Before slashers, killer clowns, and zombies, the most feared being in all of horror was the ape. And I’m not just talking about giant gorillas like King Kong. For whatever reason, there was a time in history when you could just stick a stuntman in an ape suit and scare the pants off the world. Apes were as prevalent (if not more so) than vampires in the early days of fright. “The Unholy Three,” “Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1932), “The Gorilla,” “The Ape Man,” “The Ape,” “The Monster Walks,” and “The Monster and the Girl” are just a few ape-based creature features. Gorillas, chimps, and all associated anthropoids ruled the genre for many years. It was truly a glorious time to be alive. Alas, the age of the ape died down, making the simian scare-fest a forgotten relic of the past. But one recent release could revive the long-dormant ape-horror movie: “Primate.”
Was “Primate” intended to be a throwback to the ape horror movies of yesteryear? Perhaps. Perhaps not. In all likelihood, the creators of “Primate” drew more from the animal-attack craze of the ’70s and ’80s. Its synth-heavy score would suggest that to be the case. Consciously or not, “Primate” is essentially a reworking of the classic ape movie premise. Many of these older thrillers (“The Monster Walks,” “The Gorilla,” “Hillbillys in a Haunted House,” etc.) would set the gorilla loose in a confined space and let chaos reign. Though the location was generally a classical haunted house, “Primate” doesn’t stray far from that concept. What we have here is an ape in a remote mansion in Hawaii. Shrouded in darkness and isolated from the outside world, even a palatial house would seem haunted.
Generally, I would dedicate a paragraph to summarizing the movie. But in the case of “Primate,” one sentence will suffice: rabies-infected ape goes wild and kills a bunch of young people. If you’re like me, that one little description should be enough to entice you. However, I will add that “Primate” is probably the best version of this sort of thing we could hope for. This is not a deep exploration of mankind’s relationship with nature. A formerly kind chimpanzee is infected with Evil Rabies and becomes a cackling madman. “Primate” has the kind of plot that could’ve been played for laughs. Ben, the sinister simian, certainly has a macabre sense of humor. Yet despite the inherent lunacy of an ape playing Jason Voorhees (some of those old ape movies were horror-comedies), “Primate” goes for the jugular.
Without spoiling too many of the film’s surprises, “Primate” is a delightfully nasty flick with some murder sequences that’ll make you wince. The first five minutes alone ought to satisfy gorehounds. I’m a well-seasoned veteran of splatter films, and even I was surprised by just how downright gross some of the kills were. For a January horror flick, it’s a real stomach-churner. Blood and guts aside, the suspense actually works quite well. There’s real tension here, which is rare in this sort of creature feature. “Primate” doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it sure knows how to make an audience squirm.
“Primate” likely won’t be in the same conversation as recent works such as “Sinners” and “The Substance.” Films like those are important in how they use the genre to say something meaningful about society while still delivering the requisite thrills and chills. But films like “Primate” are also important in their own right. We need horror movies that aren’t afraid to be gnarly purely for the sake of entertainment. Scares that exist entirely just to scare. These are the types of shock shows that get folks into horror in the first place.”Primate” is the kind of picture that ought to be played at sleepovers when your parents are asleep. It should air late at night on HBO and be viewed by teenagers who are just slightly too young for “R” material. Horror is either too profound or too tame these days. Blood-soaked creature features aren’t as common as they once were. Thank goodness for movies like “Primate.”
I’m sure you can find a deeper meaning behind “Primate” if you really look for it. Some egghead with a degree in film is probably working on a brilliant essay about “Primate” and its relationship to the modern political climate right now. It’ll be worth reading, but the beauty of “Primate” is that it’s just a really good creature feature. Like the ape movies of the past, “Primate” works on the premise that being chased by a simian would be both cool and scary. If you see one movie about an ape with Evil Rabies this year, make it “Primate.”
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