Primeval

R

Released Jan 12, 2007

1 hr. 34 min.

Mystery & Thriller

Adventure

Horror

List

21%

58 Reviews

Tomatometer

32%

50,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Veteran reporter Tim Manfrey (Dominic Purcell) lands possibly the worst assignment of his life: Travel to the African country of Burundi to locate and capture the world's largest crocodile. Dubbed "Gustave" by the villagers, the croc is said to have dined on hundreds of humans over the years. Complicating matters is an African warlord who is even more bloodthirsty than the giant reptile.

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Critics Consensus

Primeval is a low-quality horror film, which due to the inane political messages does not even qualify as campy fun.

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Mutantti M

Couple of cool scenes, and surprisingly ok looking crock. Took another way with some horror tropes so thats allways nice. But sadly still just boring and pointless movie that feels hollow and didnt captivate my intrest.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/11/24

Full Review

Satin B

Yawn fest; where was the Crikey Mate, it's a Crocodile that ain't smiling from down under ⚠️

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/02/24

Full Review

Steve D

A weird mix of ideas that never work. I wish Langton and Jones got better material than this.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

10/06/23

Full Review

Michael M

Amazing film. My favorite movie based on true events and also my favorite horror movie. 19%?! 32%?! How bout 100%?

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/02/22

Full Review

Nethma T

First watched this when I was a kid.Still entertaining.Pretty enjoyable movie.Sub plot keeps movie flowing.Not like a typical killer croc movie.There are some questionable things.The environment is not 100% accurate to the real location.You can get a better idea about what I say by watching the documentary called "Catching the killer croc".This movie is inspired on those events.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/25/22

Full Review

Audience Member

It's a fairly fun killer Croc movie, based on a true legend. It's gets a little too dark, self-serious and preachy, but it's got some cool sequences and surprisingly good effects.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

11/05/21

Full Review

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Michael Katleman

Director

Dominic Purcell

Tim Manfrey

Orlando Jones

Steven Johnson

Brooke Langton

Aviva Masters

Jürgen Prochnow

Jacob Krieg

Gideon Emery

Matthew Collins

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Brian Tallerico

UGO

Primeval is bad, but it's never boring, and you can't say that about many of its peers.

Mar 24, 2007

Full Review

Scott Tobias

AV Club

The sub-sub-Anaconda bottom-feeder Primeval makes the mistake of taking itself far too seriously; with its exploitative images of civil war and genocide, it's the Blood Diamond of 25-foot-killer-crocodile movies.

Rated: D+

Jan 17, 2007

Full Review

Andrea Gronvall

Chicago Reader

Essentially Jaws moved to Africa.

Jan 16, 2007

Full Review

Paul Lê

Bloody Disgusting

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.

Rated: 3/5

Jan 12, 2024

Full Review

Mark H. Harris

Black Horror Movies

It's this sort of social insight that elevates Primeval above typical marauding animal fare.

Rated: 2.8/5

Jan 10, 2020

Full Review

Steve Newton

Georgia Straight

Primeval is one of crummiest killer-beast flicks of all time. It actually makes the B.C.-shot giant-croc debacle Lake Placid look half-decent, but it sure the hell wasn't.

Rated: 1/5

Jul 6, 2010

Full Review

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Synopsis

Veteran reporter Tim Manfrey (Dominic Purcell) lands possibly the worst assignment of his life: Travel to the African country of Burundi to locate and capture the world's largest crocodile. Dubbed "Gustave" by the villagers, the croc is said to have dined on hundreds of humans over the years. Complicating matters is an African warlord who is even more bloodthirsty than the giant reptile.

Director: Michael Katleman
Executive Producer: Jamie Tarses, Mitch Engel
Screenwriter: John D. Brancato, Michael Ferris
Distributor: Buena Vista
Production Co: Pariah Films
Rating: R (Language|Brutality|Strong Graphic Violence|Terror)
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Adventure, Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 12, 2007, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 10, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $10.6M
Sound Mix: Dolby SRD, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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