Title – Primate (2025)

Director – Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down)

Cast – Johnny Sequoyah, Jess Alexander, Troy Kotsur, Victoria Wyant

Plot – Lucy (Sequoyah) and her friend’s trip to her family home in Hawaii where her family’s pet chimpanzee Ben lives turns into anything but an idyllic retreat when Ben contracts the dreaded rabies virus.  

“Something’s wrong with Ben”

Review by Eddie on 05/05/2026

It doesn’t feel disrespectful to say that Primate is quite literally Cujo in chimpanzee form, with director Johannes Roberts and Primate’s marketing team doing little to hide the fact that their film is presenting well-trodden horror tropes in a new skin.

The type of stereotypical January cinema fair that has made the month somewhat of basket case for audiences, with the pick n mix approach sometimes unearthing some unexpected gold with a lot of rubbish around it over time, Primate at least embraces what it is and provides the exact type of experience it promised to viewers willing to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Full of barely notable characters, featuring decision making that makes one’s eyebrows raise very Dwayne Johnson like, loaded with over-the-top practical gore and infused with a bombastic and wonderful score from composer Adrian Johnston, Primate is a lot across its quick-fire 90-minute running time and while that lot isn’t always good perse, there’s still fun to be had from a film that makes no apologies for what it is.

Following Johnny Sequoyah’s Lucy’s return home to her Hawaiian piece of paradise with some friends in tow, Primate wastes little time getting down to business (within its opening moments you witness a fully-fledged face rearrangement) as Lucy’s family pet Ben the chimpanzee wreaks havoc after a run-in with a rabies infused mongoose.

There’s nothing highbrow about Primate, its script does the bare minimum, its plausibility barely passes the most basic of tests and its characters are not at all endearing, but Roberts doesn’t mind and really neither should you, as this is all about human vs animal horror that Primate is happy to delve into.

Like any similar tale, from the best such as Jaws, the fantastically B-grade like Dog Soldiers or Deep Blue Sea or the downright bad like The Shallows or Anaconda, Primate is all about the set-pieces and situations we love to turn away from or imagine ourselves in and while it would’ve been great for Primate to lean more into the campiness of its set-up or provide us with more basic character depth to invest in, there’s a time and a place for films of this ilk whether we like to admit it or not.

So, sit back, relax maybe even grab a slice of pizza (inspired by Oscar winner Troy Kotsur’s worried father Adam who makes sure to stop for a delicious bite despite a possible rabies outbreak) and enjoy the primal delights of Primate, a perfectly enjoyable disposable feature that embraces its core nature.

Final Say –

Full of horrific deaths, terribly dull humans and an unapologetic approach to its delivery, Primate isn’t here to rewrite the rulebook or go off script, making it a perfectly OK B-movie you’ll never think of again.

2 1/2 Dora the Explorer episodes out of 5