It might as well be subtitled: “Blood and Bananas.”

“Primate” is probably the movie I wanted out of the new “Anaconda” movie. It’s a creature feature that takes advantage of the carnage and the people who must evade it either make some stupid choices or know how to dodge it. It may not be labeled a comedy, but it has a better attitude in the horror genre, also makes up for last summer’s “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” The primate, which is a chimpanzee, is practically a serial killer not trying to get notoriety or Freddie Prinze Jr. to guest star, but is consumed by a deadly disease.

The opening credits remind people that rabies causes the fear of water known as hydrophobia, and if not treated within 48 hours, there is no cure. So, now we know why this chimp would go from pet to psycho. And then it goes for that “36 Hours Earlier” thing after we get the first violent attack.

As the film begins, Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah from “Dexter: New Blood”) is coming home to Hawaii for the first time in years. Her deaf father Adam (Troy Kotsur, the first male deaf actor to win the Oscar for his role in “CODA”) has to go away on business, and leaves the place to her, her younger sister Erin (Gia Hunter), and her friends: Kate (Victoria Wyant), Hannah (Jessica Alexander from “The Little Mermaid”), and Nick (Benjamin Cheng). And given the horror genre, they might have a night of partying, booze, and possibly some extra guys. But we know it’s not going to end with hangovers.

The chimpanzee is named Ben, who, despite Hawaii’s law of owning these apes as pets, is owned by Adam and his dead linguistics professor wife. He communicates on an electronic tablet which uses one word at a time (Example: “Lucy-Back-Ben-Miss” and later, “Lucy-Bad”). And despite the fact that in reality Hawaii is the only state without rabies, Ben gets bitten by a rabid mongoose, and well, you know the math. He goes ape sh*t crazy. The kind when he rips off people’s jaws, beats their faces in, and so forth. R-rated stuff.

I like to think “Primate” is partly inspired by “Gordy’s Home,” which was a fake sitcom about a family chimp in “Nope.” In that film, the ape went crazy and attacked almost everyone on set. And since he spared one of the stars, I like to consider that scene something out of “Natural Born Killers.” Gordy might as well be a cousin to Ben, if both of them resort to violence. And some may say that it’s an ape version of “Cujo,” which had a dog bitten by a rabid bat. So, I guess it’s very rare we get horror movies about animals going from sweet to evil.

In this movie, Lucy and her friends hide in the pool since Ben can’t swim. But fighting back and trying to contact the authorities might be complicated. So, it’s a good thing that the movie doesn’t take too long in trapping them in the water.

One of the triggers involves “Dora the Explorer.” When the “Swiper No Swiping” scene happens and the chimp breaks the TV, I’m surprised no one in the audience said: “Aw Man!” I guess maybe this audience is smarter than I expected, and this is a horror movie.

“Primate” was written and directed by Johannes Roberts, who also made the “47 Meters Down” movies and “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.” I didn’t have the temperament to see them, but I can say that his latest entry likes to go for realism with the graphic violence and how movement specialist Miguel Torres Umba plays Ben with special effects and a hostile consistency. And the humans-particularly Sequoyah and Kotsur-are also entertaining and she does a nice job at communicating with him with sign language. Even horror movies like “A Quiet Place” respect actors deafness.

Maybe it could have a sense of humor when it comes to the genre, but it still knows how to have fun in the simian manner. No poop throwing necessary, just a night to drive you bananas.