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Primeval
Touchstone Pictures


4.0

based on 11 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 25 votes
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Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for strong graphic violence, brutality, terror and language

Starring Dominic Purcell, Brooke Langton, Orlando Jones, Jürgen Prochnow, Gideon Emery, Gabriel Malema, Linda Mpondo, and Lehlohonolo Makoko

In one of the most remote places on earth, a bloodthirsty serial killer has claimed over 300 victims, and is still at large to this day. Now, inspired by the true story of the world's most prolific killer, comes Primeval, a nail-biting horror-thriller that follows an American news crew determined to capture this terrifying murderer alive. (Touchstone Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Horror \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	John D. Brancato Michael Ferris
DIRECTED BY:	Michael Katleman
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: June 12, 2007 Theatrical: January 12, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	94 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Entertainment Weekly Gregory Kirschling

Pit a reptile the size of a school bus against an American TV-news crew in war-scarred Burundi, and you get "Hotel Rwanaconda," a horror movie interested in cheesy scares and drawing attention to the plight of poor Africans. (So no, Primeval is not the '"serial killer'" film promised by the ads.)

Variety Dennis Harvey

It's not exactly good, but it's not bad, and far from boring.

Los Angeles Times Mark Olsen

Strangely self-serious, and without covering the prerequisites of top-shelf nastiness that contemporary horror requires, this giant crocodile movie turns out to be neither fish nor fowl.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

The screenplay, by John Brancato and Michael Ferris, tosses out a few chewy bits of B-movie wit, most of them supplied by Mr. Jones, who expresses the ambivalence of an African-American visiting the motherland through a series of bitter jokes.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Primeval is a hoot if you're in the mood, though, and it gets points for trying to stuff a little globo-think into the minds of Friday night mayhem fans (who will probably rebel, since only one skull pops like a grape).

New York Post Kyle Smith

One of the few monster-crocodile movies that simultaneously tries to rip off "Jaws" and "Meet the Press."

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jason Anderson

Though a few scenes drum up some intensity -- that green ham Gustave makes one last great appearance -- it's mostly grim, dull and ugly, three qualities that nobody wants in a piece of multiplex filler about a surly reptile.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

If there were a shred of sincerity to its straight-faced exposé of African strife, the film would be easier to forgive, but since it's really just a cheap horror-thriller about an ancient predator, the austere tone does it no favors.

The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck

A low-rent monster movie that could well have been released by American International in the early 1970s, Primeval boasts a level of cheesiness that should well merit it a regular rotation on late-night cable.

LA Weekly Luke Y. Thompson

With a little camp, this could have been fun --see "Lake Placid" or "Anaconda."

ReelViews James Berardinelli

By the end of the film, I was hoping everyone on two legs would die, preferably suffering as much on screen as I was in the audience.

The average user rating for this movie is 4.0 (out of 10) based on 25 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Dan K. gave it a5:
The Crocodile bits are well done, with the action being satisfyingly cheesy and exciting. However the performances are 2-D and it's mixing of real life tragedy and monster carnage does grate. A rental for fans of Alligator or Anaconda, but otherwise give it a miss.

Alan R. gave it a7:
Hey, stop trying to intellectualize this film. It's fun. It's scary and the effects are better than average. And much better than any of the Jaws epics. Give the film a break. It doesn't take itself seriously. Why should the reviewers.

Sam gave it a6:
Primeval isn't horrible, but what's with the "serial killer" crap? It's a movie about a crocodile for god's sake.

Chad S. gave it a2:
"Primeval" plays like a tribute to John Sayles. The war between the Rwandians and Hutus acknowledges Sayles' social consciousness he applies to his own films, while the giant crocodile addresses the auteur's Hollywood sidejob as a screenwriter of b-flicks like "Battle Beyond the Stars" and "Alligator". Based on what "Primeval" has to offer, this is a dialectic(thank you, "Half Nelson") that doesn't translate into a successful entertainment. Since innocent Africans are being slaughtered in a civil war, the filmmakers were forced to make an earnest film about..., and this is the problem, a big-ass crocodile. To position the massacre that took place in Rwanda as an afterthought is tasteless. To see Rwandians being killed execution-style juxtaposed against a merrier brand of violence, being eaten alive by a reptilian anomaly, is indescribably off-putting and borderline amoral.

Andy gave it a0:
My friend convinced me to see this movie, and I agreed, thinking it was gonna be this supernatural/hell-spawn slasher guy or something of that nature. I was expecting something along the lines of serial killer. But, nooooo. They give me a honkin' pile of stinkin' krap with a kapital K. [***SPOILER****] It'a about a giant man-eating croc? Oh, nice. It's like the producers just decided to change the whole thing from slasher to monster flick overnight. Even as a monster movie it sucks. An episode of the "croc hunter" is more exciting than this, and at least the the Crocodile Hunter the annoying characters eventually die.

Bill G. gave it a0:
Maybe I shouldn't vote on this movie. After all, I did walk out 20 minutes early. But that's saying something. I never leave early, no matter how horrible a movie may be. I demanded my money back, and I got it. Do not see; avoid at all costs.

Kevin M. gave it a0:
If I could give this movie a negative 10, I'd do it. This movie OWES ME four stars. Awful. Absolutely effing terrible. What else can I say? This goes down in history as the WORST movie I have ever seen. What happened to the serial killer?? I thought a crocodile was a hungry animal... not a mass murderer, as Warner Bros. previews would have you believe. Absolute crap. Terrible, half-assed, ADD-style plot, terrible acting, awful (& racist) writing, bad visual effects, just plain the biggest waste of money of my life. If you spend money on this movie, you will spend the rest of your life wishing to get it back. I feel so cheated. A score of 36 is WAY too high. A zero doesn't even begin to cover it.

Primeval Touchstone Pictures

Primeval
Touchstone Pictures