The past year has been a really good one for horror fans, with the genre taking up several spots in our list of best movies of 2025 with options like Sinners and Weapons. Even the scardiest of cats found plenty to like. How will the next 12 months fare in comparison? Critics are here to weigh in on Primate, the first horror offering on the 2026 movie calendar, and it sounds like the year is off to a pretty bloody start.
We’re dealing with a violent chimpanzee in Primate, as a family sees their Hawaiian vacation go south after Ben — the adopted animal in question — is bitten by a rabid animal, turning him into a killing machine. Clint Worthington of RogerEbert revels in the empty calories of January horror, but says the practical gore and surprisingly lifelike chimp are the main reasons to buy a ticket. The critic rates it 3 out of 4 stars, writing:
There’s an atavistic joy to be had in the January slasher—the kind of no-frills, all-chills gorefest that often comes around in the sleepy opening weeks of the year... Primate is precisely that: lean, mean, and chimpanzee-n. It gets you in and out of the theater in less than 90 minutes, squirming in your seat and yelling at the screen. It’s a flimsy series of contrivances to get a shockingly realistic ape to rip the faces off of stupid human beings in increasingly creative ways. What more do you want, really?
Owen Gleiberman of Variety calls Primate your “everyday chimp-goes-ape slasher,” saying that the formulaic but also somewhat-clever flick may cause some chuckles when it comes to just how much damage Ben can do when he lets his inner beast out. Gleiberman continues:
Is Primate a slickly executed piece of slaughterhouse shlock? Very much so. Yet Ben, as a slasher, represents a minor triumph of practical effects (he’s played by Miguel Torres Umba in an ape suit). His chimp grin that turns into a gnashing leer makes him as effective a figure of fear as most masked killers. And part of the grisly semi-comedy of it all is that he’s not evil, no more so than the shark in Jaws or the rabid St. Bernard in Cujo.
Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting also mentions some humor in the upcoming horror movie, which she says more than achieves its purpose as an “intense roller coaster of horror.” Writer/director Johannes Roberts employs old-school techniques and stunning practical effects to give this flick “real bite.” Navarro gives Primate 3.5 out of 5 skulls and writes:
Primate offers no frills intensity; the story is simple and straightforward by design. So much so that many plot or character details get dropped to streamline the terror. And Roberts delivers on the horror. Ben is practical, spectacularly crafted by Millennium FX, and played by movement specialist Miguel Torres Umba. The chimp’s quick but potent transformation from sweet pet to terrifying monster serves as the film’s biggest asset, enhanced by chilling shot composition and expert pacing that tests even the steeliest of nerves.
Eric Goldman of IGN rates it a “Good” 7 out of 10, saying the movie is “inarguably silly” in just the right way, because it’s also gorier than the trailer lets on. This makes for a “satisfyingly over-the-top experience” for this critic, who says:
Primate doesn’t transcend its material or offer anything in the way of true surprises on a plot level, but look – if you buy a ticket for one killer chimpanzee movie this year, this one delivers the goods. It has fun set pieces, a great-looking animatronic costumed killer chimp, and applause-worthy gore for those of us who like when our horror gets messy.
Pete Hammond of Deadline, meanwhile, seems vaguely disappointed in 2026’s horror lineup so far. The film features an attractive cast, Hammond writes, centered around Johnny Sequoyah as college student Lucy. Oscar winner Troy Kotsur is a welcome (if underused) presence as her father Adam. The character — like the actor — is deaf, and that characteristic is cleverly worked into the script. Otherwise, Hammond doesn’t see much that’s noteworthy about Primate, as he writes:
This horror mashup looks more like an indie-level attempt to take an exploitable idea and run it into the ground with one novel way after another to chop up a teenage cast. Its key villain is not a Freddy or Jason or Michael Myers but it might as well have been in the by-the-numbers screenplay from director Johannes Roberts and Ernest Riera.
Overall, critics seem to be having a good time with Primate, as it’s Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes at 77%. The practical effects, particularly for the chimpanzee, have gotten lots of praise, and many suggested this would be a fun one to see with a crowd. If this goofy, gory slasher sounds like something you need in your life, Primate is in theaters now, as of January 9.
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