My review was written in January 1991 after watching the movie on Warner video cassette.
The family of "E. T." creator Carlo Rambaldi traveled to Florida to make "Primal Rage", an unexceptional horror film about college experiments on monkeys gone awry. Direct-to-video release is acceptable fodder for hardcore genre fans.
Like another recent Florida-made shocker, "Shakma", a baboon runs wild in a science lab, run by unscrupulous prof Bo Svenson. Student Patrick Lowe is working on an expose of these experiments fot the college paper.\
Before the escaped baboon is killed by the cops, it bites a student and spreads a rare disease. The student in turn gives heroine Sarah Buxton a hickey and she becomes infected. When Buxton is attacked by three campus thugs, she fights back and infects them.
All this is an excuse for Rambaldi and son Alex to present some imaginative gore and monster makeup effects. Another member of the clan, Vittorio Rambaldi, directs competently and with complete mastery of direct-sound English dialog (a must for these hybrid productions).
The mix of horror and teenage sex tease in Harry Kirkpatrick's screenplay, doesn't work. Performances by a generally unknown cast are unimpressive.
The family of "E. T." creator Carlo Rambaldi traveled to Florida to make "Primal Rage", an unexceptional horror film about college experiments on monkeys gone awry. Direct-to-video release is acceptable fodder for hardcore genre fans.
Like another recent Florida-made shocker, "Shakma", a baboon runs wild in a science lab, run by unscrupulous prof Bo Svenson. Student Patrick Lowe is working on an expose of these experiments fot the college paper.\
Before the escaped baboon is killed by the cops, it bites a student and spreads a rare disease. The student in turn gives heroine Sarah Buxton a hickey and she becomes infected. When Buxton is attacked by three campus thugs, she fights back and infects them.
All this is an excuse for Rambaldi and son Alex to present some imaginative gore and monster makeup effects. Another member of the clan, Vittorio Rambaldi, directs competently and with complete mastery of direct-sound English dialog (a must for these hybrid productions).
The mix of horror and teenage sex tease in Harry Kirkpatrick's screenplay, doesn't work. Performances by a generally unknown cast are unimpressive.