“Primate” has hit theaters and although it may not win a slew of awards, it’s a fun, fast thriller ride that pulls you to the edge of your seat. The film had a semi-successful opening weekend with an $11 million haul against its $21 million budget. With a 77% RT score, it’s one of the Director’s highest rated movie’s. When “Cujo” first came out, the book was hailed as a horror masterpiece due to its chillling portrayal of a dangerous animal slowly losing its mind to rabies. The one widespread complaint was the bleakness of the ending, which the movie adaptation tried to fix. The ‘Cujo’ movie was a middle of the road performer and likely ranks somewhere in the middle sphere of King’s vast list of adaptations, but the concept of a rabid animal going berserk was ripe for a reboot in the movie “Primate”.
One of the biggest reasons a reboot of “Cujo” wouldn’t have been as effective is the fact that mostly any type of simian bigger than Ross’ monkey Marcel from “Friends” is much smarter, stronger and generally more lethal than any big dog, even a Saint Bernard. Warning: Beyond this point, there are spoilers for anyone who has not seen the movie “Primate” from Paramount Pictures, currently in theaters.
The ‘Cujo’ movie was a middle of the road performer and likely ranks somewhere in the middle sphere of King’s vast list of adaptations, but the concept of a rabid animal going berserk was ripe for a reboot in the movie “Primate”.”
The movie was likely inspired by the violent chimp attack from 2009 by Travis the chimp, who mauled the longtime friend of his lifetime owner. Unlike the chump in “Primate”, Travis did not have rabies but just got big mad after a woman touched his Elmo toy. The chimp in “Primate”, Ben is very endearing and lovable when the viewer first sees him in his mostly pre-rabid, normal chimp state.
The film’s Director and Co-Writer, Johannes Roberts took a different approach to bringing a dangerous animal to life – don’t use CGI. Roberts decided early on that he wanted to have the tension and danger of using an actual chimpanzee instead of special effects. The actors would also feel that slight hint. Of danger and their emotions would come across on screen. It seems Roberts’ gamble has paid off, if the critical response is any indicator. This is not the Director’s first run at an animal based horror film, with the memorable “47 Meters: Down” being one of his more successful films earlier on in the filmmakers career.
Psychologically, for the cast to interact with a powerful animal versus a small actor in a green screen outfit, the animal is going to bring about a more instinctual performance from every actor. A change is also seen with the audience, who can disconnect when they’re looking at too many computer generated effects that pull them out of the moment. Sitting there in the theater, feeling the tension as the monkey slowly descends into madness did have a visceral effect that you don’t always find in horror flicks that rely on their Special FX department instead of storytelling.
The story for “Primate” starts off innocent enough with prodigal daughter Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah) returning home to her dad (Troy Kotsur) in Hawaii with a few friends for a fun getaway. Dad, who is an intellectual cell of sorts happens to be going away for the weekend and leaving his teenage daughters all alone. What could go wrong, right? Early on it’s revealed that Ben was bitten by something and he pretty brutally rips off the face of a vet (Rob Delaney – for some reason uncredited) that comes in to help him. The viewer realizes before the family does that Ben has gone off the deep end into a pool of rabies, but it quickly becomes apparent to the whole group.
The buildup to the rabies reveal could have possibly gone a little bit better but in the actual moment when the characters are arguing about putting Ben down, newcomer Hannah (Jess Alexander) has the smartest take as the girls he grew up with argue that he’ll be ok. This scene seems eerily like how it would play out in real life and deserves a lot of credit before $hit hits the fan.
The movie does a good job of killing off main character Nick (Benjamin Cheng), the only male teenager at the house, early on, letting the viewer know there will be more blood. Throughout the movie, the chimp has its moments simmering in and out of madness and ultimately kills six people before being taken down by the family who raised him who are coincidentally, the sole survivors. The fact that the somewhat irresponsible father got away with zero casualties while so many others died felt a little unfair, but hey sometimes life is unfair. As a whole, the fact that a beloved family member got a disease and murdered a slew of people is legitimately sad, but horror movies come in all different shapes and colors.
The chimp or chimps who played Ben gave a spine tingling performance and had a few members of the Binge team jumping in their seats a few times. Is the movie a cinematic masterpiece? No. Does it deliver a fun, adrenaline based ride that feels truly terrifying in its most scary moments? Absolutely. This movie was worth seeing in the theaters at the very least on matinee day. If you do wait until streaming, you won’t be disappointed although there is something to be felt in the experience of watching an unpredictable animal surrounded by other people in a dark room.
What do you think? Did you see “Primate”? Was it worth the cost of admission? Why did the story not cover the fact that rabies is unheard fo in Hawaii? Was that a plot hole or a tease for a sequel? Let us know your thoughts about the. movie in the comments below!
