MOVIE NEWS – Audiences at Austin’s Fantastic Fest held their breath as a rabid chimpanzee terrorized the cast in Primate.

The annual Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, is renowned as the largest U.S. showcase for horror, fantasy, sci-fi, and genre films — and this year’s opening film, Primate, did not disappoint. Horror fans left the premiere breathless and buzzing with excitement.

The film poses one main question: Can a chimpanzee be terrifying? Absolutely — especially when rabies strikes. That’s exactly what happens to Ben, the family’s beloved pet. The setup is classic horror: college students throw a pool party, and instead of a masked killer, a feral primate begins slaughtering them one by one.

Another unique aspect of Primate is the presence of Troy Kotsur, the first deaf actor to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (C.O.D.A., 2022).

In a post-screening Q&A, the filmmakers admitted that Stephen King’s novel Cujo and its film adaptation partially inspired Primate. In Cujo, a rabid St. Bernard terrorizes a family — but here, the enraged chimpanzee’s hydrophobia forces the characters to hide in a swimming pool. Of course, they can’t stay there forever…

(Primate – Hungarian release: January 9, 2026)

Source: UIP Dunafilm