Editorials
‘Primeval’ – Revisiting a Flawed But Unique Killer Croc Movie
While “based on a true story” is typically a ploy to lure in audiences, the basis of the 2007 movie Primeval does, in fact, exist. Or at least he did, at one point. The whereabouts of what many deem the “world’s most prolific killer” — a decades-old Nile crocodile named Gustave who allegedly claimed somewhere between 200 and 300 human lives — are murky nowadays. Some say Burundi’s most infamous reptile is long gone, and others demand proof of his passing. Regardless, Gustave’s notoriety lives on in this panned Hollywood creature-feature with a severe identity crisis.
Back then, it was understandable to have a cursory look at the original ad campaign for Primeval and not realize the movie is about a crocodile. An intentionally vague trailer led to complaints of deception from viewers; they were expecting a movie about a human serial killer. Imagine their surprise once they watched Primeval, which, for obvious reasons, was not screened for critics before its release. Bumping up the premiere by several months — to January, no less — also did not bode well. As anticipated, Michael Katleman’s directorial feature debut was chewed up and spat out by critics.
In cinema, 2007 was the year of the crocodile. Along with Rogue, Greg McLean’s much anticipated follow-up to Wolf Creek, was another Australian ripped-from-the-headlines saltie thriller called Black Water. However, both movies did not see a commercial release until after Primeval was rushed out by Buena Vista. Behind-the-scenes drama sank Rogue’s chance of a theatrical premiere in the United States, whereas Black Water slipped under the radar despite positive reviews. Needless to say, Primeval was the only one of this toothy trio to grace the American big screen. Critics did not miss an opportunity to note the small surge of croc horror that year, and a few did their damndest to steer potential viewers away from Primeval and toward Rogue (even with McLean’s sophomore pic being stuck in distribution hell). Nevertheless, the dissuasion was undue. As confused and uneven as Primeval turned out to be, the movie’s disreputation is not completely warranted.
Image: Orlando Jones and Brooke Langton’s characters run from danger in Primeval.
The criticism of Primeval taking itself too seriously seems almost strange to hear these days. By and large, though, people still expect “nature’s revenge” horror to be silly and campy. The subgenre has its roots to consider, yet after so much frivolity from the Syfy side as well as the lingering effects of the postmodern horror wave, a straight approach for this kind of movie was good in theory. The execution, on the other hand, made Primeval not only difficult to digest but also tonally awkward.
The attempt to make Primeval an issue-film is far from perfect. Maybe even reckless. Worst of all, John Brancato and Michael Ferris’ bizarre and totally unsubtle script does not accomplish much of anything in the end apart from some inevitable white knighting. The political framing device does, at the very least, fatten up an otherwise anemic story. The basic concept of a TV network staging the capture of the legendary Gustave could have gone either way. After all, safe and undemanding is the norm for monster movies. It is the unconventional, not to mention questionable pairing of a maneater’s intrinsic horrors with the atrocities of a civil war that ultimately muddies the water. This is not the sort of exploitation that viewers signed up for.
As self-important as Primeval comes across, it does manage to be self-aware from time to time. The frequent scene-stealer and most likable character, a comical American cameraman played to the max by Orlando Jones, has a real way with words. Following the Gustave-related death of a British forensic anthropologist in Burundi, Jones’ character Steven sums up the movie’s inciting incident best: “You know what, this crocodile’s like O.J. Simpson; he messed up when he killed that white woman.” Vulgar, yes, but not too off the mark in this case. And when it comes to the indifference toward urgent domestic affairs in Africa, Primeval points a finger at the West. Funnily enough, the script is guilty of its own accusation. The constant prioritization of animals over human lives also comes up as the movie’s own resident croc hunter (Gideon Emery) states there are “more than enough human beings on this planet” and Gustave is of “greater value.” Mind you, he has the audacity to say this as genocide continues in Burundi.
Image: Gustave the killer Nile Crocodile appears in Primeval’s finale.
Primeval could have very well been pitched as Lake Placid meets Blood Diamond. Although, this cocktail of bestial horror and political thriller is often more sobering than inebriating, especially when the American characters get mixed up with the Burundi warlord who goes by the nickname of Little Gustave (Dumisani Mbebe). Other movies would refrain from being so on the nose about their message, but Primeval lacks nuance. The metaphor here does not go unnoticed or unsaid as Dominic Purcell spoon-feeds it to both his co-star, Brooke Langton, and the audience. Upon learning Little Gustave’s victims wind up as meals for Big Gustave, Purcell’s character says with a straight face: “We make, create, our own monsters.”
Clumsy and unrefined as it may be as a political piece, Primeval moderately succeeds as a creature-feature. The movie’s insatiable centerpiece always leaves the audience wanting more during his meager appearances. Those run-ins with Gustave include implausible but exhilarating set-pieces that embody 2000s Hollywood excess. Due to an extensive and flagrant use of CGI — the movie ended up abandoning a practical animatronic during filming — Gustave resembles and acts like a mythical dragon more than anything tangible and existing in nature. The guttural roar in place of an authentic croc hiss evokes memories of the growling shark in Jaws: The Revenge, and Gustave’s ability to gallop across grasslands and crawl up and down the sides of a cage defies both credibility and physics. Still and all, more go-for-broke stunts and less bleak warfare for the sake of genre entertainment would have immensely benefited Primeval. When the movie leans into its cold-blooded antagonist’s predation, it is undoubtedly more satisfying.
Primeval remains polarizing all these years later. Admittedly, the opportunistic and misguided political element preoccupies way too much of the story, but several bright spots — namely Gustave’s flashy feats, Orlando Jones’ amusing if not indelicate turn, and the surplus of South African vistas — help raise the value of this widely panned monster romp. It can be argued that Primeval does too much for a movie of this caliber; it feels stuck between two genres. As a counterpoint, its flawed and messy ambition is still preferable to all the more routine crocsploitation movies currently swimming in existence.
Image: Brooke Langton, Dominic Purcell and Gideon Emery in Primeval.
With there being an overlap between wrestling fans and horror fans, it only made sense for WWE Studios to produce See No Evil. And much like The Rock’s Walking Tall and John Cena’s The Marine, this 2006 slasher was designed to jumpstart a popular wrestler’s crossover career; superstar Glenn “Kane” Jacobs stepped out of the ring and into a run-down hotel packed with easy prey. Director Gregory Dark and writer Dan Madigan delivered what the WWE had hoped to be the beginning of “a villain franchise in the vein of Jason, Freddy and Pinhead.” In hindsight, See No Evil and its unpunctual sequel failed to live up to expectations. Regardless of Jacob Goodnight’s inability to reach the heights of horror’s greatest icons, his films are not without their simple slasher pleasures.
See No Evil (previously titled Goodnight and Eye Scream Man) was a last gasp for a dying trend. After all, the Hollywood resurgence of big-screen slashers was on the decline by the mid-2000s. Even so, that first Jacob Goodnight offering is well aware of its genre surroundings: the squalid setting channels the many torturous playgrounds found in the Saw series and other adjacent splatter pics. Also, Gregory Dark’s first major feature — after mainly delivering erotic thrillers and music videos — borrows the mustardy, filthy and sweaty appearance of Platinum Dunes’ then-current horror output. So, visually speaking, See No Evil fits in quite well with its contemporaries.
Despite its mere setup — young offenders are picked off one by one as they clean up an old hotel — See No Evil is more ambitious than anticipated. Jacob Goodnight is, more or less, another unstoppable killing machine whose traumatic childhood drives him to torment and murder, but there is a process to his mayhem. In a sense, a purpose. Every new number in Goodnight’s body count is part of a survival ritual with no end in sight. A prior and poorly mended cranial injury, courtesy of Steven Vidler’s character, also influences the antagonist’s brutal streak. As with a lot of other films where a killer’s crimes are religious in nature, Goodnight is viscerally concerned with the act of sin and its meaning. And that signature of plucking out victims’ eyes is his way of protecting his soul.
Image: The cast of See No Evil enters the Blackwell Hotel.
Survival is on the mind of just about every character in See No Evil, even before they are thrown into a life-or-death situation. Goodnight is processing his inhumane upbringing in the only way he can, whereas many of his latest victims have committed various crimes in order to get by in life. The details of these offenses, ranging from petty to severe, can be found in the film’s novelization. This more thorough media tie-in, also penned by Madigan, clarified the rap sheets of Christine (Christina Vidal), Kira (Samantha Noble), Michael (Luke Pegler) and their fellow delinquents. Readers are presented a grim history for most everyone, including Vidler’s character, Officer Frank Williams, who lost both an arm and a partner during his first encounter with the God’s Hand Killer all those years ago. The younger cast is most concerned with their immediate wellbeing, but Williams struggles to make peace with past regrets and mistakes.
While the first See No Evil film makes a beeline for its ending, the literary counterpart takes time to flesh out the main characters and expound on scenes (crucial or otherwise). The task requires nearly a third of the book before the inmates and their supervisors even reach the Blackwell Hotel. Yet once they are inside the death trap, the author continues to profile the fodder. Foremost is Christine and Kira’s lock-up romance born out of loyalty and a mutual desire for security against their enemies behind bars. And unlike in the film, their sapphic relationship is confirmed. Meanwhile, Michael’s misogyny and bigotry are unmistakable in the novelization; his racial tension with the story’s one Black character, Tye (Michael J. Pagan), was omitted from the film along with the repeated sexual exploitation of Kira. These written depictions make their on-screen parallels appear relatively upright. That being said, by making certain characters so prickly and repulsive in the novelization, their rare heroic moments have more of an impact.
Madigan’s book offers greater insight into Goodnight’s disturbed mind and harrowing early years. As a boy, his mother regularly doled out barbaric punishments, including pouring boiling water onto his “dangling bits” if he ever “sinned.” The routine maltreatment in which Goodnight endured makes him somewhat sympathetic in the novelization. Also missing from the film is an entire character: a back-alley doctor named Miles Bennell. It was he who patched up Goodnight after Williams’ desperate but well-aimed bullet made contact in the story’s introduction. Over time, this drunkard’s sloppy surgery led to the purulent, maggot-infested head wound that, undoubtedly, impaired the hulking villain’s cognitive functions and fueled his violent delusions.
Image: Dan Madigan’s novelization for See No Evil.
An additional and underlying evil in the novelization, the Blackwell’s original owner, is revealed through random flashbacks. The author described the hotel’s namesake, Langley Blackwell, as a deviant who took sick pleasure in defiling others (personally or vicariously). His vile deeds left a dark stain on the Blackwell, which makes it a perfect home for someone like Jacob Goodnight. This notion is not so apparent in the film, and the tie-in adaptation says it in a roundabout way, but the building is haunted by its past. While literal ghosts do not roam these corridors, Blackwell’s lingering depravity courses through every square inch of this ill-reputed establishment and influences those who stay too long.
The selling point of See No Evil back then was undeniably Kane. However, fans might have been disappointed to see the wrestler in a lurking and taciturn role. The focus on unpleasant, paper-thin “teenagers” probably did not help opinions, either. Nevertheless, the first film is a watchable and, at times, well-made straggler found in the first slasher revival’s death throes. A modest budget made the decent production values possible, and the director’s history with music videos allowed the film a shred of style. For meatier characterization and a harder demonstration of the story’s dog-eat-dog theme, though, the novelization is worth seeking out.
Jen and Sylvia Soska, collectively The Soska Sisters, were put in charge of 2014’s See No Evil 2. This direct continuation arrived just in time for Halloween, which is fitting considering its obvious inspiration. In place of the nearly deserted hospital in Halloween II is an unlucky morgue receiving all the bodies from the Blackwell massacre. Familiar face Danielle Harris played the ostensible final girl, a coroner whose surprise birthday party is crashed by the resurrected God’s Hand Killer. In an effort to deliver uncomplicated thrills, the Soskas toned down the previous film’s heavy mythos and religious trauma, as well as threw in characters worth rooting for. This sequel, while more straightforward than innovative, pulls no punches and even goes out on a dark note.
The chances of seeing another See No Evil with Kane attached are low, especially now with Glenn Jacobs focusing on a political career. Yet there is no telling if Jacob Goodnight is actually gone, or if he is just playing dead.
Image: Katharine Isabelle and Lee Majdouba’s characters don’t notice Kane’s Jacob Goodnight character is behind them in See No Evil 2.
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