20140129: Horror Review--Primal 2010

Primal (2010)

1. Production Fundamentals; Reception
1. Australian live action feature length film, 2010, NR, 84 minutes, horror, supernatural.
2. IMDB: 4.9/10.0 from 4,161 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 75% on the meter; 28% liked it from 497 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.1/5.0 from 158,975 audience ratings.
5. Directed by Josh Reed.
6. Starring: Zoe Tuckwell-Smith as Anja, Krew Boylan as Mel, Lindsay Farris as Chad, Rebekah Foord as Kris, Damian Freeleagus as Warren, Wil Traval as Dace.


2. Setup, Plot
1. Anja, Krew, Lindsay, Kris, and Warren take a trip to the outback led by Dace.  They are looking for cave paintings that have not been spotted for 120 years.  Anja has some drawings left to her by an uncle from the 19th century.  The group finds the site with little incident. 


2. Anja clearly has trepidation about when she reaches the opening of the cave.  She has something akin to a panic attack and passes out after cutting herself by incidental contact with the rocks.  Unfortunately, the blood of her family has been shed, which goes into the ground and the nearby water.  This dooms the party...or does it?  That is what the rest of this short film is about.


3. They get about viewing the rock paintings, taking notes, and shooting photographs.  The local fauna (mosquitoes, rabbit) seem to find them tasty.  The dead rabbit had some fierce looking teeth, which should have been a clue.  Mel's skinny-dipping had some bad side effects.  When she came out, there were leeches all over her; that evening she gets a fever and her teeth start falling out.


4. They try leaving, but the local wildlife have somehow disabled their SUV.  By the next morning, Mel's teeth and personality have been replaced.  She starts biting, which makes matters worse.


5. Will anyone get out alive?  If so, will they be regular humans?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Australian twenty somethings encounter ancient evil while studying cave paintings.
2. Two stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 7/10 Fine for the most part, except for interludes of very jerky camera motions.


2. Sound: 7/10 The actors were adequately miked.  The incidental music did not add much to the film.


3. Acting: 2/10 Wil Traval was OK,   The rest of the actors I could have done without.


4. Screenplay: 4/10 This was a 15 minute story stretched to 84.  The monster-human interludes were frequently boring and always unbelievable.


5. SFX: 4/10 Those monster teeth look like they could never work at all.