Primate, directed by Johannes Roberts, was released on January 9, 2026. The film follows Lucy, who reunites with her family and friends after returning home from college. She also reunites with Ben, a chimpanzee that had been a part of her late mother’s experiments. During her time there, Ben contracts rabies, and now the group must find a way to safety without being killed by the chimpanzee. 

From a horror standpoint, the movie is not awful, but I wouldn’t call it a true horror movie. It’s more of a “gore-fest”, containing a bunch of sequences of heads getting smashed and limbs being torn apart. If you’re looking for a movie to scare you, this isn’t it. For most of the film, you’ll just be anticipating who will die next and then cringing in disgust when it happens. There aren’t any moments that make you jump or tense. 

The film has a pretty much non-existent story. If you’ve seen the trailer, that matches the vibe to expect from the movie. Though the characters aren’t insufferable like they are in other gore-heavy movies. Some are kind of funny, though others you don’t feel much for. The focus of the film is just living through a rabid Chimp, so the characters aren’t really deeply written, as they’re mainly there to be killed off, so they work in that sense. 

The movie has a lot of classic horror movie tropes, such as horror sequences happening during intimate moments, fake-out deaths, etc. Honestly, I found the movie actually pretty funny. There were so many scenes where the editing itself made me laugh. Spoiler warning, but in one of the scenes, a character tries to push Ben off a ledge, but then Ben pulls him down and climbs back up. After that, the camera follows the character falling to his death, before showing his head getting smashed in. It then quickly cuts to the group of women screaming, and then to Ben laughing. The way it was edited was just so funny because it went from something so gross to sad and then funny. It felt like emotional whiplash in a goofy way. The film has a lot of those moments. You’ll be laughing and then grossed out and vice versa. I still find it hard to tell whether or not this movie was made with the intention to be so bad it’s good or if they actually believed this film had true soul and heart.  

The one thing I will give massive props to is the effects. Nearly everything is practical in the movie. I’m pretty sure the only scene that uses VFX is the jaw scene (if you know, you know). Aside from that, everything is entirely practical. Ben, for what I assume is at least 98% of the film, is fully practical. Though at times you can kind of tell it’s a man in a suit. Most of the time though, the performance actually makes you think it could actually be a real chimpanzee. Especially when Ben gets all bloody and foaming at the mouth, he feels like a real creature and not just a costume. The music also worked pretty well, but it wasn’t an iconic score. Just the classic music complementing the atmosphere, which works pretty well.  

Overall, I’d say the movie is pretty bland and offers nothing new to the table. While it does have impressive effects, it’s a relatively average movie that’s very cookie-cutter horror/thriller. I would say watch it if you want something funny or entertaining without giving much thought to the film’s story or characters. I definitely had fun watching it with a friend cause of the laughs we shared, but in the end, I give the film a 5/10.

Breakdown:

Story: 4/10

Effects: 8/10

Visuals: 6/10

Characters: 5/10

Music: 4/10