Primate (2025) is directed by Johannes Roberts, who also wrote the film alongside Ernest Riera. It stars Johnny Sequoyah, Jess Alexander, Troy Kotsur, Victoria Wyant, Gia Hunter, Benjamin Cheng, Charlie Mann, Tienne Simon, and Miguel Torres Umba. The film follows Lucy (Sequoyah), a college student who, with a handful of close friends, returns home to visit her family. Upon arrival, she soon reunites with her father (Kotsur), her younger sister (Hunter), and their pet chimpanzee, Ben (Umba). When her father leaves for work, Lucy and her friends plan a small party, but the night quickly goes south when Ben contracts rabies after being bitten by a rabid wild animal. In a desperate game of survival against a now murderous Ben, Lucy and her sister are forced to accept the fact that their closest companion is now their deadliest enemy.

These characters aren’t particularly complex or original, but they work as serviceable iterations of the genre’s typical archetypes. As the group’s token asshole character, Jess Alexander is hateable in a way that’s just over-the-top enough to be humorous as opposed to frustrating. She’s fun to hate, which makes up for the fact that she’s the only character whose eventual death is obvious. Everyone else is a tad generic, but established as likable enough to be a potential survivor. This leads to some surprising deaths, but most occur in the first half of the film. The more it becomes clear where this story is headed, the more it loses steam. That being said, it often trades mystery/originality in its third act for more typical, but satisfying, monster movie thrills. You’ve seen it before, but it’s still a lot of fun if you’re partial to the subgenre. 

Although there’s an inherent silliness to a movie about a murderous pet monkey, the film never becomes a parody. It often leans into the violent desperation of its characters, letting the subtle humor of the scenario naturally cut the tension. In other words, the humor isn’t forced in any way, shape, or form. Laughs are sourced naturally from the scenario at hand, and are significantly funnier because of it. On top of this, the film’s humor often causes the viewer to let their guard down, thus disarming them for its scenes of merciless, gory violence. Ben isn’t just some crazy monkey; he seems to relish in the killing–even taunting his victims as he rips them apart in way brutally unexpected ways.

Overall, this is a relentless animal attack thriller that is both fun and chilling. It takes its subject matter as seriously as possible, but never ignores its inherently goofy implications. Although it ends predictably, it’s still very much worth the ride. Ben the chimp is one of the most uniquely chilling horror villains I’ve seen in a while. He alone is worth the price of admission. It may seem like I don’t have a lot to say about it, but I don’t really feel the need to sell a film about a rabid killer monkey. For boneheads like me, it’s a premise that pretty much sells itself. 2026 is off to a strong start for genre filmmaking. B