What actually happens
A veterinarian visits an enclosure
The movie opens at a remote house in Hawaii, where a veterinarian named Doug Lambert walks into an animal enclosure and is killed by a chimpanzee, who tears off his face. Then the story jumps back thirty-six hours. Lucy Pinborough, a college student, flies home after years away with her best friend Kate, and finds out Kate has invited another guest, Hannah. While boarding they meet Drew and Brad, two men looking to party. In Hawaii they are joined by Kate's brother Nick and drive to Lucy's cliffside house. Her father Adam is a famous novelist who is deaf and signs. Lucy's sister Erin grumbles about how long Lucy stayed away. Their pet is Ben, a chimpanzee who uses a tablet soundboard that Lucy's late mother, a linguistics professor, set up for him. Lucy gives him a teddy bear.
Reading this instead of watching it is the correct decision. Scaredy Cat makes that decision automatic, for free.
The mongoose, and then the pool party
That night Ben acts strangely. Adam finds a dead mongoose in the enclosure and realizes Ben was bitten by it, so he plans to take it to a lab and asks Lambert to check on Ben before leaving for a book signing. The friends party at the infinity pool. At night Lambert enters the enclosure, where the rabid Ben kills him and escapes. Later Kate wakes to see Ben shuffling around, and Lucy finds his teddy bear with blood on it. A noise from the pool draws the girls there, where they find Ben acting aggressively toward Nick and Hannah. Lucy and Nick try to tie him up with a rope, but Ben bites through it and attacks Erin, biting her leg.
Everyone gets in the pool
This is the scene people dread, and it is in the middle of the movie. The whole group jumps into the pool because Ben is hydrophobic and cannot swim. He circles the edge and watches. When Ben jumps to the edge that faces the cliff, Nick tries to push him off, and Ben throws Nick over instead. Nick lands on the rocks and does not survive. Ben keeps finding ways to injure the others until Lucy gets a large pool float that lets them rest safely. When they wake up, Ben is gone.
Hannah picks the wrong car
Kate goes with Lucy to fetch a smartphone from the living room, and Ben kills Kate with a rock. At his book signing, Adam learns that the mongoose tested positive for rabies. He dismisses this because Hawaii is a rabies-free state, but he leaves a film deal behind and heads home when Lucy does not answer his calls. Drew and Brad turn up, because the girls had invited them earlier, with no idea what is waiting. Ben traps Drew in Lucy's bedroom and kills him, then surprises Brad outside and hits him with a shovel until he dies. Hannah sneaks inside for a phone and car keys, runs outside, and gets into the wrong car. She calls 911 and asks for police, but Ben finds the right keyfob, uses it to get into the car, and mauls her.
The ending, explained
Adam arrives and fights Ben with Lucy and Erin, stabbing him with a broken wine bottle. They think Ben is dead and hug, but Ben attacks Lucy, and the two of them go over a balcony. Adam saves Lucy, and Ben falls and lands on a broken chair leg, which kills him. Police and doctors, who followed Hannah's call to the house, arrive as the family catches its breath on the lawn out front. Erin is taken to the hospital. Adam and Lucy promise her she will never be alone. An officer collecting Ben's soundboard accidentally plays the phrase Lucy bad, which startles Lucy.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: no dog, but there is a pet chimpanzee.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Primate scary?
Yes. Primate is a 6 out of 10 with medium dread. It has jump scares and graphic attacks, and it is a siege story set around one house.
How does Primate end?
Adam, Lucy and Erin fight off the rabid chimpanzee Ben. Ben falls from a balcony onto a broken chair leg and dies. Lucy, Adam and Erin survive, and Erin is taken to the hospital.
Does the dog die in Primate?
There is no dog in Primate. The pet chimpanzee Ben does die at the end, and a mongoose is already dead when Adam finds it.
Is there a post-credits scene in Primate?
No. Primate has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
Why does Ben attack everyone in Primate?
Ben was bitten by a mongoose that carried rabies. In Primate the illness turns the family's pet chimpanzee violent, and Adam's lab later confirms the mongoose had rabies.
