Primevil

Directed by: Roel Reine

Starring: Emily Foxler, Nick Mennel, Marc Bacher, Lance Henriksen

Synopsis:

Five young people on a yacht pick up a crazed wounded young man. During the night, he tries to avert their course and causes the boat to capsize. The five friends make it to a seemingly deserted island, but soon discover they aren’t alone. Living on the island is a tribe of cave-dwelling Neanderthal humanoids, purported to be the missing link in our evolutionary chain. An archaeological dig had discovered them, and The Vatican had sent a holy hit squad to destroy all evidence.

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A lot of you will have read the above synopsis and had a strong feeling of déjà-vu, as it sounds a hell of a lot like another movie we reviewed here recently, After Dusk They Come . Well, there is a reason for this. Primevil (aka The Lost Tribe, aka Primal) is in fact a remake of the aforementioned film. The original intention was to do some re-shoots for the original, but the cast and crew became unavailable so instead they just went ahead and remade it, making a few adjustments to the script. In order to review this properly I think it’s appropriate to make a bit of a comparison between the two.

The most obvious adjustment is the introduction of The Vatican wanting to suppress information about the missing link, and sending their own version of a Black Ops outfit led by Lance Henrikson to kill all those involved. It’s very apparent that this part of the story has been tacked on at the last minute as the motives involved just don’t seem to have been thought through and it only pops into play a couple of times. However the way the Black Ops guys operate feels quite authentic, and Lance Henriksen is always welcome in any movie in my opinion, even in an extended cameo as he is here.

The five friends have a different dynamic here. Whereas the original quintet all knew each other, these have come together for a business deal. The arrival of the wounded survivor allows one of the guys to show his greedy ambition – rather than wait for the coast-guard to show up, he wants to push on to the resort they’re heading to. However the survivor has other ideas and tries to turn the boat around at night, causing it to capsize. The mid-section of both films play out in a very similar manner – first, the alpha-male of each group is picked off easily by the tribe. Then the remaining group is divided and slowly whittled down – but not before coming across information about what it is they are facing (in “After Dusk” it’s a 100 year old journal, in Primevil it’s a video blog). By now the final survivor has learnt that the cave-dwelling tribe have very poor eyesight and hunts via heat signatures, and learns of a local substance which will render her virtually invisible.

There are two things overall which lift Primevil above After Dusk. The first is the dialogue. There are a number of lines which are either quite amusing or just memorable, and that has to be a big tick for any script. When asked how did William Wallace defeat the English, Chris responds “I don’t watch anti-Semitic movies”. And when the gang go looking for the missing Tom, Joe mutters “we’ve got as much chance of spotting Noel Gallagher at Old Trafford!” (funny if you know your Oasis trivia).

What really elevates Primeval over the original however is the finale. The creature fx, their mannerisms and the way they move are very similar for both films and its a tribute to the guys in the suits that even though the alpha male had dreadlocks, I wasn’t reminded of Predator once during his performance. (There are still some Predator references, the heat-vision being the most overt, but the score at times certainly has Alan Silvestri influences). The ending here is more expansive and intense, and there is real doubt as to whether there will be any survivors. The final part of the confrontation is excellently worked out.

Director Roel Reine should be familiar to a lot of DTV fans by now, as he recently directed the very decent Death Race 2 and The Marine 2. Although the early scenes are a bit murky and edited choppily, Roel does an excellent job overall. The escape from the yacht is fraught with peril and as mentioned, the ending is first class. There's also a nice "show, don't tell" ethic at work throughout which shows a healthy respect for the audience's intelligence. Roel is now one of those directors you instantly perk up at when you see his name (see also: John Hyams, Jesse Johnson, Isaac Florentine, Ben Ramsey).

Verdict

Whilst Primevil doesn’t do a good job of adding new elements to the original story, it does improve on some elements, chiefly the script and the finale which is much more exciting. Also, the film doesn’t feel like it owes as much of a big debt to the original two Predator movies (despite what the packaging may say). This is a recommended watch even if you have seen After Dusk They Come.

7 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)

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