On January 6, 2026, Primate came out in the United States. Directed by British director Johannes Roberts, this movie has been compared to movies such as “Shakma”, a classic 1990s film of a similar concept. 

This movie delves into the horrors and problems that come with having a wild animal as a pet, using gore and various jump scares to portray this. Primate revolves around Ben, a chimpanzee who joins a family on their vacation in Hawaii. He lives with his two “sisters”, Lucy and Erin, and his “father”, Adam, who is a famous author. 

There’s some pretext about the family: Adam is deaf, and their mother had died earlier, though her linguistic work was confined to Hawaii. Their late mother’s linguistic work is why it is possible for Ben to communicate with the family through a speech tool, often signaling his contentment and happiness with his family.

It’s what makes his rapid shift towards blood lust alarming to the family. 

The movie starts off like any other horror movie would: the family vacation seems to be normal, showcasing a “calm before the storm” atmosphere that is evident with the sisters and their friends on the island having a good time.

Ben sleeps in an enclosure at night, and he eventually contracts rabies from a mongoose that bites him at night. After a veterinarian, Doug Lambert (hired by Adam), tries to sedate Ben and figure out the source of the problem. Unfortunately, he faces death at the violence of Ben, his head smashed open moments into his examination. 

Much to the unluckiness of the sisters and their friends visiting, they’re forced to confront a now-blood thirsty Ben and try to survive his attempts to kill them, his nature driving him to insanity.

This movie incorporates many other scenes and references to other movies, like a scene from “The Shining” where Ben rips open the door, and theme music similar to “The Exorcist” when he’s first revealed to be infected with rabies in the trailer, as well as in the movie.

This movie is reminiscent of real-life instances of rabies coming to haunt once-healthy animals. Above all, it also reminds people of the dangers of trying to domesticate animals. Although Ben’s untreatable rabies wasn’t his fault, it was dangerous because he didn’t get treatment for the behavior that made him the way he was. It also shows the problem behind having these animals as pets and how wild animals should never even be attempted at being domesticated. 

That’s not to say they aren’t capable of having healthy connections, but the added pressure of his family around him made him a lot worse.

This movie uses a lot of gore, which explains why it’s rated R. The horror seemed a little overdone, which is a personal hint to my lack of preference for gory horror movies. It does deliver its message effectively, but its gore seems a little over the top at times, its bits of humor ironic when compared to the action of Ben doing things like ripping faces off or attacking people.

Overall, Primate isn’t a bad movie, just a little mediocre: it relies on references and gore to get its message across, and cliche jump scares that may make it seem weak at times. That, and the actor for Ben is cartoonishly (and obviously) a man in a suit. 

I’d rate this movie a 3 out of 5: it isn’t bad, and it does tackle important themes, but in an odd mixture of shock-horror and humor that makes it difficult to hold onto.