Primal Force (1999)

Rescuers try to reach plane crash victims that are trapped on an isolated Mexican island populated by mutant baboons. Ron Perlman stars as a troubled guide hired to lead the mission.

Director:

Nelson McCormick

Writer:

Michael Thoma

Stars:

Ron Perlman, Mark Kiely, Roxana Zal

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ron Perlman	...	Frank Brodie
Mark Kiely	...	Scott Davis
Roxana Zal	...	Tara Matthews
Kimberlee Peterson	...	Kelsey Cunningham
Guillermo Ríos	...	Eddie Mendoza
Richard Fancy	...	Deutsch
Julian Sedgwick	...	Stan Kovacs
Jimy Hefner	...	Pilot
Bruno Danza	...	Captain
Ramiro González	...	Boat mate (as Ramiro Gonzales)
Lola Noh	...	Baboon patriarch (as Lorene Noh)
Gustavo Tecuapetla R.	...	Baboon player 1
Lincy Anahy Avila G.	...	Baboon player 2
Claudia Acosta A.	...	Baboon player 3
Artemio Arzate H.	...	Baboon player 4

Storyline

A private plane carrying the daughter of a rich businessman crash-lands on the uninhabited island of San Miguel off the coast of Mexico, an island regarded by the locals as cursed. The businessman's Chief of Security, Scott Davis mounts a high-tech mission to rescue the survivors, and in his search to find a guide, comes across Frank Brodie, a man who was on the island ten years previously. Davis finds Brodie to be a brooding, reclusive drunk, haunted by his experiences on the island, and Brodie tells Davis that it isn't worth mounting a rescue mission as the survivors will, by now, be dead. Brodie, however, decides to tag along, bringing along a veritable arsenal of weapons and a fatalistic attitude, ridiculing Davis' plans as naive. Accompanying them is Tara Matthews, a young woman purporting to be a medic, and Davis' second-in-command, Eddie Mendoza, a down-to-earth practical man who very quickly realizes Brodie knows what he is doing and is inclined to believe what the man says. ...

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Plot Keywords:

psychotronic film | island | mission | mutant baboon | experiment | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

USA Mexico

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 May 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Wild World

Filming Locations:

Ixtapa, Guerrero, Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

Singer/White Entertainment Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Goofs

The rifle that the radio man has on the beach changes appearance between shots.

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Quotes

Frank Brodie: [Kelsey is dragging a heavy suitcase alongside her] We leave everything here.
[throws it away]
Kelsey Cunningham: That is like a $1000 suitcase.
Frank Brodie: [shoots the suitcase into small pieces] Not any more.

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Connections

References Planet of the Apes (1968)

User Reviews

Cheesy killer baboon outing

A typically low budget, cheesy TV movie monster flick, starring Ron Perlman before he became a well-known Hollywood player. This one feels like a Sci-Fi Channel movie, even though it isn't, and it was filmed in Mexico, so at least it has something going for it. The plot sees a pack of genetically-modified baboons invading a small island, where they kill off anything and everything that moves. Unluckily for them, two survivors of a plane crash are stranded on the same island, so a rescue party headed by the grizzly Perlman is sent to rescue them.

What follows will surprise nobody: the group are whittled down by the killer baboons, while the bloodshed is kept to a bare minimum. The low budget hampers the production values, and the direction doesn't match the story: the baboon attacks are silly rather than frightening, and the special effects just aren't very special. Perlman is the only thing going for this, his performance standing out in a typical jumble of histrionic acting and clichéd situations.