Johannes Roberts
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It's much more of the box office than biology, but from Cujo onwards the needs of story outweigh any requirement for accuracy.
Roberts has cited Cujo as major inspiration, and just as many dog lovers found that Stephen King adaptation emotionally distressing, chimp sympathizers will likely flinch at this grisly bout of monkey madness.
…similar to the way we look at the rabid canine in Cujo…
When Primate hits its stride, it channels the sweaty, heart-pounding energy of Cujo or The Birds, but with a glossy modern sheen.
The whole idea of being "trapped" may have worked well in the context of "Cujo," where a mother and her young son are stuck in a car while a rabid dog lurks about, but here it merely makes a ridiculous situation even more silly…
There are several parallels with Stephen King’s story Cujo, which also featured a rabid animal as the antagonist.
The Descent (2005)
Directed by Neil Marshall
influenced 47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019), 47 Meters Down (2017)
Themes Plot
If you’re looking for a connection to the original Mandy Moore-starring film, there isn’t one aside from how Johannes again tries – and fails – to match the intense below-the-surface claustrophobic atmosphere of The Descent, another obvious inspiration.
It also doubles down overt references to Neil Marshall’s low-key 2005 classic The Descent .
(You can use air pockets on the ceilings as a secondary supply of air!) You’ll also likely read a lot of reviews referring to the film as The Descent with sharks, and while that description is not at all inaccurate, Uncaged lacks the sophistication and nuanced character development that made that Neil Marshall masterpiece so special.
Even without the threat of real sharks, these moments that featured those dark and cramped passageways were enough to make me feel on edge, reminding me of the same way I felt the first time I watched The Descent .
With Uncaged , Roberts smartly goes in a much different direction, utilizing the sequel’s very specific locale (submerged Mayan ruins) as a means to incite feelings of claustrophobia and disorientation, resulting in an experience that’s akin to if The Descent took place underwater.
At times, this tale of four young women trying to rescue each other in an underwater maze — as opposed to the two caged vacation divers of “47 Meters Down” — suggests a variation on “The Descent,” the 2005 spelunking thriller.
It’s a moment that recalls a similar scene in John Carpenter’s Halloween…
Ben smashing through a louvered closet door where Lucy and Kate hide seems direct homage to Jack Nicholson’s “Here’s Johnny!” moment from The Shining or Michael Myers destroying the flimsy closet shielding Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween.
There are plenty of visual horror franchise homages: “Alien,” “Jurassic Park” and “Halloween.” Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode would kill for these closets.
Roberts’ homage to King’s Cujo, with lots of notes of Carpenter’s Halloween…
It'd be reductive to suggest that this was King Kong by way of Halloween…
…but Primate also does itself no favors by cribbing from Halloween, Scream, A Quiet Place, and other tired horror tropes.
…this feels like the “Gordy” scene from Nope was expanded into 90 minutes…
Audiences with sensitivity toward animals whose wild instincts have been stifled by human intervention might see this as a cross between James Marsh’s soulful Project Nim and the terrifying sitcom chimp incident in Jordan Peele’s Nope.
Primate is a bit like that memorably gruesome sequence in Nope (2022) stretched out to feature length…
As anyone who has seen "Nope" can tell you, chimps are vicious and unpredictable when they get older.
Just don’t take anyone still having traumatic flashbacks to Nope’s opening sequence.
If you’ve ever wanted a full-length feature version of the “Gordy’s Home” scene in Nope, Primate is the movie for you.
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).
Sure, we've had "Monkey Shines," "Link," and, of course, multiple non-horror films featuring "King Kong" (if you even count those), but a regular killer ape is surprisingly not a subject that many filmmakers have delved into.
It'd be reductive to suggest that this was King Kong by way of Halloween…
King Kong (2005)…
Everybody knows King Kong…
Films like Link and Monkey Shines…
Primate makes Monkey Shines look tame by comparison…
Harking back to Richard Franklin’s Link and George A. Romero’s Monkey Shines, the main menace is a murdering monkey.
Sure, we've had "Monkey Shines," "Link," and, of course, multiple non-horror films featuring "King Kong" (if you even count those), but a regular killer ape is surprisingly not a subject that many filmmakers have delved into.
Nor serious and earnest like George A. Romero’s 1988 horror film Monkey Shines.
Monkey Shines…
Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
Directed by Jean-François Richet
influenced Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021), The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018), F (2010)
Visuals Plot Music Themes
Like Anderson’s films, this one takes inspiration from John Carpenter, specifically Escape from New York and Assault on Precinct 13 .
With a police station as one of its central locations, “Welcome to Raccoon City” angles for “Assault on Precinct 13” vibes but falls short of the 2005 remake, to say nothing of the genius of the John Carpenter original.
Writer/director Johannes Roberts has stated in multiple interviews that his main inspiration for Welcome to Raccoon City were the films of John Carpenter, in particular Assault on Precinct 13 , and that influence is clear in the film’s presentation.
The film plays with Carpenter from the claustrophobic heist of Assault on Precinct 13 to the supernatural slow burn of The Fog .
Adrian Johnston’s ( I Am Not a Serial Killer ) electronic score, reminiscent of John Carpenter’s classic compositions for Assault on Precinct 13 and Escape from New York , is terrific, but it is also frequently undercut by a number of 1980s pop songs, the film oddly inserting them at a number of inopportune moments diluting the inherent tension of the situation substantially.
The British shocker F is inspired, its accomplished writer-director says, by John Carpenter, especially his Assault on Precinct 13 , and is a transposition to Britain of one of those 1970s horror flicks about unseen avengers terrorising American high schools.
The skillfully rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise has coaxed audiences to think of simian brethren as complex creatures with significant brain power, but Primate treats Ben strictly as a killing machine, as cunning as he is unrelenting.
Save for the existential terrors of the “Planet of the Apes” series and that one pivotal scene in Jordan Peele’s “Nope,” it would be difficult to scrounge up even one notable film that sees horror staring back at us with a heaving pant-hoot and an aggressive chest-pound.
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).
When Ben gets rabies, it is as if he is waking up to the infantilization and decided to start the “Planet of the Apes” franchise.
It won’t truly turn us into a planet of apes, but you could do a lot worse for a January horror film.
And with Roberts being no Steven Spielberg when it comes to crafting suspense stemming from an anonymous figure trying to kill our main character (as Spielberg superbly did in "Duel"), this ends up simply being nothing more than what we've seen countless times before.
Horror fans will delight in recognizing homages to suspense/horror tales, among them the end of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," the monster truck from Steven Spielberg's "Duel," composer Adrian Johnston's tribute to John Carpenter's "Halloween," and the visual nod to "The Exorcist."
With that in mind, Primate probably has more similarities to Jaws than some would care to admit.
Primate probably has more similarities to Jaws than some would care to admit.
In terms of pure animal menace, he lands somewhere between the shark in Jaws and the raptors in Jurassic Park: intelligent, omnipresent, not quite as iconic, but just as primally unnerving.
Ben isn’t Jaws, hidden away in shadow…
…those who liked their Jaws derivatives a little more on the hairy, bipedal side…
Resident Evil (2002)
Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson
influenced Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021), Primate (2026)
Plot Themes
…might have drawn inspiration from videogame series Resident Evil…
With the era of Paul W.S. Anderson’s battle-heavy Resident Evil movies now passed, the job of exploiting Capcom’s much-loved game series falls to 47 Metres Down ’s Johannes Roberts, who lays claim to being a huge fan of the original two games (his film draws a lot of inspiration from the 2019 Resident Evil 2 reboot).
Gamers will quickly recognize that Roberts’ dual-track narrative is a combination of “Resident Evil” (Chris’ mission) and “Resident Evil 2” (Claire’s thread).
As overseer of the previous cycle of Resident Evil films, Paul W.S. Anderson nudged the material towards action-fantasy, the better to showcase the gifts of his muse Milla Jovovich.
Roberts now takes over the reins of the Resident Evil series from Paul W.S. Anderson with the prequel Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City .
Eschewing the action-heavy aesthetics of the successful six-film series — beginning with 2002’s Resident Evil and culminating with 2016’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter , all starring Milla Jovovich as kick-butt heroine Alice tasked with saving the world from the zombie apocalypse — Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City attempts to take the property back to its horror video-game roots.
Also, this may not be something most folks will ever see, but prior to my screening of The Strangers: Prey at Night , we saw a quick intro from Roberts, who revealed that the biggest influence on him while working on this project was John Carpenter, including certain iconic movies from the Master of Horror’s filmography such as The Fog , Christine , and (of course) Halloween .
Subtle hints Hammer-to-the-head homages evoke Halloween ’s “The Shape,” roll with The Fog and grind Christine ’s gears in an atmospherically overt love-letter to Carpenter that Roberts signs in blood.
Films like Link and Monkey Shines…
Sure, we've had "Monkey Shines," "Link," and, of course, multiple non-horror films featuring "King Kong" (if you even count those), but a regular killer ape is surprisingly not a subject that many filmmakers have delved into.
Harking back to Richard Franklin’s Link and George A. Romero’s Monkey Shines, the main menace is a murdering monkey.
I’m old enough to remember the 1986 Richard Franklin thriller, “Link,” which starred Elisabeth Shue and Terrence Stamp and is just like this movie, only with one teenager instead of a half dozen.
Resident Evil (2026)
Directed by Zach Cregger
influenced by Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)
Plot
Fewer will remember the failed attempt to reboot the series in 2021.
As the eighth installment in the Resident Evil film franchise and the second attempt at a reboot following producer Paul W.S. Anderson’s 2002-2017 series and Johannes Roberts’ 2021 reboot…
…even the 2021 reboot, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, which was written and directed by Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down)…
Then came Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. While the Anderson films weren’t masterpieces, this one made them feel like bona fide works of art.
In another odd choice, while Salisbury and McGregor discuss the Anderson films, the reboot, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City and the live-action Netflix show, they completely ignore the four animated films and the miniseries Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness.
…the series was recently rebooted in 2021 with Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City…
In terms of pure animal menace, he lands somewhere between the shark in Jaws and the raptors in Jurassic Park: intelligent, omnipresent, not quite as iconic, but just as primally unnerving.
Now, I’m not saying Primate is Jurassic Park, by any means…
There are plenty of visual horror franchise homages: “Alien,” “Jurassic Park” and “Halloween.”
There is something beautiful about the motion capture experiences behind movies like Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes…
Its main antagonist may be a chimpanzee named Ben, but he might as well be Michael Myers or Jason Vorhees once the grisly monkey mayhem begins.
…the murderous abandon of Jason Voorhees…
…but certainly more involving than Shakma.
Shakma…
None of it seems silly and campy like a Scream or a I Know What You Did Last Summer.
…but Primate also does itself no favors by cribbing from Halloween, Scream, A Quiet Place, and other tired horror tropes.
And while the film introduces a deaf character and gestures at the potential to play with silence and perspective, a la Hush or A Quiet Place, those threads never become essential to the film’s grammar.
…but Primate also does itself no favors by cribbing from Halloween, Scream, A Quiet Place, and other tired horror tropes.