From Le Bon to Ben, humans have always been aware of how dangerous apes and their ilk can be, and those fears have often come out in the form of storytelling. An orangutan is to blame for the slayings in Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue, and a capuchin is crazed in Stephen King’s Monkey Shines. Now we have another species to add to that list of sinister simians: Johannes Roberts’ Primate. The hairy star of this new creature feature—more like slasher—is the aforementioned Ben. So if you weren’t scared of chimps before, you will be now.
The beauty of Primate is its simplicity. Admittedly, the movie’s streamlining of the characters and their relationships won’t be for everyone, but director/writer Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged, The Strangers 2: Prey at Night) and co-writer Ernest Riera (47 Meters Down, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged, The Other Side of the Door) were just as eager to get to the creature carnage as the audience. And after briefly introducing us to the human cast, we become better acquainted with the animal antagonist in question. The cold open has already given us Ben’s first kill, which is really just a flash-forward, so we definitely know what’s about to happen. And after the on-screen foreword about rabies, the cause of Ben’s violence is no mystery, either.
You might suspect Primate has taken the thinking out of its story, and, well, you’d be right. After the family-friction element is sorted with very, very little fuss, the countdown to slaughter-by-simian is short. There’s also really no need to figure out the dynamics of the cast, as that’s all laid out prior to family chimp Ben’s breakdown. Johnny Sequoyah’s character has come home to the nest after staying away, in the wake of her mother’s passing, and along for the not-so-healing trip are her friends (Victoria Wyant, Benjamin Cheng) and one frenemy (Jessica Alexander). Oh, and their destination is a rather perilously perched dwelling overlooking the Hawaiian coastline. It just wouldn’t be any fun if the characters could easily escape their ordeal, now would it?
Roberts enjoys trapping people somewhere, and in Primate, a small pool is all that keeps the cast somewhat safe from the now-deadly yet hydrophobic Ben. The chimp, in lieu of a shark, both circles the amenity and stokes your anxiety. Keep in mind, the stress of the situation is also being exacerbated by someone’s chimp-inflicted bite and the onset of rabies that looms over her like a ticking clock. Unfortunately, no one’s coming to help the victims. At least not anyone who’s actually helpful and not just an excuse to add to the movie’s meager but oh so satisfying body count.
Primate outdoes its celluloid ancestors, such as Link and Shakma, by being absolutely brutal. The kills in this movie are, along with Ben’s animatronics-assisted acting, the practical effects and a John Carpenter-esque synth score, the most redeeming aspect. Whether or not most of said gruesomeness will remain intact for a theatrical release is unknown, however, it would be unwise to touch even a hair on the movie’s glowing gore component.
Primate is as straightforward as it is suspenseful. Sure, the characters are utterly disposable and thinly written, but this movie is surfing on its slashery amusements. And in that regard, it never crashes. From almost start to finish, Primate, much like the rabid Ben, doesn’t ever let up.
Primate premiered at Fantastic Fest 2025 and is slated for a wide release in January of 2026.
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