s love interest, Nick (Benjamin Cheng), and arguably deserves some consequences. However, Alexander is such a captivating performer that you can’t help but want her to succeed. Like Renée Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey after appearing in a less-than-stellar film, Alexander shows real potential and has a natural charisma on screen.

The movie observes the dating lives of college students with a detached, almost scientific interest. Sadly, it suggests that people are losing their basic instincts. When faced with even a minor challenge – like a mischievous monkey – these students immediately reach for their phones instead of thinking for themselves. This dependence on technology weakens society, and unfortunately, makes the movie less exciting. The director might even be trying to make a statement about this decline when a character destroys a television.

Chimpanzees are remarkably similar to humans genetically, sharing 98.4% of the same DNA – there’s plenty of evidence of that right here! The character of Lucy likely references Lucy, an early human ancestor who lived 3.2 million years ago and was around the same size as Ben. Our other closest relative, the bonobo, shares 98.7% of our genes, and interestingly, male bonobos sometimes harm each other by attacking their testicles – a detail the author might save for a future story.

The book “Primate” surprisingly suggests Ben’s aggressive behavior was due to rabies, rather than exploring more complex reasons for chimpanzee aggression, such as depression, mental distress, or the effects of medication. It also doesn’t fully address the emotional trauma experienced by owners when they realize their chimpanzee is capable of extreme violence—or the pain of not being able to prevent an attack. For example, when a woman in Connecticut had to stab her chimpanzee after it severely injured a friend, she described the act as feeling like self-harm. (She later adopted another chimpanzee.)

It’s unrealistic to look for accurate science in a movie that takes a medical detail – the historical term ‘hydrophobia’ for rabies, meaning fear of water – and turns it into a plot device where a swimming pool is the only safe place. However, just in case anyone from the Department of Health and Human Services happens to see this movie, it’s important to state that the rabies vaccine is completely effective. We definitely don’t want a new law requiring everyone to dig a moat around their homes!

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2026-01-09 22:01