- Troy Kotsur, Kevin McNally, Johnny Sequoyah
- January 30th 2026
- 89
- Johannes Roberts
A pet chimpanzee named Ben gets infected with rabies and goes on a killing spree around his secluded Hawaiian home.
A creature feature is a staple of the horror genre, and there is a new outing in town in the form of Primate.
The brutally graphic horror, directed by Johannes Roberts, is set in a luxury clifftop house in a remote part of Hawaii, where the Pinborough family have lived for years with their pet chimpanzee Ben.
Lucy (Johnny Seqouyah), a young college student, returns home for the first time in several years with her best friend Kate (Victoria Wyant), Kate’s brother Nick (Benjamin Cheng) and an unexpected extra guest Hannah (Jessica Alexander).
Ben is bitten by a rabid mongoose and locked away in his enclosure before the family patriarch Adam (Troy Kotsur) goes out for a book signing event. While he is away, Ben escapes and embarks on a killing spree.
The idea is simple and it has been done before – take 1983’s Cujo for instance – but Primate is well executed, with a high body count, excellent use of practical effects (Ben is played by Miguel Torres Umba in a realistic ape suit) and a variety of super violent kills.
Traditionally, horrors build up to the goriest and nastiest kills, but Roberts rips up the rulebook and presents us with a gnarly death within the first five minutes. It feels like a declaration of what this movie will be and a warning to brace yourself for the bloody, savage and disgusting kills that are coming.
Primate is basically a slasher movie, but with a chimpanzee instead of a human serial killer, and the group have to figure out how to get help after jumping into the clifftop infinity pool where Ben can’t get them.
The characters aren’t written particularly well and they make some silly decisions, but Roberts creates a brilliant sense of dread and threat, because you don’t know where Ben will pop up next, who will die next, and in what gruesome manner.
It’s surprising to see Oscar winner Kotsur in this, given that the rest of the game cast are relative unknowns. He brings some realism and gravitas to proceedings and seeing the horror from a deaf person’s perspective at times feels new and interesting.
At only 89 minutes, Primate is a lean, mean creature feature that is best enjoyed with a crowd. It’s such an entertaining experience hearing everyone’s vocal reactions to the kills! Sure, it’s incredibly dumb, but it’s a lot of fun too.
In cinemas from Friday 30th January
By Hannah Wales
© Cover Media