‘Primate’ Review: Same Old Monkey Business

In 2009, a pet chimpanzee named Travis made national news when he mauled a woman, ripping apart her face, eyes, nose, lips, and fingers. Despite their intelligence and ability to be friendly towards humans, the horrifying ordeal was a reminder that apes should not be kept as pets. 2022’s Nope, which features a scene in which a chimpanzee trained for film goes on a rampage on set killing multiple people, was inspired by the events. Primate expands that idea into a full fledged horror film, although the true life story is terrifying in its own right. It’s a straightforward, if not a little generic, addition to the horror genre that features some brutal death scenes but is forgettable in most every other aspect. Primate is one ape not worth going bananas over.

On the island of Hawaii, Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah) and her family took in and raised a chimpanzee from infancy, naming him Ben and adopting him as part of the family. Returning home for a visit from college, Lucy and her friends anticipate a chill and relaxing vacation with the family, but when a rabid mongoose bites Ben, their beloved pet turns into a raging monster who no longer sees them as family members. Lucy and her friends will have to accept that Ben is not the same loving chimpanzee he once was if they are going to survive the night.

Primate comes out swinging with an opening scene that immediately sets the gruesome tone for the rest of the film, showing just what happens when a person gets into an enclosure with a powerful animal that has contracted rabies. Ben ends up ripping a veterinarian’s face clean off, and the film doesn’t shy away from showing it. In fact, it does a good job at establishing just how much of a danger a wild chimpanzee is. Unfortunately, it’s also very selective in its portrayal as well. Ben is seen more like the villain of a slasher movie than a wild animal on the lose. It may sound good on paper, but the execution can be laughably stupid at times.

My biggest issue with the film is how all the characters react around Ben. Chimpanzees are strong. Like, have you ever seen a hairless chimp? They’re all muscle. So it’s bewildering when the characters try and use regular horror film tactics to escape from Ben like tying him up with a rope or locking a flimsy slatted door as if it will do any good. To the film’s credit, Ben does manage to easily break free from the rope and break into the closet, but seeing these characters, who have lived with this ape for its entire life and presumably know him, fumble with what to do is comically bad and interrupts any of the tension that might have been built. At one point one of the characters gets into a hand-to-ape-hand fight, with Ben and it just looks ridiculous, especially considering we’ve already seen how strong Ben can be when he rips the faces and arms off other people. The film treats Ben as a human rather than the wild animal that he is.

For what it’s worth, I did enjoy Troy Kotsur’s role as Adam, Lucy’s father and Ben’s primary caretaker. Being deaf and having sign language in the film added an extra layer that was much needed. There is a particularly intense scene where Adam is walking through the house, unaware of what is happening while Lucy is screaming for her life in the other room. It’s moments like these where Primate shines, but they are few and far between as he is absent for much of the film.

Primate struggles to take advantage of what makes it unique and instead relies on the usual horror tropes. A rabid chimpanzee should be unpredictable; Ben is anything but that. He’s terrifyingly powerful and dangerous, but he acts in a manner that feels safe, reserved, and dependent on how far along in the movie we are. It’s almost as if he can switch between adopted Ben and rabid Ben on a whim depending for what the scene calls for. Primate has a few good ideas, it just needed a bit more time to evolve.