20 Recent Movies WAY Better Than They Had Any Right To Be

The marketing didn't really make Primate look like much more than your typical, dumb killer animal horror flick, and with 47 Meters Down filmmaker Johannes Roberts at the helm, that sounded just about right.

But while Primate hardly has much of a clever script, it is a smartly made and efficiently constructed creature feature, touting enough self-awareness of its own absurdity to lean into the zaniness, yet never tipping its hand too much to the audience.

Refreshingly mean-spirited with its approach to darkly comedic brutality, all while sensibly opting for a practical guy-in-suit over a digital rabid chimp, Primate wrings its simple premise for every drop of suspense, aided by some sharp visuals and a killer synth score from Adrian Johnston.

It would've shocked nobody if Primate scored a cool 9% on Rotten Tomatoes, but it ultimately fared surprisingly well with critics, even if the viral online chatter failed to translate into a bigger box office breakout.