Too much of everything

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Leave it to the Italians to come up with one of the most engrossing, cheesiest and outrageously entertaining splatter flicks of the 80s! Umberto Lenzi, here under his favorite pseudonym Harry Kirkpatrick, wrote the fantastically bonkers script but offered the director's chair to his lesser known buddy Vittorio Rambaldi. "Primal Rage" is as eighties as it gets: the über-cheesy and misfit pop song "Say the Word" doesn't just feature once or twice but three times integrally, there are loads of beautiful girls with humongous hairdos and sexy aerobic outfits and even the obsessive evil scientist sports a ridiculous little mullet-ponytail! There were quite many horror movies with monkeys during the late 80s, but unlike you'd suspect from Lenzi, "Primal Rage" isn't a clone of "Monkey Shines", "Link" or "Shadow of Kilimanjaro". Dr. Ethridge is working at a Florida University campus and uses a baboon as guinea pig for his research involving brain diseases, but he accidentally saddled the poor animal up with a virus that invokes rage and rabies. When the rebellious campus reporter Frank Duffy breaks into Ethridge's laboratory, he releases the baboon but gets bitten and thus contaminated with the virus. Duffy passes forward the virus to a cute girl he met during a blind date and she, at her turn, contaminates a trio of vicious rapists. Each virus carrier goes on his/her own killing spree during the night of the annual campus Halloween party. "Primal Rage" is clichéd, derivative and predictable, but oh-so-entertaining! The film is fast-paced and features terrific make-up art as well as countless of gory highlights, including beheadings and impalements. Hunky 80s kid Patrick Lowe is rather annoying, but the rest of the cast is decent, with young and yummy actresses Cheryl Arutt, Sarah Buxton and Jennifer Hingel. Naturally, of course, it's Bo Svenson who steals the show as the fanatic scientist (with ponytail). Special kudos for the creative minds who thought up and designed all the dozens of great costumes that people are wearing during the Halloween party! I honestly never saw any cooler or creepier horror costumes in my life.

The low number of ratings and reviews for this film is evidence that it is a little-seen flick and after having just watched it I am surprised that it is so well hidden and also that I have never come across it before (I am always on the lookout for 80's hidden gems).OK, this isn't quite a hidden gem but it's a lot better than I expected, a lot better than its rating suggests and also a lot better than more famous yet higher rated horror films.What stops this being a gem is the mid-point lull, some poor acting from the supporting cast and some daft bits in the storyline.It's a bit frustrating because with some tweaking this could have been one of the great 80's horror films along with the likes of The Lost Boys and American Werewolf in London. There is a great soundtrack by Goblin's Claudio Simonetti, a fun pop-rock song in the intro, excellent special effects, some great death scenes, a highly enjoyable Halloween party sequence near the end and a decent storyline (that had huge potential to be a lot more fun and engaging had it perhaps been re-written a few more times before filming).In a way I'm glad there a still some decent old horror films out there that are worth discovering but it's just a shame that this one could have been so much better. Still, it was a decent watch and would have been more enjoyable watch with some mates and a few beers.

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.

Primal Rage isn't anything special, some people would consider it really bad but it isn't all that bad. the acting isn't bad but the movie is a bit predictable, the story line is not very original but the movie is entertaining. If you see it in the video store and you can't really find anything else you want to watch Primal Rage is a good substatute. The last half and hour of the movie makes it all very worth while. I gave Primal Rage 7/10.