Fureur primitive

In case you hadn't guessed by the cheesy title, 'Primal Rage' is B-movie horror flick that delivers a mix of camp, chaos, and commendable creativity. Despite its low-budget constraints, this film manages to carve out a niche for itself with reasonable gore effects and a plot that, in hindsight, feels like an early precursor to the zombie resurgence seen in 2001's "28 Days Later."

The story revolves around a rage-inducing virus that run rampant around a university and turns people into rabid, bloodthirsty maniacs. The narrative is straightforward but effective, following a group of students as they battle the escalating chaos caused by the outbreak. The film's practical effects deserve a nod; the gore, while not overly gratuitous, is enough to satisfy genre enthusiasts without descending into excessive brutality.

It may not have the dread and genuine scares of '28 Days Later,' it is a decent enough little B-movie if you're into your eighties horror films and chooses not to have 'traditional' zombies, in favour of Danny Boyle's 'infected.'

The acting is - at best - average (but you probably wouldn't be expecting Oscar-worthy performances with a film like this!). However, this adds to the movie's charm and you'll know it's from the eighties as soon as the opening theme starts playing.

It may not be the greatest zombie/infected offering, but it's a solid enough entry in the B-movie horror canon. It doesn't break new ground but delivers what it promises: a fun, gory romp that entertains without demanding too much from its audience.

Almost unheard of Warner Bros. pic finds a scientific research monkey biting someone. That person is then turned into a rabid, bloodthristy killer who spreads the virus to anybody that isn't dead that they come in contact with. Half hearted production is not as bad as you would expect, but not by much, this film features good make-up effects and a memorable finale. Rated R; Extreme Graphic Violence and Profanity.

Actually, make that 35 Years Ago, or SOOO VERY 80s.

The poster promised a werewolf-ish type movie and it was 80s so should be all practical (yea!!)...unfortunately, while it began as 28 Days Later, it ended up being The Beast Within meets Return of the Living Dead. And did I mention it was SOOO VERY 80s? You could show this in a history class for that decade. I wanna bet John Hughes did a rewrite or ghost-directed.

Ahhh, University life with buds, dormmates, parties and unintentionally evil experiments on baboons. The human equivalent of the primate gets bitten and while short beast-bursts happen, he loves to spread the "blessing."

Cannot believe this 1988 film didn't sue 28 Days Later. It's so incredibly stolen, down to the name of the disease made from the experiments is "Rage Virus" - the same name and M. O. in 28 Days Later in 2002. It worked when Parts: The Clonus Horror sued the plagiarized The Island. That was worse tho, since it was 100% scene-by-scene stolen.

Still, I liked it. The EXTREME campiness, the 100% 80s time capsule and surprisingly very effective gore. One scene in particular, "Hey, nice costume!!" to be precise, really freaked me out - and that's not easy after the 10,000 horror movies I've seen.

If you like virus-infected, 80s romps, this is perfect for you. I seriously can't believe I've never heard about this movie in the 35 years it's been out until tonight. I do love finding some gems randomly.

***

Final Thoughts: That all said, there are numerous flaws and unintentionally hilarious scenes. The two full-length song scenes (montages?) had me rolling with the fact the went the entire 4-5-minute song length. Like, "We bought the rights, we're dang gonna use it all." TWICE.

A professor at a university in Miami (Bo Svenson) is developing a serum that restores dead brain cells using a baboon for testing. When a student is inadvertently bitten, an infection spreads through the campus during a Halloween celebration. Horror thrills ensue.

"Primal Rage" (1988) takes the setting of "Pieces" (1982) and mixes in elements of the Kolchak episode "Primal Scream" (1975) and "Altered States" (1980). It's basically a reimagining of "Monster on the Campus" (1958) for the '80s.

Patrick Lowe makes for a quality male protagonist while Mitch Watson is effective as the edgy student-journalist, who's reminiscent of John Lennon. The flick's worth watching just for winsome Cheryl Arutt (Lauren). Sarah Buxton is also worth noting as Debbie. Meanwhile towering Doug Sloan stands out as the violent bastage on campus, Lovejoy.

The first act works quite well, but the last act devolves into shallow action thrills with a garnishment of horror. Still, the no-name 80's rock/metal soundtrack is kinetic and I always wondered what would happen if someone was under the bleachers when they rolled 'em back.

The film runs 1 hour, 31 minutes, and was shot in Miami, particularly Florida International University.

GRADE: B-

This low-budget flick was released the same year as Halloween IV, Child's Play, They Live and The Blob--so it's no wonder it flew under the radar of most horror fans at the time.

Cheesy doesn't even begin to describe the acting and writing in this one. You know the stickiness you feel under your shoes when you're in a movie theater in a bad part of town? Find a word for that and it'll probably describe it.

Still, there are some redeeming qualities--mostly the gore and the fact that it doesn't slow down and linger. There's always something going on, and the gore is actually decent for a flick that probably had a budget lower than the average ten-year-old's weekly allowance.

I'll probably never watch it again, but hey, I've seen worse!