Primal Rage

Puzzled at the 1 and 2 star reviews. What did you expect? This a good throw-back creature feature with some really decent gore. Yeah, its a guy in a gorilla suit and the ending resembles Predator 1&2....so what? Sit back and enjoy some mindless entertainment.

This is as good as it gets for the Sasquatch/bigfoot genre with absolutely brilliant practical effects focusing on the bigfoot/witch makeup/design, and very realistic gore detail. The story is somewhat interesting with the native folklore mythology, however isn't totally engrossing overall with some cliche tropes scattered throughout and a dialogue that is truly awful. However what this film focuses on perfectly are the ominous visuals and the unrelenting brutality, and it honestly looks better and more believable than most big budget horror films doused in oversaturated cgi, which makes this even more of an accomplishment due to its low budget. There are several Predator homages/influences but i don't see them as being ripoffs like some have stated. The acting is pretty mediocre on all fronts but thats kind of to be expected as a secondary aspect of a film of this nature. Overall if you enjoy bigfoot/sasqautch material at all, and appreciate practical make up/effects, this is a must see. I also recommend a 2014 bigfoot film called Exists which is also pretty solid though not as good as this.

I have to disagree with the two reviewers who think this is rubbish , its actually quite a well made film and the special effects / makeup is pretty damn good for a low budget movie - easily Stan Winston level of 80's makeup and monster effects.

Patrick Magee is a name to watch out for as he wrote, produced, directed and did the special effects - usually I would cringe at that as no one ever can do all these things well and it usually means the film is going to be utter pants but i was wrong on this occasion - You can clearly see that the guy is actually interested in making horror and seems to like the werewolf genre - well done sir!

Hollywood should give this guy a blockbuster to direct and I bet he would make a better movie than any of the big names are doing now having just watched the awful Jurassic World and the rest of the duff movies coming out of Hollywood this year!

The problem the film has though is the poor acting and it is just not very scary.

I did like the addition of the old mediaeval hag/witch - very unusual and seemingly out of place as was the Indian hunter lol but it gave us a few laughs which is not a bad thing these days.

If you are into your horror in a big way then this will pass an evening but its just not very scary even though the gore quotient is quite high and well done - loved the chin ripping move; only seen that once or twice before and quite gory but as I said its just not scary and that's what kills the film and leaves it in the 5/10 average shelf! Its such a shame as Patrick Magee seems to have a high level of talent judging by his first movie!

Lets start with the bad. I really don't see why writers seem to think making key and peripheral characters, mostly unlikable, is a good thing in the context of a survivalist horror? After all if you can't empathise with the characters predicament, how can you genuinely feel afraid for them when things turn sour? Its a mistake I see again and again.

I think too, the decision to introduce the creature stalking them so early in the piece, in its entirety, wasn't well considered either. The sense of the unknown, the half seen or glimpsed adds to the creeping sense of mystery and menace in a poorly lit forest setting.

On the upside the pacing of this film is decent. It builds well as a group of suspect hunters and an unfortunate couple make their way through the woods. The gun ho antics and at times menacing attitudes of the hunters is gradually eroded as they come to realise there is something else lurking in the woods and its by no means friendly.

It leads into some fairly intense action which includes more than its share of blood soaked horror, that reminded me, in a low tech, cave man kind of way, of films like Predator .

In short Primal Rage is a moderately watchable B grade horror flick that's acceptable fare for a slow wet weekend. A 6/10 from me.

In a time filled with horror movies rated pg and cheap jumpscares I feel like this movie didn't pretend to be like the others, even tho there seems to be some inspiration from some movies. Some of the main actors bad others were pretty good and made entertaining characters and the effects were nice.