User reviews

Written, directed and produced by Josh Reed, Primal may seem like your typical violent monster / slasher flick, but in following formula the film did turn out to be rather enjoyable, if not cliché, but it worked. The opening scene some 12000 years ago gives us the premise where a caveman tries to communicate the presence of an unknown beast, only to be devoured very quickly before fast forwarding to today, with 6 travelling friends on a road trip to that exact same location for a camp and a hike.

The film takes the first 30 minutes to cue us in on the characters, given that with an ensemble, we expect certain molds to be adopted. For instance, there's always the ditzy, loud mouthed and slutty blonde (Krew Boylan) who's in the trip for some forest romp with studious looking boyfriend Chad (Lindsay Farris), who had enough when she starts to openly flirt with the alpha male of the group, Dace (Wil Traval), who's take away from the trip is the mysterious painting seen in the opening shot. Throw in the others like the group joker Warren (Damien Freeleagus), simple follower Kris (Rebekah Foord) and the one whom you know is more than meets the eye given the token phobia she must overcome at some point (Anja, played by Zoe Tuckwell-Smith), you have the requisite group for one heck of a monster attack.

I would liken the genre as an opportunity to study character dynamics and behaviours when placed under extremely stressful situations, such as the tendency for some to talk a lot without action, or to arrow others to perform various dirty-work What more, it gets interesting because the great unknown happens to be manifested into one of their own, so existential questions get called into the picture, especially when one gets transformed into a blood lusting beast with plenty of fang-like teeth replacing the human ones, extreme dexterity (an ability that varies its effectiveness from time to time) and a nasty violent temper, coupled with some nasty makeup to complete the revolting look set to strike fear.

There's the decision to play who lives and who dies, and as the audience you get roped in, based on past experience in similar genre films, to play guess who's next, as we listen in on all the bickering and disagreements, plus the warning signs that the characters themselves fail to heed. Of course these disagreements get chopped down to manageable size when the body count increases, and part of the guilty fun is to identify and apply genre clichés over the film and see if they still hold water. Most do.

For those into bloody gore, there are enough moments in Primal that are graphic enough to make you squirm, since the acts of violence are unflinching. The story gets built up quite nicely into the last hurrah, where unfortunately some really raw looking special effects set in a cave drew unnecessary attention to itself, and marred the experience of the crescendo carefully crafted.

I mostly hate those so-called 'slasher flicks' which feature a group of witless, narcissistic and dim-witted teenagers (or vapid 20 somethings) who go out into the woods and are picked off one by one by either a madman seeking vengeance or some restless supernatural entity. This one pretty much follows the formula except it's a rather good example of the genre. The acting isn't that bad and the pacing is really good. The campers all have distinct characters. Once you accept the premise that some kind of supernatural virus is on the loose in an isolated part the Outback which turns people into carnivorous predators you can watch the group try to work together to survive. Sometimes they get hysterical, and sometimes they do really stupid things but sometimes they actually make intelligent moves. In any case I was entertained.

Formulaic B-movie horror flick about a group of 20-somethings that venture into the Australian wilderness with their anthropologist friend, Dace (played the very buff and very sexy Wil Traval), to study an ancient cave painting. It's paced well and it's not too long into the movie that Chad's free-spirited girlfriend, Mel, begins a horrific transformation into a frenzied predator that stalks them one by one.

For the gorehounds, there are rocks bashing heads in, teeth falling out, flesh ripping, cannibalism, and much more. Veteran horror fans, it's nothing you haven't witnessed before. The film borders on cheesy but, I have to be honest, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie until the last 20 minutes or so, when the special effects department decided to throw in some hokey CGI and a bizarre attempted impregnation scene between Anja and a seven foot cave-dwelling slug.

Primal isn't so much scary as it is intense. There are quite a few white knuckle moments, as well as a couple of holy sh*t, what the hell was that scenes that will stun and amuse you. It's almost devoid of gratuitous nudity since Mel's transformation from cute blond chick to ravenous killer with three inch fangs happens fairly quickly (sorry, men).

Definitely not recommended to the squeamish type or the casual viewer. If you liked movies like Cabin Fever and The Ruins, you may get a kick out of this return to Ozploitation from writer/director, Josh Reed.

I managed to watch this film on DVD last week and i found it to be a pretty good horror film actually. The story is about a girl called Anja and her five friends who join with this other student called Dace who happens to study anthropology. They decide to go on a journey to study a ancient type of rock painting. But soon after one of their friends called Mel wants to go swimming in this lake as it is nighttime, soon after getting out of the lake Mel finds herself covered in leaches she starts screaming for the others to try and get them off of her body. Eventually they manage to get her back to their tents and is given a bottle of water to drink. But suddenly she begins to bleed very badly. Soon after she begins to physically turn into to a vicious predatory look. So Mels lover and friends begin to realise that they are going to be the prey that she wants to attack, so she starts to begin to hunt them down. I found it to be a very gory film, but i enjoyed watching it very much 5/10

I love when a little film comes out of nowhere and bites me on the behind and forces me to take it seriously whilst having a whale of a time. Primal is one such film.

Sharp dialogue, believable characters and some pretty nifty visual and makeup effects make this an entertaining and undemanding, often quite subversive time waster.

It's not going to win any awards but that's never the intention with a something like this. At a brisk 80 odd minutes it doesn't hang around long enough to become self indulgent or boring and just when you think you know where it's going the screenwriter throws another curve-ball your way.

One satisfied customer her with a very solid seven out of ten.

This is a classic 'take your friends to the woods and kill them' first-time horror movie, but it's so much better than other similar movies that it deserves a watch.

First, I want to commend the outstanding lighting. I can't remember a better lighted movie. Every scene is just as dark or as bright as it needs to be, you're never confused about who is where or what is what. If you're a student of lighting or cinematography, especially if you want to make horror, this is a mandatory watch.

The cinematography is also very good throughout, never betraying a budget, as are the effects. The director holds his cast through what must have been a fairly frustrating shoot for some of the actors (you get to wear blood makeup for 3/4's of the movie! We're nowhere near a shower!). This is a professional movie, and I couldn't tell if it was made for 1 million or 10.

The writing is well above par for this type of movie. There is a character who makes decisions that are very frustrating for the viewer and freezes more than you want him to, but that is good writing, not bad as some reviewers have complained. You get a feeling from the script that these people know each other and have relationships deeper than what you see. The plot moves along at a nice clip, and the comedy comes at the right moments to relieve tension and is genuinely funny. The last line works in a special kind of way where it's predictable, you want it said, and yet it brings a smile to your lips when it is said.

One more thing, the gore is pretty normal for the whole movie, but the ending turns to a couple of concepts that definitely pushed me past my comfort zone and made me feel very squeamish. While most of the movie is horror of the jump-scare sort or the tension sort, the last few minutes get to some psychological horror that is genuinely disturbing. It felt scary and squidgy at the time, but it was appropriate and elevated the movie past a basic type of horror movie.

Hokay, so I'm giving this a 10 because it seems horribly low-rated to me. I think the movie did everything it set out to do, is scary, funny, and fun in parts, and feels like a complete piece. It gets a lot of average ratings but it doesn't feel like an average film. I see that a lot of people dislike the ending, but I'm not sure what they wanted/expected. The script went where it wanted to go. The ending ramps up the gore and is all but certain to shock you. Definitely worth a watch for yourself to see if you agree with them or me.

This had good written all over it and then the characters started to interact. Unfortunately these morons had to speak and ruin the movie. First there is the "Sensitive" guy. God, I hate Sensitive Guy. The "Group of Friends" movie genre is a hit or miss proposition. This one swung and missed, not because of the story or the horror effects and not even the acting itself, no, it lost its way simply because of dialogue and character. Take for instance the "Sensitive Guy". This moron was so far out of touch with reality that it made me think he was some Hollywood stereotype of a chick. Trust me, listen to this guy when the crap hits the fan and a decision has to be made. Sure, sensitive people will say that he was just heartbroken, therefor his decisions were off. Bullcrap! He goes from delusional to self righteous in zero point five seconds. I don't know which one was worse. Fightine, bickering, back stabbing and overly sensitive adults. The ultimate failure of a group movie. I've never understood the whole idea of packing five or six people in an SUV and then have them fight for the better part of an hour. It pisses me off. I understand human nature and people packed into an SUV for hours, yeah, someone is going to get cranky and some bickering will ensue. But petty squabbling the entire movie? Yuck. If it weren't for the characters I would have put this in the 7 range for horror and bloodshed.

I must have watched 'Primal' about 5-6 years ago. I watched it again and completely forgot every last moment of it. That kind of sums up the film. You'll probably enjoy it if you're into horror/slasher type movies, but it's unlikely you'll remember anything about it in a few years time (and that's generous!). In fact... one of the reasons I'm making sure I review it this time around is so that I can remind myself what it was like next time I decide to watch it.

If you've seen one teen-slasher film then you've pretty much seen them all. Ever since the seventies' 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' was released, the premise of a bunch of teenagers (good-looking, of course!) getting stuck in some out-of-the-way location, only to end up being stalked by anything from rednecks to werewolves.

Here, you're typical bunch of overly-attractive teens happens to be Australian this time rather than American and instead of the mid-west States, they find themselves without cell phone reception in an Australian rain forest while researching some sort of... yeah, I kind of tuned out as to why they were there. It doesn't matter. Their presence basically awakens something pretty nasty and they start getting picked off one by one, just like every other teen-slasher film.

If you like the genre and you're not totally tired with the set-up then you could give this one a go. It's pretty good - for what it is. Of course you won't remember any of the characters' names during and definitely not AFTER the credits have rolled. You'll know them only as 'brown-haired guy, slutty girl' and so on.

There are some pretty cool moments such as a stylish fight scene towards the end and something really gross in the final act. There's quite a lot of gore, but nothing too over the top or anything you haven't seen before. You'll know who's going to die and who's not when you first meet the characters, so there's nothing here you won't see coming. Either way, like I say, if you're not bored of this type of film you could certainly do worse.

I first saw this a decade ago on a dvd which I own. Revisited it recently.

I enjoyed this film as it is a fast paced horror with lots of gore, creepy moments n some truly good effects.

I found it to be better than Cabin Fever.

A group of friends travel to the Australian outback where one of em wants to study ancient symbols placed outside a mysterious cave. They come across n kill a mutated rabbit with pointed teeth.

At nite one of the girl goes skinny dipping into a pond and afterwards she starts mutating with pointed sharp teeth, enormous strength and hunger for flesh.

Primal is a horror film from Australia directed by Josh Reed.

The plot: Anja, Mel, Dace, Kris, Warren and Chad are six people on vacation and they enter the forest where the prehistoric painting is located as well as study it ... But the nightmare comes .. Mel's mysterious illness turned into a bloodthirsty mutant. One by one of them die .. Only Anja who still survive Will He succeed Congratulations ??? Review: the movie is quite tension .. Quite a lot of gore scenes disgusting ... Acting is pretty good from the cast in this movie .....

Austrailian's seem to be making good horror films nowadays, with "Wolf Creek" and "The Loved Ones" to name the best. But, like any country, they've got to slip up somewhere and here it's Josh Reed's "Primal" which is more "Vegetabal" to be honest with you. It has no intelligence, no drive and is as brain dead as the zombies!

Like almost every horror film it starts with about 5 friends going on a trip into the wilderness and ends up into a fight for survival with a concept that could've actually been pretty good, but instead turned clichéd and unexciting. "Primal" should've been cool, but from the first look of that bad puppet rabbit with the sharp teeth, you know it's going to be a little bit naff, and it was.

The set-pieces were on of the low-lights of the film, it was obvious that the actors were struggling with keeping the massive fangs in their mouths, so why have them? All the characters were annoying, there was not one you couldn't warm to until they turned into zombies. It's OK to have one or two unlikable characters, but if you can't warm to anyone then there's no excitement if they're running for survival because you can't root for them! Also,you can't feel bad for them when they do turn which is really bad! Likable characters are the key link to a good slasher/survival horror film.

The film didn't go anywhere, it had no drive and resorted to annoying people acting annoying standing around panicking instead of doing something. The majority of the film was the characters arguing about what to do so the film was ultimately stalled. Don't get me wrong it started off OK with the kids trying to trap the zombie friend, but then it feel apart about as much as there plans.

Also, the directing and editing was really bad. It seemed to resemble an 80's pop video at times and tried to cram too much style into it. At times the camera was shaking like a drunk at a wedding which I find incredibly annoying. So basically, the screenplay, directing and editing were all bad and considering this Josh Reed bloke wrote, edited and directed the film. He should stick to his day job.

Then the film turned horrendously bad at the end, confusing an already mashed genre (slasher/horror/survival) with another element! I won't spoil it for you but it's just plain weird and makes no sense what so ever! "Primal" is like a really old battered car with no steering wheel. It doesn't look nice and it doesn't go any where. It's another example of a film with a nice concept but executed in the poorest of ways, with a lazy script, bad editing and grotesque directing. I would stay clear from these woods.

I was quite entertained with this little horror flick and it doesn't disappoint in the gore department - it is unabashed and unflinching, and far more vivid than any of the usual fair. It rivals the Oz horrors such as Wolf Creek.

The tale is about six young people researching ancient cave paintings in the outback of Australia. A mysterious illness creeps upon one of the young women, stranding the entire party as they fight for survival against the nightmarish force.

Not bad special effects for a low budget film and it keeps up a steady pace of excitement. It's an entertaining 90 minutes despite the last quarter. The ending...well... is full of cheesy, over the top, blatant, symbolism.

This Australian movie "oozes" low budget. From the remote campsite setting, to the six bland friends (3 boys, 3 girls) and the bad acting. But with these tropes in the movie, there can still be the factor that it is enjoyable.

Unfortunately I did not enjoy this movie. It starts off with a prologue of a Caveman making cave drawings. He is attacked by some sort of deformed human with long sharp teeth (actually if you played the Mortal Kombat games, its Baraka, the creature looks like an updated Baraka). Some years pass, and we find ourselves in present day Australia, or at least somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Six happy friends led by anthropology student and Alpha Male named, Dace, the group sets out in to the wilderness to look for some cave drawings. Once they are in the cave, one of them, Anja, cuts her arm and her blood drips into the moist surface of the cave. After that we see some parts of the nature react, something bad is rising…

The group sets up camp and because this is a low budget horror movie, there needs to be skinny-dipping. Once the blond girl of the group, Mel, goes into the water, she wants to lure her boyfriend Chad in, but he's afraid of water or something, it doesn't get quite clear why he doesn't want to go in. But luckily for him, after Mel comes out she's covered with leeches. After Alpha Male Dace used salt to get them off, Mel goes to sleep, just to wake up in the middle of the night with a fever. The group wants to take her to the hospital, but the car tires are being eaten by… killer ants. So they plan to go on foot, but sweet Mel finally turns in to a female Baraka and start to attack everyone.

From that point on the movie goes around in circles. The same thing happens over and over again. The group guards the camp, Mel kills one of them, they fight her off, and repeat. A movie like this can be a lot of fun if the humor was funny, which is not, even the unintentionally bad acting doesn't make up for it. The gory effects are OK, but not much present. The only recommendation I can give this movie is if you want to see a Kangaroo get attack by a turned human, than you're in luck, this movie has that. Not to give the ending away, but it had some really bad effects, and made everything more unclear.

But in the end, all the clichés, bad acting, the repetitive nature of it all, it saddens me to say that it doesn't make for a good horror movie. Although I hope that the director keeps making movies, hopefully the next time will be better.

+ It has a killer rabbit

+ Decomposing Kangaroo

-Bad Acting

-Repetitive story

-Not enough gore

Acting is novice, rather utterly dumb! Concept is yuck and the movie is a total failure. What on earth do you spend money to make movies like this for?

Anger watching this movie all the way. Throw in a bunch of sadists and make a useless film.

Acting; -10/10 Concept; -7/10

You are better off watching a cartoon show rather than this movie. Showing some gooey stuff with vampiric teeth does not make a movie a horror flick. Recommendation: A strict no!

One of the most insanely stupid movies to be ever made.

Here we tiredly go again. 5 20+ too good looking lot (the lead male, currently in Home And Away, big surprise?) go off in the beautiful outdoorsy, mountains for a weekend of fun, and adventure, little do they know scenario. Cliché'd characters and predicabilitie's follow in this hugely disappointing horror indie, and it's a bloody shame, excuse the double meaning pun, as you'll find out, as gore hounds will be sold short on this one. The loud hottie, becomes rapid and possessed, after venturing in this cave, that saw this ritualistic murder, many years, prior. She grows fangs, springs out and attacks, bringing some familiar shades of that horrid and ghastly shocker, Howling 3, 30 years, prior, in this poor explained story, must less gorier than you expect. This messy horror is unforgettably stupid, with poorly drawn characters, where except the female lead and the class clown, you really couldn't give two hoots about the rest, in a horror you'll be glad to see the back off. Just another reason, most Oz horrors suck. Pathetic. Bet you this director, is a real fan of Howling 3, I'd bet my top bottom dollar. Stop at the misleading cover, with this one.

In horror movie terms, Primal is nothing new or original. It follows a very predictable path of the whole "young people camping in the woods with a monster" story. The characters are fairly predictable, as is the ultimate ending.

What makes Primal stand out, though, is, aside from the Australian Outback setting, the monster itself. Sure, the general idea is pretty standard, but the actual character of the monster is one that, at least for me, is new and exciting. Definitely pulling from the name of the film, the monster is very animalistic in its movements and behavior, but what was most exciting is the bridge between man and beast that it creates. This is perhaps the most terrifying part of the entire movie; the hinting of ourselves from, relatively speaking, not that long ago.

Sadly, all of the tension, thrill, and the interest of our primal selves completely falls apart in the last twenty minutes or so, as it seems that the filmmakers blew their budget, in terms of both money and creativity, as we get a terrible and confusing climax full of horrible (especially by 2010 standards) CGI which hurls us through the wormhole (you'll see) to the expected, but not entirely bad, conclusion.

Oh, and one of the best, and most Aussie, ending lines to any movie.