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Dinosaurs are back on the big screen and chomping through loads of cash thanks to the closer to the Jurassic World Trilogy, Dominion.
If you’re like me and you think there is a severe lack of dinosaur-themed awesomeness in our entertainment landscape you owe it to yourself to check out acclaimed animator Genndy Tartakovsky’s (Samurai Jack, Star Wars: The Clone Wars) magnum opus, Primal.
Currently streaming on Adult Swim and HBO Max, the series mixes brutal action, heart wrenching drama, and intense horror to tell a wordless saga of caveman Spear and his T-Rex friend Fang as they traverse an anachronistic prehistoric hellscape that is their home –and try to survive everything this hostile world throws at them.
With 10 episodes in the can at the moment and more coming this summer, Primal is some of the best television currently on the air. Despite it having near universal critical acclaim it hasn’t truly broken out yet. Not in my opinion at least. The horror fandom deserves to have this show on their watchlist because the genre elements are more than tertiary – they’re up front and center. Below are a handful of episodes sure to give horror fiends on the prowl for dinosaur-based carnage exactly what they want…
While not the most overtly horror laden, you can’t skip the introductory episode as it sets up the emotional core of the entire series. We meet the first half of our prehistoric duo, Spear, as he fishes from a rock in the middle of a river. The setting is serene, he is enjoying himself – smiling as his patience bares fruit. The tranquility is suddenly and violently broken as a massive Deinosuchus (big ass crocodile) lungs from the water right at Spear, who narrowly avoids the beast by jumping in the water.
This opening scene encapsulates the entire idea of the show in a nutshell: There is beauty here. There is even peace – but it is always one moment away from being torn to pieces. It never lasts.
Traversing the path home we get a sense of the wider world Spear inhabits before he hears the frightened cries of his wife. Running with all his might, Spear arrives only in time to see a pack of vicious horned T-Rexes, one of which devours his wife and child.
Spear pursues the gang of Rexes through the wild and happens upon another T-Rex, Fang. Fang is suffering a loss of her own thanks to the evil Rexes, and they must forge a bond if they’re going to survive the day.
This first episode is a harsh and unforgiving introduction to the show. Tartakovsky tells the audience there is no playing around in this world. This may be a cartoon, but it’s not fun for the whole family. Tragedy hits and hits hard.
“Spear and Fang” is a great balance of character introduction, emotional stakes, and kick-ass action.
Episode 4: Terror Under the Blood Moon
So much of Primal is like the coolest, most wickedly metal monster movie Hollywood never made. If Ray Harryhausen listened to Cannibal Corpse and dabbled in 2D animation, I imagine he would make something like Primal.
“Under the Blood Moon” opens with our duo running for their lives across open desert from a pack of dromaeosaurs (think raptors). Suddenly fearful, the pursuing beasts break away from the hunt. Spear and Fang find themselves in an eerie landscape of fog – the only landmarks to be found are huge stone monoliths with ominous skulls carved into them. A red moon rises, draping the sky with a crimson shroud. Things hunt under this moon and they aren’t mere dinosaurs.
This is the episode that most evokes old school monster movies. The use of red throughout is very similar to opening battle scene in Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula. The creatures that inhabit this alien land are even associated with the famous bloodsucker.
“Under the Blood Moon” is old school monster mayhem in a setting we’re not used to seeing it in, which is just one of the many ways Primal manages to be exciting and unique from episode to episode.
The entry is absolutely relentless. This is the zombie episode. To provide more details than that would be to spoil just how intense and impactful “Plague of Madness” is. The efficiency of storytelling here is flawless. These 30 minutes of animation hold everything that makes Primal such a compelling show. It’s brutal, action packed, filled with incredible money shots, yet it still manages to resonate with heartbreaking emotion.
The emotional core of the series is never not completely sincere. On paper Primal sounds like a fun, style over substance foray into action and violence yet Tartakovsky and his crew have far greater ambition than to just toss eye candy at the viewer. He wants to use everything in his arsenal to create something powerful and moving, which leads to the next episode.
Episode 8: Coven of the Damned
As I was saying, on paper Primal sounds like the enthusiastic ramblings of a little kid rattling off every cool idea that comes into his head. What if a caveman and a T-Rex fought prehistoric witches!?
That is exactly what “Coven of the Damned” provides, but with the nuance you should expect from this show at this point. Almost every episode of the series contains elements of emotional power and tragedy – this one being a standout. Yes, it is indeed about Spear and Fang going up against prehistoric witches, but the path that idea takes is unexpected. Don’t be surprised to find yourself swiping tears off your cheeks by the time the episode is over.
Now we’re back to pure, adrenaline fueled horror. Something unseen and seemingly supernatural, fast, and powerful is hunting in the forest. Nothing can escape it. It’s so fast and strong it absolutely annihilates everything it touches in a burst of blood and viscera. It goes without saying Spear and Fang are on edge.
“The Night Feeder” is survival horror with a dose of dark comedy tossed in for good measure. The on-edge jitters and fear that Spear and Fang feel as the episode ticks on is filled with tension, but it’s also kind of funny. One shot in particular holds on Fang as she slowly feels relaxed enough to try and sleep only to jolt awake at the slightest sound in the darkness beyond their camp. Good stuff.
I’ve been gushing over this show for over one thousand words now, so let me say that the reveal of exactly what the “Night Feeder” is was a tad disappointing. The episode does such a good job of establishing this utterly unstoppable killing machine only to reveal it as something rather…ordinary. Even so, it’s not a big enough issue to hurt the episode in any significant way.
There you have it, five horror-themed episode of Primal. When I stated that this series in one of the best shows currently on TV, I meant it. Few series at the moment are as unique and daring as Primal, let alone animated shows. Season 2 premieres on July 21st!
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In the final moments of I Blame Society, Gillian Wallace Horvat goes absolutely apeshift on a couple of film bros. “I am a strong female lead,” she grunts as she wields a blade across the throat of Producer #2. Blood spurts and covers the walls. The screen is coated in thick red plasma, leaving the film title seeping through. That solitary line punctures the graphic violence with sardonic humor, circling back to an earlier conversation when the same film bros eviscerated Gillian’s latest script for not having a compelling enough protagonist. The venomous refrain encompasses not only the entire thesis of the found-footage film but what it’s like to be anyone but a cis white man in the world.
“I am a strong female lead” could also read as the thematic premise to Tragedy Girls 一 a flashy, meta-slasher led by Sadie (Brianna Hildebrand) and McKayla (Alexandra Shipp), two high-schoolers desperately wanting to make a name for themselves within the serial killer arena. I Blame Society is a Making a Murderer demonstration, confined to one artist’s morally-questionable conceits in capturing authentic art; whereas, Tragedy Girls explores a very different hunt for authenticity, a comment on fame and online popularity through a murderous lens. Both films reside within the same blood-soaked realm; three women rising triumphant after clawing their way through the thorny thicket of the patriarchy.
Horvat originally conceived a documentary based upon a compliment she received from friends. “You’d make a great murderer,” they told her. She then set to work compiling interviews with friends, family, and exes 一 but the idea never felt truly complete. She shelved the project, only to return a few years later when producers Mette-Marie Kongsved and Laura Tunstall watched the short film and suggested fleshing it out in a found-footage format. It was like a lightning bolt of creativity, and it was off to the races from there. The set-up in I Blame Society is much the same: Horvat, who plays an exaggerated version of herself, swinging from deadpan to unhinged, plots a mockumentary (titled i, Murderer) around the murderer compliment. She chronicles her every move, from the hilarious introduction in which she proposes killing her friend Chase’s abusive, emotionally-manipulative girlfriend, to how she would theoretically commit the crime.
Three years later, the friendship has understandably fallen apart, and Gillian is going through a period of creative stagnation and toys with graduate work in law. She’s written several other scripts, including one about Israel, but everyone in her life, including her manager (who drops her), finds the lead character uninspired and uninteresting. Back to the drawing board, she decides on resurrecting the murderer mockumentary and forging ahead with her career. “I can’t sit back and wait for permission from some guy to make a movie,” she tells her camera assistant Olivia.
Through i, Murderer , Gillian traces out the “whole arc of a murderer’s career” and the “progression of thrills.” Things begin with something simple, and she shoplifts a bottle of cough syrup from a local pharmacy. Later that night, she works on a collection of knots she may use for the film process and shares with her boyfriend further ideas she has. Exhausted from the day, he complains about working with a progressive woman director and makes a misogynistic joke about Gillian’s filmmaking ambitions. “Are you making a porn now? Is that all you know how to do?” he jests, shrugging it off. The comment grossly underestimates Gillian’s power, and she takes it as fuel for her art.
Gillian plunges into the underbrush of her plan. She scouts out potential locations and targets, first spying a woman with a dog (that’s a no-go from the start) and then someone she surmises as an actress. Bingo! The woman leaves in a rush, and Gillian takes the opportunity to scope out the apartment, pointing out the advantages of carpet over hardwood, and begins proofing the space for her eventual breaking and entering. Amidst her preparations, she gets a call from her former manager’s assistant about a promising high-profile meeting with two producers (the aforementioned film bros). “We need an ally on your side!” Producer #1 and Producer #2 stress, spouting some nonsense about intersectionality within the company. Of course, it’s all performative jargon to seem inclusive; they don’t even give Gillian the floor to discuss her own work. They’d rather give her a menial task in creating a lookbook for another man’s greenlit project. Typical.
It’s a mere bump in the road for her, though. Misogynists will be misogynists. She plows further into the mockumentary. The second step is invading the woman’s apartment while she is present. In the witching hour, Gillian creeps into the window and sets up a series of hidden cameras throughout each room. She goes above and beyond in the scheme, even making herself at home and grabbing a slice of apple and a glass of wine. “I’m living my best life,” she whispers to the camera, as she sits bedside her prey. A creative by nature, she goes all-in on method. It’s both chilling and hilarious.
Gillian’s devolution doesn’t hit into overdrive until reconnecting with Chase, who breaks the silence after three years. They meet up for a hike to chit chat and get a little exercise in. Chase talks about everything, from how he’s doing these days to upcoming nuptials. This sets Gillian off into an epically-deranged monologue about him marrying “the fucking devil.” Chase is bewildered, hurt, and angry at her allegations 一 but has little time to challenge her before he succumbs to a deadly sesame seed allergy. Having no knowledge of this, Gillian claims that she assumed he just didn’t like sesame seeds on his bagel and merely wiped them off. Gasping for air, Chase lies writhing in the sun and squeaks out that he has an EpiPen in his bag. Gillian scavenges for it, but before she stabs him with the medicine, she pleads with him to make her a promise that he won’t marry The Devil. Life fades from his face, and he lies motionless.
It’s just the trigger Gillian needed to send her careening down a path of utter destruction. She kills a myriad of people 一 a calculated decision so as not to alert authorities with a discernible pattern 一 including the actress, a homeless man, and an egomaniac working as an insurance agent. Each slaying tantalizes her and gives her the most intoxicating high. And she’s not even close to being done. “You can’t anticipate me. You can’t predict me,” she stares down the viewer. The stunningly creepy monologue arrives during one of her midnight murders, interspersed with comments on how the police have no idea who could be behind such a sweeping epidemic. Naturally, they peg the killer as a man; how could a woman possibly commit such atrocities anyway? Gillian’s icy smirk says it all.
In a similar vein to Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, I Blame Society fully displays the messiness of becoming a murderer. She’s not a natural born killer, but it’s evident through a series of trial and error exploits that her bloodlust lurks in the deep recesses of her soul.
Tragedy Girls ’ Sadie and McKayla, on the other hand, are explicitly driven by some murderous impulse. Paired with their sick hunger to be famous, it creates the perfect storm in transforming them into this generation’s next big psychopaths. “Sometimes, I think nothing I do matters,” expresses Sadie over lunch one afternoon. Her rare confession exposes the insecurities she masks with eye shadow and an imposing presence, matched only with McKayla’s equally-fierce character. Both exude confidence, and as they discover through their murder campaign, no one ever takes women seriously.
The film opens with Sadie swapping spit with a boy named Greg. From the vintage automobile and the moody atmosphere, it’s a scene straight out of any ‘80s slasher flick. But there’s a flip. Sadie is on a mission to lure Lowell Orson Lehmann (Kevin Durand), a real life serial killer after whom they’ve modeled their own ambitions. Like clockwork, Lowell shows up and slaughters Greg in the most grotesque way, giving Sadie and McKayla a window to pounce and take him hostage. “Make no mistake who’s in charge, bitch!” spits McKayla, once they have Lowell bound inside an isolated shed. They profess their admiration for his work and rising body count (five so far) but are quickly disappointed when they have to finish off Sadie’s little boy toy themselves. “You couldn’t even do that right,” chides McKayla.
Sadie and McKayla then map out their entire process, from stalking potential victims to keeping a keen eye on the media. In one of the film’s funniest bits, the duo note the distinction between serial killers and spree killers in a claymation featurette for their YouTube channel. With the help of Jack Quaid’s ever-adorable Jordan Welch, they upload frequent detailed reports as a way to appear with their finger on the pulse, aside from chasing down a higher follower count, of course. It’s all about the theatrics for them, each public display a chance to hurl their stardom further into the sun.
While their morals are skewed, their relationship and love for one another is not, a key element director Tyler MacIntyre wrote into the script. Their commitment to each other and the cause pours forth through murderous binges, as they perfect the crime scenes and the methodical skillset it takes to exact such a plot. With the media naming the killer a male (because duh!) and ruling various deaths as accidents or suicides, McKayla and Sadie are forced to get creative and escalate things. When they off the know-it-all cheerleading captain, it looks like a freak accident, so they chop up her body into gooey parts to make sure there’s no possible way it could be ruled anything but murder. McKayla’s ex-boyfriend Toby (Josh Hutcherson), gym trainer Al (Craig Robinson), and eventually Jordan fall by the wayside.
Despite a temporary detour in their relationship, Sadie and McKayla could never stay permanently estranged. Even the allure of fame as a solo Tragedy Girl doesn’t satisfy Sadie for long. She cares too much and too deeply for her lifelong BFF. In the grand finale, they undergo the ultimate test and conquer Lowell once and for all, thus usurping his throne as the perfect boss bitch villains. They lock hands and slide their neon-colored masks down over their faces. Iconic. Together, they’ve mastered the art of serial killing, and their friendship simply grows more powerful because of it. Borrowing a sentiment from Thelma & Louise, they pack up their entire lives in a convertible and ride off in the sunset.
Tragedy Girls and I Blame Society sees women taking charge 一 of their careers, self-worth, bodily autonomy, and ability to take up space in the world. Where one is a highly-polished meta-slasher bonanza, the other carries a grittier, more disheveled tone in found-footage style. They are two sides to the same feminist coin (and we love to see it). On their own, each film has claimed an indelible place in the modern pantheon of woman-led horror, and jointly, it’s a volatile and electrifying double feature. Spin-off sequel with Sadie, McKayla, and Gillian when?
Double Trouble is a recurring column that pairs up two horror films, past or present, based on theme, style, or story.
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