Sam and Duffy, university paper photographer and journalist respectively, hear of a case of animal abuse in one of the uni's laboratories. Duffy rashly decides to break in and document the abuse, only to be bitten by a savagely enraged monkey that was recently injected with an experimental serum that both restores damaged brain tissue, and drives the subject utterly bonkers.
Before long, the infection spreads to Duffy's love interest Debbie, as well as a trio of date-raping hooligans, all of whom go on a murderous rampage. Unlike traditional zombie or demonic possession films, the infected herein attack anyone, including each other. They also become incredibly strong and resistant to pain. Sam and his girlfriend Lauren soon find themselves targeted by the infected, which culminates in an all-out massacre at the yearly Halloween dance!
Written by Umberto Lenzi and directed by Carlo Rambaldi's son Vittorio, Primal Rage is truly entertaining. And with Carlo himself (and other son Alex) on makeup and special effects, one needn't contemplate viewing this for long. The story takes a while to get going, but once it does it's nonstop action and mayhem!
It was a good choice of the director's to cast Actual Real Life American actors instead of using the usual overdubbed Euro trash. It's much less distracting, and the acting's not terrible, all considered. As previously mentioned, there's a great deal of blood, oozing sores, crushed heads, etc, and even an almost life-like robotic monkey. Not bad for the usual low budget, I'd say. Now, about the music... late 80's. That's all I need to say *shudder*. Recommended for intermediate viewers as it lacks the style and finesse of earlier Italian horror efforts, but a lot of fun nonetheless. It had a DVD release not long ago, but seems to be OOP again. Buy used copies here.
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