Primate – Movie Review (3/5)

PRIMATE is a new horror movie featuring a survival story and an animal attacking its own humans. However, the animal is also very innocent in this ordeal, which greatly helps an animal lover like me. Admittedly, I still hoped both the animal and (some of) the humans would make it. Read our full Primate horror movie review here!

PRIMATE is a horror movie that isn’t entirely easy for me to watch. I love animals and loathe any movie relying on an animal dying for impact or a “great shot”. Don’t get me wrong, I can recognize it being the necessary catalyst for John Wick, and I understand that in many horror movies, humans must fight back to survive.

It’s all about the plot and how it’s illustrated. And I still never like it, nor am I supposed to, I think.

With this animal horror movie, we’re dealing with a filmmaker who has already made two solid shark horror movies, so I felt fairly comfortable. And yet, this was definitely the toughest watch of his movies. It’s also made as a straight-up slasher, which is made very clear from the opening scene alone. Consider yourself warned. If you’re squeamish, you will not be able to handle this!

Continue reading our Primate movie review below. Find it in theaters from January 9, 2026.

Meet Ben… he’s about to change

Primate is officially described as being about a group of friends on a tropical vacation, but that’s actually not very accurate. In fact, it’s about a girl, Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah), returning home from school. She’s on a break and has a few friends with her, who will be staying with her for the summer at her family’s house in Hawaii.

Also in the house are her younger sister, Erin (Gia Hunter), and their father (Troy Kotsur). Well, he’s not there much as he’s busy with work, so the “man of the house” is their pet chimpanzee, Ben.

Now, for this family, having a chimpanzee is very normal, and he’s not “just” a pet. He’s been part of a research project about language, which means Ben can communicate via both sign language and a tablet. Something we’ve already seen in real life, where the gorilla Koko is perhaps the most famous example.

Unfortunately, as with any pet, there is always the risk of a disease or virus lurking, which can change the animal greatly. Just think of Stephen King’s “Cujo”, and you’ll have an idea of what to expect. Before long, Ben will be more like a zombie than the beloved furry family member the girls have grown up with.

Do you also root for the animal?!

Yeah, as much as I recognize animal villains as a powerful tool, and pets turning dangerous as a strong premise for a horror movie, I still don’t like it. Give me zombies, war horror, or a crazy slasher horror-comedy, and I’ll be fine. But a movie where an animal is the predator is never easy for me.

I will, inevitably, end up rooting for the animal.

If for no other reason, then the fact that humans have usually been the catalyst for whatever prompts the animal to attack. Or the humans are in the animal’s territory… or the animal is hungry. Look, I love animals, so I will usually wish for their survival. And I also did in Primate, even if it isn’t very logical due to the nature of the story.

However, my point in telling you this is that it didn’t ruin the movie for me. You have to accept this premise or just skip it altogether. Also, it’s clearly not an actual chimp playing the role of Ben, which helped me a lot. And finally, this is made like a teen horror slasher with the young human beings as both sweet and smart, as well as real jerks.

In this kind of horror movie, the jerks rarely have a “nice” exit. If you catch my drift *wink wink, nudge nudge*, so just enjoy those scenes. At least I know I did!

Watch Primate in US theaters

Primate comes from director Johannes Roberts, who previously directed the two shark horror movies 47 Meters Down (2017) and 47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019) before moving on to the world of zombies with Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021). With Primate, one could argue – well, I certainly can – that filmmaker Johannes Roberts combined animal horror with zombie horror.

And it works surprisingly well, if you’re on board with that premise. I mean, this is very much a horror slasher, so the imagery is extremely bloody (and meaty) as you would expect from any other brutal horror movie with a survival plot.

The screenplay was written by Johannes Roberts & Ernest Riera. This is the fourth Johannes Roberts movie written by Ernest Riera, who also wrote the brutal dystopian Netflix survival movie Nowhere (2023).

Alongside Johnny Sequoyah, Gia Hunter, and Troy Kotsur, we also have Jessica Alexander, Victoria Wyant, Benjamin Cheng, Charlie Mann, and Tienne Simon in key roles. Which of these characters will survive is for you to find out. Just don’t expect that many will make it, as that is usually reserved for the very few in a horror slasher.

PRIMATE is out in theaters only from January 9, 2026.

Details

Director: Johannes Roberts
Writers: Johannes Roberts & Ernest Riera
Cast: Johnny Sequoyah, Jessica Alexander, Troy Kotsur, Victoria Wyant, Gia Hunter, Benjamin Cheng, Charlie Mann, Tienne Simon