Primal Rage Reviews

This inane Italian-produced gorefest is set on a college campus in Florida where Sam Nash (Patrick Lowe) and Frank Duffy (Mitch Watson) are reporters on the school newspaper. Campus researcher Dr. Etheridge (Bo Svenson) is conducting research on a monkey in an attempt to find a method for revitalizing damaged brain cells and, during one of his experiments, an injection causes the monkey to become ferocious to the point that the doctor is almost unable to control it. That night, Duffy, who is certain Etheridge is up to no good, breaks into the lab and starts taking photographs of the monkey, who goes berserk, escapes from its cage, and bites Duffy on the arm before crashing through a window. As Duffy beats a hasty retreat, the monkey is run down by a police car. The next day, Duffy feels feverish, but he agrees to go out with Sam, his new girl friend Lauren (Cheryl Arutt) and her recently arrived roommate Debbie (Sarah Buxton). At the end of the night, Duffy and Debbie begin kissing when he bites her neck, drawing blood, but she doesn't seem to mind much. Of course, the next day, she feels deathly ill, as does Duffy, who soon embarks on a violent rampage, brutally killing anyone who crosses his path. When a trio of slobbering frat boys tries to rape Debbie, she responds by biting each one before finally escaping. Now there are all sorts of potential murderous fiends wandering around campus, as well as the demented Dr. Etheridge, and it's up to Sam and Lauren to straighten the whole mess out, which they try to do during the big Halloween dance that serves as the film's climax. There's nothing here that could possibly be of interest to anyone but the most undiscriminating gorehounds. There are some extremely weak attempts at humor in the dialog and in the wacky costumes prevalent at the climactic Halloween ball, but mostly this is simply an excuse to string together a bunch of grisly deaths. Victims have their scalp ripped off, veins torn from their necks, their eyes gouged out, and their mouths scratched to shreds, to name but a few choice methods of death. The acting ranges from barely competent to inept, while the soundtrack features an array of irritatingly pounding rock and rap songs. But, if explosions of blood, vital organs, and flesh are to your liking, by all means give this one a look. (Gore effects, profanity, sexual situations.)