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Rating: 5 stars

Seen 1 time

Seen on: 03/07/2011

View on: IMDb | TMDb

Primal (2010)

Directed by Josh Reed

Horror

Most recently watched by sensoria, noahphex

Overview

Anja and five friends join anthroplogy student, Dace, on a journey to study a remote, ancient rock painting. Their excitement vanishes when Mel becomes delirious after skinny-dipping in the waterhole. Feverish, bleeding, confused, she physically and mentally regresses to a vicious predatory state. Mel has gone primal. Mel’s lover and friends realise they are the prey as she savagely hunts them down. Before they can escape another one of them starts to regress, posing a hideous choice; kill their friends or be killed by them. Their only hope of survival is through a cave, where Anja learns too late the meaning of the ancient rock art they came to study.

Rated NR | Length 80 minutes

Actors

Zoe Tuckwell-Smith | Krew Boylan | Will Travel | Damien Freeleagus | Rebekah Foord | Lindsay Farris

Viewing Notes

This was a random “grab” off Netflix Instant Watch’s New Releases list, partly picked because it was in HD with Dolby 5.1 sound.

An intriguing Australian horror film that works partially outside of conventions, Primal is ultimately unsatisfying. I wanted to like it more than I did.

It does has some smart stuff in it, and I really enjoyed the fact that a lot of the “menace” is left unexplained. However, the characters lack depth, which means that you’re not really emotionally involved in them and whether they live or die.

A few of the characters switch their convictions so fast in certain key scenes that you’re left wondering WTF!

Still, the movie has promise. Given the short running time, I wonder if there isn’t a longer cut out there somewhere that might be a better watch.

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