Primal Rage

Primal Rage (Rage-Furia Primitiva) (1988)

Runtime: 92 minutes

Directed by: Vittorio Rambaldi

Starring: Patrick Lowe, Cheryl Arutt, Sarah Buxton, Mitch Watson, Bo Svenson

From: El Pico S.A.

This is the second of the two rage virus movies I saw last night that were from the 1980's; it is a loony Italian film, which usually brings me much delight. This did bring me much delight. What did help out here was that the son of Carlo Rambaldi directed this picture, so his dad and brother both contributed to the special effects.

Hilariously, this was not only filmed in South Florida (a popular place for Italian films in the 80's) but at what was even then one of Florida's major universities, Florida International University. The plot: Bo Svenson (sporting a clip-on ponytail) is experimenting on a baboon for the purpose of brain regeneration. It goes wrong as the baboon instead is even more perpetually angry than Sarah Huckabee Sanders. There are two newspaper reports, straitlaced Sam Nash and scruffy-looking wiseass Frank Duffy. Duffy sneaks into the lab one night as he finds it suspicious. Well, the baboon bites him and the chaos starts. He bites someone else and by the end several people have not only their face falling apart but they always do wild over the top things.

This was co-written by Umberto Lenzi, so naturally things are always wildly entertaining even if s*** doesn't always make sense or if some of the acting isn't too great. The characters are amusing caricatures, such as the dumb girl who sleeps with the schlubby middle-aged professor to pass his class, a “hot chick” who of course is actually a genius and three D-bag fratboy rapist types who do actually try to rape someone. Plenty of things made me laugh, from the amazing 80's soundtrack to the 80's look to how Duffy deals with the nasty-looking bite... he thinks it's a good idea to disinfect it by... pouring a can of Old Milwaukee beer over the wound! Actually, that is something a college student would think is a wise decision.

The director was the son of legendary effects guru Carlo Rambaldi, so Carlo and his other son did the special effects, and they were quality work. So was the finale, which was at a Halloween dance and naturally that gave me plenty of laughs as some silly events happened. For those that love those absurd Italian flicks of the past... personally I am not sure which is more amusing to me, the lead heroine (Cheryl Arutt) becoming a forensic psychologist who has appeared on CNN and shows like Forensic Files or Frank Duffy (Mitch Watson) becoming a producer of cartoons and even created Beware the Batman.