Primate is one of those horror films that gives us a burst of gruesomeness at the start, here with the not-so-gentle Ben, after the chimpanzee is adopted by a family, all unaware of the fact that it’s foaming at the mouth until it’s too late.
Normally, if you buy an animal, you’d check if it’s had all its vaccinations, but someone’s clearly missed the boat with this one, even though for Hawaiian-based teenagers Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah – Dexter: New Blood) and Erin (Gia Hunter), their father, Adam (Troy Kotsur – Black Rabbit), is profoundly deaf and despite having trained Ben to respond to his commands, he’s also a successful author who’s off on a book tour.
Probably the first clue that Ben’s off his meds is when he starts growling like a dinosaur, leading to a large section of the film taking place where, despite being in a massive house, the girls and their friends are trapped in the pool because the ape hates water.
How will they signal for help when they’re in a remote location and phone signal is terrible? Who will die and how many?
Well, you’ll have to find out the answers by watching Primate, since it has some great deaths on display, leading me to feel that more horror should be like this, rather than killing people just off-camera, and feeling more like a PG-13 movie. This one’s an 18-certificate in the UK, given the violence on display.
Plus, at 90 mins, it’s a well-paced thriller which doesn’t outstay its welcome, unlike a lot of films, these days. There’s also a lot of humour when some of the ape’s actions take place, since it was making me burst out laughing quite often.
And kudos to Adrian Johnston for a musical score which feels a bit like Halloween, as well as the film having some good use of silence in tense scenes when the Dad’s about.
I also spotted Victoria Wyant, as Lucy’s friend, Kate, from ITV’s I Fought The Law. Victoria is an actress who calls herself a ‘he’. Gen Z, eh… Hehehe….
Primate is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD.
NOTE: There is a brief post-credit scene, as per the video below.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 89 minutes
Release date: January 30th 2026
Studio: Paramount Pictures UK
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 (Anarmorphic Panavision, X-OCN XT (8.6K))
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 8/10
Director: Johannes Roberts
Producers: Walter Hamada, John Hodges, Bradley Pilz
Screenplay: Johannes Roberts, Ernest Riera
Music: Adrian Johnston
Cast:
Lucy: Johnny Sequoyah
Hannah: Jess Alexander
Adam: Troy Kotsur
Kate: Victoria Wyant
Erin: Gia Hunter
Nick: Benjamin Cheng
Drew: Charlie Mann
Brad: Tienne Simon
Ben: Miguel Torres Umba
Susan: Amina Abdi
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.