A new year means a whole new host of horror films to hopefully give us nightmares and yet believe it or not we are not even a month into the new year and already a really good horror film has just come out. With this film following in the grand old tradition of making animals scary with this film taking what could have been seen as being a really campy and over the top premise and somehow making it work really well and so then join me as I review the film that is pretty much just Cujo but for chimps with the film in question being called simply just "Primate" enjoy.
The plot of this film is when a chimp called Ben contracts rabis and starts attacking his owners and her friends it's up to the group to find away to survive the night. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good with the plot of this film being one that whilst yes it does copy the plot of Cujo almost beat for beat it is still a really good story to see unfold as it's one that we don't really get to see all that much in the world of horror and to the films credit the plot of this film is one that does know when to take itself seriously and when to be a bit campy and bit funny as there parts inn this fil, where they do add elements of humor but the thing that does let this film down from a plot point of view being the fact that the films plot is a bit on a weak side so much so that outside of the basic premise of the film the film itself doesn't really have that much of a plot to speak of whatever with it being made clear as day that the makers of this film were banking on the fact that they had a chimp be the main killer of the film being more then enough to make the film and while yes that is still a really good idea the film still needed to devote more time into fully fleshing out it's plot and actually showing us key things instead of just telling us about them with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this film is Dexter: New Blood star Johnny Sequoyah as Lucy and The Little Mermaid 2023 star Jessica Alexander as Hannah. Also starring in this film is Troy Kotsur as Adam , Victoria Wyant as Kate , Gia Hunter as Erin , Benjamin Cheng as Nick , Charlie Mann as Drew , Tienne Simon as Brad , Ready Player One star Kae Alexander as Yoko , Amina Abdi as Susan , Albert Magashi as Matt and Miguel Torres Umba as Ben.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With all of this films actors turning in some really good performances in this film something that given the films premise and the fact that one of the films main characters is a chimp is something that surely couldn't have been easy and yet they manages to pull it off really well with all of them looking right at home when acting in scenes with Miguel Torres Umba who is of course playing Ben the chimp and while alot of this films characters are perfectly well cast there are some that do feel out of place in a film like this and could have been done with being cast with someone else like for example all pf the boys that the girls meet at the start of the film as while they all do turn in a good performance in this film they all come across as being to nice when this is a film that requires someone who can play a douche character with the best actor in this film being none other then Miguel Torres Umba himself as it surely must have been very difficult acting in a heavy chimp costume and still put across just what the character is thinking and feeling all without saying a word of dialog and yet he does manage to pull that of with it being made clear as day that this films co-writer and director Johannes Roberts spent alot of time in casting this one character as he is one of the few characters that does feel perfectly well cast with the acting thats in this film really being helped by the fact that the script for this film is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.
Character wise this films characters do fair alot more better then the characters in this films directors other film Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City in that these characters are actually well written for the most part. As while some of them do come across as being full thought out characters there are some like the boys that do come across as being very one dimensional as characters as none of the boys that the girls meet at the start of the film have anything that's even close to being a personality which would be fine if they were there just for that one scene but the film does bring them back into movie and if the plan was to always do that then the makers of this should have taken the time to add something literally anything to there personalities as that would help make them feel more thought out as characters with the same thing even being true for the dad of one of the characters as even tho he's meant to be a main character and yet the film doesn't do anything with his character this is despite the fact that the character does have an interesting hook to him in that he's deaf and yet the film does nothing with it with it seeming like the makers of the film were only interested in the films female characters and in Ben himself which is fair enough as there meant to be the main characters of the film but at the same time tho there should have been some love and attention given to the side characters as they can make the main characters more better then what they already are in the first place and while the main character aren't all that effected by this by any means as Lucy is still a strong willed main character it is something that would have helped the lesser main characters like Hannah for example appear all the more better due to how strongly written the side characters could have been.
If you saw the trailer for this movie and it reminded you very much of Cujo then prepared for the whole film to do exactly that. As this film whilst it's clearly not a remake of Cujo you can see where they took inspiration for this film from that film as there are alot of scenes in this film that feel like they were ripped right out of that that film sadly none of which are things that can be discussed in this review as I want this review to be as SPOILER FREE as is humanly possibly but it is something that once you see them you can't un notice as the film does come across as being very in your face about where it's taking inspiration from and fair enough Cujo is a classic film so of course in your animal themed horror film your going to want to tip your hat to that film but there's tipping your hat and then there's straight up copying what that movie did whilst only changing a few things to pass it off as your own and that's something that this film did as there are alot of scenes in this film that do feel like scenes from Cujo with only a few minor changes made to them with this film being a good case of the makers of this film not really being all that subtle about where they got there inspiration from and while it is something that doesn't really hurt the film in anyway as those scenes that worked well in that film still do work well in this film as well it's the fact that the makers of this film did copy those scenes that does make the makers of this film feel alot more lazy then what they actually are and heck you could even argue that the premise of this film is a rip off of the premise of Cujo as they are both strikingly similar in alot aspects with the only thing that sets this film apart from that film is the fact that the killer of this film is a chimp and not a dog and that's really it.
This is film that whilst it might not become a big hit for Paramount Pictures it is one that could very easily become a cult classic, As the films plot is just wacky enough for mainstream audiences not to like it all that much but is just crazy enough for the film to become a cult hit as the idea of having a killer chimp trying to kill you isn't something that screams box office hit but it is something that does scream cult classic on the other hand tho as we are in January and typically good films be they horror or not don't come out at this time and with this film getting alot of rage reviews online there is a good chance that this film could be come a hit film and if it does then great as this is a film that many people will have a good time with however tho it does also mean that studios won't be able to make a sequel or a prequel to this film due to spoiler reasons and that is something that can only be seen as being a good thing as not all films need to have additional installments to them as sometimes being a one and done film is more then enough like for example M3GAN that film didn't need a sequel as it was a perfect one and done film and yet because the studios got greedy we ended up with the lesser M3GAN 2.0 as that film didn't really need to exist in the first place and if this film got a sequel or a prequel it would be the same thing as this is a film that wraps up it's main plot line in this film and therefor doesn't need to have any additional films in it but if this film did get additional films it would still be interesting to see what they do with the story and with the characters and given the fact that I liked this film I would of course go and see it but that doesn't earn that it has to happen tho.
There are some bad things to be found in this film as for a film that doesn't have that long of a running time this film does act somewhat as a slow burner when it really should have been getting going pretty much right away. With the other thing that doesn't really work in the film being the fact that they don't show us how Ben get rabis in the first place rather they tell us how it happened which isn't all that effective and yet if you look back at Cujo they show us how he got rabis and actually showed us what he was like before he got bit and yet here in this film thy don't do any of that as we don't get to see what Ben was like before he got rabis as the film opens with him already having it and therefor we don't get to see the difference in his personality which is something that would have made him getting rabis be all the more sad and tragic when this is something that the makers of this film really should have done as it is something that make us the audience feel something for Ben and heck even getting to see what his connection is like with his owners before he gets rabis is something that would have helped us to form more of an emotional connection with him as a character as then we would feel all the more sad for him when he does get rabis but for as many things the film gets wrong it gets alot of things right like for example it does know how to build up tension which is something that does make what could have been done really badly given the fact that the killer of the film is a chimp and yet it's clear as that the makers of this film really did know how best to use Ben as a character they only use him in ways that make tension so much so that the character does come across as being more creepier then what he really had any right to be.
Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and twenty three minuets and six seconds. Which is something that is a solid running time for this film to have with the film having more then enough there interms of plot to really cover that amount of running time and yet in saying this this film really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the film really doesn't take the time to fully develop it's plot which is something that the film very easily could have done just by being fifteen minuets longer as that would have allowed the film to still be a slow burner and yet it would also allow for scenes that do develop the films plot like showing us how Ben got rabis in the first place with this small amount of running time even effecting the film character development as to be frank the film doesn't give any of it's characters any kind of character development with this being due to the fact that the film spends so much time with them just partying at the start of the film which is fine as you need to have the calm before the storm moment with the characters but at the same time given just how long that this film is it does mean that alot of the film needed to be about giving both it's plot and it's characters development and yet for one reason or the makers of this film thought they could still have a slow burn of a film and have that film be less then one hour and thirty minuets long and yet if the film was a little bit longer then the film would be a lot more better as it would allow for the films plot and and it's characters to get the development that they both really did need but to be fair when this film gets going it really does get going but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a horror film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With the film having alot of really good kills in it with them making good use of the fact that they have a chimp as the main killer of the film as we get to see some really creative kills in this film all of which are the types of kills that you wouldn't get to see in other film and yet they all work so well in this film with part of what makes the films kills work being the fact that the film does a good job of building up tension in the first place with the best kill in the whole film being one that i'm not going to spoil as all of this films kills but this is a film that you need to see without knowing all that much about what happens in the film and what happens in the films kills with this film making shockingly good use of practical effects something which you don't really get to see all that much in Hollywood these days and yet they all look good in this film as you can tell that the makers of this film really did put alot of thought and effort into making this films practical effects looking as good as they could have done which is something that they really didn't have to do as they very easily could have used CGI and it would have worked just as well but the fact that they didn't does show that Johannes Roberts is an old school film maker that would only use CGI when he needs to and not when he has to something which we do see alot of in all of this films really impressive looking kills in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this is a film that really does need to be seen on the biggest screen possible as while it is basically just a chimp version of Cujo it is still a really good film in it's own right as it does get so much right in the first place as that's just how good that this film really is in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for were I personally got all of the images that I personally sued in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Tenor , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this film being Google Images simply because Google Images actually has images from this film really are up and on Google Images and plus pretty much much all of the images that I personally found on Google Images were all really very fairly high quality and as well as being as really very fairly high definition as well and so then horror fans we end this review as we always do with really our one and true goddess Elvira wishing us all some really very unpleasant dreams.
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