(***)
Monkey see. Monkey kill.
Chimpanzee gone wild is a rare one for the horror genre. But not a preposterous premise. Anyone who remembers back to news stories in February 2009, may recall Travis a male chimpanzee. He was the pet of Sandra Herold since he was three-days old. As he grew up, townspeople in her North Stamford, CT community knew him well. Travis even appeared in a Pepsi TV commercial and was on The Maury Povich Show (where beasts gather). One day her friend Charla Nash came over and Travis, now weighing 200 pounds, mauled her. Mauled her bad. Blinded her, severed body parts and lacerated her face. She lost her eyelids, nose, lips, face bone structure and nine fingers. Before and after pictures of her attach shocked the world. Evidently, chimpanzees are immensely stronger than humans, have powerful jaws, sharp teeth and deadly fighting instincts.
Keep that in mind as you calculate the amount of fear this tale of terror, horror and hopeful escape generates. Director/writer Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down and Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City) and co-writer Ernest Riera (47 Meters Down) start with a premise not different from Nash’s ordeal. Unlike many horror films about primates, their narrative is not about a King Kong gigantic ape or intelligent apes that fight the good fight (Planet of the Apes). Their antagonistic primate is more similar to Travis. And that grounding makes this venture scarier because it’s steeped in past truths.
They’ve gathered at a cliff-side villa in Hawaii. That’s where family patriarch Adam (Troy Kotsur, Oscar® winner for Coda), a successful author, still lives with his youngest teen daughter Erin (Gia Hunter). Her big sis Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah) has come home from college with two friends in tow: Hannah (Jess Alexander) the flirty one and Kate (Victoria Wyant). They’re picked up at the airport by their buddy Nick (Benjamin Cheng). But not before Kate has made friends with two guys on the plane, Drew (Charlie Mann) and Brad (Tienne Simon).
The young ladies settle into the palatial home, which has three levels leading down to an infinity pool with a steep, long drop to a rocky shore. Kate is shocked when she sees an animal. It’s Ben, a chimpanzee. He’s the family pet and Adam’s primate friend. Sometimes caged. Sometimes not, roaming around like a family member. When dad goes away on a business trip, something ignites a mean aggressive behavior in Ben. The kids are baffled, shocked and then scared shitless as the docile chimp goes on a maiming and killing rampage. Salivating, growling and maiming with no remorse. There’s a call for help. Operator: “911. What’s your emergency?” Caller: “He’s gone crazy!”
Those who love the horror genre will get the fear, terror and blood-rushing through your veins thrills they crave. The script measures out the mayhem in sprints. It’s a tight rhythm (editor Peter Gvozdas, The Purge, The Avengers) of head bashing, mouth gouging, ripping and severing. As a director, Roberts doesn’t reinvent the wheel. Doesn’t need to. Also, special effects are limited and believable. Largely thanks to Miguel Torres Umba, who plays Ben in a man-in-suit costume. So, the central character isn’t a telltale CGI fake. That’s helpful.
Quick, agile camerawork (cinematographer Stephen Murphy, Atlanta) follows the victims as they run in vain, lock themselves in cars and hide in closets. Nothing is wonderfully lit, the composition is so-so, the colors adequate, the sets ordinary (production designer Simon Bowles, A Quiet Place Day One) and props too (Ellie Forey and Tina Jones). In others’ hands, that would be a deficit. With this tech team’s professionalism, it just makes the surroundings seem real and not like replicas—even if they are.
Roberts has a good sense of horror and how to make genre requirements work to the movie’s advantage. Audiences will scream “get in the other car” or “hide deeper in the closet.” Not because they want to, but because they’re compelled. The casual set up makes the characters seem more real, approachable and accessible. Easy to get wound up in their plights. The older sister protecting the young one. The brave girl not afraid to try alternate means of escape. The dudes who show up unaware. None of it seems silly and campy like a Scream or a I Know What You Did Last Summer. Nor serious and earnest like George A. Romero’s 1988 horror film Monkey Shines. What’s on view is just natural and alarming enough to pull you in. Make you cover your eyes at the scariest moments and uncover them for more gore. And the gore is not overblown. Most of the fear is based on dread and impending violence.
All this was achieved with roughly a $21M+ budget. Likely because there are so few locations and no big stars in the cast, except Kotsur. As an ensemble, the young cast steps up nicely. Hunter’s Erin is vulnerable and impulsive like a kid would be. Mann and Simon as the interlopers are fun to watch. Alexander’s Hannah is as rebellious as Wyant’s Kate is concerned. Kotsur, who is deaf, is a brilliant casting choice as non-verbal communication is part of the film’s theme. So much hinges on Sequoyah’s portrayal as the courageous Lucy, and she’s up to the challenge—emotionally and physically. Tweens, teens and twentysomethings will likely flock to theaters and enjoy the movie and cast even more on streaming services.
You’ll be frightened. Not by demons, ghosts or fake-ass monsters. Instead, one innocent-looking but deranged chimpanzee will make you quiver. A wild, crazed primate will leave an indelible impression. Monkey see. Monkey kill. Monkey scare.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo87F-va410
Visit Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com.