I watched Her Private Hell, the new Nicolas Winding Refn film, expecting it to be tonight’s Friday Night Horror Movie, but it is a mess. I don’t know what it is, but I definitely wouldn’t call it horror, despite there being a serial killer called ” The Leatherman.” I like some of Refn’s films, but sometimes he can crawl so far up his arse that I have no desire to try to figure out what he’s up to.
So, instead of an impenetrable arthouse film, I went with a big, dumb monster movie.
Primate is really a slasher movie, a throwback to 1980s horror with an excellent score that wouldn’t be out of place in a Dario Argento film.
A bunch of dumb college kids travel to Hawaii to spend some time at Lucy Pinborough’s (Johnny Sequoyah) big, modern, and totally secluded house. Her dead mom was a linguist, and she kept a pet chimpanzee that she taught sign language to (and possibly lip-reading). Lucy’s Dad (Troy Kotsur) is deaf, so Lucy and her young sister both know sign language. Something that will sort of come in handy when the chimp goes crazy and they need to keep quiet. Except that concept is only used once, and that barely.
After some rather dull exposition, the chimp gets out and starts attacking our heroes (such that they are). This is where the film gets good. The violence is pretty thrilling (and blood-soaked – this film isn’t afraid of some good, old-fashioned gore). There is a long set piece with the kids inside a pool. The chimp can’t swim and is afraid to jump in the pool, so they are safe there. But the pool isn’t that big, and there is only one way out. This gives us plenty of thrills and scares, and some gnarly kills.
The characters are mostly unlikeable and not that interesting. And they make a lot of ridiculously stupid moves. It is a very dumb movie, but also a lot of fun. It does have that 1980s slasher vibe to it, and you know I am a fan of that.
themidnightcafe.org 