Though not exactly a remake, Primate is similar to Cujo (1983), the film adaptation of the 1981 horror novel by Stephen King. Instead of a car we have a pool, a bat bite for a mongoose bite and a rabid dog for a rabid chimp. That’s okay. Cujo isn’t sacred and the concept and set-up is a good one to mine. And Primate gets a lot right for the escapist in me. It takes place in Hawaii. Beautiful. The lifestyle and real estate is aspirational and there is a promise of safe scares and violence. Perfect for a breezy weeknight watch. I just wish they had tried just a little but harder. What’s good, beyond the tasteful interiors, is the perilous young and hot players have interesting relationships, one of which is between the main character and the hatable, hot girl who our hero distrusts and/or envies and who the script and story doesn’t exactly chide. The gore is mostly avoidable, and thus offers a good option for horror lovers with friends and love interests who don’t share the passion, but are up for Hollywood, high-budget pastimes. What’s bad? Whereas the original Cujo starts by introducing us to a good-natured, loving and trusted pet who we grow to adore before he turns into a blood-thirty beast to be warred with, Ben, the live-in chimp is introduced to us in the future, off camera, rabidly mutilating his first victim before the opening credits. By the time we meet Ben in flashback, we already know him to be compromised. We never come to care for him. The fight is fated and so all emotional complexity and hesitation is moot, which is the crux of the original story. It’s not a failure exactly, but the choice and its kinship to Cujo highlights a missed opportunity. Still, though it may not aim to wrestle with the dualities of memories, companions and survival, Primate is an entertaining lightweight horror. It shares the important DNA with its predecessor, but lacks the determining percentage points to be a classic.

WATCH OR NOT: WATCH