Crazy Apes Are Scary
Now this is a genre of movie that isn’t utilised enough – the crazy chimp horror. I have a childhood memory of what I think was a TV show where a chimpanzee attacks people. If anyone knows of a show or movie from the late 80s or early 90s, please let me know. It may have been in a laboratory.
Primate has a simple setup – A group of college students head to the remote Hawaiian home of Lucy (played by Johnny Sequoyah). Lucy has a pet chimp, Ben (Miguel Torres Umba doing the suit work), who we found out in the opening scene is not the friendly beloved pet the family are used to. Lucy’s dad Adam (Troy Kotsur) is a famous novelist who is also deaf, so the family and chimp know sign language. Adam heads off on a book tour leaving the college kids home alone, but not before discovering a mongoose got into Ben’s cage and bit him.
We are then setup for the rabid primate to go ape on the group and ruin their plans for partying. Ben’s madness progresses and as you’d expect from this movie, the kids, friends and visitors are attacked while trying to escape or hide from the chimp.
The film does what this genre should do – keep it tight, no padding out with unnecessary scenes. The actors all do a good job, with the star of the show being Miguel Torres Umba as Ben. The movement specialist plays the chimp well, giving him the menace and unpredictable that makes the concept so frightening.
This isn’t high art; we watch movies like this because they are fun rides for an hour and a half of pure escapism. In this sense Primate ticks all the boxes, and there is something extra unnerving about a chimpanzee turning on humans. It’s likely the high intelligence, and the idea that if they wanted to these primates could cause a lot of damage, and also open doors, amongst other human-like behaviours. Makes for a great horror romp.
“If you look into their eyes, you know you’re looking into a thinking mind” -Jane Goodall