A typically low budget, cheesy TV movie monster flick, starring Ron Perlman before he became a well-known Hollywood player. This one feels like a Sci-Fi Channel movie, even though it isn't, and it was filmed in Mexico, so at least it has something going for it. The plot sees a pack of genetically-modified baboons invading a small island, where they kill off anything and everything that moves. Unluckily for them, two survivors of a plane crash are stranded on the same island, so a rescue party headed by the grizzly Perlman is sent to rescue them.What follows will surprise nobody: the group are whittled down by the killer baboons, while the bloodshed is kept to a bare minimum. The low budget hampers the production values, and the direction doesn't match the story: the baboon attacks are silly rather than frightening, and the special effects just aren't very special. Perlman is the only thing going for this, his performance standing out in a typical jumble of histrionic acting and clichéd situations.

Primal Force is a 1999 straight to video hidden gem. Yes Primal Force is a bad movie but here is why I love it. First I treasured the times this would come on the old Syfy channel and it was a big part of my child hood. Secondly I think that the actors know this is a silly movie,I think the director knows this is a silly movie, but they have fun with it and that is what really matters. I think the special EFx are energetic and reminiscent of a time long gone. Of course the film is very silly and not for people who want to see a serious flick, this is very much a Saturday night B movie. See this flick (if you can find it) if you like cheesy B movies with some class. Skip it if you hate cheesy B movies about killer animals. 8/10

Primal Force gave me as much laughter as any comedy I can remember in recent years. It was so bad throughout, it was almost good and I HAD to watch it again to make sure I wasn't just imagining it. There is always scope for a cliché low budget sci-fi/horror/action film to go wrong. If Primal Force was to be compared to meal, it would have to be 'Cheesy Chips'. Students will know what I am talking about.Much has already been said about the wastage of Ron Perlman's talents on this movie, how badly made it is, how stupid the plot is, how low budget it is, how bad the effects are, how unconvincing the killer mutant baboons are, etc, etc. And all that is true in my opinion.However, if what you want is a low budget b-movie that's as tacky as fondue and makes you laugh out loud, then this is just your cup of tea. I feel there is something to like about genre films like this. Primal Force promised to be really bad right from the start and for me it delivered the goods and I was entertained as well as amused.For all it's flaws, short-comings, it's lashings of cheesy clichés and predictable outcomes, I really enjoyed myself. The mutant killer primates are hilarious. And, then there's the mad professor who's totally lost the plot. His experiment has gone pear-shaped with disastrous consequences. Inspired stuff. Such a volume of laughter gives me a sense of warmth and well-being. So I thank everyone who conspired to create Primal Force for that!

The made for TV film Primal Force begins with Frank Brodie (Ron Pearlman) waking up from a recurring nightmare about his mate being killed by some Baboons. There is a knock on Frank's door, he answers it & standing before him is a guy named Scott Davis (Mark Kiely) who has been told that he knows San Miguel Island better than anyone else & that he needs his help to lead a rescue mission as a plane recently crashed there. Eventually Brodie agrees, together with a female medic named Tara Matthews (Roxana Zal) a computer guy named Stan Kovacs (Julian Sedgwick) & Eddie Mendoza (Guillermo Rios) who carries a gun, gets in the way & does very little else, they set off for San Miguel Island. Meanwhile on the Island itself the three survivors, the pilot (Jimy Hefner), a real estate guy named Deutsch (Richard Fancy) & a pretty young girl named Kelsey Cunningham (Kimberlee Peterson) whose Father is interested in buying the Island, are deciding what to do when a group of vicious genetically altered Baboons kill the pilot. Kelsey & Deutsch just sort of run away. Our heavily armed group of rescuers, lead by Brodie, arrive on the Island via boat. Scott feels Brodie is withholding some information but they troop on regardless of all the human & animal skulls they find. They find Kelsey & Deutsch but they are all attacked by the genetic Baboons. The Baboons now know they're on the Island & will stop at nothing to kill the intruders as Brodie has to use his experience & firepower to keep everyone alive, with varying degrees of success. If that wasn't enough the guy (Bruno Danza) driving the boat has buggered off leaving them stranded & the Baboons have killed Kovacs & destroyed the radio equipment. As the survivors run low on ammo & morale they decide to fight back against the Baboons!Directed by Nelson McCormick I thought Primal Force was an OK time waster but nothing that overly impressed me. The script by Micheal Thoma is about as clichéd as you expect of this sort of low budget TV production. First the characters, there's the moody, unshaven hero with personal demons to exorcise but turns out be be a throughly decent chap in the end, the clean cut hero, the computer whizz, the tough female character, the token nobody who is there to die & nothing else just so something happens & the character who has other more mysterious motives for being on the Island. The innocent plane crash victims aren't any better with the young pretty girl who screams a lot & the annoying selfish fat guy who doesn't care about anyone but himself. Then there's the story, a group becomes stranded in an isolated location & can't call for help, sound familiar? Group encounter living threat that wants to kill them all for no real reason at all, group run low on ammo even though they never actually run out & have to come up with other ways to defeat their enemy in a nail-biting (not) climax, been done yeah? Genetic experiments gone wrong. One character who gets abducted by the enemy & is not killed for some unexplained reason unlike everyone else who are killed on sight. You probably get the message. Having said all that for what it is I thought Primal Force was OK & rolled out the clichés with a certain degree of entertainment value. Ron Pearlman as the muscle bound, wise cracking Brodie is great & almost makes Primal Force worth watching on his own, everyone else is utterly forgettable. Unfortunately one area where Primal Force loses a couple of stars is in the violence department, basically it hasn't got any. This was obviously made with a fairly young teenage audience in mind as the blood, gore & nastiness is kept to an absolute minimum. The killer Baboons are just people in monkey suits, nothing particularly spectacular. Technically Primal Force is OK, it's very MTV in style with quick cuts, jerky hand held camera movements during the attacks, slow motion, bleached colours & every other flashy pointless trick you can think of. On the plus side the Mexican locations on occasion look stunning & a few nice shots here & there captures it well. Overall Primal Force isn't particularly good, but it ain't particularly bad either just sort of average & I think a decent helping of blood & gore would have helped no end to improve it!