FILM REVIEW: PRIMATE (18) ESP RATING: 3.5/5

It has been an impressive start to the year for horror-related movies – and this is another effective genre flick from the director of 47 Metres Down.

A tropical vacation for a group of teens goes awry when an intelligently-domesticated family chimpanzee (called Ben) is bitten by a rabid animal – and becomes insanely violent.

This leaves the sister owners of the pet – Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah) and Erin (Gia Hunter) – and pals fighting for their lives as the monkey runs amok across the remote Hawaii-based luxury home lashing out at everyone – with Ben’s fear of water leaving the family swimming pool as the only place of safety.

But they need to get access to some form of communication to call for help, which leads to a tensely-satisfying game of ‘cat and mouse’ – and some extremely blood-laden deaths that horror aficionados will lap up.

There is literally a ‘jaw breaking’ scene that will leave even the most ardent fans of ‘extreme gore’ wincing.

While there’s nothing particularly groundbreaking to be seen here, everything it does, it does commendably well. Fear, trepidation... and gore. And the director does the same with his monkey special effects that he has done with sharks previously.

Ape-ing around has quite literally never been so much horror-fic fun.

ESP Rating: 3.5/5

Gavin Miller

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj0MY9cDNYk

Showcase Cinema De Lux Peterborough & Odeon Luxe Peterborough, Out Now

Cast: Johnny Sequoyah, Gia Hunter, Benjamin Chang, Victoria Wyant, Jessica Alexander & Troy Kotsur

Running Time: 1 Hr 29 Mins

Director: Johannes Roberts

Film Review Venue: Showcase Cinema De Lux Peterborough

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