Primal

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.