PRIMATE
Starring: Johnny Sequoyah, Gia Hunter, Victoria Wyant, Jessica Alexander, Benjamin Cheng, and Troy Kotsur
Director: Johannes Roberts
NICK
With all due respect to the creative team, Primate is so much better than it has any right to be. Its influences are clear and prominent throughout the film, but it still offers something new to pair with the homages. There are horror hallmarks, including highly effective jump scares and gruesome kills, but there’s also a story about family and relationships that strengthens both the characters and the film’s foundation. If you’ve been underwhelmed by some of the more recent creature features (Coyotes, Death of a Unicorn, Dangerous Animals), Primate is exactly what the doctor ordered.
ROBERT
If Cujo and Laguna Beach had a baby, it would be Primate. I respect that director Johannes Roberts wastes no time getting to the heart of the movie, which is Ben, the chimp, brutally murdering every human whose path he crosses. The kills are gnarly and the most fun aspect. The other great strength, or weakness, depending on your perspective, is that you only care about one living creature throughout, and it is Ben. I found myself rooting for Ben to outlive every human, who meant nothing. While incredibly dumb, the unintentional comedy levels were outrageously high, making me laugh and smirk incessantly.
PAIGE
The premise of Primate is as ridiculous and simplistic as they come, and it completely lacks an emotional core to latch onto any of the characters, including Ben, the chimp. However, what the movie does have going for it is jaw-droppingly brutal kills, which make for a surprisingly entertaining watch. It goes all out with its blood and gore, and its score creates a tense atmosphere throughout. Primate won’t end up being the best horror film of the year, but it’s certainly a bloody fun January release to start the year off right.
QUENTIN
I’m not sure where the line is drawn when it comes to paying tribute to influences or ripping those influences off. Director Johannes Roberts seemingly doesn’t either because Primate’s basic premise is Cujo meets The Shallows for the CW crowd, and there are scenes very obviously recalling iconic classics like The Shining, Jurassic Park, and Halloween. The poorly developed characters are the typical slasher-movie archetypes, and there are too many missed opportunities and logical leaps to ignore. That said, the kills are delightfully gruesome, if not very creative or scary. Maybe that’s enough, but for me, Primate is a monkey that flew out of someone’s butt.
ADRIANO
As far as January horror goes, you can do so much worse than Primate. With that in my mind, it’s not nearly as fun as it should be. Everyone involved knows exactly what kind of movie this is and isn’t trying anything more or less, but the result is certainly less. Despite glimpses of heavy gore, the build-up is uninteresting and clearly there just to set up faceless murder-bait. The rest is cheap and tensionless. I see the appeal, as Primate has the potential to satisfy a blood-hungry adrenaline junkie, but this is an inoffensive but weak attempt at a creature feature.
BODE
When you go into a horror flick like Primate in the month of January, you know what you’re getting. A killer chimp? Check. Beautiful young people? Check. Lots of kills? Check. A warm setting? Check. Director Johannes Roberts delivers all of this and more to the film's paying audience, but does so in ways that are genuinely better than I certainly thought they would be. It’s lean, it’s surprisingly mean, and the fact the chimp itself is a guy in a monkey suit (Miguel Torres Umba) does wonders for how effective the kills and jump scares are. What can I say? I had fun.
This film was reviewed by Nick as part of Bitesize Breakdown's coverage of the 2025 Toronto After Dark Film Festival.