Michael Fairbanks
The “Robbie Williams as a monkey” biopic Better Man was one of the most agonizing viewing experiences of last year. Despite Hollywood’s continued attempts to make me emotionally connect to humanoid chimps, I’m not biting. They are alienating, best seen in animal form. Johannes Roberts’ Primate understands this, delivering a ruthless simian serial killer who confirms all intrusive thoughts about what chimps can do to the human body. Primate is the ideal disposable entertainment to kick off January, a palette cleanser from the more sophisticated and emotionally draining fare of awards season. It is also a potent reminder that CGI can only be so scary, as the terrifying practical realization of Ben The Chimp may cement him as a horror icon.
We zero in on Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah) as she visits her childhood home. Her father Adam (CODA Academy Award winner Troy Kotsur) is a successful author who is on the verge of getting one of his novels adapted to film. Her sister Erin (Gia Hunter) is a bit vexed that she hasn’t seen her sister in a while, especially since she’s brought her friends Hannah (Jessica Alexander) and Nick (Benjamin Cheng) along on this trip. Caught in the middle is family pet Ben (Miguel Hernando Torres Umba, in performance capture), a chimp raised by Lucy’s now deceased linguistics expert mother. On the first night of their stay, the usually docile Ben is bitten by a rabid mongoose and contracts the disease himself. He immediately becomes feral and violent, ruthlessly attacking his owners after Adam goes out to attend a book signing.
Primate is unapologetic in its use of classic slasher trappings. There is no sincere attempt to make these kids compelling characters. There’s some bog standard drama between them just so that they have something to say to each other, yet it is practically invisible. If there didn’t need to be multiple kills in the movie, the story would’ve only needed Lucy and Erin. The young actors are watchable but there is no breakout scream queen. It is a bit unfortunate because usually these simpler horror films do usually mine some unexpected talent and, here, we just need warm bodies.
With a meager runtime of 89 minutes, Primate still takes a touch too long for the carnage to get going in earnest. When Ben starts his rampage and nearly claws the skin off of Erin’s leg, all of our characters are sitting by a pool, and they stay in there for quite a while as they figure out their next movie. While it is nice that they make a smart decision early on, that choice also serves as a thinly veiled excuse for nothing to truly happen for about fifteen more minutes. A bit of a letdown after having to sit through the daytime soap setup. Johannes Roberts should’ve had our characters start in a more vulnerable place in the home and then have to make their way to the pool once we got a more memorable glimpse of Ben’s antics beyond an early kill of one of his keepers.
However, once our characters have to get out of the pool and Ben gets to cut loose, Primate kicks into high gear. It is impossible to overstate just how menacing movement specialist Miguel Hernando Torres Umba is in this costume. When actors have to react to CGI creatures, it often feels too rehearsed. We can tell nothing on the set is actually freaking them out, they’re just running away from an empty space that will eventually be replaced with a mannered, nonexistent threat. In Primate, we never lose sight of the fact that Ben is there in the flesh. His movements and expressions are spontaneous, manic, and furious. When he’s tearing at his victim’s flesh, we understand that he too is in pain from the rabies. He’s a menace who is also suffering. Torres Umba is just as effective in the film’s earlier sequences where he shows how docile and friendly Ben has been his entire life. We see how he could become such a beloved member of the family. In fact, the film could’ve dived deeper into the feelings of betrayal Lucy and Erin most be going through. They get on board with needing to kill him and from there mostly seem to feel nothing towards him. There could’ve been some real emotional impact if this leaned into the heartache of having to put down an animal who has meant so much, but then we wouldn’t have as much time for cheap thrills.
Johannes Roberts is not the most creative filmmaker when it comes to set pieces but his mostly practical gore is visceral. In a post-Terrifier world, even mainstream studios like Paramount seem to be comfortable including lengthy and extreme violence. Ben gets one lengthy and mischievous kill here that rivals any of Art The Clown’s pranks, and it will likely be the moment that most audiences come out of the film talking about. While the rest of the kills aren’t nearly as memorable, they’re still pretty gnarly.
Primate will deliver the exact right amount of carnage for audiences who may be entering the theater after this horrific week in America a little more feral than usual. Ben is a formidable killer who sets the bar high for 2026’s horror villains. With the isolated setting and relatively limited cast of characters, it is clear that there were some budget restraints at play here. Hopefully, if this overperforms at the box office, we can get Primates and watch these guys wreak Gremlins level havoc on an entire town.
