{"id":685442,"date":"2026-01-09T22:42:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T22:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/685442\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T22:42:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T22:42:15","slug":"killer-monkey-movies-to-watch-after-primate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/685442\/","title":{"rendered":"Killer Monkey Movies To Watch After Primate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Primate is the latest horror film to indulge in the killer monkey subgenre, the likes of which have inspired some diverse, disturbing animal attack movies.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are certain subgenres that are products of their time and are no longer seen because they\u2019re now considered to be antiquated or impractical. Horror films that rely on animals \u2014 real animals \u2014 are increasingly problematic. This is even a greater liability when the creature in question is something that\u2019s as temperamental as a monkey.<\/p>\n

Johannes Roberts <\/strong><\/a>(47 Meters Down, The Strangers: Prey at Night, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City) ambitiously revives the killer chimp subgenre with his latest film, Primate<\/strong><\/a>. Primate chronicles the domestic horrors that break out when a privileged family\u2019s pet monkey, Ben, shifts from pet to predator. Primate acts as a stark reminder that animals like chimpanzees, while often cute, are wild animals that are not meant to be pets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Roberts\u2019 film scratches the surface of something that\u2019s been uniquely unpacked across different horror movies that hold up a mirror to mankind\u2019s relationship with nature. While films like King Kong<\/strong> and Planet of the Apes<\/strong> all meet these qualifications, the following movies focus on smaller simian scares.<\/p>\n

Link<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Link<\/p>\n

Richard Franklin\u2019s Link<\/a><\/strong> is a gonzo masterpiece that\u2019s the type of movie that just feels impossible to make, even in a post-Primate world. There are so many moments in Link, a movie that basically brings the whole \u201cSee No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil\u201d parable to life through mad science, that genuinely feel impossible. So much of the film\u2019s novelty involves watching this trio of well-trained apes carry out tasks while tension builds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Each chimp, Voodoo, Imp, and Link, develops a distinct personality as the titular Link stands out as the black sheep. These apes are often at odds with each other, but it\u2019s also genuinely terrifying when they team up, work together, and overpower individuals. This highlights how any alleged \u201csuperiority\u201d that humans feel over monkeys becomes irrelevant when they\u2019re cornered by three rabid creatures who each possess eight times the strength of an average man.<\/p>\n

Link is an effective horror villain who does a lot of the heavy lifting here. However, none of these simian shenanigans ever feel too silly because of the beautiful cinematography and art design. Additionally, Jerry Goldsmith\u2019s<\/strong> carnival-esque score is perfectly eerie and reflects how both ape and man are constantly performing on a stage and forced to jump through some degree of hoops. Link\u2019s music is such a strong recurring motif.<\/p>\n

Link becomes an impressive tonal tightrope walk that shifts between Dunston Checks In level hijinks, where monkeys are putting phones in the microwave, and Primal Force-style carnage, where apes are tearing humans to shreds. Link is a stunning examination of humanity and culpability that doesn\u2019t just repeatedly equate humans and apes, but has people dependent upon them for survival. One of the most extreme examples of this involves an ape punching out a rottweiler that\u2019s attacking one of the lead characters.<\/p>\n

In another scene, a different monkey lifts a car off the ground like a superhero so that his aggressor is trapped. Another memorable and unnerving sequence involves voyeuristic behavior from one of the more aggressive chimps, Link. Link watches Jane (Elisabeth Shue)<\/strong> attempt to take a bath, only to feel too uncomfortable to carry out the action while this simian invades her privacy. It\u2019s a scene that\u2019s absurd on several levels, albeit a moment that reflects the inherent power in these carnal creatures and that they do call the shots. A woman is absolutely the weaker prey in such a situation, even if the monkey doesn\u2019t understand what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

Link is definitely the must-watch film on this list and a great entry point into Franklin\u2019s filmography. Link also continues the trend of killer monkey movies that posit the idea that humans are superior to apes and that it\u2019s a fundamental mistake to treat them like equals. It\u2019s a curious perspective that\u2019s echoed in Primate. It also makes Link\u2019s final line, \u201cHe\u2019s a baby. He wouldn\u2019t hurt anyone,\u201d especially evocative and telling.<\/p>\n

Shakma<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of common ground that\u2019s shared between various killer monkey movies. Shakma<\/strong>, however, strives for something different and is endlessly authentic, even if its random nature makes the film feel like it\u2019s been constructed by an A.I. algorithm. The basic setup involves a baboon that\u2019s been injected with an experimental drug that\u2019s designed to inhibit the creature\u2019s rage, only for it to have the opposite effect.<\/p>\n

This berserker baboon (the same baboon \u201cactor\u201d from The Fly<\/a>, at that) that\u2019s born out of a science experiment gone wrong is par for the course in this type of horror movie. Where Shakma establishes its personality is with its \u201cDungeons & Dragons from Hell\u201d angle. A bunch of university research students decide to host an elaborate LARPing session in the very same research facility where Shakma has been let loose.<\/p>\n

Shakma mixes the group\u2019s high fantasy setup with the clinical, grotesque violence that\u2019s wrought from the titular baboon. The film oscillates between the energy of an Amblin movie and a David Cronenberg film. Shakma is the perfectly deranged movie to watch between the Stranger Things <\/a>finale and Primate.<\/p>\n

Primal Rage<\/b><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

1988\u2019s Primal Rage<\/strong>, not to be confused with 2018\u2019s direct-to-TV Bigfoot movie of the same name, is a horror\/sci-fi spectacle from Italian director Vittorio Rambaldi<\/strong> (son of the special effects legend, Carlo Rambaldi<\/strong>). Primal Rage is the best worst movie you\u2019ve never heard of, and it deserves to be mandatory viewing, not just after a screening of Primate, but every Halloween season.<\/p>\n

Primal Rage doesn\u2019t attempt to reinvent the wheel. A break-in at a research lab leads to a rabid baboon bite that prompts a full-on outbreak that spreads at the local Florida college\u2019s Halloween party. Primal Rage\u2019s secret weapon is that it never takes itself too seriously, which perhaps makes it easier to believe that the film\u2019s script was originally about people turning into tigers.<\/p>\n

This overlooked cult classic gives the audience exactly what they want, with its over-the-top physical effects and gore, ridiculous lo-fi costumes that go so much harder than what\u2019s necessary, and a soundtrack that bleeds the \u201980s. It\u2019s hard to watch Primal Rage with a bunch of friends and not have a great, dumb time. The scares may not be as palpable as they are in Primate, but the deaths still deliver.<\/p>\n

There are plenty of moments in Primal Rage where it feels more like Meatballs or some bawdy sex comedy. There\u2019s still a darkness that repeatedly reveals itself. The film\u2019s monkey mayhem is contained to the movie\u2019s introduction, but the \u201crage virus\u201c that infects and carries across the campus still taps into an animalistic quality for the rest of the picture. It\u2019s perhaps the ultimate example of blurring the lines between man and monkey as the former literally starts to become the latter.<\/p>\n

Phenomena<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Inga<\/p>\n

Phenomena<\/b>, also known as Creepers<\/b> in some markets, is one of Dario Argento\u2019s<\/b> most interesting \u201980s offerings. Argento takes his typical giallo influences and combines them with the burgeoning psychic sci-fi horror trend that was taking over the decade in films like Carrie and Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood. In Phenomena, a young socialite at an all-girls boarding school, Jennifer Corvino (played by Jennifer<\/b> Connelly<\/b> in one of her very first roles), uses her psychic powers to stop a serial killer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jennifer\u2019s powers allow her to communicate with insects, which is decidedly different from the telekinetic fare that filled up the \u201980s. This also leads to an absolutely disgusting scene in which Connelly\u2019s Corvino is submerged in maggots. One wonders how a chimpanzee who is handy with a blade works into Phenomena, but that\u2019s what makes its use of a monkey all the more impressive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Inga the chimp is a savior, not a sinner, as Argento wryly subverts several genre norms. It\u2019s hard to imagine that Phenomena\u2019s Inga wasn\u2019t on Jordan Peele\u2019s<\/b> mind when constructing Nope\u2019s<\/b><\/a> Gordy sequence. Phenomena is the best psychic serial killer giallo monkey movie you\u2019ll ever see.<\/p>\n

Monkey Shines<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Ella<\/p>\n

George A. Romero\u2019s Monkey Shines<\/strong> is by no means a good movie, but it\u2019s absolutely a great movie. So much of this film is built upon the popsicle stick foundation of broad sci-fi lunacy rather than any hard science. At the same time, Monkey Shines embraces this madness, and its chaotic storytelling is in many ways a testament to Romero\u2019s hubris in the late \u201980s. Monkey Shines was notably Romero\u2019s first studio film, and, much like John Carpenter, it\u2019s easy to see how this skin doesn\u2019t feel natural on the filmmaker.<\/p>\n

Monkey Shines is notable for arguably popularizing the absurd \u201chelper monkey\u201d trope that persisted through the \u201990s. The movie examines an athlete, Allan Mann (Jason Beghe<\/strong>), who suffers a terrible accident and becomes paralyzed as a quadriplegic. A capuchin helper monkey is suggested to lighten Allan\u2019s load, but because this is a Romero Film, of course, the monkey has been subjected to extreme experiments and brain injections.<\/p>\n

Audiences need to suspend a lot of disbelief for Monkey Shines to work, but the idea of Allan sharing a telepathic link with his monkey, Ella, is at least something original. Allan is confined to a chair, but Ella becomes a living embodiment of his rage and id, who can actually get revenge on those who have wronged him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Monkey Shines is a wild ride, but absolutely worth it. It\u2019s another movie that attempts to equate man and monkey before tearing them apart, only the schism present is forced upon Ella by man and not some natural disaster like rabies, as it is in Primate. Monkey Shines doesn\u2019t disappoint with its chimp hijinks, but Beghe progressively chewing the scenery as he loses it is more entertaining than any monkey.<\/p>\n

Other Dumb Monkey Fun: The Lawnmower man (Director\u2019s Cut), Primal Force (1999), Congo<\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n

Primate is in theaters now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Primate is the latest horror film to indulge in the killer monkey subgenre, the likes of which have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3935],"tags":[77,1123,122336,207389,54611,207390,3943,79032,207391,122337,207392,13803,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-685442","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-featured","10":"tag-johannes-roberts","11":"tag-killer-monkey","12":"tag-link","13":"tag-monkey-shines","14":"tag-movies","15":"tag-phenomena","16":"tag-primal-rage","17":"tag-primate","18":"tag-shakma","19":"tag-topnews","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115867559338074609","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}