Upcoming chimp-themed horror movie Primate debuts to overwhelmingly positive first reactions, comparing it to Stephen King's Cujo and Jordan Peele's Nope

It looks like January is going to be a great month for horror. Not only do we have 28 Years Later follow-up The Bone Temple to look forward to, a new chimp-themed gore-fest is hitting the big screen – and it's already winning over early viewers.

Primate currently holds an 84% score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is pretty impressive for an original horror movie. This comes just days after the movie received rave first reactions after early screenings, with many blown away by just how scary the film is, especially when it comes to villain Ben the Chimp.

"Primate is a lean, mean, rabid-chimp chiller that delivers nonstop tension and gloriously gruesome kills!!," said movie critic Andre Saint-Albin. That Hashtag Show writer Jordan Bolding echoes, "If you imagined how an animal attack movie could go, it goes there and then some. Plenty of violence, and Ben is one mean sonofabitch."

Others are comparing Ben to fellow animal horror icons like Cujo, the killer dog from the Stephen King adaptation, and sinister simian Congo in Jordan Peele's Nope. "Cujo has nothing on Ben the Chimp!" said That Hashtag Show's Junior Felix, and Variety's Courtney Howard wrote, "Johannes Roberts’ Primate is CUJO with a chimp - even lifts from its inspiration, copying the pan (but from in a pool)."

Directed by The Strangers: Prey at Night's Johannes Roberts, Primate follows a college student who brings some of her friends back to her tropical island home, where her pet Chimp Ben waits for her. However, when Ben becomes rabid, the group's dream vacation turns into a fight for survival against one of the planet's most intelligent killers.

This is not the first time Roberts has had success with animal-themed slasher movies. However, horror fans are certainly loving Primate a little more than his shark attack movies 47 Meters Down and 47 Meters Down: Uncaged, which sit at 53% and 44% on Rotten Tomatoes, respectively.

Primate hits theaters on January 9 in the US, and will show in UK cinemas from January 30. For more, check out our guide to the other best upcoming horror movies to add to your watchlist.