Primal Rage

10/1/19901h 32m

Physical Release (US)

~ There's a new party animal on campus. She'll bring out the beast in you! ~

Overview:

A scientist at a Florida university inadvertently creates a "rage virus" while performing experiments intended to restore dead brain tissue in baboons. When a journalist for the college paper breaks into the campus lab, he's bitten by one of the infected baboons; the virus soon spreads to a trio of rapists and a valley girl, all of whom go on killing sprees.

Director:

Vittorio Rambaldi

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

florida
experiment
biology
mouse
revenge
laboratory
university
lethal virus
killing spree
baboon
rapist
virus
infected
college student

Cast

Patrick Lowe

~ as ~

Sam Nash

Cheryl Arutt

~ as ~

Lauren Daly

Sarah Buxton

~ as ~

Debbie

Mitch Watson

~ as ~

Frank Duffy

Bo Svenson

~ as ~

Ethridge

Doug Sloan

~ as ~

Lovejoy

Luis Valderrama

~ as ~

Chas

John Baldwin

~ as ~

Bryan

Turk Harley

~ as ~

Prof. Jenkins

Jennifer Hingel

~ as ~

Kimberley

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

Wuchak
Written 2 year(s) ago
6
Rabid Neanderthals on the loose at a Florida campus

A professor at a university in Miami (Bo Svenson) is developing a serum that restores dead brain cells using a baboon for testing. When a student is inadvertently bitten, an infection spreads through the campus during a Halloween celebration. Horror thrills ensue.

"Primal Rage" (1988) takes the setting of “Pieces” (1982) and mixes in elements of the Kolchak episode “Primal Scream” (1975) and “Altered States” (1980). It’s basically a reimagining of “Monster on the Campus” (1958) for the ’80s.

Patrick Lowe makes for a quality male protagonist while Mitch Watson is effective as the edgy student-journalist, who’s reminiscent of John Lennon. The flick’s worth watching just for winsome Cheryl Arutt (Lauren). Sarah Buxton is also worth noting as Debbie. Meanwhile towering Doug Sloan stands out as the violent bastage on campus, Lovejoy.

The first act works quite well, but the last act devolves into shallow action thrills with a garnishment of horror. Still, the no-name 80’s rock/metal soundtrack is kinetic and I always wondered what would happen if someone was under the bleachers when they rolled ’em back.

The film runs 1 hour, 31 minutes, and was shot in Miami, particularly Florida International University.

GRADE: B-