Primate (2025) Review: A Chimp Got Infected With Rabies And The House Became Its Hunting Ground

source: tv.lk21

Synopsis:

Primate (2025) is a natural horror/thriller slasher that clocks in at 84–89 minutes. It’s directed by Johannes Roberts, the same guy behind 47 Meters Down, so yeah… expect people getting hunted. The story follows Lucy, a college student who heads back to Hawaii for a family vacation. At home, she’s got her deaf dad, Adam, her little sister Erin, and their family’s beloved pet: a chimpanzee named Ben. 

At first, it’s all sunshine and pool parties. But things go sideways fast when Ben gets bitten by a rabid mongoose while locked up. Rabies hits him hard, turning him hydrophilic and insanely aggressive. One minute he’s cute and cuddly, the next he’s a full-on killing machine. Lucy and her friends end up barricading themselves in the swimming pool, since Ben can’t swim. Now it’s a survival game: outsmart and kill a chimp that’s both strong and way too smart.

Critics actually gave props to the gore and practical effects. A lot of them called Ben’s portrayal the "best creature feature in years." They also liked that the film stays tense and doesn’t waste time dragging the story. But on the flip side, they called the plot thin. The characters make dumb decisions straight out of an 80s slasher playbook. And let’s be real, a lot of logic gets thrown out the window. Like… why is there even a wild rabid mongoose in Hawaii? And why is a chimp just roaming free around the house? The numbers don’t lie either: IMDb 5.8/10 from 27k votes, Rotten Tomatoes 78% positive, Metacritic 58/100 with a "mixed or average" tag.

This film stars: Johnny Sequoyah, Jessica Alexander, Troy Kotsur, Victoria Wyant and more.

In my opinion:

Hmm… isn’t it a bit much though? Making a rabid chimp act like a thinking, calculating human? I mean, chimps are smart, no doubt. They can problem-solve like us. But that perfect? For me, watching this felt like watching a dude in a chimp suit going around murdering people, haha. Sorry if that’s just my subjective take, but for those who’ve seen it—was it really believable when the chase and kill scene inside the car was done by a chimp? Kinda weird, but I’ll admit I still loved it because this movie is straight-up brutal.

One thing I do agree with is how the film shows the knowledge about rabies. It’s nasty. If it infects a human, the pain is insane, especially when you hit water or feel wind on your skin. For animals, it flips a switch and turns them savage, destroying anything in their path. My advice after watching? Don’t panic. Ditch the mercy. Fight back, and kill if you have to.

I also noticed a lot of young talent in this film, and honestly, their acting was solid. Young, fresh, and promising. Story-wise, nothing new here. But the visuals and cinematography are good enough to make it genuinely creepy. The audio? Pretty standard. Still, it made it onto a lot of netizens’ “best horror thriller 2025” lists, and I’d say that’s fair. Not bad at all. Maikaʻi loa.

For me this one is 7/10.