There ain’t never been anything wrong with wanting a lean, mean, gory B-movie — as long as it’s good or, at the very least, enjoyable. Johannes Roberts, director of the successful 47 Meters Down franchise and The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018), aims to do the most Hollywood thing ever with his latest thriller. He takes an intriguing idea or sequence from a hit film … and extends it into a whole picture. The sequence in question (and this is just me assuming this was an inspiration) is the terrifying chimp flashback sequence from Jordan Peele’s 2022 critically acclaimed Nope. Picture that sequence: people running for their lives from a bloodthirsty chimp … extended into an 89-minute film. The result is Johannes Roberts’s latest, Primate.
The film follows Lucy Pinborough (Johnny Sequoyah), who is coming home from college alongside her best friend, Kate (Victoria Wyant), and Kate’s friend, the overly flirty, party monster, Hannah (Jessica Alexander). Waiting for her at home is Kate’s brother and Lucy’s possible love interest, Nick (Benjamin Cheng); Lucy’s younger sister, Erin (Gia Hunter); her father and famous deaf author, Adam (Troy Kotsur); and Ben (Miguel Torres Umba), their highly intelligent pet chimpanzee. Ben communicates with the family through a custom softboard software created by Lucy’s deceased mother who was a linguistics professor. When bitten by a mongoose, Ben contracts rabies and becomes bloodthirsty. With Adam out on a book tour, the young crew must fight to survive the night against the deadly, violent chimp.
If one just accepts Primate for what it is — a short, tense, gory fun time — there can be little room for disappointment. The background of Lucy’s mother being a linguistic professor and how that connects to Ben’s perception of communication is just enough to add a little bit of purpose to this film’s silly plot. Communication and an elevated penchant for violence and murder is what makes Ben an effective horror villain. And there is just as much as bite as there is bark to this villain — this film earns its R rating with its numerous gnarly kills. From a hilarious, jaw-dropping shot of a person falling to their death (literally head-first with their skull being crushed on a rock on impact) to someone’s jaw literally being ripped off, Ben lives up to the film’s potential of being an effectively terrifying chimp. The gang of young survivors maintains a safe harbor within the pool as Ben is afraid of the water. But, as is the problem within most of these hide-and-seek thrillers, there is quite a bit of filler in between the characters trying to evade Ben and creep back into the house to find a working phone to call authorities. There are jump scares galore throughout this film, but they are not overly done; the scares are as effective as the kills. Even when one kill is grislier than the last, the film knows when to dial back and maintain the necessary highs and lows of tension.
Johannes Roberts has more than proven himself as a competent director of thrillers, balancing tension with horror. Primate, while taken at face value, is the perfect kind of horror B-movie to be watched with friends who love to jump, a loved one to snuggle with, or an audience full of horror/thriller fans. The gory practical effects here (a most welcome detour from CGI effects) are to die for, especially for those who are fans of Fangoria magazine or other horror films with great effects such as The Thing (1982) or The Fly (1986). Miguel Torres Umba (Institute) does terrific movement work as Ben, fully embodying the chimp with his mannerisms, his smile, and his demented rabies-fueled laugh.
With all scares and gory thrills included, this film is indeed the ideal fun horror B-movie of the year (so far). With this home release, Paramount releases a decent chuck of supplemental features including an in-depth commentary from director Johannes Roberts and producer Walter Hamada and featurettes focused on creating the world of Primate.
Primate Special Features:
- Commentary by Writer/Director Johannes Roberts and Producer Walter Hamada
- Primal Terror: Directing Primate
- New Blood: The Faces of Primate
- Creating Ben
- Designing Paradise
Available on digital February 10th, 2026.
Available on Blu-ray April 21st, 2026.
For more information, head to the official Paramount Pictures Primate webpage.
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Categories: Home Release, Home Video, Recommendation, Reviews, streaming
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