About ten years ago, filmmaker Johannes Roberts saw his mother’s dog racing around a swimming pool and thought it could be the inspiration for a horror movie. He had the right idea, just the wrong animal. You see, that early spark eventually grew into Primate, a new horror film that swapped that barking backyard threat for something far more dangerous: a chimpanzee.
In a recent interview, Roberts explained that the movie began as a modern take on Cujo, only with a pet dog going rabid. But while developing the script, he asked himself one question: how could he raise the stakes? The answer came in the form of a creature that shares our intelligence but none of our restraint.
“There’s something about a wild animal in the house,” Roberts said. “It’s so human, but it’s not human. The intelligence is there, and they can do horrible things. They have a real mean streak.”
The finished film centers on a family and their adopted chimp, Ben. During a Hawaiian vacation, Ben is bitten by a rabid mongoose and turns into a violent predator. The story soon traps the family in their backyard pool while the animal prowls outside. The father, played by Oscar winner Troy Kotsur, communicates with Ben through sign language—a heartbreaking twist that turns survival into something deeply emotional.
PRIMATE | Official Trailer (2026 Movie)
Here’s where Primate stands apart: there’s no digital chimp. Roberts insisted on a practical performance. He hired an unknown actor named Miguel, placed him in extensive prosthetics, and told him to live the role. “He was really uncomfortable to be around,” Roberts said. “He stayed in character, and it was uncomfortable to be around.”
That unsettling realism paid off on screen. More than 50 crew members worked only on bringing Ben to life—an enormous commitment for a film that could have gone the CGI route. But Roberts argued the authenticity mattered. “You needed to love Ben, believe in Ben, want to cuddle Ben, then feel sorry for Ben—and then be like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to be around Ben. Ben is mental,’” he explained. “And then you really start to hate him for the mean things that he does.”
That emotional progression doesn’t happen through computer graphics. Real, physical performance makes the horror land harder because it looks like something that can truly exist. And in Primate, it does.
Star Johnny Sequoyah spent three weeks shooting the pool scenes. Ten hours a day, treading water while cameras rolled. Between takes, the actors stood waist-deep, sipping coffee to stay warm. It may sound simple, but the shoot was punishing. Kotsur pointed out another reason the setup worked—chimps hate water. That’s what makes the pool the family’s only refuge, and their personal prison.
The payoff? A commanding $11.3 million opening weekend on just a $22 million budget and a 78% score on Rotten Tomatoes. For January, long known as a quiet month for movie releases, that’s a major hit. It proves that audiences are hungry for smart, scary stories built on craft instead of computer effects. Can Hollywood learn something from that? It should.
Roberts is no stranger to survival terror. He already trapped divers in shark-infested waters with 47 Meters Down. Now, with Primate, he traps a family in a suburban pool—and somehow the stakes feel even higher. That’s what happens when limitations force creativity instead of shortcuts.
With early success and word-of-mouth momentum, Primate might set the new tone for 2026’s horror landscape. Unless something even scarier shows up, a rampaging chimp born from a simple poolside idea could be this year’s king of the “creature-features.”
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English (US) · 