Review: "Primate" ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Sometimes it's silly, and it's gory as hell, but boy, does "Primate" work.

Happy Friday, friends, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

First new review of 2026 is for “Primate” from Paramount Pictures. Check out the video below for my review. As always, postscripts after the video.

Postscripts:

• Full disclosure: I went into this unfamiliar with the horror film work of director Johannes Roberts. For anyone interested, his previous work includes:

  • 47 Meters Down (2017)

  • The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018)

  • Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)

  • The First Omen (2024)

• More love for Troy Kotsur — I mentioned in the video he’s an Oscar winner. That Best Supporting Actor win came in 2021 for his turn as the father in “CODA.” In fact, he won Best Supporting Actor for that role at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the British Academy Film Awards, and the Critics’ Choice Awards that year. I said it last year — my favorite work of his to date has to be in “Black Rabbit” on Netflix.

• The actor playing “Ben” in “Primate” is Miguel Torres Umba. According to his IMDb page, he’s a “movement specialist” — an actor who specializes in physically demanding performances. If “Primate” is any indication of this actor’s other work, count me in for checking that work out — it’s incredible what he creates here. He not only projects intelligence the way we often see chimpanzees do — he projects sadism as one might imagine a clever chimpanzee would express it, and it’s terrifying.

• Correction: There is an error in the captioning of the video. The lead actress’s name is Johnny (pronounced “Joanie”) Sequoyah.