Suffering from rabies, chimpanzee Ben turns on the family who have adopted him. A group of partying young people in an isolated clifftop home are trapped in a swimming pool by the killer ape. Lucy, daughter of the anthropologist who raised Ben, tries to keep her sister and friends safe.
Director Johannes Roberts takes a break from the shark peril of his 47 Metres Down films to offer a hairier killer. Harking back to Richard Franklin’s Link and George A. Romero’s Monkey Shines, the main menace is a murdering monkey. The cutting-edge suitmation and mo-cap chimpanzee (performed Miguel Torres Umba) must excite envy in filmmakers who had to rely on waving bananas offscreen and months of training.
We need a reel or so of set-up. Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah, from Dexter New Blood), semi-estranged daughter of a deaf writer (Troy Kotsur, of CODA fame), spends a vacation at the family’s clifftop Hawaiian home, bringing along pals (Jessica Alexander, Victoria Wyant) who might as well be wearing Soon-to-be-in-the-body-count t-shirts. They meet cute with a couple of guys on the plane, who are even more plainly marked as future victims. Lucy has a slight grump to get over with her younger sister (Gia Hunter), who feels abandoned after their mother’s death – but the main problem in the house is Ben, a chimpanzee who has lived with the family and learned to sign and use a vocaliser keyboard. Ben has been bitten by a rabid mongoose and turned not only homicidal but cruelly cunning.
A symptom of rabies is hydrophobia – fear of water – and Ben can’t swim, so when the loved pet’s nasty turn becomes apparent, the survivors retreat to a pool which dangerously abuts a deadly drop. Of course, Dad is out for the evening, mobile phones are broken or out of reach, escape attempts fail… and the clock is ticking for one bitten girl who needs her lifesaving shots within 48 hours. Roberts is a reliable pulp horror guy and expert with basic suspense exercises – while Sequoyah impresses as a capable heroine who must juggle responsibilities and risks.
Okay, so it’s Cujo with a chimp and a pool instead of a dog and a car – but Primate delivers good, gruesome business and has a sense of fun. Solid horror hokum.