Primal Rage (film)

Primal Rage
Primal Rage
Directed by	Vittorio Rambaldi
Written by	Umberto Lenzi; James Justice; (credited collectively as Harry Kirkpatrick)
Produced by	William J. Immermann; Josi W. Konski; (as Josi Konski)
Starring	Patrick Lowe; Cheryl Arutt; Sarah Buxton; Bo Svenson
Cinematography	Antonio Climati
Edited by	John Rawson
Music by	Claudio Simonetti
Production; company	El Pico S.A.
Distributed by	Overseas FilmGroup
Release date	1988;
Running time	91 minutes
Countries	United States; Italy
Language	English

Primal Rage is a 1988 Italian-American science fiction horror film directed by Vittorio Rambaldi.

Plot

Frank Duffy, a reporter for a local newspaper in Miami, sneaks into a research laboratory that carries out experiments on animals. Bitten by a rabid monkey, the young man falls prey to an uncontrollable fury and spreads the infection in the nearby college, where the carefree Halloween party taking place there turns into a bloodbath.

Cast

Patrick Lowe as Sam Nash
Cheryl Arutt as Lauren Daly
Sarah Buxton as Debbie
Bo Svenson as Ethridge
Mitch Watson as Frank Duffy
Doug Sloan as Lovejoy
Luis Valderrama as Chas
John Baldwin as Bryan
Turk Harley as Prof. Jenkins
Jennifer Hingel as Kimberly
Barry D. Schreiber as Oakley
Paul Bridges Thompson as Lab Assistant
Sally Carlson as Nurse
Greg Schmidt as Sam's Roommate
Mal Jones as Janitor
Kristine Loyd as Babe
Tom Kouchalakos as Rookie Cop
Brody Howell as Drunk Student
Earl Lee Simpson III as Baby Huey
Ben Stotes as Vampire
Joe Del Campo as FBI Agent
Christopher David Brown as FBI Agent
Eileen Engel as Dorm Receptionist
Julian Byrd as University Vice President
Jack McDermott as Police Chief
Darlene Wheatley as Editor
J. D. Steel as Tow Truck Driver
Tom Boykin as Fratter
R. Emmett Fitzsimmons as Campus Cop
L. R. Dutchyshyn as Cop at Halloween Party
William Cagliostro as Infirmary Student
Jay Amor as Orderly
Bill Wohtmann as Veteran Cop

Production

The film was directed by Vittorio Rambaldi (in his directing debut), the son of Italian special effects artist Carlo Rambaldi.^[1]

The film was written by Umberto Lenzi and James Justice. Lenzi would later recall that he was approached with two scripts, saying that "One was fucking awful and one wasn't bad." Lenzi "took the one [he] liked the most", "about a female scientist that has an accident in her lab and becomes genetically mutated, transforming into a tiger", and rewrote it, but by the time he arrived at the United States, he found that his backers wanted him to film the other script, which became Nightmare Beach (also known as Welcome to Spring Break). The script that Lenzi worked on, which he described as a homage to Cat People, was eventually further rewritten by Justice, and the final script that was shot was credited to "Harry Kirkpatrick", an alias Justice also used in Nightmare Beach, in which he also worked on.^[2]

The film's poster art was made by Renato Casaro.^[3]

Reception

Joseph A. Ziemba and Dan Budnik in their book Bleeding Skull!: A 1980s Trash-Horror Odyssey of the film, "Primal Rage borrows the plot and general sense of chaos from George Romero's The Crazies, gives it a shot of Cro-Magnon idiocy, and adds a "Avoid the Noid!" poster, an A.L.F. stuffed animal, and a relentless z-rate metal soundtrack. Leapfrogging over mundane hilarity (padding that involves racquetball), squirm-inducing gore (eyes ripped out) and the savoir fare of the late 80s (skull costumes from The Karate Kid), Primal Rage does not ask much from its audience. All we have to do is keep our eyes open."^[4]

The film was also covered on RedLetterMedia's Best of the Worst series, in the 2021 Halloween episode.^[5]

References

^ Ciencia-ficción europea (in Spanish). Donostia Kultura. 2001. p. 56.
^ Ercolani, Eugenio (2019). Darkening the Italian Screen: Interviews with Genre and Exploitation Directors Who Debuted in the 1950s and 1960s. McFarland. p. 55. ISBN 9781476635385.
^ Sánchez López, Roberto (1997). El cartel de cine: arte y publicidad (in Spanish). Prensas Universitarias de Zaragoza. p. 213. ISBN 9788477334811.
^ Ziemba, Joseph A.; Budnik, Dan (2013). Bleeding Skull!: A 1980s Trash-Horror Odyssey. SCB Distributors. p. 366. ISBN 9781909394148.
^ Best of the Worst: Halloween Spooktacular 2021, retrieved 2022-10-07

External links

Primal Rage at IMDb

[1] Ciencia-ficción europea (in Spanish). Donostia Kultura. 2001. p. 56.

[2] Ercolani, Eugenio (2019). Darkening the Italian Screen: Interviews with Genre and Exploitation Directors Who Debuted in the 1950s and 1960s. McFarland. p. 55. ISBN 9781476635385.

[3] Sánchez López, Roberto (1997). El cartel de cine: arte y publicidad (in Spanish). Prensas Universitarias de Zaragoza. p. 213. ISBN 9788477334811.

[4] Ziemba, Joseph A.; Budnik, Dan (2013). Bleeding Skull!: A 1980s Trash-Horror Odyssey. SCB Distributors. p. 366. ISBN 9781909394148.

[5] Best of the Worst: Halloween Spooktacular 2021, retrieved 2022-10-07

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