Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A student journalist breaks into a secret laboratory where a scientist is testing an experimental rage virus on a monkey. The monkey escapes, people get infected, and before long the local population are violently beating each other to death.
No, this isn’t the opening of 28 Days Later. This is Primal Rage, a gloriously scrappy slice of late-80s horror that got to the “rage virus spread by an infected primate” idea long before Danny Boyle and Alex Garland were born (ok, that’s obviously an exaggeration).
Released in 1988 and directed by Vittorio Rambaldi, son of special effects legend Carlo Rambaldi, Primal Rage is one of those wonderfully odd Italian productions that was shot entirely in America with an American cast, presumably in the hope that nobody would notice where it actually came from.
Italian exploitation cinema had been pulling this trick for years. Why make a film in Rome with Italian actors when you can make it in Florida with Americans and pretend you’re a legitimate Hollywood production? The film also boasts a screenplay credit from Italian horror veteran Umberto Lenzi, which probably explains why absolutely nobody in this film makes sensible decisions.
The plot follows student journalists Sam Nash (Patrick Lowe) and Duffy (Mitch Watson) who begin investigating rumours of animal experimentation taking place at the university’s research facility. Whilst Sam tries to get the project lead Professor Ethridge (Bo Svenson) to spill the beans in an interview, Duffy takes the more direct approach of breaking into the lab.
Things go catastrophically wrong when the baboon escapes and bites Duffy. And unfortunately for Duffy, said baboon has been infected with an experimental virus designed to regenerate damaged brain tissue.
Only, rather than simply coming down with a nasty infection, Duffy gradually transforms into a homicidal maniac with enhanced strength, reduced impulse control, and an overwhelming desire to beat people to death. Which, admittedly, is my reaction whenever I have to spend time on a university campus.
Poor Duffy gradually begins to lose control over his mind and body, as he starts to act in increasingly reckless ways whilst getting sicker and sicker. He eventually infects Debbie (Sarah Buxton), the roommate of Sam’s girlfriend Lauren (Cheryl Arutt), when they’re on a date. She too starts to go under the same transformation.
Which would be fine, if Debbie wasn’t targeted by the fucking campus rapists. Three complete dorks, who I think are supposed to be jocks, but come across more like Beavis and Butthead types. Debbie brushes them off one too many times, and they decide to show her how manly they are by attempting to kidnap and gang rape her. Fortunately, because they’re so pathetic, Debbie kicks their arses. Unfortunately, they get infected in the process.
Meanwhile, Sam attempts to do what he can to deal with the situation. He tries to help Duffy, who is on the run after going ape on some campus cops (he doesn’t throw his shit at them though). That ends with a horribly mutated and psychotic Duffy begging Sam to gun him down, which he dutifully does. What else are mates for?
Debbie meanwhile, continues with her bad case of sniffles and is eventually taken to Professor Ethridge for help. Ethridge reveals that it is too late for Debbie, however, through her they might be able to find a cure. Basically he plans to experiment on her. Debbie isn’t having any of that and she brutally murders him.
In fairness, Ethridge has done nothing wrong. If Duffy hadn’t broken into the lab and gotten himself bitten by the monkey, none of this would have happend. What one man does in the privacy of his own lab is his own business. And Debbie was also to blame for letting Duffy chew on her neck when he was all sickly looking.
Anyway, the various plot threads converge at the university’s Halloween party. Because you legally can’t set your film on a university campus and not feature a big climatic party where some obscure real world band is playing one of their “hits”.
What surprised me most about Primal Rage is that it isn’t really the film I expected it to be. Going in, I was expecting a low-rent exploitation flick built entirely around gore, violence, and an infected monkey causing carnage. The sort of film that introduces its premise and then spends ninety minutes seeing how many people it can splatter across the scenery.
Instead, Primal Rage spends a surprising amount of time focusing on Duffy and Debbie’s gradual deterioration. The real horror here isn’t the violence but rather the loss of bodily autonomy. It’s not exactly The Fly, but there’s comparisons to be made.
Both characters become increasingly aware that something is wrong, but are powerless to stop it. Duffy watches himself becoming more aggressive, more unstable, and less able to control his own actions. Debbie goes through a similar transformation, becoming trapped inside a body that’s slowly turning against her.
There’s a genuine sadness to some of these scenes that I wasn’t expecting from a film called Primal Rage. Mitch Watson in particular does a decent job selling Duffy’s gradual decline from slightly annoying student journalist into a terrified young man who realises he’s losing his mind. His eventual death scene, where he begs Sam to put him down, is played surprisingly straight and actually lands rather well.
The cast generally help sell this side of the story too. Patrick Lowe and Cheryl Arutt make for likeable enough protagonists, while Bo Svenson as Dr. Ethridge immediately improves every scene he’s in. He also happens to sport one of the least flattering rat-tail hairstyles in cinematic history.
The practical effects are strong too. Given the Rambaldi name on the credits, that’s hardly surprising. The infected themselves look absolutely fucking dreadful. Rather than becoming traditional movie monsters, they look like people whose bodies are violently breaking down from the inside out. Veins bulge beneath the skin, faces become swollen and discoloured, and by the final act Duffy resembles somebody who’s been slowly rotting while still alive.
The violence isn’t wall-to-wall, but when it arrives it’s suitably nasty. Which is perhaps why the finale left me slightly conflicted. The Halloween party climax is entertaining enough. There are some decent kills, a bit of gore, and the various storylines finally converge in suitably chaotic fashion. The atmosphere is great too, with costumes, flashing lights, and panicking partygoers creating exactly the sort of setting you’d want for a horror finale.
But part of me wanted the film to go completely off the rails. This is, after all, a movie about a rage virus spreading through a university town. A premise like that practically begs for an utterly bonkers resolution full of mass hysteria, indiscriminate violence, and the sort of escalating carnage Italian horror cinema occasionally specialised in.
Instead, Primal Rage remains surprisingly restrained. The infected rapist trio are dispatched fairly quickly, the outbreak never quite reaches the level of total societal collapse, and the film wraps things up before the situation can descend into complete madness. It’s not a bad ending by any means. I just found myself wishing it had gone a little bigger. A little nastier. A little more Italian.
Still, what I appreciate most about Primal Rage is its sincerity. Nobody involved seems under the illusion they’re making high art, but equally nobody is treating the material like a joke. For all its ridiculousness, the film takes its characters and premise seriously, and that’s ultimately what makes it work.
No, it’s not a forgotten masterpiece. It’s uneven. The pacing wobbles. The script occasionally gets distracted by its own subplots. But it’s also surprisingly well acted, unexpectedly thoughtful in places, packed with solid practical effects, and built around a premise that’s far more entertaining than it has any right to be.
But it’s exactly the sort of oddball horror film that makes digging through old VHS-era junk so rewarding. Besides, any movie that starts with a monkey bite and ends with a Halloween bloodbath deserves at least a little respect.
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