| Primate | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Credits | |
| Title: | Primate |
| Directed by: | Johannes Roberts |
| Written by: | Johannes Roberts; Ernest Riera |
| Produced by: | Walter Hamada; Johannes Roberts; Anthony Tittanegro; Pete Chiappetta; Nathan Samdahl; Vicki Dee Rock; John Hodges; Bradley Pilz |
| Music by: | Adrian Johnston |
| Cinematography: | Stephen Murphy |
| Edited by: | Peter Gvozdas |
| Production | |
| Production: | 18hz Productions British Film Commission South Australian Film Corporation |
| Distributors: | Paramount Pictures |
| Released: | September 18th, 2025 |
| Rating: | R |
| Running time: | 89 min. |
| Country: | USA |
| Language: | English |
| Navigation | |
| Previous: | — |
| Next: | — |
Primate is an American feature film of the predatory animal subgenre of horror. It was directed by Johannes Roberts with a screenplay written by Roberts and Ernest Riera. It was produced by 18hz Productions with funding supplied by the British Film Commission, the Québec Production Services Tax Credit and the South Australian Film Corporation. It premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 18th, 2025. It was then screened at Beyond Fest on September 24th, 2025. It was released theatrically in the United States through Paramount Pictures on January 9th, 2026. The film stars Johnny Sequoyah as Lucy, along with Victoria Wyant as Kate, Gia Hunter as Erin, Jessica Alexander as Hannah, Benjamin Cheng as Nick and Troy Kotsur as Adam.
Plot[]
In Oahu, Hawaii, a veterinarian is called in late at night to check on the condition of a chimpanzee named Ben, who resides at a large cliff-side residence owned by a famed deaf-mute author named Adam. After complaining about having eaten bad gas station sushi, the vet attempts to inject Ben with a syringe. The animal is frothing at the mouth and is clearly rabid, so when the vet gets close, Ben tears his face off with his bare hands.
Thirty-six hours earlier, Adam's daughter Lucy is returning home to Oahu after spending some time abroad. On the flight home she is accompanied by her best friend Kate as well as Kate's friend Hannah, whom Lucy does not really know. They also meet two dude-bros named Drew and Brad, and Hannah exchanges phone numbers with them. When they arrive at Adam's house, he is very excited to see them. Family friend Nick is also present and Adam tries to push his daughter into forming a relationship with him. Lucy reunites with her younger sister Erin, who is bitter at her because she has been away from home so long. Also present is Ben - acting completely normal. Lucy gives the family pet a teddy bear toy.
Although Adam is a loving father, his work often requires him to be away from home for long stretches of time. This is no different as he is scheduled to attend a book signing some distance away. The morning after Lucy returns home, Adam discovers a dead mongoose in Ben's paddock. He inspects Ben and finds that he has been bitten. He bags the dead animal and after taunting his daughters with it, sends it off to a vet to be analyzed. Ben continues to act normal, but slowly grows more surly. Hannah has an uncomfortable moments with the creature and Adam has to drive him off with a dog whistle. Adam indicates that Ben is "weird" around strangers.
Adam leaves for his book signing, and Lucy, Kate, Hannah, Erin and Nick decide to enjoy themselves, smoking marijuana and sipping drinks inside their large infinity pool. At the enclosure, Ben attacks the vet Lambert and kills him; the rabies fully overwhelming the animal now. With the paddock unlocked, Ben now has the ability to move about the rest of the property. Ben goes out to the pool and begins acting aggressively. He ends up biting Erin, causing a very severe wound on her leg. The group tries to capture Ben and Nick manages to sling a rope around his neck. This only drives Ben into further frenzy. Realizing that Ben is rabid, Nick tries to push him off the edge of the infinity pool, but Ben manages to hang on, while simultaneously pulling Nick down, causing him to plummet to his death. His head smashes on the rocks below.
Lucy, Kate, Hannah and Erin scream in horror and Lucy instructs them to remain within the center of the pool, indicating that Ben will not go into the pool as he cannot swim. Ben continues to stalk them. Lucy manages to crawl onto the deck so she can grab a raft so they have something that the bleeding Erin can float upon. The girls remain hanging on the edge of the float until Ben decides to go back into the house.
Lucy and Kate go into the house with the intent of retrieving Lucy's cell phone so they can call for help. Hannah remains at the pool to watch over the injured Erin. Lucy accidentally knocks into the television remote and Dora the Explorer begins blasting on the television set. This drives Ben into a rage and he violently smashes the TV screen with his fists. Lucy and Kate take this opportunity to hide in a closet, but Ben finds them, forcing them to flee. Ben catches up with Kate on the staircase and brutally beats her death by smashing her face repeatedly with a rock.
Meanwhile, Drew and Brad - the two boys from the airplane arrive at the house. Lucy had called them earlier and had invited them to come over as a lark. They are already intoxicated and make themselves at home at the lavish estate, knocking over framed photographs and availing themselves of beer from the fridge. The boys go upstairs and begin checking out different bedrooms. Ben finds Drew in the room he normally occupies and pounces on his chest. After tormenting the man for a few minutes, the ape the proceeds to rip Drew's lower jaw off. Ben then goes to an upstairs atrium where he finds Brad. He beats Brad to death with a fireplace shovel.
Hannah sneaks into the house and retrieves a smartphone and car keys. She runs outside but mistakenly enters the wrong car. Hannah frantically begs a 911 operator to send police to the house, but is mauled to death when Ben finds the keyfob for the car and enters the car's cabin.
Elsewhere, Adam is at his book signing and receives a text from the vet's office about the mongoose having rabies. This greatly upsets him and he decides to cut the signing short so he can return home. He enters the house, but because he is deaf, he cannot hear Ben attacking Lucy in the next room. Ben pretends that he is back to normal so he can lure Lucy close to him, but then quickly turns, breaking her wrist in the process. He leaps at Lucy in a fury until Adam enters the room, disorienting Ben with the pitch of the dog whistle. Ben attacks Adam and he manages to stab the animal in the chest. Believing him dead, he then embraces his daughters. Ben revives however, and Lucy baits him into lunging for her so she can hurl him over the balcony, where he is impaled on a broken table leg. The police, having traced Hannah's call, arrive as the family recovers in the front yard. Lucy is startled when an officer, collecting Ben's soundboard for evidence, accidentally plays the phrase "Lucy bad".
Cast[]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Johnny Sequoyah | Lucy |
| Jessica Alexander | Hannah |
| Troy Kotsur | Adam |
| Victoria Wyant | Kate |
| Gia Hunter | Erin |
| Benjamin Cheng | Nick |
| Charlie Mann | Drew |
| Tienne Simon | Brad |
| Miguel Torres Umba | Ben |
| Amina Abdi | Susan |
| Robin Chalk | Interpreter |
| Joe Abercrombie | Book publisher |
| Nick Romano | Police officer |
Notes & Trivia[]
- The tagline to this film is "Something's wrong with Ben".
- There are a total of thirteen credited cast members in this film.
- Actress Jess Alexander, who plays Hannah, is credited as Jessica Alexander in this film.
- On Rotten Tomatoes, Primate has a certified fresh Tomatometer score of 77% based on 106 approved critic reviews. It has 82 fresh reviews and 24 rotten reviews. The film has a Popcormeter score of 67% based on more than 500 user ratings, averaging 3.6 out of 5. There is an 11% variance between the Tomatometer score and the Popcormeter meter score.
- On Letterboxd, Primate has a weighted average review score of 2.92 out of 5 based on 29,630 user ratings. This data is collected as of 1-10-2026.
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