PRIMATE. Upon re-examination of our newsroom Slack channel, it was Calendar Editor Kali Cozyris who first posted the link to the trailer for Primate and asked, “When are we seeing this?” But after the adrenaline rush of press day wore off and we remembered how goddamn unsettling simians are and how awful rabies is, we realized watching Cujo with thumbs on the big screen was a terrible idea. The fool who ultimately dragged us into the coldest meat locker of a theater in which we’d ever seen butter-flavored topping solidify to watch this latest in a long line of spittle-spraying animal horror was me.
The canon of human vs. animal horror/thrillers is vast and varied, from Jaws (1975) to 2023’s campy Cocaine Bear. (I don’t know a damn thing about Ray Liotta’s life, but the latter being dedicated in loving memory of him is inspiring.) Have I gone so low as to rewatch the 1988 horror Monkey Shines, in which a test subject turned service monkey obsessed with its master goes on a killing spree? Maybe I’ve forfeited the right to standards. But with any animal antagonist, to build the kind of intensity that takes it beyond the shock of graphic violence and flinch-inducing fear of sudden movement, teeth and/or claws, we have to care about either the animal, the cornered humans or both. This is where Primate falls short.
Primate opens with a cheerful and chatty (read: doomed) veterinarian (Rob Delaney) making a nighttime house call to Ben the domestic chimp’s (Miguel Torres Umba) enclosure to give the T-shirt sporting pet an injection with no light and no examination. Once it goes how it must in a horror movie, we jump back a day and a half to young women hopping a plane for a trip home to Hawaii. Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah), who’s been away at school for years, travels with her bestie Kate (Victoria Wyant) and a surprise guest of Kate’s, the flirtatious Hannah (Jess Alexander). The trio join Lucy’s pal Nick (Benjamin Cheng) and kid sister Erin (Gia Hunter) at Lucy’s palatial clifftop home to party and splash in the pool while her dad Adam (Troy Kotsur), a famous thriller novelist who is deaf, is away for a book signing. Ben, we learn, is the result of Lucy and Erin’s late mother, a linguist working with chimps, bringing her work home. The discovery of a gored mongoose in Ben’s pen and the chimp’s open wound are not such a big deal, right? Dad locks Ben up for the day and heads out. With the house to themselves, it’s all pineapple pool inflatables and fire pits until Ben starts foaming.
It would be foolish to expect accuracy or realism from a movie with the tagline, “Dangerously close to human.” But this family is wild. For people who’ve lived for years with a chimp in their home, they seem completely unprepared to cope with an animal so much stronger than them. Only Dad actually seems relaxed with him and we learn little about their relationship with Ben, especially in the wake of their mother’s death. The connection to and soul of the chimp are what we need to accept before his descent into rabid madness can have emotional weight and heighten the drama.
There are plenty of genuinely scary moments, buckets of gasp-inducing gore and cat-and-mouse scenes throughout. But among them are unintentional laughs (not without their own kind of enjoyment), sometimes breaking the tension that should be ratcheting up, as when one of the girls is gravely injured and the oft-shirtless Nick shouts, “Here, you can use my shirt for a torniquet!” Likewise, moments of apparent homage to The Shining and even Alien inspire giggles rather than chills, likewise the repeated shots of Ben appearing from the shadows behind someone. Scenes played for uneasy laughs that spiral into horror are probably more what director Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down, 2017) is shooting for, as when Ben terrorizes a visiting fuckboy, or the jaw-dropping scene with the wingman that follows.
It’s not terribly surprising that the cast of attractive, young fodder for chimp violence are at most aping (it was right there) horror conventions in fulfilling their roles, Sequoyah summoning not quite enough final girl energy to carry the movie. The only compelling human performance is by Kotsur, and scenes we experience with him — the world muffled into silence — are the most interesting. Enough that we can imagine a more gripping movie with him more firmly at its center and deafness as more than a backdrop for a few heightened moments of tension (where it seems like he would have felt the vibrations of running and violence nearby) and useful instances of signing.
Torres Umba, however, is utterly believable as the chimp Ben, bounding and swinging in an animatronics-boosted suit that makes the case for practical effects. It’s Ben’s fearsome, glowering expressions and physicality that provide the electricity and gut-level fear. In the era of conspicuous Method acting, that’s a little scary in itself. R. 89M. BROADWAY.
Jennifer Fumiko Cahill (she/her) is the managing editor at the Journal. Reach her at (707) 442-1400 ext. 106 or jennifer@northcoastjournal.com. Follow her on Bluesky and Instagram @JFumikoCahill.
NOW PLAYING
28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE. Next leg of the journey for the post-apocalyptic zombie horror. R. 109M. BROADWAY, MINOR.
ANACONDA. Buddies (Paul Rudd, Jack Black) on a DIY movie remake mission are pursued by the title character. PG13. 100M. BROADWAY.
AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH. Na’vi-on-Na’vi violence in the latest installment of James Cameron’s sci-fi action franchise. PG13. 195M. BROADWAY (3D).
CHARLIE THE WONDER DOG. Owen Wilson voices the superhero pet in an animated adventure. Not for cat people. PG. 95M. BROADWAY.
DEAD MAN’S WIRE. A 1970s hostage drama based on a true story and with a dark sense of humor. R. 105M. BROADWAY.FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2. Sequel to the Chuck E. Cheese-esque animatronic horror. PG13. 104M. BROADWAY.
GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION. Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin in the sequel to the eco-apocalypse disaster movie. PG13. 98M. BROADWAY.
HAMNET. Agnes and William Shakespeare cope with the loss of their son in 16th century England. PG13. 126M. MINOR.
THE HOUSEMAID. Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney in a thriller about weird dynamics with the help. R. 131M. BROADWAY.
IS THIS THING ON? A couple (Will Arnet and Laura Dern) cope with divorce and the husband turns to stand-up. R. 124M. BROADWAY.
LORD OF THE RINGS. Extended versions of the already very long Peter Jackson adaptations on the 25th anniversary. PG13. BROADWAY.
MARTY SUPREME. Timothée Chalamet plays a ping pong champ in the 1950s, when that kind of thing apparently got you laid. R. 150M. BROADWAY, MINOR.
THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS. Your favorite boxy hero takes on the Flying Dutchman’s ghost. PG. 96M. BROADWAY.
ZOOTOPIA 2. Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman return to voice the rabbit and fox crimefighting duo in the animated comedy adventure. PG. 108M. BROADWAY, MINOR.
For showtimes, visit catheaters.com and minortheatre.com.
This article appears in Health and Wellness 2026.