‘Primate’ trailer
The trailer for Paramount Pictures’ horror film “Primate” starring Johnny Sequoyah, Troy Kotsur and Miguel Torres Umba. Director: Johannes Roberts.
January has a reputation as a bad movie month. After a busy holiday theatrical window, January is the time for lower-tier releases and big-screen gambles that often result in box office bombs.
That’s why Paramount’s “Primate” will surprise many, especially horror fans.
Set in beautiful Hawaii, the film centers on Ben (Miguel Torres Umba), a hyper-intelligent chimpanzee who became a language professor’s test subject and allowed him to live in an enclosed space outside her secluded luxury home. Even after the professor dies of cancer, Ben is still “part of the family.”
The remaining members of Ben’s Homo sapien family are Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah), a college student alienated after the death of her mother, her resentful younger sister Erin (Gia Hunter), and their preoccupied father Adam (Troy Kotsur).
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Benjamin Cheng as “Nick”, Victoria Wyant as “Kate”, Jessica Alexander as “Hannah”, Johnny Sequoyah as “Lucy” and Miguel Torres Umba as “Ben” in Paramount Pictures’ “Primate”. (© 2025 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.)
Lucy comes home from college with her best friend Kate (Victoria Wyant), who has brought along the slightly obnoxious Hannah (Jessica Alexander). They are picked up at the airport by Nick (Benjamin Cheng), a handsome family friend for whom Lucy may or may not have feelings.
Business is going smoothly. Lucy introduces her friends to Ben, described as a little brother. He is playful, crazy and can communicate miraculously via a tablet.
The young people are left to fend for themselves at home while Adam is on a business trip. But before he leaves, Adam checks in with Ben, who finds he has been bitten by a mongoose, which was lying dead in the enclosure. Adam locks him in the enclosure just in case.
“There’s something wrong with Ben,” Kate tells Lucy.
Turns out the mongoose had rabies. And Ben, like all hell, eventually breaks loose.
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Miguel Torres Umba as “Ben” in Paramount Pictures’ “Primate.” (© 2025 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.)
You’ve probably heard of incidents in the past of chimpanzees attacking humans, always noting their incredible strength since pretty much everything under his hair is pure muscle. This is no different with Ben, who, like any human horror villain, commits one brutal murder after another.
Much of the film takes place in the family’s clifftop pool, where Lucy and the others take refuge under the correct assumption that chimpanzees are afraid of the water. Ben, however, is patient. And methodical. And foam in the mouth. The pool essentially becomes their cage. It really is a terrifying position to be in.
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Miguel Torres Umba as “Ben” and Johnny Sequoyah as “Lucy” in Paramount Pictures’ “Primate.” (© 2025 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.)
There is a lot to do for ‘Primate’. While horror films, including this one, rely heavily on sound to stoke fear, “Primates” can also build tension with silence, from the perspective of Adam — who, like Kotsur (best known for his Oscar-winning performance in 2021’s “CODA”), is deaf — as Ben creeps around him in a terrifyingly fun sequence.
And in the age of CGI and motion capture, Umba goes old school, wears a monkey suit and relies on practical effects. Umba, who calls himself a motion specialist on his IMDB page, physically transforms into Ben, going from a cute, disarming, T-shirt-wearing pet to a literal rabid monster with a dark sense of humor that’s even capable of maniacal laughter after one of his kills. After seeing the recent ‘Planet of the Apes’ films and the Robbie Williams biopic ‘Better Man’, where he is indeed depicted as an ape, Ben looked different on screen, but I definitely couldn’t rule out that he wasn’t CGI. Either way, it was a bold creative decision – and it paid off.
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Jessica Alexander as “Hannah” and Miguel Torres Umba as “Ben” in Paramount Pictures’ “Primate.” (© 2025 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.)
Johannes Roberts has directed several horror films (“The Strangers: Prey at Night”, the “47 Meters Down” films, etc.) that probably have their niche fans, but are otherwise forgettable in the wider landscape. “Primate” is certainly in a league of its own, especially since Roberts is able to have fun with such an absurd premise. The experience is further enhanced by the 80s horror-esque score by composer Adrian Johnston. It was a nice gesture.
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Troy Kotsur as “Adam” and Gia Hunter as “Erin” in Paramount Pictures’ “Primate.” (© 2025 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.)
The verdict:
In a month that’s normally a slump at the box office, “Primate” flexes its muscles despite its lack of star power in a genre struggling for originality. Ben isn’t your average psycho killer, which makes it even more fun. If you’re a big horror fan and want to get out of the house, this is probably worth checking out. For everyone else, you can add it to your queue for next Halloween.
★★★ — STREAM IT LATER
“Primate” is rated R for strong, bloody, violent content, gore, language and some drug use. Running time: 1 hour, 29 minutes. Now in cinemas.
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