If you’re looking for a film that will have you watching through your fingers, Primate is it. The scares aren’t built on cheap jump moments, but on something far more disturbing: watching a chimpanzee absolutely go ham on humans. It’s visceral, brutal, and unsettling in a way that lingers long after the credits roll.
Now playing in theaters, Primate follows a group of friends whose tropical getaway quickly devolves into a primal fight for survival. What begins as sun, fun, and late-night hookups turns into something darker, as a chimpanzee named Ben becomes the terrifying center of escalating violence.
Inside the chaos is actor Tienne Simon, who stars in the film and recently spoke with us about what drew him to the project, what it was like facing a chimp onscreen, and why the internet’s favorite hypothetical battle might already have its answer.
“Just reading what happens with Ben, being that it’s a family pet, an animal that people treat like family, and he ends up taking a turn for the worse, that’s the first thing that made me want to read the script,” he shared about what drew him to the role. “I was able to read it cover to cover… the pace of it is the kind of thing that makes you keep reading it.”
That sense of momentum mirrored what audiences experience onscreen. Once the terror starts, there’s no easing out of it.
“It gave me natural visceral reactions,” Simon said. “I’m reading what happens with my character, and I’m thinking, ‘That’s gonna happen to me.’”
Simon’s character enters the story with simple intentions. “Just a young guy, determined, just trying to have a nice summer,” he explained. “All we want to do is play some basketball, go on holiday, meet some girls, and have a fun summer. That’s the only thing on the agenda.”
Instead, the group stumbles into a nightmare, one fueled by bad decisions and misplaced trust. “There’s a lot of stupidity in this film,” Simon said bluntly. “Everybody has to hold some responsibility for their own actions. We’re treating this chimpanzee like it’s a regular hamster or a dog… this thing could kill you.”
Although no real chimpanzees were harmed in production, the intensity was very real. The chimp was portrayed by a highly committed character actor, Miguel Torres Umba, who made the experience unsettling even off-camera.
“Even outside of the suit, the way he got into his physicality, the focus, you’re thinking, ‘You’re not human right now,’” Simon said. “That’s all credit to him.”
At some point, Primate inevitably enters the viral debate territory: could a group of humans overpower a massive gorilla?
Simon doesn’t hesitate. “I don’t fancy human beings against anything stronger than human,” he said. “I don’t care if it’s 100, 200 people. I don’t think we’re coming out as the winners.”
His reasoning is simple. “Animals don’t snap out of it,” he explained. “They just get to work until they’re satisfied. I’ll be sitting far away from it because I’m not getting involved.”
Despite the gore, Simon hopes audiences walk away with more than just shock. “Ben is seen as family. He’s felt as family,” he said. “So I want people to experience both sides—the fear and the terror, but also the empathy for the fact that this is a family being broken up.”
Primate is now playing in theaters, and if you think you’re ready, just know: once it’s on, it’s on.
Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures
