PRIMATE
***
Directed by Johannes Roberts.
Starring Johnny Sequoyah, Jessica Alexander, Troy Kotsur, Miguel Torres Umba.
Horror, US, 89 Minutes, Certificate 18.
Released in Cinemas in the UK on 30th January by Paramount Pictures.
In an age where horror cinema is expanding and twisting itself into increasingly new and exciting ways, sometimes the sight of a chimpanzee ripping a man's face off is all you need. Director Johannes Roberts, after revealing the shocking true bloodthirsty nature of sharks in the 47 METRES DOWN films, seems to know this and delivers such a gory spectacle within minutes of his latest creature feature that sees a friendly chimp named Ben, succumbing to rabies and laying siege to a small cast of young women in a picturesque location. Over the next 80 plus minutes Roberts doubles down on delivering the most he can get out of his slimmed down premise.
Taking centre stage here is Ben, a chimpanzee taught sign language by his loving adopted family residing in a beautiful Hawaiian home located atop a picturesque cliff. Eldest daughter Lucy returns home to visit her deaf and mute father Adam and estranged sister Erin. With her best friend Kate and the flirty Hannah in tow, what should be a nice fun weekend, especially with Adam going away on a book signing event, is slightly ruined by the fact that Ben has had a run in with a rabid mongoose. Soon the decision to take in a species of animal otherwise known for its aggressive nature, brute strength and sharp teeth and teach it sign language and stick a t-shirt on him is given second thought when his rabid nature is focussed solely on his adoptive family and anyone else foolish enough to wander in and see what all the screaming is about.
Working with frequent co-screenwriter Ernest Riera, Roberts knows exactly what he is doing here. Delivering a fun, stripped down exercise that does not hesitate to give the audience what it wants. At the same time there is a degree of self-awareness at play here that makes the film even more fun. Teen horror staples such as annoying horny stoners are dealt with in a fun, bloody style that skips by over its swift running time with a synth score by Adrian Johnston that could have John Carpenter and Tangerine Dream considering a plagiarism lawsuit.
Despite all the throwback elements and excessive violence there are a few spots where the film flags. Much is made of the fact that rabid animals develop an aversion to water, providing an excuse for most of the cast to float in a pool for a number of scenes where Ben hovers menacingly for far too long with little of consequence occurring during one particular stretch of the film. Setting this aside however leaves much to enjoy otherwise. Ben himself is an impressively realised monster, accomplished mainly through Miguel Torres Umba’s impressive performance aided by electronic puppetry elements, leaving the audience with a degree of sympathy for this poor creature in the most unfortunate of circumstances. The cast of heroines meanwhile also manage to garner more sympathy than the usual creature-feature fodder you would usually find elsewhere in this type of film. While it may not win points for originality, PRIMATE knows this all too well and concentrates, and mostly succeeds in delivering an old school, bloodily realised creature feature. Sometimes that is all that matters.
Iain MacLeod