We kicked off this episode with Meaghan and Arthur back from an early screening of Primate, a new creature horror flick releasing January 9, 2026. They recorded this episode immediately after returning home from the theater, pushing aside sleep to capture their fresh, immediate reactions. And honestly, that urgency helped them capture the chaotic adrenaline of the film itself.
The plot, according to the hosts (and not the terrible IMDb synopsis they dragged at the top), centers around Lucy, a college student returning home to Hawaii after a long time away. She’s there to reconnect with her younger sister Erin and their dad, Adam.
The emotional core here is layered; their mother, a linguist who specialized in chimpanzee communication, passed away a year earlier. Before her death, she’d been working closely with a chimp named Ben, who had essentially become part of the family.
Ben is no side character, though. He’s the axis around which this entire movie spins. As the story unfolds, we learn Ben has been bitten by a mongoose, a rare event in rabies-free Hawaii, and soon starts showing signs of aggression and confusion. The horror escalates quickly from there.
First Impressions: We’re In for a Ride
Both Meaghan and Arthur had strong reactions and slightly different takes. Arthur loved it. He called it gnarly and was hooked from the first kill, five minutes in.
Meaghan also enjoyed it but admitted she struggled emotionally because she finds animal-centric horror hard to watch. It’s not that the movie did anything wrong; it just hit her right in the feelings.
Still, they both agreed on the essentials. Primate delivers exactly what it promises: a tense, smart, bloody horror experience. The kills are brutal. The effects are impressive. The characters aren’t stupid (thankfully), and the movie wastes no time getting to the chaos.
It also helps that the chimp, Ben, isn’t a CGI monstrosity. Instead, he’s portrayed by actor and movement specialist Miguel Torres Umba, who used a blend of performance, practical makeup, and digital enhancement.
That decision grounded the movie in a gritty realism that helped elevate the entire experience.
Let’s Talk Spoilers (and the Monkey Business Begins)
From here on, the gloves were off. Arthur and Meaghan broke down the plot in spoiler-heavy detail.
Lucy is visiting her family with her best friend Kate, Kate’s brother Nick, and another friend, Hannah. Once Ben starts spiraling from the rabies infection, all hell breaks loose.
The infection plotline is handled with surprising realism. They note the vet character explicitly explains how rabies works: symptoms don’t kick in right away, but once they do, death is almost guaranteed unless treated within 48 hours. And yeah, hydrophobia, or fear of water, is a real symptom. Ben’s aversion to the pool becomes a key part of the group’s survival tactics.
One effective plot device is the family’s location, isolated, on a cliffside, with no immediate neighbors or easy escape. It heightens the feeling of claustrophobia and makes their eventual survival attempts feel more urgent and desperate. The only place they can retreat to? The pool. But even that’s bordered on one side by a sheer drop. Not exactly ideal when you’re trying not to die.
They also brought in some Hawaii-specific trivia. It’s illegal to own a chimp there, which adds tension; their mom likely bent the rules as part of her research, and the family lives way off-grid to avoid attention. It all checks out and adds realism to what could’ve been a much sillier premise.
Standouts: Smart Characters, Brutal Kills, and Surprising Depth
One of the biggest praises from both hosts was how smart the characters were. That’s a rarity in horror, especially in creature features where you’re usually yelling at the screen.
Here, people made logical decisions, they call the vet, they hide, they actually try to escape when it makes sense.
Lucy in particular stood out. She shoulders the burden of what’s happening, stepping into a leadership role and trying to protect her sister and friends even as things unravel.
Meaghan praised Lucy’s empathy, even when Ben starts attacking, she doesn’t flip a switch and go cold. She’s scared, yes, but she never loses sight of the fact that Ben was once part of their family. That complexity added emotional weight and kept the film from being just another mindless bloodbath.
And speaking of bloodbaths, the kills are where this movie shines. Meaghan and Arthur both raved about the effects work.
Whether it’s a jaw being ripped off (yes, really) or the brutal cold open, every death is intense, graphic, and unforgettable.
One standout moment? The reaction of actor Troy Kotsur, who plays the girl’s father, when he stumbles across one of the victims. Apparently, he asked the director to keep the prosthetic hidden until filming to get a real, unscripted reaction. And it worked; the horror on his face is incredibly raw.
They also appreciated the layers added to the experience through filmmaking techniques. For example, because Adam is deaf, some scenes unfold in total silence when we’re seeing things from his perspective.
It’s a subtle, smart choice that throws you off in the best way. You’re suddenly aware of how vulnerable he is, not just because of the killer chimp, but because of the things he literally can’t hear coming.
Final Thoughts: It’s Not Perfect, But It’s Pretty Damn Good
Arthur came in with a final rating of 7/10. He liked it more than he expected, appreciated the humor and horror balance, and thought it stuck the landing.
Meaghan gave it a more modest 5.5/10, but that was less about the movie’s quality and more about how emotionally taxing animal horror is for her. She recognized the movie did everything it set out to do and did it well.
They both agreed the comedy beats helped make the movie easier to watch. If it had just been unrelenting dread, it might’ve tipped over into unpleasant. But moments of levity, like two drunk bros showing up to a party and walking into the carnage, broke up the tension and made it feel more human.
Their wrap-up message to listeners was simple: If this kind of movie appeals to you, you won’t be disappointed. It’s smarter than it looks, bloodier than you’d expect, and somehow still finds moments to make you laugh.
Just maybe don’t watch it if you’re super sensitive about animals like Meaghan. Or at least bring tissues.