Humans have a weird relationship with animals. We have domesticated cats and dogs to worship and pamper in our homes. Many of us observe Shark Week. Meanwhile, quite a few billionaires pay more than my life is worth to get torn to bits by large beasts. So, of course animals gone wild is a very popular subgenre of horror. Who among us does not get excited watching Jaws, Jurassic Park, or even Cujo? There is a very primal fear that keeps most fans coming back for more, and the subgenre oversaturated. This is why Primate will definitely find an audience as it tries to claw a space for itself in horror fans’ hearts.
The new movie finds Lucy heading home for a relaxing holiday with the family. However, the family’s chimpanzee, Ben, is attacked and becomes a rabid danger to the people he loves. This forces Lucy and her friends to fight for their lives against a very smart and sinister primate. The film is written and directed by Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down, The Strangers: Prey at Night).
Primate Wasted Its Potential
Primate had a lot of potential, but as someone who read and watched Cujo, it did not have that much to offer me. Lucy’s dad is a hearing-impaired author named Adam (Troy Kotsur). So, sign language is used at times, and there are a couple of cool moments where sound design has fun putting us in his shoes. I love that, and it gives the movie something more than a couple of brutal kills worth noting. I found myself frustrated as I watched kids kind of wait around to be handled by a chimp. There are so many moments of the survivors just huddling in a pool discussing strategies that drag the movie out. There is so much waiting around that it makes the film feel longer than its merciful runtime of one hour and twenty-nine minutes.
This issue is underscored because Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah), her sister Ellie (Gia Hunter), and their friend group are woefully uninteresting. That’s not the actor’s fault, as they were all given one-note characters. We don’t invest in them because they are here to be picked off in the beautiful Hawaii location. We watch them make the silliest decisions and hope their deaths wake us back up. The movie sets it up as if Adam is brilliant, and he even sets things in motion in case Ben’s suspicious bite gives him rabies. However, no one takes the precautions seriously or thinks it’s weird when calls to check in on the situation go unnoticed. This could be a commentary on how privilege gives a false sense of security. Sadly, the movie doesn’t seem to want to have that conversation.
OVERALL: 2 / 5
The film’s few moments of true tension are too little and too late for them to be effective. Roberts treats the film like a 90s creature feature, and there is a thin layer of charm because of that. However, it’s not enough to pretend I enjoyed myself or found this movie worth recommending. While Primate will find its audience, I do not think it’ll be a movie that too many people remember after they leave the theater. I doubt this will even be a moment for horror about primates, let alone a movie most of us will remember when making our end-of-year lists. I know a popcorn film with a bit of blood can be a good time for many people. However, for me, this feels like the first movie of 2026 that has great practical effects and not much else going for it.