Primate appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. While the image usually looked solid, some photographic choices limited its strengths.
In particular, the picture seemed awfully dark much of the time. I suspect this occurred to hide the effects necessary to bring Ben the chimp to life, as these elements became more convincing when not often exposed to brighter lights.
Whatever the case, Primate could lean a bit murky at times. At least blacks felt largely deep and dense.
Only minor signs of softness materialized. The movie mostly came across as accurate.
No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws remained absent.
In terms of palette, Primate heavily emphasized teal/blue. Some splashes of amber/orange also occurred.
Tedious as these choices may seem, the disc replicated them as desired. Ultimately this wound up as a pretty positive presentation despite the somewhat too dark shots.
Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the film’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack lacked a ton of ambition. The soundfield focused on music and ambience, though it opened up on occasion.
Unsurprisingly, the film’s sporadic flashes of violence became the most active moments, and they packed a reasonable punch. Beyond these, the mix delivered a solid sense of place without lots of major involvement,
Audio quality was fine. Speech seemed natural and concise, without edginess or other issues.
Music offered good clarity and range, and effects worked well enough. They didn’t have much to do, but they appeared reasonably accurate, and when the mix demanded greater range, the effects seemed impressive. All of this ended up as a perfectly satisfactory soundtrack for this sort of story.
As we head to extras, we open with an audio commentary from writer/director Johannes Roberts and producer Walter Hamada. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific view of the movie’s development, story/characters, influences, cast and performances, sets and locations, various effects, music, visual choices and connected domains.
Expect a lively chat here, especially because Roberts proves frank and funny. He cracks on the financial failure of his 2021 Resident Evil reboot and helps turn this into a vivid and informative piece.
Four featurettes follow, and Primal Terror goes for nine minutes, 29 seconds. It brings notes from Roberts, Hamada, producer John Hodges, and actors Johnnny Sequoyah and Troy Kotsur.
The show covers the project's origins, genre domains, research, effects, sets, Roberts' work on the set, cast and performances. We hear a lot of this material in the commentary but a few new thoughts emerge.
New Blood spans 10 minutes, one second. This one involves Roberts, Hamada, Sequoyah, Hodges, Kotsur, and actors Jessica Alexander, Victoria Wyant, Gia Hunter, Benjamin Cheng, and Miguel Torres Umba.
Cast and performances become the focus here. Despite some of the usual happy talk, the actors provide a few useful insights.
Next comes Creating Ben. During the 11-minute, 22-second reel, we hear from Roberts, Hamada, Hodges, Torres Umba, Kotsur, Sequoyah, Alexander, and creature FX designer Kate Walshe.
Here we learn about the techniques used to bring Ben the chimp to life. We get a pretty good take on these domains.
Lastly, Designing Paradise occupies seven minutes, one second. It delivers remarks from Roberts, Hamada, Wyant, Alexander, Kotsur, and production designer Simon Bowles.
As the title implies, this one examines the movie's sets. Though not a deep dive, it comes with a fair amount of worthwhile details.
Essentially a standard horror flick dressed up in quirky clothes, Primate lacks creativity. It hits a slew of predictable beats and never turns into anything especially compelling. The Blu-ray brings generally positive picture and audio as well as some informative supplements highlighted by a strong commentary. Though not a terrible scary flick, Primate fails to click.
