Primate

Horror is an excellent genre because it can thrive off simplicity. There doesn't need to be a grand and spanning universe tied together by a multitude of projects, films in this genre typically don't require immense budgets, and horror flicks more often than not can have more concise run-times asking for less of a viewer's attention and time. In many ways, horror can feel like the last bastion of Hollywood of yore and it's films like Primate that continue to see it maintain this standard.

Primate is not a complex film nor a particularly inventive one but that's more than fine because what it does offer simply works. The premise is incredibly straightforward. A group of friends' holiday is ruined when a typically kind-hearted and charming chimpanzee pet turns feral after contracting rabies, leading to a fight for survival against a former 'member of the family'. That's it. There's no fluff or added caveats, it's a plain and simple fight for survival with slasher-like elements where a foreboding killer stalks and hunts defenceless victims, killing them methodically in the most gruesome and violent ways possible.

It's a conflicting movie because there's no standout villain in Primate. Ben the Chimpanzee is the killer and there's no denying that, but the opening 20 minutes showcases just how loving this animal is and how he has been part of the family for years and years, a creative choice that makes his downward spiral into madness and murder all the more uncomfortable. Similarly, in a vein akin to most slasher movies, Ben isn't a vocal killer, a twisted psychopath that plays with his victim's emotions. The chimp doesn't have any dialogue and simply haunts his home, picking off the survivors when the chance arises and brutally murdering them in creative and stomach-churning ways. In many respects, Primate fits the formula of Halloween or Friday the 13th, where the killer simply kills and the survivors do whatever they can to live to see the sun rise.

Building on this further, there's a bunch of horror genre tropes that are used in Primate, be that a happy and delightful opening act filled with sexy swimsuit pool sessions and emotional family re-connections. Soon the dynamic changes as Ben begins tearing flesh from bone, smashing skulls in with rocks, ripping lower jaws from skulls, the list goes on. We even get moments where survivors hide inches away from the murderous chimp, moments of tension that, as ever, are enhanced when a pile of books falls over or a television flicks on, distracting the beast as though it was a persistent stalker in a horror game. Again, we're not talking about a film that rewrites the horror script but that's fine because Primate knows what it is and simply plays to its strengths.

And these strengths revolve around a tight 80+ minute run-time that doesn't feel as though the film wastes your time, a focus on practical effects, including putting Miguel Torres Umba into a chimp suit to become Ben and ensuring no cheap-looking digital effects are used for the key killer. The entire film is pretty much all set in one house too, meaning the focus never needs to shift away from a few key sets, allowing the horror and fear-factor to steadily simmer and then boil over when a murder takes place or bones are broken.

You won't watch Primate and find yourself staggered by what director and writer Johannes Roberts has put together, but you will enjoy your time with this film, and for me, that's all you can want out of a simple and straightforward horror flick like this. It clearly didn't cost a great deal to make but the money has been well spent, ultimately leading to a film that is fun, easy-to-digest, and tightly packaged. For under 90 minutes of entertainment, you won't go too far wrong with Primate.