Primate

"Something's wrong with Ben."

2026 1h 29m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

★6.5TMDB · 929

HorrorThriller

Synopsis

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College student Lucy and her friends spend their vacation at her family's home in Hawaii, which includes her pet chimpanzee, Ben. However, when Ben contracts rabies after being bitten by a rabid animal, the group must fight for their lives in order to avoid the now-violent chimp.

“Something's wrong with Ben.”

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Cast

Johnny Sequoyah
Lucy
Jessica Alexander
Hannah
Troy Kotsur
Adam
Victoria Wyant
Kate
Gia Hunter
Erin
Benjamin Cheng
Nick
Charlie Mann
Drew
Tienne Simon
Brad

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Johannes Roberts
Writers: Johannes Roberts, Ernest Riera, David Allcock
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

89 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released this year — you're seeing it while it's still in the cultural conversation.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Johannes Roberts, shot by Stephen Murphy. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Adrian Johnston. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Peter Gvozdas shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Johnny Sequoyah and Jessica Alexander and Troy Kotsur carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Something's wrong with Ben.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt33028778 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Johannes Roberts directs. Stephen Murphy behind the camera. Adrian Johnston scores. Peter Gvozdas cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

189 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Released this year — you're seeing it while it's still in the cultural conversation.
3Directed by Johannes Roberts, shot by Stephen Murphy. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Adrian Johnston. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Peter Gvozdas shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Johnny Sequoyah and Jessica Alexander and Troy Kotsur carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Something's wrong with Ben.".
8IMDB entry: tt33028778 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 18 themes, including "hawaii", "pet", "chimpanzee", "animal attack".

The technical file

Cinematography: Stephen Murphy
Original score: Adrian Johnston
Editing: Peter Gvozdas
Production design: Simon Bowles
Costume design: Verity Hawkes
Makeup / hair: Denise Kum
VFX supervisor: Jason Billington
Sound: Dan Kenyon
Stunt coordinator: Paul Herbert
Runtime: 89 min · 1h 29m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $21,000,000
Box office: $41,235,665
Return: 196% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Primate (2026)

Also by

Johannes Roberts

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2026-02-05
★ 6/10
It’s been a while since “Lucy” (Johnny Sequoyah) has been home to her luxury family home in Hawai’i, so her arrival with friend “Kate” (Victoria Wyant) and the not quite so welcome “Hannah” (Jess Alexander) is eagerly awaited by her deaf dad “Adam” (Troy Kotsur), her younger sister “Erin” (Gia Hunter) and the undoubted star of the film - their pet chimp “Ben”. Now any sense of jeopardy which we might have had coming into this fearsome frat-flesh-fest is somewhat negated by the fact that there is a very useful slide at the top of the film that explains to us the dangers of hydrophobia. Putting two and two together does not require Stephen Hawking and so what we watch for the next ninety minutes sees a lot of people go ape. As ever with these type of films, I found myself largely disinterested in the characterisations of the humans - they are all the usual unremarkable people who’d readily bore you to death at a party, so with the exception of the mostly absent author “Adam” who did bring a little charisma to the proceedings, they were entirely deserving of their grizzly fates - especially the three hormonal boys whose short shrift did raise a smile, I have to admit. The plot is full of holes and some of the dialogue is really banal, but in best Rudd Weatherwax tradition it’s the animal that out-acts everyone and had me rooting for him. The moral? Well perhaps that’s just never to mix a mongoose and a chimpanzee?
Enes2026-02-12
★ 7/10
I thought it was a good film. The monkey seemed to have rabies and a personality disorder. The 2-hour film flowed very well; I wasn't bored. The camera zoomed in nicely on the violent scenes. It made me nauseous. The acting was passable, the effects were good, and the script was very similar to another film I've seen, but I can't remember the name. Is it worth watching? Give it a chance. It gets a 7 out of 10. Thanks for your efforts. Enjoy the movie!
Sierbahnn2026-05-10
★ 5/10
If your ape fails in your apemovie... run If you are hinging your entire premise on that the ape is supposed to be central, and scary, like a Chucky or a M3gan or a Shakma, then you need to make it look really good. And this one does not. Its face is not expressive enough, and you can only hide so much of the clunky motions by making the movie dark. The characters are nice, the story is what it needs to be, but the ape lets all of this down.