You might think, from reading the summary, that Primeval is a film about violence in South Africa. And you’d be right: It follows journalists on a quest to capture a legendary crocodile, only to find them stumbling into the territory of a dangerous warlord.
But all of this amounts to little more than a cheaply made horror flick, one that ends up having little light to shed on its timely subject matter.
Bob Smithouser (Plugged In) calls it “a grim mess of a horror picture that resorts to cheap jump scares, dopey situations and what are, by today’s standards, cheesy special effects. … It’s just a bad movie all the way around.”
Mainstream critics are calling it “primeawful,” among other things.
from Film Forum, 01/25/07David DiCerto (Catholic News Service) says the “mostly suspense-free Jaws rip-off is undone by schlocky effects and a script that tries to wedge social-conscience commentary into a B-movie plot.”
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