This week for Toku Tuesday we are delving into a truly bizarre subgenre in the world of giant monsters, Kongsploitation. This is a subgenre of a subgenre since Man-in-a-Gorilla-Suit is a subgenre all of its own, but this moniker specifically refers to giant ape movies that are trying to steal the iconography of King Kong. There will be a small smattering of films that fit into both categories since there are normal-sized gorillas showing up a few times on this list; this is because it is abundantly clear that they’re apeing (excuse the pun) the King Kong formula. We’re sticking to live action for this list and film specifically. There is a myriad of content to be found within video games and television and so if you’re interested let me know, I will dig more into these mediums.
Credit must again be given to Kevin Derendorf and his Maser Patrol blog, as he dug out some truly obscure gems in 2017 when he was formulating his Kong Count. If you want to lose a full night I’d recommend diving into the entirety of his posts.
Now without further ado, let’s get into Kongsploitation.
Wasei Kingu Kongu – 1933
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King Kong appears in Edo – 1938: Both of these are considered lost films and Wasei is apparently a comedic take on a King Kong Play. Not much to say about these, other than to note their existence.
Unknown Island – 1948: A very blatant King Kong ripoff but the dinosaur effects have a really fun charm. They’re not good but they bring a smile to my face. Unlike some films on this list, it is also relatively inoffensive which makes it great for a cheesy watch. It features our heroes in a fight for their life inside of a monster graveyard which predates official Kong flick Skull Island (2017) by decades. The final fight sequence between a mighty ape and a T-rex is as brutal as it is flimsy. This film features a giant sloth instead of a gorilla, but if Sloths are anything like this bloodthirsty beast we best all be deeply afraid of them. The Sloth has no humanity given to him and is full-on murderous. Quick and fierce, the two words we all associate with sloths. This is fun despite being a very z-grade Kong ripoff.
Africa Screams – 1949: The giant ape suit in this Abbot and Costello picture appears for a single scene. The effects in the sequence look quite convincing but this suit is then used for all the regular sized apes throughout the rest of the picture. At least we can now have King Kong (kind of) join the ranks of Dracula, The Mummy, Wolf Man, The Invisible Man, and The Killer Boris Karloff who have already met the comedic duo.
Half Human – 1955: This infamous Toho film was unseen for years due to a self-ban by the company due to an insensitive portrayal of the indigenous Ainu people. Toho still has the film banned, however, a print did make it out there and was fansubbed. The copy isn’t of pristine copy but it showcases that we are missing out on some of Honda’s best directing by not having it publicly available. While the monsters are all human-sized the plot of Kong is clear within the picture. A group of circus owners want to steal the beast and his son to use them as an attraction. The beast is worshipped as a mountain god and it is seen as a tragedy. The tragedy in this film is more downbeat than Kong as the titular ‘Half Human’ loses his son and takes out our heroine in the final act. The tokusatsu effects are especially impressive as this features the best apelike creature done by Eiji Tsuburaya. In general, it seems like the Japanese were more apt at the ape suit than their American contemporaries and the beast in Half Human is way more agile than most creatures seen in Kongsploitation. The worry about offending the Ainu people does appear to be warranted as even when looked at through the lens of other Honda films this is a bad treatment of the native populous of the mountains. It should be noted that these are never directly referred to as the Ainu.
Konga – 1961: The first note worthy entry into Kongsploitation is Konga. The movie has an amazingly evil performance by Michael Gough who is best known for being in the Burton/Schumacher Batman movies. It is a hoot seeing Alfred Pennyworth so young and vile. Gough plays botanist Charles Decker who discovers a serum to supersize plant and animal alike. When it is used on a baby gorilla, we’re off to the races. Konga does not become supersized until the very end of the picture. For the most part it is a more traditional Man-in-a-Gorilla-Suit flick. Konga goes around murdering all the scientists who have done Decker wrong. There are a few uncomfortable sequences where Decker attempts to rape a woman, luckily the scene is halted and the giant gorilla rampage begins because of the attempt. It features the same suit as Gorilla at Large which features Raymond Burr who is well known to Kaiju audiences for appearing in the Americanized version of the very first Godzilla film. The ape suit being used in multiple pictures was a bit of a surprise as it truly looks terrible. The top half is convincing enough, but the bottom leaves you cringing. Interestingly enough there was not a King Kong proper movie until King Kong vs. Godzilla in 1962. This was the first time the giant ape graced the silver screen in nearly thirty years.
King Kong – 1962: This Hindi film involves a sum total of zero monsters. It is a swashbuckling adventure film that features the name King Kong being bestowed to the region’s champion wrestler. It is available on YouTube in parts (oh to remember those dark days of obscure movie hunting) and seems like a grand ole time. No relation to classic American wrestler King Kong Bundy, although the naming convention seems to fit the sport well.
Shikari – 1963: There is a translation for this Hindi flick but I was not able to track it down before writing this article. The effects sequences are really solid as is the production value. It will be tracked down for a full review later this year. The story told from the Indian perspective lessens the colonial issues that can arise when dealing with more conventional Kong stories. A Bollywood monster movie month is on the docket.
Tarzan and King Kong – 1965: India was outputting Kongsploitation at a fast pace in the early years of the subgenre. This seems like a natural fit, although Tarzan would have little chance against a full-sized Kong. There was an English novel regarding the two pulp heroes crossing over made in 2016, but this film opts to downsize the titular ape. This is clear Kongsploitation: Asides from being the worst ape suit I’ve encountered for this article, it barely even resembles the pulp hero. Tarzan and Kong have an amazing knockdown drag-out fight. Hilariously, during their final duel, you can spot a fly walking over the camera lens. Tarzan might be able to beat the ape-man but the cinematographer could only film it once.
War of the Gargantuas – 1966: Some may disagree with this being labeled a Kongsploitation flick, but it was labeled as such in at least one country. Italy did its fair share of King Kong ripoffs in the ensuing years so credit has to be given when one poster labeled the film “Kong Urgano Sulla Metropli”. In fairness, many a film featuring no resemblance to Kong would be given misleading names overseas. Germany loved to insist Frankenstein appeared in every Toho film of that era. In fact, this was a sequel to Toho’s actual Frankenstein movie, Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965). Still, this tale of two simian brothers fighting to the death in Japan has enough in common with King Kong that it is worth inclusion. If for no other reason than that the movie is terrific and criminally under seen. Perhaps including it in Kongsploitation will give it some much-needed attention.
Mad Monster Party – 1967: Stop Motion, suitmation, animation and now claymation; you can truly see the King in damn near every format there is. This is solely Kongsploitation since the monster is not officially called “King Kong”, which is truly bizarre as this monster jamboree was made by Rankin Bass who owned the rights to Kong at this point. Much like Toho’s inclusion for War of the Gargantuas, I’m deeming that you can exploit King Kong even if you own the rights.
King of Kong Island – 1968: No giant apes….just a ripoff using the name. This is worth mentioning because of how many people it must have tricked during the video rental era. This is a movie about a mad scientist controlling men in ape suits with mind control. THERE ISN’T EVEN AN ISLAND.
The Mighty Gorga – 1969: The Mighty Gorga is one of the worst examples of Kongsploitation. The only thing that looks worse than the ape suit is the puppet T-Rex. The movie starts off at a pretty solid pace with a zoo on the verge of bankruptcy unless they can wrangle in a new attraction. This leads to an expedition to locate a giant gorilla. They find the gorilla at the top of a mountain….so there is zero chance they’re getting that thing to civilization. Especially when at this point the expedition only consists of two members. Anyway, Gorga eats an evil hunter after destroying a village. That’s about it really. Only for completists of Kongsploitation.
The Founding of the Ming Dynasty – 1971: This is a Taiwan production. I cannot speak Mandarin and am mainly including this one for completist sake as it does briefly feature a giant white monkey fighting an ogre type beast. The effects are impressive and it beats Rampage by many years in having a giant simian team up with a human protagonist for the battle. The effects were done by Koichi Takano, a Tsuburaya technician. This one is only here because of Kevin Derendorf as no other list of Kongsploitation includes it. This effect sequence was used in Prince of the Dragon King (1977) and the Fairy and the Devil (1982). Since it’s the exact same effects sequence I’ll opt to only include it here once.
Now we enter the era of film specifically exploiting the release of Dino De Laurentiis’s 1976 King Kong. There were dueling King Kong‘s in production during this time period as the rights were in flux. This may have been the reason why so many exploitation films exist abusing the King Kong idea during this period.
A*P*E* – 1976: APE is a trashterpiece. From start to finish it is utterly incompetent but never boring. The attempts at comedy are childish, but they will occasionally lead you to some great guffaw moments. This is the only Kongsploitation in 3D and the commentary on the Blu-ray disc highlights how poorly done the 3D is. This is another film with a questionable and disturbing near-rape sequence that is also interrupted by a giant ape. Made in South Korea by American director Paul Leder this movie features at one point a man in an ape suit giving the middle finger, which is by far the film’s biggest contribution to cinema.
King Kung Fu – 1976 (finished in 1987): Throwing the movie here instead of 1987 because it is clearly another film co-opting the buzz around the 76′ Kong. This film is pure low-budget goodness. Set in Wichita, Kansas this man in a gorilla suit is a parody of old Kung Fu movies and King Kong. While not giant-sized, he does climb the tallest building in the city for the climax; which, for that time, just so happened to be a Holiday Inn. A full review will be on the horizon for this movie once I track it down in full.
Queen Kong – 1976: A gender-flipped parody of King Kong that occasionally has moments of brilliance but as a whole is pretty terrible. This does beat King Kong Lives to the lady kong game, which is applaudable. This one is purely a comedy.
Yeti: Giant of the 20th Century – 1977: Even Toronto got in on the giant ape game in the late 70s. Yeti is a film that I covered on this site late last year. The only movie in which an actor who played Jesus would appear as the titular giant ape. Read my full thoughts here.
Where Time Began – 1977: More praise must go to Kevin Derendorf upon this film’s inclusion, although how this one missed my radar baffles me. This is Jules Verne’s “Journey to the Centre of the Earth” through the lens of Juan Piquer Simon who directed one of my favourite slashers Pieces. This movie does not reach the heights of Pieces in terms of sheer insanity, but it is a great time. It features a Kong-sized ape for a few scenes and the suit looks quite spectacular. Too bad we don’t get to spend too much time with the creature, although the film’s poster doesn’t want you to know that. The characters are what you’d expect from this type of adventure flick, with the exception of a character whose sole motivation is sheep. No joke this dude lost all of his sheep in a tragic thunderstorm and has been left without purpose before getting roped into this expedition. He makes all of his decisions based upon how it will affect his sheep and he does at one point dramatically save a sheep from a volcano. Truly glorious.
Costinha e o King Mong – 1977: Only a poster of this film can be found. At least by me, but it does appear to exist out there somewhere. A supposed King Kong comedy parody. Hopefully it surfaces one year.
The Mighty Peking Man – 1977: Easily the most famous of the Kongsploitation movies. It is a favourite of filmmaker Quentin Tarantino who released it under his Rolling Thunder label. This Shaw Brothers film has some great effects sequences and a great third act. However, it loses a lot of points for the clear and horrific animal abuse that is occurring to the film’s jaguar. The filmmakers sewed the cat’s mouth shut and you can tell the animal is deeply stressed throughout the film. Luckily the big cat is only in the first third of the film, but it undoubtedly puts a bad taste in your mouth. There is yet another near-rape sequence and this scene is pivotal to the monster rampage. Why is this a trope in these movies? Easily the best effects of this era.
Bye Bye Monkey – 1978: I hate this movie. Of all the pictures on this list, this is by far my least favourite. A movie set in New York after King Kong. It features Gerad Depardieu who finds the corpse of King Kong on the beach. Amongst the corpse is a small baby ape, it appears King Kong had a son. The big ape is just a corpse in this movie and unlike the prior movies, we do not have a heroic monkey to stop sexual assault. This is really a nasty movie with sexually frustrated misogynists and multiple rape sequences. The end of the film is an absolute downer and there is no joy to be found in this entire movie. This is for all intents and purposes an arthouse movie as it won the Grand Prize of the Jury at Cannes.
Merciful Buddha – 1979: Another Taiwanese production that does not feature a giant ape throughout but does feature one in an opening scene. An ape statue comes to life and wreaks glorious havoc in the opening scene. This definitely one that I’ll be watching in full to talk about for an article in the future even though this is the film’s only giant monster sequence.
King Dong – 1984: Yes you read that title right, we’re talking porn parodies baby. This porn parody from 1984 has better effects than 90% of this list. The Kong creature is genderswapped to be a lady and surprisingly the stop motion effects do not feature in the hanky panky. This is a parody about a man and a woman who gets washed up on the shore of a mysterious island. This island has the giant ape but also a smaller ape named Buddy. Buddy is played by the director and I really hope he removed the suit when he directed the lovemaking scenes. The porn aspects are not very sexy, although they are on par for the porn of that era. The non-porn sequences add some interesting wrinkles to the Kong mythos and even features impressive-looking dinosaur effects. There are Amazonian women on this island and they enslave the tribal men, only using them for mating purposes. I was shocked to see that more thought was put into this than the entire decade of the 70s. It ends exactly like the first Friday the 13th movie with the entire scene being a dream. The best name was discovered in the credits as I now know an adult actor was named “Duke Skywasher”. Keith Finkelstein is credited as the animation and visual effects supervisor with, David Dane as Modelshop Foreman and Special Effects technician. Noting those names as again this was talented effects work.
King of the Lost World – 2005: Asylum is here. That’s right the modern-day ripoff schlock masters did indeed make a King Kong knockoff for the release of Peter Jackson’s remake. It is not all that bad all things considered. At this point however my brain may have been turned to total mush by so many awful monkey movies. This film involves a group of people who crash land on a mysterious island. This island has downed many planes over the years, even some of the military variety. The tribespeople of this movie are all crazed survivors of various plane crashes who sacrifice people to the island’s dragons. Yes….there are dragons in this movie. Anyways this giant Kong knockoff has no personality but he does get surprisingly competent CG sequences. He gets full-on nuked during the climax of the movie. It is worth tracking this one down if for no other reason than that this. It has Steve Ralisback acting insane and Bruce Boxleitner is the lead. Need I say more?
The Abominable – 2006: Directed by Patrick G. Donahue and only available on video in Japan despite being an American made movie. Asides from a trailer and a truly amazing Dread Central takedown I haven’t been able to track it down. Rest assured I will one day and it will be outstanding to experience I’m certain. Good luck finding any more information than I could upon this release, there is another movie released the same year called Abominable where the monster is much more traditional in size. Hilariously enough the review on Dread Central of the other 2006 movie uses an image from this movie. This looks to be akin to Yeti or other 70s Kongsploitation flicks and it has now become my holy grail.
Banglar King Kong – 2010: We’re back in India after nearly 40 years. This is another one which will need a full review sometime this year and god help me when I do. This was a film made in 2010 with effects worse than films made in 1948. In fact, this may be the worst effects of any giant monster movie yet made. I apologize to King Kong and Tarzan, as this makes the ape suit in that movie look like it was molded by the hands of God himself. King Kong dances a lot in this movie, but his moves aren’t even impressive. When he finally enters the city, Kong looks like he has entered a high school play that lost its art budget because the professor drank himself to death. Bring me back to the glory days where Tarzan beat up human-sized Kong.
Rampage – 2018: This was a blast at the movie theatre and is vastly under seen. Honestly, the video game that the film is based on is more of a King Kong ripoff than the movie. The movie just features a big ole white gorilla teaming up with The Rock. This will definitely be dug into in further in the future and goes to show that you can never stop exploiting the iconic visage of a giant monkey causing rampage.
Didn’t Quite fit but their posters inspired a mention:
Sexcula – 1974: Classic Canuxploitation horror pornography (a sentence that can be used for literally NOTHING else). This has an ape-man but he is merely normal-sized despite the image on the poster. He does, however, get it on in this movie and because I had to witness that, I added it to this list.
The Capture of Bigfoot – 1979
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Bigfoot – 2012: Big Apes, but not quite large enough to warrant inclusion. They also don’t feature much in similarity with the King Kong story as they are much more typical Bigfoot cryptid movies. Bigfoot‘s poster does intentionally bring up memories of the helicopter demise seen in the ’76 Kong, so they may have been playing a bit for the Kong crowd.
On the horizon:
Full Moon Features recently held a Kickstarter to earn enough money to finish Primevals. a project started in 1994 that includes an amazing looking stop motion Ape. I cannot wait for this film to be done and it does seem like 2020 will be the year it finally sees the light of day. More information can be found here.
