Review of Primal (2010)

The Australian horror genre has really been making a name for itself in recent times with a slew of above average films being produced in the country that isn’t exactly known for its prolific filmmaking. The latest entry onto the list of direct to DVD Aussie horrors is director Josh Reeds debut feature entitled Primal, a film that doesn’t even come close to matching the quality of previous efforts but nevertheless still manages to be a fun watch.

The plot is one giant horror film cliché in itself and seriously lacks any ounce of originality; a group of friends join an anthropology student on an outing into the Australian wilderness to study an ancient rock painting. After a bout of skinny dipping in a waterhole, one of the group becomes sick eventually leading to her becoming extremely aggressive and hell bent on killing every member of the group. The group must make an extremely tough choice; kill their friend or risk being killed themselves. When another of the group begins to turn, the remaining members discover the real meaning behind the rock paintings they came to study.

There is nothing new or original about Primal, in fact you will have seen everything on show here in countless other films of the same type. What makes the film watchable is the production values and the bearable characters. Despite its low budget, the film still looks very well with some excellent practical gore effects. The plot moves along at a good pace and doesn’t take too long to get to the main horror part of the story. At only 80 minutes long it never allows boredom to creep in and knows not to overstay it’s welcome. Yes the story is silly and there is certainly nothing frightening about Primal but if your looking for a simple horror film to provide some light entertainment then you can do worse than this small Aussie effort.

Josh Reed has crafted a horror film that is the very definition of unoriginality but, despite this, it still manages to work even with its incredibly simple premise. It’s certainly a film for horror fans only but as direct to DVD films go you could do a lot worse.

5/10