User Reviews

YAWN.

Look out, campers in Washington! Bigfoot is on the loose! Or something that resembles Bigfoot...or someone who's in a cheaply made Bigfoot outfit.

A group of college students heads to the mountains to find endangered animals, and in the process of searching the director's backyard (it just seems that way...I'm sure they actually used a real forest, but it just looks like they filmed it in someone's backyard), they come across the Primal creature...I guess he's Bigfoot, since he has big feet, but he's never fully identified.

As this creature mauls the hapless students one-by-one, the only hope for the survivors is the lone Forest Ranger who has his own issues - he ran away from home because his father was mean to him, and now his sister and her fiancé have come to the woods to invite him to their wedding. I'm sure the students have nothing to worry about with him on the clock! Add this film to the list of horror films you want to see with friends where you just want to laugh at the complete lack of story, acting, effects or substance.

Deep in the Oregonian woods is a dangerous, carnivorous Bigfoot who doesn't take kindly to humans intruding upon its territory. WS Oil and Gas have sent backpackers in to survey land—protected land they are not supposed trespass—and these unfortunate souls will not be welcomed by the monster that lives within. I wish PRIMAL was as good as my synopsis might indicate, but this movie is just another cheap, poorly made killer Sasquatch movie—I couldn't count how many of these movies I've sat through over the years, hoping for just one even remotely scary or, at the very least, atmospheric. You have that gem every now and then, but most Sasquatch movies are just like PRIMAL. Shaking the camera, blurring images of the goofy Sasquatch monster costume lunging towards the screen, hyperactive editing, and characters barely defined at all—PRIMAL succeeds only in following the trend of Bigfoot cinema. And, worse yet, it's dull. It's "cure for insomnia" dull. The movie immediately shows the Bigfoot and takes you right out of it because of how silly the creature costume looks. A ranger named Wade knows of the Bigfoot, his station littered with MISSING posters of those who had the misfortune of camping in his Oregon wilderness, as sister and her husband stopped by to inform him of their upcoming wedding. He tells them that he has seen the Bigfoot and receives the expected cynicism. Meanwhile, the backpackers start dwindling in number as the Bigfoot comes out from hiding to gather human lunchmeat. Some minor make-up grue regarding victims after the Bigfoot attacks them and smeared blood on the camera lens is all the filmmakers could muster.

Primal starts with 3 young people wandering through the forest who get bumped off by a bigfoot-like creature. The movie wastes no time in showing the creature and it's shown often throughout the movie. The creature is a decent looking man in a suit though a little on the goofy side with long arms. Later we meet a group of uninteresting environmentalists who mostly get bumped off by the creature.

Later we meet park ranger Wade, estranged brother of Julie. Julie has come there with her fiancée to invite Wade to her wedding. Wade has spent the last few years alone in the woods, obsessing about bigfoot, evicting squatters and burning down meth labs. The people he works for don't want to hear his stories about bigfoot for fear of ruining tourism in the area. Wade may lead an exciting life but he has limited social skills. Wade and Julie's fiancée spend most of their screen time having awkward conversations that even make the viewer feel uncomfortable. To make matters worse the only food he has for them is unappealing generic cereal served with water instead of milk, this really irritates the fiancée.

The remaining members of the environmentalist group hide out in a meth lab and end up battling it out with the angry meth-heads as Wade and his sister are on the way to burn the place to the ground. To make matters worse bigfoot shows up as does Julie's fiancée. Who will survive and what will be left of them? Will Wade go to Julie's wedding? Are all park rangers issued automatic weapons? Well, you won't find out as the movie just kind of ends.

Primal is a passable bigfoot horror with OK acting for the budget level. The shaky camera during the bigfoot attacks is annoying but luckily "flashy" techniques like that are a kept to a minimum. CGI is also mostly absent as well, only appear during one scene and looking quite phony. The gore is minimal and mostly after attack stuff, but the fx are decent. There is no nudity from the cast of average-looking women. A decent time waster for fans of cheap horror flicks like me who rarely dislike any of them.

The Film was very very boring. I don't wan't to give too much away unless you rent or purchase this film but don't even bother wasting your hard earned money on this film. The effects were put together very poorly and the cast was very boring. So once again don't waste your money on this film. This is like one of those cheap horror films to where cheap effects and makeup were added just to try to sell the film. I have seen way better horror movies than this one. It starts out with a bunch of kids and basically ends up with no kids. The spoiler is even on the disc sleeve that you would rent this movie from. Buy a film that makes sense and that has a lot more good effects and makeup.