Paramount’s killer chimp movie, Primate, is set for release this January, promising a high-stakes horror-thriller that director Johannes Roberts (known for 47 Meters Down) admits was a tough sell.
The premise centers on a young woman returning home from college to be reunited with her family and their pet chimpanzee, Ben. However, things turn into bloody terror when Ben catches rabies and unleashes violence on everyone in his path.
The cast includes Johnny Sequoyah, Troy Kotsur, Jessica Alexander, and Victoria Wyant.
To make the film more believable, Roberts insisted on using old-school practical effects.
“When I first met Walter Hamada, the producer, and we talked about it, he asked, ‘How are we going to do the chimp?’ I showed him some behind-the-scenes… I’d shown it to Walter and he was really keen to go practical,” Roberts shared. “It was sold all the way from the beginning to make a practical movie.”
This decision was heavily inspired by one of the genre’s classics. “This movie comes from Cujo, it wears its influences on its sleeve, and that is the ultimate practical movie because of the different ways that they do Cujo with the dogs,” he explained. Roberts and the team, including Millennium FX, even had to find a specific performer: “someone as small as a child but with the physicality of a chimpanzee who could be vicious and aggressive.” Blood-Disgusting quotes him as saying.
The biggest challenge isn’t the mechanics; it is the believability. Roberts wants audiences to avoid thinking, “Why the fuck do these people have a chimpanzee in their house?” However, that’s the very first thing that would come to my mind. Chimps are extremely strong. They’re really strong! They are able to rip the limbs off their victims with ease. And let’s talk about those teeth. They have a bite force of around 1,300 PSI. That’s 300 PSI more than the average male lion. Oh, and there have been several situations where people have had their faces ripped off by their pet Chimps. So why in the hell would someone own one? There isn’t a good reason. But Roberts is betting you’ll try to make excuses for why someone would.
Whether you’re looking for violence, tension, or just to see some blood spilled, this movie might just be for you, as long as you can get past the villain’s cuteness. Primate swings into theaters on January 9, 2026.
