REVIEW: PRIMATE (2025)

 By Stephen Pytak

While watching Primate (2025) at a sneak preview on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, I kept wondering what kind of monkey wrangling Dario Argento and his crew had to deal with 40 years ago.

See, back in 1985 Argento released Phenomena, a flashy giallo with comic book sensibilities and heavy MTV vibes.

One of the supporting characters in it is a chimpanzee. Real name, "Tanga." Character name, "Inga."

It's a fun idea. And at one point during this thriller, the chimp gets to wield a straight razor. The image of the money with the weapon inspired some great poster art for the film.

But I figured it couldn't have been easy for Argento and his crew to get a performance out of the chimp.

And I don't think actress Jennifer Connelly talks all that much about her experiences on the film.

That's probably because Tanga reportedly bit off part of her finger at some point and it had to be surgically attached.

I have a feeling the makers of Primate (2025) didn't have such issues.

Now, to be fair, I'm not sure how the makers of this modern version of Cujo brought the chimp "Ben" to life.

Reports online suggest it's an actor in a suit and the performance is enhanced with some handy dandy CGI.

Whatever it was, I thought it worked just fine.

I kind of wish Argento had this kind of technology at his disposal back in the day.

"Ben" the chimp in a still image from the trailer for "Primate (2025)." Copyright 2025 by Paramount.

    While I was watching this film at a sneak preview - an AMC Scream Unseen presentation at the AMC Fairgrounds in Reading, Pennsylvania - and saw the title character run around, I had a feeling I wasn't watching a real chimpanzee.

It was close, close enough for me to suspend any disbelief.

And actually, I was pretty impressed with what the special effects artists and all involved had managed to pull off. "Ben" looks really cool.

The character's name will be easy to remember for fans of the animal attack subgenre.

Back in 1972 there was a killer rat movie called Ben. It featured a song by Michael Jackson, which became his first number one hit on the Billboard Top 100.

Come to think of it, Jackson at one time owned a chimpanzee. I think it was named "Bubbles." 

I wonder what Jackson would have thought of Primate (2025).

At the end of the day, it's a pretty neat teeny bopper horror film with some cool effects and enough gore to earn its R rating.

It was made by Johannes Roberts. And perhaps it's his best movie.

Previously, he made Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021). I saw that. I wasn't impressed.

He also made 47 Meters Down (2019) and its 2019 sequel. I haven't seen those and I'm not moved to.

What I like about Primate is it's a simple story, something that's kind of interesting and cinematic, something that might sell tickets.

The set up is good. Then the film really delivers with a number of clever set ups, nice doses of tension and some show-stopping payoffs.

Young "Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah)" and her friends travel to Hawaii to stay at a seaside mansion owned by her father, played by Troy Kotsur.

The family has a pet chimp, who's not feeling quite himself these days. Turns out he was bitten by a rabid mongoose. 

One thing leads to another. And while Dad is off on a book signing engagement, Ben is foaming at the mouth and hunting down all the teens in the house.

There are some nice twists and turns.

Again, the effects are good. And Roberts makes the most out it. Every shot of "Ben" is kind of interesting. Sometimes he's silhouetted in shadow. Sometimes his face is partially covered, as if he's masked or a ghost of some sort. Sometimes we see him fully enraged and destroying anything that moves.

And during one rather tense sequence, there's a nice callback to John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), the iconic scene in the closet with the slotted doors. 

In some ways, Primate (2025) is akin to modern slasher films like I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025). You have a collection of young people who have been targeted by something, or someone, for  reasons they may, or may not, understand. 

The difference here is the filmmaking is strong, and the antagonist is kind of interesting and always fun to watch. 

And maybe that's the reason folks should see this on the big screen.

If I didn't enjoy what the filmmakers did to bring this rabid ape to life, I wouldn't be recommending this film.

Oh, I also thought the score by Adrian Johnston was really good.

Primate (2025) gets a wide release this weekend. 

 RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 4.