‘Primate’ — set in Hawaii, where a family pet is bitten and contracts rabies — was better than our critic anticipated.
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Did you know that, out of the 50 states, the only one not to contain the rabies virus is Hawaii? Where is the new horror thriller film “Primate” set and supposedly filmed? In the Aloha state! Go figure.
Starring the only recognizable name, Troy Kotsur (“Coda”) as the wealthy father to a group of privileged teens who live on the Big Island with their family pet named Ben, who is a friendly, hairy chimp. That is, until the poor animal gets bitten by a sick species carrying the dangerous disease.
To my surprise, “Primate” is a whole lot better than it needed to be for the genre, and quite frankly, much better than what was expected going in! What initially seemed cheap turned out to be fun, chilling, and an easy watch.
Let’s be frank, “Primate” is pretty much “Cujo” but wearing a different mask, set in a different time and location. Being a natural lover of animals, I couldn’t help but pull for the sick chimpanzee Ben, hoping he would take out all the humans and get spared in the process. “Primate” goes ape on his adversaries and the horror genre in general!
“Primate”
Starring: Troy Kotsur
Christopher’s “Meow” Score: “7 1/2” Paws out of 10
Christopher Vernon is a proud NEPA resident and award-winning writer and author. He began writing film reviews on his page ‘The Movie Meow’ in 2018. His favorite two films of all time are ‘Thelma & Louise’ and ‘Million Dollar Baby.’ And of course, you guessed it, Chris adores cats.
