2026 is here, and we get the first big horror film of the year in Primate. Is it any good? Recent years have been really good to the horror genre. We are in an age where horror is getting more awards. Performances are being valued now more than ever, and we are also able to tell deep stories with meaning. There has been a rise in elevated horror recently, and that isn’t a bad thing, of course. But what about the leave-your-brains-at-the-door dumb fun horror? Primate is that movie.
Lucy’s tropical island homecoming turns deadly when her family’s clever chimpanzee, Ben, becomes rabid. With her father away and no help coming, paradise becomes a prison as Lucy and her friends fight for survival against a pet they once trusted.
This movie is simply a wild and crazy ride. It isn’t here to teach us anything or make us feel anything besides tension and dread. It is 90 minutes long and starts with a bang and doesn’t let up. None of what I am saying are bad things. Sometimes we need a fun horror movie that we don’t have to think about too much.
What some people may be disappointed in is that we don’t really get to spend too much time with Ben the chimp before he goes apeshit. It happens pretty quickly before we get to care about him. I think this is actually a good thing, though, because of how brutal this movie is.
Primate surprised me because it has some of the best kills in a while. One kill, for example, I’d be surprised if it doesn’t make my best of the year list. The best thing that this movie has going for it is the kills and the tension. Ben is so brutal in this that you feel everything he does, and it leaves you squirming in your seat. There are also many scenes where the audience is holding their breath because we don’t know who is going to get it next and how.
Overall, Primate is a fun time. If you go in looking for something more sophisticated here, this isn’t the movie for you. You don’t really care about the characters. The dialogue is pretty bad throughout, and the setting is limited. But that is okay because the movie knows what it is and has a good time with how crazy and violent it is. The kills are top-notch, and it is insanely entertaining. I recommend Primate for anyone who wants to see a chimp go crazy and murder dumb characters. It’s presented as a monkey-gone-wrong horror film, and that is exactly what we get.
