King Kong Lives * (1986, Brian Kerwin, Linda Hamilton, John Ashton) – Classic Movie Review 4659

In director John Guillermin’s unloved and unwanted 1986 sequel to his 1976 King Kong remake, the great ape Kong (Peter Elliott) is resuscitated after falling off the World Trade Center tower and falling into a coma for 10 years.

Doctor Amy Franklin (Linda Hamilton) gives him a blood transfusion and a heart transplant, while adventurer-explorer Hank ‘Mitch’ Mitchell (Brian Kerwin) finds another giant ape in the rainforest in the jungles of Borneo. This female, Lady Kong, is brought to the US, and the heart is successfully implanted. But then Kong breaks loose and runs berserk and amok again and the US Army goes chasing off after him.

Cue more simple-minded monkey business from the 1976 film’s executive producer Dino De Laurentiis. The 1976 King Kong remake had a lot of failings, but this time the movie is very poorly realized, though it does feature special effects by Carlo Rambaldi. And, with monkey business low, money business turned out to be just as low at the box office. On a $18 million cost, it earned only $4.7 million in cinemas.

Even as basic brain-in-neutral popcorn entertainment, Ronald Shusett and Steven Pressfield’s screenplay and Guillermin’s handling are seriously flawed and fumbled. However, nowadays, apparently it can still be enjoyed as a bad movie. The Official Razzie Movie Guide lists it as one of the 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.

Also in the cast are John Ashton as insane army lieutenant colonel Archie Nevitt, Peter Michael Goetz as as Dr Andrew Ingersoll, Frank Maraden, Jimmy Rae Weeks, Alan Sader, Michael Forest, Leon Rippy and Herschel Sparber, with George Yiasoumi as Lady Kong and Benjamin Kechley as Baby Kong.

Peter Goetz received a residuals cheque of only 12 cents from the film and framed it instead of cashing it.

Roger Ebert said: ‘The actors know they’re in a boring movie and can’t make an effort.’

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4659

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