Primate Review: Murder Monkey Movie Fun. Murder Monkey Movie Big and Stupid. Murder Monkey Movie Bloody Good Time.

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This movie feels like a classic creature feature, reminiscent of films like Deep Blue Sea or Cujo. It’s over-the-top, gory, and delightfully ridiculous – and that’s exactly what makes it work! It delivers the tense, fun, and unbelievable thrills we expect from January horror releases, and it’s a welcome return to that style.

The trailers pretty much show you everything, and honestly, that’s perfectly fine. While surprises are great in movies, when it comes to a film about a killer monkey, you’re really just hoping to see foolish, wealthy characters get what’s coming to them in spectacularly gory ways. During my screening, people actually cheered the monkey’s attacks, shouting “Get ’em Ben!” repeatedly. That sums it up – it’s a wild, over-the-top horror show.

Primate Understands Well How To Exploit Its B-Movie Trappings

The story follows Lucy, a college student who returns to Hawaii after her mother’s death. She finds her younger sister being raised by their busy, work-focused father, a primatologist named Adam. Lucy brings along her friends Katie, Nick, and Hannah, though she doesn’t get along with Hannah for unclear reasons. Despite a talented cast, the characters themselves aren’t very well-developed, and the plot largely revolves around romantic and sexual tension.

Then there’s Ben, the family’s incredibly intelligent primate pet, brought to life by movement director Miguel Hernando Torres Umba in a remarkably realistic costume – he’s arguably the film’s biggest standout. A quick detail in the opening credits hints that Lucy’s mother taught Ben to communicate in an extraordinary way, far beyond what’s typical for chimpanzees. Since Adam is deaf, the family primarily uses sign language, which Ben appears to understand fluently. He also uses an iPad loaded with pre-recorded words and phrases, allowing him to tell Lucy he’s happy she’s back and that he missed her.

The film starts with a shockingly violent scene, then flashes back thirty-six hours. After that, things seem surprisingly normal—but knowing what one of the characters is capable of creates a constant sense of unease. We watch young adults enjoying themselves—drinking and swimming—with this hidden tension bubbling beneath the surface. This subtle editing technique effectively builds suspense.

The fragile peace is broken when Adam discovers an injured mongoose in Ben’s habitat and impulsively cages him, worried about potential infection. Despite this, and the recent return of his daughter, Adam leaves town – he’s been offered a book deal and has a signing to attend, even with the possibility that his monkey might have rabies. This marks the beginning of a pattern of illogical decisions, and the filmmakers repeatedly test the audience’s patience with the increasingly unbelievable choices their characters make.

Let’s get straight to it: Ben is infected with rabies and quickly breaks free, becoming extremely violent and attacking anyone he can. He immediately bites Erin’s leg, forcing the children to hide in the pool, knowing Ben can’t swim. What follows is a terrifying struggle – a desperate race against time where each person tries to reach a phone to call for help, with almost everyone failing in spectacular fashion.

It’s pretty obvious, but the movie takes a lot of liberties with how a disease could affect a primate. While Ben becoming aggressive is believable, it feels strange that he also starts acting much more intelligent, creeping around the estate like a horror movie villain.

At its strongest, the film evokes the atmosphere of early John Carpenter movies. The synth score, by Adrian Johnston, is particularly reminiscent of Carpenter’s style, and the director uses effective first-person perspectives to show the monkey stalking its victims. When it succeeds, Primate feels like a tense home invasion thriller, but with a killer monkey. Importantly, the director avoids excessive gore, keeping the number of deaths low but making each one impactful and visually striking.

Look, whether you’ll enjoy Primate really comes down to how much you’re willing to just go with it. I mean, yeah, the chimp is intelligent, but it’s a stretch to believe he understands things like torture or being mocked. It’s weirdly not ‘animalistic’ enough, if that makes sense. I actually had the most fun when the chimp, Ben, was just a relentless, terrifying killer. It felt less convincing when the movie tried to suggest he was motivated by human-like revenge. But honestly? The more over-the-top and silly Primate got, the more I enjoyed it. It’s a pretty good reason to head to the cinema in January, and trust me, it does get pretty over-the-top.

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2026-01-08 12:59