FrightFest Halloween review – Primate
At first glance, Johannes Roberts’ latest trapped-by-a-killer-beast picture is a redux for the likes of Richard Franklin’s Link and George A. Romero’s Monkey Shines in that the main menace is a brilliantly-realised murdering chimp – done by very convincing suitmation and mo-cap (Miguel Torres Umba is the performer), possibly to the envy of filmmakers who had to rely on waving bananas offscreen and months of training. It’s main inspiration, however, is Lewis Teague’s Cujo, based on Stephen King’s novel – not a movie which often gets listed as a 1980s classic, though it was a formative influence on Roberts and may well be coming into fashion since this is the second homage to Cujo I’ve seen this week (the other is Game).
As in Roberts’ 47 Meters Down films, we need a reel or so of set-up … Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah, from Dexter New Blood), semi-estranged daughter of a deaf writer (Troy Kotsur, from CODA), comes to spend a vacation at the family’s clifftop Hawaiian home, bringing along some pals (Jessica Alexander, Victoria Wyant) who might as well be wearing Soon-to-Be-in-the-Body-Count t-shirts, and have met cute with a couple of guys on the plane who are even more plainly marked as victims you won’t be too sorry to see go. Lucy has a slight grump to get over with her younger sister (Gia Hunter), who feels abandoned after their mother’s death – but the main problem in the house is Ben, a chimpanzee who has lived with the family and learned to sign and use a vocaliser keyboard. Ben has been bitten by a rabid mongoose – it’s mentioned that there’s not supposed to be rabies in Hawaii as if several drafts ago the film was set somewhere else – and turned not only homicidal but cruelly cunning.
A symptom of rabies is hydrophobia – fear of water – and Ben can’t swim, so when the loved pet’s nasty turn becomes apparent the survivors retreat to a pool which dangerously abuts a deadly drop. Of course, Dad is out for the evening … mobile phones are broken or out of reach … escape attempts fail … and the clock is ticking for one bitten girl who needs her lifesaving shots within 48 hours. Like the 47 Meters Down films, this is a basic exercise in suspense – with a heroine who has to juggle responsibilities and risks as she’s confronted with a big problem. In theory, there ought to be more of a struggle with conscience as Ben has hitherto been a part of the family, but also perhaps taken out of his natural environment by the dead mother … but it’s stated bluntly that ‘Ben isn’t Ben anymore’ and the chimp is just an impersonal big bad like a shark, certainly with less emotional register than Link or Ella (from Monkey Shines). It opens with a major gore gambit and has pretty gruesome business, but it’s mostly in good fun. Solid horror hokum.
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