PRIMATE 2025 Ending Explained and Full Plot Recap
⚠️ WARNING: FULL SPOILERS AHEAD ⚠️This article contains major spoilers. If you haven’t watched the movie yet, consider stopping here. Everything below breaks down the plot in full detail, so continue only if you’re ready to know exactly what happens.
The film opens on a remote island in Hawaii. A veterinarian named Doug Lambert (Rob Delaney) steps into the enclosure of a chimpanzee called Ben. As Lambert turns his back to reach for a syringe, Ben suddenly vanishes from sight. Lambert notices Ben hiding nearby and tries to draw him out using the chimp’s favorite teddy bear. For a moment, everything feels calm enough. Then it turns ugly. Ben suddenly lunges, drags Lambert into the enclosure, and attacks him with shocking violence, leaving his face severely torn.
Thirty-six hours earlier, a college student named Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah) is flying home with her close friend, Kate (Victoria Wyant). Lucy has barely come back to the island since her mother passed away, an absence that quietly damaged her bond with her younger sister, Erin (Gia Hunter).
Things grow more uncomfortable when she learns that Kate has invited Hannah (Jessica Alexander), a presence that brings up feelings Lucy has never fully sorted out. During the trip, two young men, Brad (Tienne Simon) and Drew (Charlie Mann), flirt with Hannah and leave her their phone numbers.
The group arrives at Lucy’s family home on the island, where Erin lives with their father, Adam (Troy Kotsur), a deaf writer. They are later joined by Kate’s brother, Nick (Benjamin Cheng), toward whom Lucy harbors a quiet attraction.
Ben lives with the family, not really as a pet, more like someone who just happens to be different. Around the house, nobody treats him like an animal. He’s usually relaxed, playful, and smarter than people expect, using a tablet to make himself understood when words aren’t an option. When Lucy brings her friends over to meet him, the nervousness never lasts. The room settles, laughter comes naturally, and before long Ben feels harmless, almost familiar.
They laugh, relax, and start seeing Ben as harmless. In that small, ordinary moment, Lucy also makes a quiet attempt to reconnect with Erin, awkward and uncertain, but sincere.
Later that night, Hannah wanders out to the pool and ends up alone with Ben. Something is clearly off. Ben is drooling and breathing hard, his behavior tense and unsettled. When he grabs Hannah’s hand, it quickly turns violent as he twists it with brutal strength. Adam steps in just in time, using his whistle to break Ben’s focus. He then locks Ben back inside his enclosure, where it is revealed that the chimp has been bitten by a ferret.
The next morning, Adam takes the ferret’s body to a lab, wanting answers, before leaving the others behind for a book signing with his interpreter. Back at the house, Lucy and her friends pass the time by the pool, trying to act normal. Lucy can’t keep it together for long, especially when she notices Nick and Hannah kissing, a sight that quietly sinks her mood.
Lambert arrives at Adam’s request, only to be killed, an act that sets Ben free. Kate wakes up and heads downstairs, where Ben soon finds her. His posture is hostile, and he deliberately shuts the door behind him, cutting her off from the others. Lucy tries calling Lambert, but the only response she hears is his unanswered phone. Moments later, she discovers blood smeared on Ben’s teddy bear.
Panic spreads when Lucy and Kate hear Ben screaming and Hannah crying out. Nick steps in to protect Hannah as Ben becomes completely out of control, no longer responding even when Lucy speaks to him the way she always has, like a beloved pet. Lucy attempts to restrain him by tying him to a post, but Ben chews through the rope and bites Erin on the leg. With no other option left, everyone jumps into the swimming pool, knowing Ben cannot swim.
Trapped in the pool, the group scrambles to figure out a way out and call for help. Nick comes up with a desperate plan to lure Ben toward the edge and shove him over the nearby drop. It almost works. At the last second, Ben grabs Nick and yanks him down, sending him crashing onto the rocks below. Kate watches in horror, her shock quickly turning into rage.
Lucy takes a risk and quietly slips out of the pool, heading for a phone. She manages to grab it just before Ben notices. The women try calling Brad and Drew for help, but the calls are brushed off, mistaken for a late-night invitation rather than a plea for survival. The situation spirals further when Ben grabs Hannah by the hair and drags her, tearing part of her scalp away.
At the book signing, Adam receives a call from the lab technician, who confirms that the ferret he brought in was infected with rabies, a diagnosis that makes no sense in Hawaii, where no cases have been reported. Alarmed, Adam tries calling Lucy. When she doesn’t answer, his concern turns into fear.
Back at the house, Ben disappears from sight, giving Lucy and Kate a brief window to run inside and search for another phone. They find one, but Lucy accidentally turns on the television, the sudden noise instantly drawing Ben’s attention. He attacks, even using the tablet to label Lucy as dangerous, before Kate knocks him aside. They race back toward the pool, but Ben catches up. In a brutal moment, he smashes Kate’s skull with a rock while Lucy manages to escape and reach Erin and Hannah.
Ben grabs Lucy again, but Hannah fights back, using a rope to pull him away long enough for Lucy to break free and jump back into the pool.
Brad and Drew arrive at the empty house and start drinking, unaware of what has been unfolding nearby. They eventually split up, leaving Drew alone in a bedroom. Ben finds him there. Drew tries to talk his way out of it, treating Ben like a stupid animal, but the attempt only provokes him. Ben attacks without hesitation, ripping Drew’s jaw apart and leaving him to bleed to death.
Not long after, Brad stumbles upon Lucy, Erin, and Hannah. As he calls out to them, Ben notices his voice. Brad grabs a shovel and swings at Ben, desperate to protect the others. It doesn’t help. Ben overpowers him, wrenches the shovel from his hands, and beats him until he is dead.
Hannah manages to escape and grabs a set of car keys, hoping to get help. In her panic, she climbs into the wrong car. Ben tracks her down, unlocks the vehicle using the keys she dropped, and climbs inside, killing her before she can get away.
Lucy tries to get Erin to a hospital, but Ben finds them again. For a brief moment, he seems calm, almost like the gentle companion Lucy remembers. It’s a lie. The calm drops as he twists Lucy’s wrist with brutal force. Lucy fights back, jamming her fingers into Ben’s infected rabies wound. The pain sends him retreating.
Adam arrives at the house, searching for his daughters, but instead he discovers Drew’s body. Ben begins stalking him and attacks from behind. Lucy and Erin draw Ben’s attention back toward them, but not before he slashes Erin’s back with his claws.
Ben traps the sisters on the house balcony, closing in until he nearly tears Lucy’s jaw apart. Adam manages to break the moment by blowing his whistle, pulling Ben’s attention away from her. Ben turns on Adam and attacks, coming frighteningly close to killing him. Lucy calls out, and for a split second, Ben hesitates. Adam seizes the chance, smashing a wine bottle over Ben’s head and driving the broken glass into his chest. Ben collapses, and Adam pulls his daughters into his arms.
The moment doesn’t last. Ben forces himself back up for one final attack, lunging at Lucy and trying to drag her over the balcony railing. Adam grabs hold of Ben and sacrifices himself, falling with him. Ben is impaled on the sharp end of a broken chair below, a wound that finally kills him.
Police and paramedics arrive soon after and rush Erin to the hospital. As the scene settles, Lucy hears Ben’s communication device once more, repeating the words “Lucy bad.” She freezes, only to realize it’s coming from a police officer collecting the tablet as evidence.