Primate

This weekend, Primate, a new animal-gone-wild horror film, releases in theaters. Primate follows a group of friends who are attached to their pet chimpanzee, who has contracted rabies. I did not have high expectations for this movie. It came out in January and is about a killer monkey. I was just hoping to have a bit of fun.

As far as killer monkey movies go, this one wasn't bad. The kills in this movie were absolutely bananas (pun intended). Primate doesn't shy away from the gore and violence of a monkey ripping people's faces off and pulling their jaws off. There are some really memorable kills that just make you squirm. The movie does the horror very well, keeping you on the edge of your seat as you don't know when the monkey is going to jump out and attack. It is a very straightforward story with no fluff or unnecessary side quests and moves at a very brisk pace, clocking in at under 90 minutes.

As one would expect from a movie like this, there isn't much to it. The characters are one-dimensional, and you can't remember anyone's names. However, most of that can be ignored as you're there to watch the monkey kill people. The issue is that there isn't as much monkey violence as one would expect. When it happens, it is great, but the movie spends a long time with the characters stuck in the pool or trying to get a phone. I wish it had spent more time with them in the house, being chased by the monkey. I also wish the movie spent more time on the relationship with the monkey and his owners so that there was more of an impact once he goes bad.

Overall, this was an entertaining enough B-horror film. It mostly achieves what it is going for. I just wish there was more of it. I went into this movie hoping for some fun monkey carnage, and I was not disappointed. This is the best movie I have seen this year (by default)

Score: 6.5/10 Grade: B- Recommendation: Wait to stream it