A group of friends’ tropical vacation turns into a terrifying tale of horror and survival. A film by Johannes Roberts, starring Johnny Sequoyah, Jessica Alexander, Victoria Wyant, Gia Hunter, Benjamin Cheng, Charlie Mann, Tienne Simon, and Troy Kotsur.

As Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah) boards the plane, she video calls her younger sister Erin (Gia Hunter) before bumping into Drew (Charlie Mann) and Brad (Tienne Simon). Drew picks up a teddy bear she dropped and puts on a goofy voice, making gibberish sounds as if the bear is talking. When Lucy appears unamused, he quickly drops the act and apologizes before taking his seat.

Lucy is caught off guard when Hannah (Jessica Alexander) boards the plane and makes a beeline for her and her best friend, Kate (Victoria Wyant). It turns out Kate had invited Hannah along without telling Lucy. It’s obvious Lucy and Hannah aren’t exactly close, and Kate likely knew Lucy wouldn’t be thrilled about the surprise addition to their trip.

At the Hawaii airport, they are greeted by Kate’s brother, Nick (Benjamin Cheng), Lucy’s childhood crush, who is there to pick up his sister and offers Lucy a ride. Lucy’s father, a renowned deaf novelist, is too tied up with the upcoming launch of his book” Silent Death” to come himself. Meanwhile, Hannah makes no effort to hide her instant attraction to Nick. Before they even leave the airport, Kate pitches the idea of throwing a party at Lucy’s place while her father is out of town for his book signing. Everyone quickly jumps on board.

When they arrive at Lucy’s lavish cliff-side home, Lucy’s father Adam (Troy Kotsur) invites Nick to stay for the weekend. Upon learning that Nick recently broke up with his girlfriend Alexandra, Adam turns to Lucy and signs that this is her chance, with a subtle nod in Nick’s direction. Fortunately, Nick doesn’t understand sign language, so when he catches the exchange, Lucy smoothly covers by telling him her dad was just saying he’s sorry about the breakup.

Later on, Lucy decides to mess with Hannah by bringing out Ben, her pet chimpanzee. Hannah is absolutely terrified, initially convinced that a wild animal has wandered in from outside. Her panicked reaction amuses everyone, prompting Lucy to explain that Ben is actually a beloved part of the family.

Unable to sleep, Hannah wanders the house and is drawn to a wall filled with framed photos, including one of Lucy and her mother. Nick, who is also awake, joins her and shares that Lucy’s mom was a linguistics professor dedicated to human-chimp communication. She brought Ben home one day, and he has lived with the family ever since. Though Lucy’s mom passed away last year, she taught Ben to communicate to a certain degree using a specialized tablet that vocalizes pre-programmed words when he presses the corresponding buttons.

Later, while relaxing by the pool, Hannah is startled by a sudden growl. She whips around and jumps, horrified to find Ben sitting right beside her. The chimpanzee appears to be in a trance, breathing heavily and growling softly as his eyes fixate on the ripples in the water. When Hannah nervously calls his name, he extends a hand toward her. However, the moment she taps it, Ben suddenly turns violent and grabs her tightly by the wrist. Shocked, Hannah screams for help, but Ben refuses to let go until Adam rushes over and blows a whistle, prompting the chimp to release her. Seeing that Hannah is terrified and confused by the erratic behavior, Adam types a quick message on his phone, explaining that Ben sometimes acts strangely around new people. He then leads Ben back to his enclosure behind the house.

Inside Ben’s enclosure, Adam discovers the mangled remains of a dead mongoose, clearly killed by the chimp. A quick inspection reveals a fresh bite wound on Ben’s left arm. Since rabies doesn’t exist in Hawaii, Adam isn’t overly concerned, but he bags the mongoose to send in for testing just to be safe. Before heading out, he calls Lambert to come clean the cage and bring antibiotics for Ben’s wound, and instructs the girls to keep Ben locked up until then.

Hawaii has been rabies-free since before 1912. The state has never had an indigenous case of rabies, predating the quarantine program’s establishment in 1912. Hawaii’s Department of Agriculture maintains strict animal quarantine laws. Pets entering Hawaii face rigorous requirements, including rabies vaccinations, FAVN antibody tests, and quarantine periods (often 30 days minimum post-vaccination or testing), ensuring no introduction of the virus. No confirmed cases of rabies have been reported in the state, making it the only U.S. state without the disease.

The first case of hydrophobia was recorded in 2300 B.C. Animals infected are literally driven crazy by the sight of water. If not treated within 48 hours there is no cure. Hydrophobia is now more commonly referred to by the Latin word for madness: Rabies.

As the evening goes on, Lucy grows jealous watching Hannah flirt with Nick. To derail them, Lucy challenges Hannah to call some guys they met on the plane. Hannah agrees and asks for Kate’s phone since Kate has their number, but then hands the phone to Lucy, telling her she should do it. (This makes Hannah the most realistic character among these teenagers; since it’s Lucy’s house, it only makes sense that Lucy should be the one inviting strangers over.) Cheered on by Nick and Kate, a competitive Lucy takes the phone and makes the call. When it goes to voicemail, she leaves a provocative message with their location, explicitly inviting the guys over to sleep with them.

Late that evening, Dr. Lambert (Rob Delaney) arrives to tend to Ben’s wound and administer the antibiotics. Entering the enclosure, he notices the chimp is nearly motionless and breathing heavily, but dismisses it as a reaction to the injury. While Lambert prepares the syringe, Ben quietly slips into his kennel. Trying to coax the animal out, Lambert shakes a teddy bear near the entrance. A hand slowly emerges from the shadows toward the toy. Then, without warning, he snatches Lambert’s wrist in an iron grip. Before Lambert can even react, he is dragged into the kennel and brutally killed.

That night, Ben slips out of his enclosure and aggressively charges at Kate after she spots him inside the house. She bolts into another room and slides the door shut behind her. Shaken, Kate calls out for Lucy, who comes running. Kate tells her something is seriously wrong with Ben. Lucy cautiously steps out to investigate, but Ben has already vanished. Instead, she finds his teddy bear, its paw smeared with blood. Before she can process it, Hannah’s scream pierces the air from the direction of the pool. Lucy tells her younger sister Erin to stay inside while she and Kate race out to help Hannah.

At the poolside, they find Ben lunging aggressively at Hannah while Nick desperately tries to calm him down, but to no avail. Lucy attempts to distract Ben while Nick grabs a rope to restrain him. Together, they manage to loop the rope around Ben’s neck, but the chimp erupts in a violent frenzy and launches himself at Nick. Despite being told to stay inside, Erin shows up at the pool and urges them to call Lambert. Hannah asks if there’s a gun on the property. Lucy snaps at Hannah when she suggests the sick animal needs to be put down. Kate tries calling Lambert, and their frustration grows when they can hear his phone ringing somewhere nearby but no one picks up. Ben tears through the rope and attacks Erin as she inches closer to him. Panic sets in, and Nick shouts for everyone to get in the pool, knowing that Ben can’t swim.

Directed by English filmmaker Johannes Roberts, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ernest Riera, PRIMATE is a thriller about a college student who returns to her secluded Hawaiian home with a group of friends. What starts as a tropical getaway quickly turns violent when the family’s pet chimpanzee is bitten by an infected mongoose.

The film is highly entertaining, even if it leans heavily into familiar slasher territory with a group of teenagers trapped in a confined space and picked off one by one. It’s predictable and formulaic in places, but it still manages to deliver a few inventive kills that feel completely fresh and unique to the genre.

To fully enjoy the film, you’ll need to suspend your disbelief, as the teenage characters make one illogically bad decision after another. The youngest sister, for instance, seems to lack the basic common sense to stay away from a pet that’s clearly behaving erratically.

And while the protagonist’s family is wealthy enough to have built a lavish cliff-side mansion, there’s apparently not a single security camera on the premises. For a home like that, you’d expect at least an alarm system that triggers when a window breaks.

PRIMATE premiered at the Fantastic Fest on 18 September 2025. The film was theatrically released in the United States on 9 January 2026.