Review by Stuart O'Connor
Stars Zoe Tuckwell-Smith, Krew Boylan, Lindsay Farris, Rebekah Foord, Damien Freeleagus, Wil Traval, Walangari Karntawarra, Ch'aska Cuba de Reed, Stephen Shanahan
Written by Josh Reed & Nigel Christensen
Certification UK 18
Runtime 85 minutes
Directed by Josh Reed
The Australian bush: it's beautiful, but dangerous, sometimes deadly and yes, a little bit evil. Into this wilderness come six pretty young things, out for a weekend of camping, adventuring and searching for some Aboriginal rock paintings that haven't been seen for more that 100 years.
All's well and good, until sexy but loud-mouthed blonde Mel (Boylan) goes skinny dipping at night ... and comes out covered in leeches. A few hours later, her teeth fall out, she grows fangs and becomes a feral, sabre-toothed bitch from hell. Who wants nothing more than to eat the rest of her friends. Oh, and she's developed extraordinary strength and agility, as well. So what began as a fun camping trip turns into a battle for survival as the others try to a) keep out of Mel's reach (her one weakness is fire) and b) try to trap her before she picks them all off, one by one. It's not giving much away to say that more than one of the group falls prey to Mel ... and becomes a beast as well.
Primal is another prime example of the new wave of horror film coming out of Australia. It's not quite in the same league as the brilliant Wolf Creek or Rogue, but it's an effective survival horror with a nice blend of ancient mysticism and good old-fashioned creature feature. There are plenty of good scares, with much of the action taking place at night, and the cast of mainly unknowns acquit themselves well. Co-writer and director Reed shows himself to be a talent to keep an eye on – Primal has an effective script, good direction and a payoff to die for.