WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.899
And then the military is trying to shoot apparently

00:00:01.899 --> 00:00:04.940
both Lady Kong and King Kong. And Hank is like

00:00:04.940 --> 00:00:08.519
just causing havoc in every way he possibly can.

00:00:08.740 --> 00:00:11.099
It's like, man, this is pandemonium. It immediately

00:00:11.099 --> 00:00:13.539
just like devolves into chaos. And they're like

00:00:13.539 --> 00:00:18.039
cars on fire. I love that. Yeah, that scene is

00:00:18.039 --> 00:00:20.260
amazing. It's just like totally ridiculous the

00:00:20.260 --> 00:00:38.810
entire time. It's so fun. Hello and welcome to

00:00:38.810 --> 00:00:41.710
Camp Kaiju Monster Movie Podcast. We are your

00:00:41.710 --> 00:00:45.689
hosts, Vincent Hannum. And Matt Levine. And we're

00:00:45.689 --> 00:00:47.770
talking about all of our favorite monster movies,

00:00:47.990 --> 00:00:51.170
the good, the bad, and the downright campy, and

00:00:51.170 --> 00:00:55.009
asking if they stand the test of time. Traditional

00:00:55.009 --> 00:00:57.670
kaiju, creature features, space invaders, the

00:00:57.670 --> 00:01:00.310
supernatural, and everything in between. All

00:01:00.310 --> 00:01:03.520
strange beasts welcome here. Camp Kaiju is sponsored

00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:06.340
by Zach Linder and The Zach Pack, powered by

00:01:06.340 --> 00:01:08.939
Coldwell Banker Realty, your source for real

00:01:08.939 --> 00:01:11.939
estate, home rehab, fixing and flipping for investor

00:01:11.939 --> 00:01:14.939
clients and residential buyers. Reach out to

00:01:14.939 --> 00:01:16.859
The Zach Pack today for real estate services.

00:01:17.219 --> 00:01:20.299
Follow The Zach Pack on social media and contact

00:01:20.299 --> 00:01:23.379
The Zach Pack for investment opportunities. Link

00:01:23.379 --> 00:01:39.340
in the show notes. Now, easy, big guy. Hold on.

00:01:41.079 --> 00:01:43.980
They're approximately 50 feet tall, wearing their

00:01:43.980 --> 00:01:48.719
birthday suits. God, look at the size of him.

00:01:57.700 --> 00:02:04.120
Did you say your beast is a female? He was trying

00:02:04.120 --> 00:03:02.020
to get to the female. She's pregnant. The biggest

00:03:02.020 --> 00:03:10.080
hero is back. And he is not happy. King Kong

00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:19.780
lives. Boys, here we are. Reunited. Matt and

00:03:19.780 --> 00:03:25.280
Ben Cook -Felts. Hello. Good to be here again.

00:03:26.349 --> 00:03:28.150
Thank you for joining us, Ben. Good to have you.

00:03:28.250 --> 00:03:30.069
Oh, of course. Thank you for asking me on this

00:03:30.069 --> 00:03:34.810
auspicious occasion. For long -time listeners

00:03:34.810 --> 00:03:39.090
and for new -time listeners, Ben joined us, I

00:03:39.090 --> 00:03:40.729
think it really was a couple of years ago at

00:03:40.729 --> 00:03:43.430
this point. Yeah. About two and a half years

00:03:43.430 --> 00:03:45.110
ago. Two and a half years ago for a Mothra March

00:03:45.110 --> 00:03:48.710
Madness double feature. We did Mothra, the first

00:03:48.710 --> 00:03:51.909
film, and then Mothra versus Godzilla. Yeah.

00:03:52.250 --> 00:03:57.400
Yeah. And I remember... This is me as a producer.

00:03:57.620 --> 00:04:00.020
I remember, Ben, you said, if you ever do King

00:04:00.020 --> 00:04:05.020
Kong Lives, I'll come back. I filed that away.

00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:08.500
And I am. I didn't think you'd actually do it,

00:04:08.539 --> 00:04:11.159
but I'm glad that you chose it, and I'm happy

00:04:11.159 --> 00:04:13.340
to be here again. I've been waiting for this

00:04:13.340 --> 00:04:16.980
moment for two and a half years. Just sitting

00:04:16.980 --> 00:04:20.360
at my laptop for two and a half years. This is

00:04:20.360 --> 00:04:22.899
all I do with my life now. Anyways, Matt, how

00:04:22.899 --> 00:04:26.430
are you? I'm doing all right. I am a little bit

00:04:26.430 --> 00:04:28.610
under the weather. I think maybe because fall

00:04:28.610 --> 00:04:31.110
descended upon Minnesota very, very suddenly.

00:04:31.509 --> 00:04:35.170
So yeah, I'm a little raspy today, but I'm good.

00:04:35.230 --> 00:04:38.449
I'm excited to talk about King Kong Lives. How

00:04:38.449 --> 00:04:40.550
are you doing? I'm good. I'm good. You know,

00:04:40.569 --> 00:04:44.370
week two into the new school year. Fall is officially

00:04:44.370 --> 00:04:46.209
here now that the school year started for you.

00:04:46.269 --> 00:04:48.069
I can only assume that you're going to watch

00:04:48.069 --> 00:04:50.329
King Kong Lives with your students sometime this

00:04:50.329 --> 00:04:53.339
semester. Only if they do really, really well

00:04:53.339 --> 00:04:57.060
at their midterms or something. Yeah. More very

00:04:57.060 --> 00:05:01.279
poorly, maybe. Ben, how have you been in the

00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:06.800
time since Mothra March Madness? Boy, well, it

00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:09.819
started 2023. I've been good, honestly. I can't

00:05:09.819 --> 00:05:12.060
really complain. I mean, there's a lot of things

00:05:12.060 --> 00:05:14.879
to complain about, but in general, my life is

00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:18.639
pretty good right now. So, yeah. Yeah, it is

00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:20.180
beautiful weather. I'm not complaining about

00:05:20.180 --> 00:05:23.920
this fall weather at all. No. And you have a

00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:27.259
little one, right? I do. I have a first grader

00:05:27.259 --> 00:05:32.300
now. Wow. And yeah, time flies, as I'm sure you'll

00:05:32.300 --> 00:05:35.040
soon discover, or maybe you're already discovering.

00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:38.540
But yeah, no, he's a precocious little kid. He

00:05:38.540 --> 00:05:41.230
loves going to school. He takes the school like

00:05:41.230 --> 00:05:43.430
a duck to water. It's the strangest thing because

00:05:43.430 --> 00:05:46.670
I hated going to school, especially at that age,

00:05:46.730 --> 00:05:49.970
but he just loves it. So, you know, I'm not going

00:05:49.970 --> 00:05:53.490
to complain. That's wonderful. Do you show him

00:05:53.490 --> 00:05:57.389
movies? Does he watch these, you know, monster

00:05:57.389 --> 00:06:00.839
movies or horror movies? You know, I haven't,

00:06:00.839 --> 00:06:03.300
it's funny. I've been trying to figure out the

00:06:03.300 --> 00:06:06.199
right movie to introduce him to. I know that

00:06:06.199 --> 00:06:08.920
the next Godzilla and Kong is coming out next

00:06:08.920 --> 00:06:11.259
spring. So my goal is to get him acclimated.

00:06:11.459 --> 00:06:13.860
So maybe he and I can go see that together because

00:06:13.860 --> 00:06:16.420
I have a feeling it's going to be right, you

00:06:16.420 --> 00:06:18.639
know, right for his age group. He knows about

00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:21.259
Godzilla. He has a few Godzilla action figures

00:06:21.259 --> 00:06:24.040
and, you know, he's really into that stuff. But

00:06:24.040 --> 00:06:27.750
I still haven't actually, you know. what's the

00:06:27.750 --> 00:06:31.129
word, taken the plunge and gotten him exposed

00:06:31.129 --> 00:06:33.910
to an actual Godzilla movie or a kaiju film just

00:06:33.910 --> 00:06:37.089
yet. Yeah, it'll happen. I mean, not that it's

00:06:37.089 --> 00:06:39.009
happened with my little one, but she's like too

00:06:39.009 --> 00:06:42.029
young to be exposed to that much screen time.

00:06:42.170 --> 00:06:44.410
But yeah, I have some Godzilla toys that she's

00:06:44.410 --> 00:06:47.250
already taken to and it just happens naturally.

00:06:48.209 --> 00:06:51.490
Yeah, I did a few years ago, long before he was

00:06:51.490 --> 00:06:53.670
old enough to understand what it was, I got him

00:06:53.670 --> 00:06:56.470
a Godzilla piggy bank. And we just got it out

00:06:56.470 --> 00:06:58.470
a couple of weeks ago and it's great. Like it's,

00:06:58.470 --> 00:07:00.589
it's a classic roars and some snippets of the

00:07:00.589 --> 00:07:03.089
classic music and you put the quarter at the

00:07:03.089 --> 00:07:05.610
top and the thing lights up and Godzilla's head

00:07:05.610 --> 00:07:07.870
pops out and then just like snatches the coin

00:07:07.870 --> 00:07:11.810
and brings it in. And he loves that. So. Wow.

00:07:11.930 --> 00:07:15.069
Head in the right direction. Yeah. I want that.

00:07:17.610 --> 00:07:20.750
Yeah, Matt, I don't know. King Kong lives though.

00:07:20.810 --> 00:07:25.529
Might be a little out there for, for. Young folks.

00:07:25.850 --> 00:07:28.389
But I don't know. We'll get to our personal histories

00:07:28.389 --> 00:07:31.889
in a little bit. And before we get to that, we'll

00:07:31.889 --> 00:07:34.250
cover some nuts and bolts here. I just want to

00:07:34.250 --> 00:07:36.529
thank you all out there for listening, for rating

00:07:36.529 --> 00:07:39.370
and reviewing, leaving your positive reviews

00:07:39.370 --> 00:07:41.910
and feedback for this show. Wherever you listen,

00:07:42.089 --> 00:07:45.149
we find them. and we feature them, and we just

00:07:45.149 --> 00:07:48.230
thank you for that. You can leave us comments

00:07:48.230 --> 00:07:51.829
at campkaiju at gmail .com, on Instagram, camp

00:07:51.829 --> 00:07:54.649
underscore kaiju underscore podcast. If you even

00:07:54.649 --> 00:07:57.250
want to be a featured voice on the show, lend

00:07:57.250 --> 00:08:01.430
your voice recording to our voice box here at

00:08:01.430 --> 00:08:06.410
612 -470 -2612. Just tell us your thoughts about

00:08:06.410 --> 00:08:08.649
King Kong Lives, or if you want a Godzilla piggy

00:08:08.649 --> 00:08:12.740
bank, and more. Check out our website, CampKaijuPodcast

00:08:12.740 --> 00:08:16.920
.com, for more reviews and special content. And

00:08:16.920 --> 00:08:21.379
special shout -out to our patrons, Jason, Beastruel,

00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:25.160
Crispy, Sean, our anonymous patron, and Peggy.

00:08:25.319 --> 00:08:28.360
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support.

00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:32.279
All right. We're going to move right on into

00:08:32.279 --> 00:08:35.860
this month in monster movie history. It's September.

00:08:36.860 --> 00:08:39.730
It's like full -on September. Halloween Eve,

00:08:39.970 --> 00:08:43.950
spooky season Eve, some say. You guys want to

00:08:43.950 --> 00:08:46.409
shout out a particular movie that catches your

00:08:46.409 --> 00:08:49.389
eye? The first thing that struck me was Slumber

00:08:49.389 --> 00:08:54.570
Party Massacre 3. I've actually seen that movie.

00:08:54.610 --> 00:08:56.269
Several of these movies I'm not familiar with,

00:08:56.350 --> 00:08:58.769
but I have seen that one for better or worse.

00:08:58.809 --> 00:09:03.210
That's a pretty campy one. I really like the

00:09:03.210 --> 00:09:04.990
first Slumber Party Massacre, but I've never

00:09:04.990 --> 00:09:06.710
seen the sequels. Do they hold up, would you

00:09:06.710 --> 00:09:10.399
say? i don't think so i i personally the the

00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:12.960
first one has some like it's got some grit to

00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:14.820
it but the other two are just a little bit more

00:09:14.820 --> 00:09:18.340
it's just it's it's kind of a sort of a low rent

00:09:18.340 --> 00:09:20.039
freddy krueger thing where like you're firmly

00:09:20.039 --> 00:09:21.940
aware who the killer is and they're just going

00:09:21.940 --> 00:09:26.159
around offing campers you know summer camp people

00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:30.379
yeah limited replay value on those maybe yeah

00:09:30.379 --> 00:09:35.600
yeah Maybe I'll shout out, you know, I mentioned

00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:37.740
one in our last episode that's on this list,

00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:40.320
so I'll go in a different direction. It's a classic,

00:09:40.360 --> 00:09:42.860
but I'll shout out the original The Blob from

00:09:42.860 --> 00:09:46.970
1958. Just a great theme song to that one. Really

00:09:46.970 --> 00:09:49.570
good early performance from Steve McQueen, credited

00:09:49.570 --> 00:09:52.929
as Stephen McQueen in the cast list. But yeah,

00:09:52.990 --> 00:09:55.230
fun movie. The part, I mean, again, it's classic,

00:09:55.429 --> 00:09:57.769
but the part where the blob seeps into the movie

00:09:57.769 --> 00:10:00.289
theater at the end to the projection booth, amazing.

00:10:00.450 --> 00:10:02.309
It's one of the best moments in monster movie

00:10:02.309 --> 00:10:06.129
history. Yeah, you took the one I was going to

00:10:06.129 --> 00:10:09.490
shout out, but I'll highlight. I'll go old school.

00:10:10.710 --> 00:10:14.590
1923, The Hunchback of Notre Dame with Lon Ching.

00:10:14.610 --> 00:10:18.100
Yeah. And that ties in in a couple episodes.

00:10:18.340 --> 00:10:21.039
Me and Matt are going to talk about Lon Chaney's

00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:23.220
Phantom of the Opera, which is celebrating its

00:10:23.220 --> 00:10:26.259
100th anniversary. And for all you Twin Cities

00:10:26.259 --> 00:10:29.539
folks, or if anyone's willing to travel, there's

00:10:29.539 --> 00:10:32.980
an organization like an orchestra group that

00:10:32.980 --> 00:10:36.759
plays live accompaniment to old silent films.

00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:41.519
And they're having a show on Halloween here in

00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:44.370
Minneapolis. I don't know if I can go, but I

00:10:44.370 --> 00:10:46.850
would love to see the Phantom of the Opera on

00:10:46.850 --> 00:10:50.070
the big screen with a live accompaniment. That's

00:10:50.070 --> 00:10:52.830
a bucket. That would be a lot of fun. Yeah. Amazing.

00:10:52.909 --> 00:10:54.990
I'm glad that we're bringing some silent movies

00:10:54.990 --> 00:10:56.690
or at least one silent movie to the podcast.

00:10:56.830 --> 00:10:59.370
I've been meaning to do that recently, so that'll

00:10:59.370 --> 00:11:02.830
be fun. Yeah, I'll look forward to that. And

00:11:02.830 --> 00:11:07.950
coming up for much, much newer movies, there's

00:11:07.950 --> 00:11:09.669
a movie that's been catching my eye called Good

00:11:09.669 --> 00:11:12.629
Boy. Have you guys... Seen anything about this?

00:11:13.269 --> 00:11:19.370
No. It involves a dog, a good boy, and a haunted

00:11:19.370 --> 00:11:22.629
house. Okay, so it's a supernatural horror film.

00:11:23.009 --> 00:11:25.350
It follows a haunted house from the perspective

00:11:25.350 --> 00:11:31.409
of a dog. Interesting. Yeah, it's a Shudder distribution

00:11:31.409 --> 00:11:37.970
film. But I don't know. It looks fun. Cool. Yeah.

00:11:38.909 --> 00:11:41.690
I'm intrigued. Yeah. I like shutter. They do

00:11:41.690 --> 00:11:44.110
good work. Yeah. I was thinking. Yeah. Anyways,

00:11:44.149 --> 00:11:45.929
good boy is going to be released theatrically

00:11:45.929 --> 00:11:49.809
October 3rd. And then I have not seen any of

00:11:49.809 --> 00:11:53.090
the conjuring films, but I know the quote unquote

00:11:53.090 --> 00:11:57.009
last one is being released this month. The conjuring

00:11:57.009 --> 00:11:59.809
last rights. I hear, I hear mixed things about

00:11:59.809 --> 00:12:02.429
those films. Honestly, I don't. Yeah. Terrible

00:12:02.429 --> 00:12:05.549
thing. So I'm intrigued. Yeah. To be fair, I

00:12:05.549 --> 00:12:07.809
was chuckling at the idea that, yeah, it's probably

00:12:07.809 --> 00:12:12.840
the last one, but. Sure. They'll put an artificial

00:12:12.840 --> 00:12:17.179
heart in a beer of Farmiga or something. I don't

00:12:17.179 --> 00:12:21.919
know. I don't know. I would be very excited about

00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:24.039
that Conjuring movie. If that's the plot of the

00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:30.820
next one, I'm in. Oh my gosh. Amazing. I like

00:12:30.820 --> 00:12:32.460
the first Conjuring movie. I feel like they kind

00:12:32.460 --> 00:12:34.980
of start to go downhill after that. But, you

00:12:34.980 --> 00:12:37.360
know, if they take your idea, Vincent, that's

00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:38.879
just what they need to resurrect the series.

00:12:42.059 --> 00:12:44.820
And then coming up on Camp Kaiju, yes, Phantom

00:12:44.820 --> 00:12:47.620
of the Opera. But before then, we have a movie

00:12:47.620 --> 00:12:52.340
about a monster mutant bear from 1979. Matt,

00:12:52.460 --> 00:12:54.399
this is your pick. Why don't you tell us about

00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:57.929
it? Yeah, Prophecy is the name of that one, directed

00:12:57.929 --> 00:13:01.370
by John Frankenheimer, I believe. I don't really

00:13:01.370 --> 00:13:03.710
know a ton about it, but I have seen one clip

00:13:03.710 --> 00:13:06.190
from it, which is the most ridiculous death scene

00:13:06.190 --> 00:13:09.149
I have ever seen in a movie. So that has me pretty

00:13:09.149 --> 00:13:12.269
excited. And it sounds like a mix of a monster

00:13:12.269 --> 00:13:15.429
movie and an eco, save the planet sort of theme.

00:13:15.590 --> 00:13:19.009
So it sounds pretty cool. I'm excited. Sweet.

00:13:19.610 --> 00:13:23.179
Yeah. I've never seen it either. Yeah. It could

00:13:23.179 --> 00:13:25.759
backfire. It could be terrible. But I think even

00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:28.980
if it is, it'll be interestingly bad. So we'll

00:13:28.980 --> 00:13:32.320
see. That's our bread and butter here. Exactly.

00:13:32.419 --> 00:13:35.799
Speaking of such films, what are your personal

00:13:35.799 --> 00:13:38.559
histories with King Kong Lives? I'll let you

00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:40.399
guys kind of run with this one because I have

00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:43.279
like no history with this movie. I recently watched

00:13:43.279 --> 00:13:45.820
the remake of King Kong from the 70s with Jessica

00:13:45.820 --> 00:13:47.980
Lange, maybe like a year ago, a little bit less

00:13:47.980 --> 00:13:50.129
than a year. And I knew that this movie followed

00:13:50.129 --> 00:13:52.029
that one up. And that's all I knew about it.

00:13:52.070 --> 00:13:54.690
I'd never seen it before. So almost no history

00:13:54.690 --> 00:13:57.070
with King Kong lives. Well, I'm kind of with

00:13:57.070 --> 00:13:59.509
you, Matt. I had never seen it until this past

00:13:59.509 --> 00:14:02.529
weekend. I've owned the DVD for a couple of years.

00:14:02.970 --> 00:14:05.289
I picked it up. Shout out to Video Universe.

00:14:05.850 --> 00:14:10.070
Rest in peace. But I picked it up then. And I've

00:14:10.070 --> 00:14:12.850
been holding on to it for this episode. Yeah,

00:14:12.909 --> 00:14:19.350
I had no idea what to expect. Yeah, so. I owe

00:14:19.350 --> 00:14:25.210
this movie my entire kaiju fandom. It's amazing

00:14:25.210 --> 00:14:28.289
that I started here and decided that I wanted

00:14:28.289 --> 00:14:32.289
to keep going. But I saw this movie for the first

00:14:32.289 --> 00:14:37.450
time when I was seven years old in 1988. My parents

00:14:37.450 --> 00:14:39.730
were watching it. I had no idea who King Kong

00:14:39.730 --> 00:14:42.610
was. I thought he was like a Conan the Barbarian

00:14:42.610 --> 00:14:44.690
sort of thing. And it turned out to be a big,

00:14:44.690 --> 00:14:47.940
giant gorilla. And it was like... Love at first

00:14:47.940 --> 00:14:51.019
sight for me, I was just instantly taken by this

00:14:51.019 --> 00:14:54.740
character. And after this movie, I just almost

00:14:54.740 --> 00:14:56.639
immediately started watching all the other King

00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:59.700
Kong movies I could find, like 33 original and

00:14:59.700 --> 00:15:02.700
the 76 remake. And that led to King Kong versus

00:15:02.700 --> 00:15:05.740
Godzilla, which led to all the other Godzilla

00:15:05.740 --> 00:15:08.759
movies that I could find. And, you know, just

00:15:08.759 --> 00:15:13.519
an entire childhood of love and also... Strange

00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:16.639
ostracization from the other kids in the schoolyard.

00:15:16.779 --> 00:15:20.320
But it all started with this movie. So I do owe

00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:23.759
it a lot. I also have not seen it in a very long

00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:25.779
time. And even when I was a kid, I knew that

00:15:25.779 --> 00:15:30.399
it probably wasn't a very good movie. But I was

00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:34.080
curious to see if it held up in any way, shape,

00:15:34.100 --> 00:15:38.120
or form when I rewatched it. That's great, man.

00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:43.139
You talk about... unexpected ways into a fandom

00:15:43.139 --> 00:15:47.120
like king kong lives is is that for you i've

00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:49.159
always liked king kong i think even as a kid

00:15:49.159 --> 00:15:52.299
i i don't remember the first time i ever watched

00:15:52.299 --> 00:15:54.980
the 33 version but it was just always there maybe

00:15:54.980 --> 00:15:58.720
just in the zeitgeist but i didn't see any of

00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:02.419
the sequels until the past 10 years and i think

00:16:02.419 --> 00:16:05.379
i've seen them all now with king kong lives no

00:16:06.440 --> 00:16:09.779
I have yet to see King Kong Escapes, the Toho

00:16:09.779 --> 00:16:13.519
film. Oh. Yeah. That's a fun one. That one's

00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:17.759
like, that's total campy, you know, tokusatsu

00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:22.519
fun. Yeah. Yeah. With Mechikong. Yep. Mechikong.

00:16:22.820 --> 00:16:27.299
Yeah. And Doctor Who. So I've always enjoyed

00:16:27.299 --> 00:16:31.460
King Kong as a character. And whether the movie's,

00:16:31.480 --> 00:16:34.559
quote, good or bad, if it's got King Kong in

00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:37.889
it. I'm probably going to have a good time. I,

00:16:37.889 --> 00:16:41.809
I have to agree. I mean, honestly, probably because

00:16:41.809 --> 00:16:44.490
it was the first giant monster that I ever saw,

00:16:44.590 --> 00:16:47.230
but I mean, King Kong has my heart. Like I love,

00:16:47.289 --> 00:16:49.850
obviously I love Godzilla and Gamera and all

00:16:49.850 --> 00:16:51.990
those things, but like, yeah, there's just something

00:16:51.990 --> 00:16:55.389
about the, the personality of Kong, no matter

00:16:55.389 --> 00:16:57.990
what the movie is that I'm just, I don't know.

00:16:58.009 --> 00:17:00.629
I have, I feel a deeper connection to King Kong

00:17:00.629 --> 00:17:04.319
than I do to any other, any other Kaiju. Nice.

00:17:04.420 --> 00:17:11.039
He has my artificial heart. There it is. That's

00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:15.839
a big heart. That's pretty impressive, Ben. Oh,

00:17:15.859 --> 00:17:32.000
guys, this movie was a trip. 1976. The American

00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:35.420
merchant vessel Petrox Explorer has just set

00:17:35.420 --> 00:17:38.380
sail from the port of Surabaya in search of oil.

00:17:38.460 --> 00:17:42.500
What they find will shock the world. We may be

00:17:42.500 --> 00:17:45.619
sailing into the history books. They will catch

00:17:45.619 --> 00:17:48.680
a stowaway. I'm landing on the beach of the skull

00:17:48.680 --> 00:17:51.759
where we heard the roar of the greatest beast.

00:17:52.259 --> 00:17:55.680
They will rescue a beautiful castaway. She's

00:17:55.680 --> 00:18:04.220
alive! You know, maybe my luck has changed. And

00:18:04.220 --> 00:18:07.180
they will discover an uncharted island that is

00:18:07.180 --> 00:18:10.400
the home of the most incredible creature on the

00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:28.900
face of the earth. A creature called Kong. Dino

00:18:28.900 --> 00:18:31.059
De Laurentiis and Paramount Pictures present

00:18:31.059 --> 00:18:35.720
the most exciting original motion picture event

00:18:35.720 --> 00:19:35.910
of all time. King Kong. king kong giant gorilla

00:19:35.910 --> 00:19:39.049
god of this south seas paradise where sensuous

00:19:39.049 --> 00:19:42.009
babies offer themselves in ritual sacrifice to

00:19:42.009 --> 00:19:46.349
his brute embrace godzilla has a brain about

00:19:46.349 --> 00:19:51.450
this size he is sheer brute force while kong

00:19:51.450 --> 00:19:55.009
is a thinking animal his brain is considerably

00:19:55.009 --> 00:19:58.730
larger about 10 times the size of this gorilla's

00:19:58.730 --> 00:20:03.460
skull being instinctive rivals There is no doubt

00:20:03.460 --> 00:20:05.359
that they will attempt to destroy one another.

00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:09.440
King Kong versus Godzilla, heading for their

00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:12.599
colossal collision, shattering every obstacle

00:20:12.599 --> 00:20:14.980
that stands between them in the most fantastic

00:20:14.980 --> 00:20:17.960
rampage of annihilation ever recorded on film.

00:20:20.119 --> 00:20:23.839
See King Kong stamp Tokyo into the ground, holding

00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:29.299
a beautiful girl in his grasp. See Godzilla destroy

00:20:29.299 --> 00:20:34.180
an entire army. See King Kong trapped by the

00:20:34.180 --> 00:20:38.079
blazing barrier of a billion votes. But nothing,

00:20:38.200 --> 00:20:41.059
nobody can stop the great showdown when King

00:20:41.059 --> 00:20:43.799
Kong and Godzilla meet to fight for survival

00:20:43.799 --> 00:21:21.089
of the fittest. escapes and meets his greatest

00:21:21.089 --> 00:21:28.390
foe, the Kong of Steel. A gargantuan duel unmatched

00:21:28.390 --> 00:21:35.369
by any battle in history. Thundering 60 -foot

00:21:35.369 --> 00:21:38.390
robot Kong of Steel, creation of the evil Dr.

00:21:38.529 --> 00:21:42.170
Oom, criminal genius who stops at nothing. Kong,

00:21:42.329 --> 00:22:06.140
once again, take... A thousand thrills as King

00:22:06.140 --> 00:22:17.140
Kong battles the servant of Mondo Island. Hits

00:22:17.140 --> 00:22:22.240
himself against a nation's armament. And plunges

00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:31.859
a beautiful girl into a world of terror. So the

00:22:31.859 --> 00:22:34.759
director of King Kong Lives is John Guillermin,

00:22:34.819 --> 00:22:36.980
who also directed the previous King Kong from

00:22:36.980 --> 00:22:40.819
1976. He was known as sort of a temperamental

00:22:40.819 --> 00:22:43.440
director, had a lot of arguments with producers

00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:46.740
and other crew members. With an eye for detail

00:22:46.740 --> 00:22:49.420
for Guillermin, he directed many big -budget

00:22:49.420 --> 00:22:51.920
films, including action -adventure films like

00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:55.079
The Towering Inferno from 1974, Death on the

00:22:55.079 --> 00:22:58.839
Nile from 1978. and some Tarzan movies of the

00:22:58.839 --> 00:23:02.059
late 50s and early 60s. I also read earlier today

00:23:02.059 --> 00:23:04.559
that he directed Shaft in Africa, which is kind

00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:07.779
of a strange project for him. I've never seen

00:23:07.779 --> 00:23:10.579
that. I doubt that it's good, but maybe I'm wrong

00:23:10.579 --> 00:23:14.440
about that. Yeah, I always knew him as the director

00:23:14.440 --> 00:23:16.180
of these two King Kong movies. That's what I

00:23:16.180 --> 00:23:19.400
knew him best as. Yeah, he is one of the very

00:23:19.400 --> 00:23:24.259
few returning crew members from the 1976 film.

00:23:24.440 --> 00:23:29.220
So it's been 10 years. since the 76 King Kong

00:23:29.220 --> 00:23:32.279
to its sequel. And we'll talk more about that

00:23:32.279 --> 00:23:35.559
in the production history. But yeah, John Gehrman

00:23:35.559 --> 00:23:38.920
returns. The screenplay for King Kong Lives is

00:23:38.920 --> 00:23:43.819
by Ronald Shusett and Steven Pressfield. I love

00:23:43.819 --> 00:23:46.839
making connections in movies. So I just watched

00:23:46.839 --> 00:23:50.500
Alien the other night and not for the first time,

00:23:50.519 --> 00:23:53.980
but it was a good rewatch. And Shusett co -created

00:23:53.980 --> 00:23:58.059
Alien with Dan O 'Bannon. So Shusett's definitely

00:23:58.059 --> 00:24:00.920
bringing some pedigree here to King Kong Lives.

00:24:01.400 --> 00:24:04.980
He also was the co -writer and producer of Total

00:24:04.980 --> 00:24:10.680
Recall in 1990. As for Pressfield, his Wikipedia

00:24:10.680 --> 00:24:13.519
really wasn't jumping out at me. Largely a novelist

00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:16.400
best known for The Legend of Bagger Vance and

00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:22.339
its subsequent film adaptation. But the producing

00:24:22.339 --> 00:24:27.630
forces behind King Kong Lives. is Dino De Laurentiis

00:24:27.630 --> 00:24:31.369
of the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, DEG.

00:24:31.750 --> 00:24:37.250
And he produced the 76 King Kong, among many,

00:24:37.329 --> 00:24:43.029
many other similarly action -themed sort of horror

00:24:43.029 --> 00:24:47.009
monster movies. Orca is one we covered on the

00:24:47.009 --> 00:24:50.630
podcast. Look into his filmography. He's got

00:24:50.630 --> 00:24:53.900
a lot of... I don't even know, like, what's the

00:24:53.900 --> 00:24:57.380
best word to describe his aesthetic? Eclectic.

00:24:58.319 --> 00:25:00.839
Extremely eclectic. Like, all over the place.

00:25:01.579 --> 00:25:04.380
The same year of King Kong Lives, De Laurentiis

00:25:04.380 --> 00:25:06.380
produced Blue Velvet, the David Lynch movie.

00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:10.140
A very bizarre double feature there. I haven't

00:25:10.140 --> 00:25:11.859
done that double feature myself, but I probably

00:25:11.859 --> 00:25:13.339
would not recommend it. I don't know what would

00:25:13.339 --> 00:25:17.400
happen. Your brain would explode. I can't imagine

00:25:17.400 --> 00:25:22.259
that, sorry. No, I just, I respect. A producer

00:25:22.259 --> 00:25:26.380
who's willing to swing big on projects outside

00:25:26.380 --> 00:25:29.700
of, I don't know, the mainstream, if you will.

00:25:30.759 --> 00:25:33.819
And he doesn't always hit the ball. But this

00:25:33.819 --> 00:25:35.880
movie, King Kong Lives, was actually produced

00:25:35.880 --> 00:25:38.819
by Martha De Laurentiis, who was Martha Shoemaker

00:25:38.819 --> 00:25:43.000
at the time. She had joined DEG in 1980 as an

00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:45.220
assistant production accountant. She eventually

00:25:45.220 --> 00:25:49.779
became DEG's chairman, and she married... Dino

00:25:49.779 --> 00:25:53.000
De Laurentiis, old Dino in 1990. Other producing

00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:56.779
credits of Martha De Laurentiis is movies like

00:25:56.779 --> 00:25:59.359
Red Dragon, Hannibal, the Hannibal TV series,

00:25:59.519 --> 00:26:04.180
and U571, which is not a Hannibal Lecter film.

00:26:04.420 --> 00:26:06.680
Oh, I remember that movie. Right? That's a good

00:26:06.680 --> 00:26:08.839
movie. Yeah. Isn't Jon Bon Jovi in that movie?

00:26:09.099 --> 00:26:11.279
I think. I don't know. I think you're right,

00:26:11.339 --> 00:26:14.359
actually. I like the Hannibal TV series a lot

00:26:14.359 --> 00:26:16.480
more than I expected to. I'm not like in a special

00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:19.660
fan of Hannibal Lecter. And I mean, some of those

00:26:19.660 --> 00:26:21.579
movies are great, not all of them, but the TV

00:26:21.579 --> 00:26:24.740
show is great and like incredibly gory for NBC

00:26:24.740 --> 00:26:26.980
network television. It's crazy what they get

00:26:26.980 --> 00:26:28.900
away with on that show. And it's very good also.

00:26:28.980 --> 00:26:31.299
I've seen it. Yeah, I second that. I couldn't

00:26:31.299 --> 00:26:33.900
believe it was network television with its level

00:26:33.900 --> 00:26:37.339
of maturity. I was like, whoa, okay. And we're

00:26:37.339 --> 00:26:42.690
getting into it. Traumatized, yeah. Matt, why

00:26:42.690 --> 00:26:45.980
don't you talk about Alec Mills? Yeah, he was

00:26:45.980 --> 00:26:48.519
the cinematographer on this movie. He was also

00:26:48.519 --> 00:26:51.140
the director of photography on The Living Daylights

00:26:51.140 --> 00:26:54.160
and License to Kill, two James Bond movies with

00:26:54.160 --> 00:26:56.539
Timothy Dalton that would come out over the next

00:26:56.539 --> 00:26:58.420
couple years. Maybe The Living Daylights was

00:26:58.420 --> 00:27:00.299
before King Kong Lives, actually, but right around

00:27:00.299 --> 00:27:03.440
the same time. He was also camera operator on

00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:06.319
Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Spy Who Loved

00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:08.779
Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, and Octopussy.

00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:11.500
So definitely a lot of experience in the James

00:27:11.500 --> 00:27:14.059
Bond series, which generally look pretty good,

00:27:14.099 --> 00:27:15.759
especially around... this time in the 80s, in

00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:18.420
my opinion. Carlo Rambaldi is returning to do

00:27:18.420 --> 00:27:21.680
the special effects. He was in the 76 Kong. He

00:27:21.680 --> 00:27:25.299
kind of split the duties with Rick Baker. Carlo

00:27:25.299 --> 00:27:27.819
Rambaldi was responsible for the giant robot

00:27:27.819 --> 00:27:31.579
Kong in that movie in 76. But in the interim

00:27:31.579 --> 00:27:34.799
in between, he did a lot of work with Steven

00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:37.319
Spielberg. He was responsible for the alien at

00:27:37.319 --> 00:27:39.559
the end of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

00:27:39.819 --> 00:27:42.980
And his crowning achievement was he designed

00:27:42.980 --> 00:27:47.230
E .T. In 1982. So he had a pretty prestigious

00:27:47.230 --> 00:27:52.250
career in robotics and things like that after

00:27:52.250 --> 00:27:57.490
the 76 Kong and before King Kong lives. That's

00:27:57.490 --> 00:28:01.650
awesome. I forgot that Rick Baker was involved

00:28:01.650 --> 00:28:06.150
with 1976. And didn't he play King Kong? He did.

00:28:06.950 --> 00:28:09.910
If you ever get a chance to watch videos of him

00:28:09.910 --> 00:28:13.400
talking about it. He definitely is a little salty

00:28:13.400 --> 00:28:16.819
about his experiences, but it's really fascinating

00:28:16.819 --> 00:28:19.180
and fun to listen to him talk about that whole

00:28:19.180 --> 00:28:21.980
process. I've seen other things with him. He

00:28:21.980 --> 00:28:25.839
does seem like he's a he's a really I find him

00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:27.839
really likable to watch in interviews. He seems

00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:32.619
kind of down to earth. Yeah. Music by in King

00:28:32.619 --> 00:28:36.180
Kong Lives is by John Scott. The film is based

00:28:36.180 --> 00:28:39.240
on characters by Marion C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace,

00:28:39.460 --> 00:28:44.640
the two originators of King Kong in 1933. How

00:28:44.640 --> 00:28:48.559
about the select cast? We have Linda Hamilton

00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:53.539
as Dr. Amy Franklin. She is a surgeon and a medical

00:28:53.539 --> 00:28:57.599
caretaker of the Kongs. We have King Kong and

00:28:57.599 --> 00:29:01.630
we have Lady Kong. And Linda Hamilton, of course,

00:29:01.650 --> 00:29:03.869
is best known for her role as Sarah Connors in

00:29:03.869 --> 00:29:06.950
the Terminator series, which had just begun in

00:29:06.950 --> 00:29:11.410
1984, two years prior with the Terminator and

00:29:11.410 --> 00:29:14.650
Children of the Corn. Anybody? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

00:29:15.069 --> 00:29:17.529
I haven't seen many Linda Hamilton films, but

00:29:17.529 --> 00:29:19.730
Children of the Corn is one I've seen too many

00:29:19.730 --> 00:29:22.269
times. I sadly haven't seen that one. That's

00:29:22.269 --> 00:29:25.670
been on my list of like maybe bad, but possibly

00:29:25.670 --> 00:29:27.730
awesome, like 80s horror movies that I've never

00:29:27.730 --> 00:29:29.230
seen. It's a good reminder. I have to watch that.

00:29:29.500 --> 00:29:31.240
Yeah, it definitely straddles that fine line.

00:29:31.400 --> 00:29:37.119
Okay. More on one side than the other. Yeah.

00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:44.599
It's a cult classic, you know? Brian Kerwin plays

00:29:44.599 --> 00:29:48.559
Hank Mitchell, the other lead of this film. Hank

00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:51.720
Mitchell's like a debonair explorer, maybe an

00:29:51.720 --> 00:29:54.400
Indiana Jones type, who finds Lady Kong in the

00:29:54.400 --> 00:29:57.839
jungles of Borneo and then sells her to the highest

00:29:57.839 --> 00:30:01.160
bidding university. and he ends up falling in

00:30:01.160 --> 00:30:03.180
love with Amy Franklin. They fall in love with

00:30:03.180 --> 00:30:05.799
each other, and he eventually becomes this hero

00:30:05.799 --> 00:30:10.500
archetype. Brian Kerwin, for what it's worth,

00:30:10.539 --> 00:30:12.819
had a prolific career in movies and TV. Nothing

00:30:12.819 --> 00:30:15.339
really stood out to me the same as Linda Hamilton,

00:30:15.559 --> 00:30:20.779
but there you go. John Ashton plays Lieutenant

00:30:20.779 --> 00:30:24.599
Colonel Nevitt, a cigar -chomping, hot -headed

00:30:24.599 --> 00:30:28.430
type of army leader. Very cookie -cutter. Very

00:30:28.430 --> 00:30:32.690
archetypal type of military leader. John Ashton

00:30:32.690 --> 00:30:35.210
is in one of my favorite movies. Well, he's in

00:30:35.210 --> 00:30:38.190
Beverly Hills Cop, but he's also in a movie called

00:30:38.190 --> 00:30:41.109
Midnight Run with Robert De Niro and Charles

00:30:41.109 --> 00:30:44.369
Grodin. He plays kind of a bounty hunter guy,

00:30:44.589 --> 00:30:47.329
and he's hilarious. Every scene he's in is just

00:30:47.329 --> 00:30:51.329
fantastic. I forgot he was in Beverly Hills Cop.

00:30:52.089 --> 00:30:54.009
Yeah. I thought he looked familiar. And I forgot

00:30:54.009 --> 00:30:56.089
he was in Midnight Run, which I've seen. I like

00:30:56.089 --> 00:30:58.559
that movie also. Yeah. Playing King Kong, though,

00:30:58.619 --> 00:31:03.079
is not Rick Baker. It is Peter Elliott, who I

00:31:03.079 --> 00:31:08.220
learned was a prolific ape suit actor. And he

00:31:08.220 --> 00:31:13.079
played apes in two or he played parts in two

00:31:13.079 --> 00:31:16.519
movies previously featured on Camp Kaiju. Congo

00:31:16.519 --> 00:31:21.019
from 1995. And he played. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah.

00:31:21.099 --> 00:31:23.900
And he played a character in The Island of Dr.

00:31:24.039 --> 00:31:28.789
Moreau. Wow. Two relics of 90s trash cinema that

00:31:28.789 --> 00:31:30.549
we've talked about pretty recently on the podcast.

00:31:31.630 --> 00:31:34.529
Peter Elliott. Cool. Low -key, the actor I've

00:31:34.529 --> 00:31:39.750
maybe seen the most recently. Without knowing

00:31:39.750 --> 00:31:44.569
it, perhaps. Mm -hmm. Yep. Joining him in this

00:31:44.569 --> 00:31:51.549
ape duo is George Yasumi as Lady Kong. And then

00:31:51.549 --> 00:31:54.859
there is a baby Kong. And Baby Kong is played

00:31:54.859 --> 00:31:57.559
by an actor named Benjamin Ketchley. We have

00:31:57.559 --> 00:32:03.200
three Kongs in this film by the end. It's kind

00:32:03.200 --> 00:32:05.619
of wild that they needed a third person to play

00:32:05.619 --> 00:32:07.440
the Baby Kong. Like, why couldn't they have just

00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:11.660
had Peter Elliott just be the Baby Kong as well?

00:32:11.920 --> 00:32:17.519
Well, her SAG union contract. Oh, I see. Yeah,

00:32:17.619 --> 00:32:22.500
you have to cast a new actor for each ape in

00:32:22.500 --> 00:32:26.519
your film. that makes sense it's the fine print

00:32:26.519 --> 00:32:34.680
there little claws yeah so it's actually a pretty

00:32:34.680 --> 00:32:38.319
small cast in terms of you know significant roles

00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:42.019
and can i can i shout out one more cast member

00:32:42.019 --> 00:32:44.640
sorry he's uh he's a very small role but i don't

00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:48.059
know if you guys know the actor mike star He's

00:32:48.059 --> 00:32:50.779
in Dumb and Dumber. Yes. Show Millennium. He

00:32:50.779 --> 00:32:53.279
often plays like gangsters and like villains

00:32:53.279 --> 00:32:55.900
and toughs and henchmen and stuff. He plays just

00:32:55.900 --> 00:32:59.259
one of the like cell guards who's like keeping

00:32:59.259 --> 00:33:02.740
watch over Lady Kong, I believe. I'm glad you

00:33:02.740 --> 00:33:05.039
mentioned him because I didn't know his name.

00:33:05.099 --> 00:33:07.640
But during that whole scene, I'm like, that's

00:33:07.640 --> 00:33:10.220
the guy from Dumb and Dumber. Like, I'm sure

00:33:10.220 --> 00:33:14.059
of it. Yeah, it is indeed. Yep. That's funny.

00:33:14.490 --> 00:33:16.210
I mostly know him from the show Millennium, which

00:33:16.210 --> 00:33:18.509
I really love. He plays a serial killer on that

00:33:18.509 --> 00:33:22.529
show. He's great in that episode. But yeah, similar.

00:33:22.650 --> 00:33:24.829
I recognized him and I was like, hey, it's Mike

00:33:24.829 --> 00:33:26.950
Starr. This must be one of his earliest roles.

00:33:27.309 --> 00:33:32.410
Yeah. Kind of cool. Oh, wow. Yeah. I love those

00:33:32.410 --> 00:33:34.490
supporting actors where you're like, oh, I know

00:33:34.490 --> 00:33:42.960
that face. Yeah. Okay. So King Kong was... Made

00:33:42.960 --> 00:33:47.279
in 1976. Dino De Laurentiis. Jeff Bridges. Jessica

00:33:47.279 --> 00:33:51.700
Lange. It was a popular film, but it was not

00:33:51.700 --> 00:33:56.180
gangbusters. And it did not do well with critics.

00:33:57.039 --> 00:34:00.799
So, like Dino De Laurentiis wanted to do a sequel.

00:34:01.660 --> 00:34:05.519
The desire for that was kind of lukewarm. Also,

00:34:05.619 --> 00:34:09.699
the legal rights to owning the character were

00:34:09.699 --> 00:34:14.780
just so ambiguous. And we, Matt, we talked more

00:34:14.780 --> 00:34:18.280
in depth about that with our King Kong 76 episode,

00:34:18.699 --> 00:34:23.960
I believe. So yeah, listeners go back and listen

00:34:23.960 --> 00:34:27.539
to that one. But, but it was, yeah, it's still

00:34:27.539 --> 00:34:31.000
convoluted. Like I'm still not an expert on it,

00:34:31.099 --> 00:34:33.420
but I know that like when I go to Universal Studios

00:34:33.420 --> 00:34:37.840
in Orlando, they have a King Kong ride, but Universal

00:34:37.840 --> 00:34:40.340
doesn't own the film rights. They own the theme

00:34:40.340 --> 00:34:42.719
park rights. And then there's different rights

00:34:42.719 --> 00:34:46.360
for the novelization rights. And then the cinema

00:34:46.360 --> 00:34:48.300
rights because Legendary Warner Brothers has

00:34:48.300 --> 00:34:53.300
rights to make these Kong films. But that's somehow

00:34:53.300 --> 00:34:55.179
different from what Peter Jackson was doing.

00:34:55.219 --> 00:34:59.380
I don't know. It's a jumbled mess. I will never

00:34:59.380 --> 00:35:03.269
understand like the... nature of like film rights

00:35:03.269 --> 00:35:05.769
and like adaptations and all that. Like, I feel

00:35:05.769 --> 00:35:07.929
like you need to be a professional lawyer to

00:35:07.929 --> 00:35:10.769
like understand the contract specifics of those

00:35:10.769 --> 00:35:13.889
things. You know, I do not get it. Yeah. Yeah.

00:35:14.449 --> 00:35:17.469
I'm glad I just write songs. I don't have to

00:35:17.469 --> 00:35:21.449
deal with anything else. Yeah. The legal side

00:35:21.449 --> 00:35:24.829
seems like a nightmare. Yeah. No. Yes. So it

00:35:24.829 --> 00:35:26.769
took 10 years. Lots of scripts were written.

00:35:27.530 --> 00:35:31.889
Some ideas that were pitched to, DEG apparently

00:35:31.889 --> 00:35:35.550
was an idea for Kong in space. There was an idea

00:35:35.550 --> 00:35:39.389
for Kong in Russia. There was an idea where little

00:35:39.389 --> 00:35:41.750
kids would just apparently follow Kong around

00:35:41.750 --> 00:35:45.369
and it'd be like a kid's film getting into hijinks.

00:35:47.090 --> 00:35:50.829
All this is according to... I'm trying to picture

00:35:50.829 --> 00:35:55.389
that. Like, whoops! Kong fell out of the treehouse.

00:35:55.489 --> 00:35:58.429
What is it? Like Baby's Day Out with King Kong

00:35:58.429 --> 00:36:02.349
or something? What would that even be? A travesty.

00:36:02.710 --> 00:36:06.409
Yeah. Baby Kong's day out. Baby Kong's day out.

00:36:08.150 --> 00:36:10.929
With the Russia concept, I read that the idea

00:36:10.929 --> 00:36:13.389
was that King Kong would be used as like a weapon

00:36:13.389 --> 00:36:15.309
by the American government. And then he would

00:36:15.309 --> 00:36:18.090
be like airdropped into the Soviet Union to like

00:36:18.090 --> 00:36:21.170
fight communism in Russia, which. I mean, probably

00:36:21.170 --> 00:36:23.050
would have been a terrible movie, but also like

00:36:23.050 --> 00:36:25.010
pretty great. I would love to see that movie,

00:36:25.130 --> 00:36:28.329
especially if like Kong was like brainwashed

00:36:28.329 --> 00:36:30.769
to become a communist and then like used against

00:36:30.769 --> 00:36:33.510
the United States. Like somebody please make

00:36:33.510 --> 00:36:35.769
that movie. That sounds incredible. That actually

00:36:35.769 --> 00:36:39.550
would be really cool. Yeah. Is there like a Russian

00:36:39.550 --> 00:36:42.869
kaiju? Because maybe like Kong, he's America's

00:36:42.869 --> 00:36:47.030
kaiju, goes fist to fist with his Russian counterpart.

00:36:47.719 --> 00:36:50.059
Not that comes to mind. I feel like maybe like,

00:36:50.139 --> 00:36:53.239
I don't know, an obscure film series from sometime

00:36:53.239 --> 00:36:56.539
in the 20th century. I don't know. Right. I want

00:36:56.539 --> 00:37:01.539
to find out. Yeah. Yeah, I would be here for

00:37:01.539 --> 00:37:03.360
it. I mean, that was big in the 80s and the Cold

00:37:03.360 --> 00:37:06.219
War and suddenly hating on the Soviet Union again.

00:37:06.340 --> 00:37:10.480
So that's not what we got, though. And we'll

00:37:10.480 --> 00:37:13.139
talk. We'll talk pros and cons of that. If what

00:37:13.139 --> 00:37:17.260
we got was better or not. Do you mind if I say

00:37:17.260 --> 00:37:21.079
something else I read about why this movie, not

00:37:21.079 --> 00:37:23.280
why it took so long, but why it was actually

00:37:23.280 --> 00:37:27.719
made when it was, was just prior to the production,

00:37:28.039 --> 00:37:30.239
Dino De Laurentiis had purchased the distribution

00:37:30.239 --> 00:37:35.940
wing of Embassy Pictures. And that enabled him

00:37:35.940 --> 00:37:38.280
for the very first time to produce his own movies

00:37:38.280 --> 00:37:41.719
completely on his own without having to negotiate

00:37:41.719 --> 00:37:45.730
with studios. And he wanted to... kind of hit

00:37:45.730 --> 00:37:47.550
the ground running. And he had this whole slate

00:37:47.550 --> 00:37:50.809
of films that he was going to produce. But he

00:37:50.809 --> 00:37:54.570
knew that King Kong had been a big enough hit

00:37:54.570 --> 00:37:59.170
that even if the sequel did half the amount of

00:37:59.170 --> 00:38:01.949
money at the box office, which spoiler alert,

00:38:02.030 --> 00:38:05.989
this did not. But even if it had, you know, it

00:38:05.989 --> 00:38:07.429
would have been a pretty, it seemed like a pretty

00:38:07.429 --> 00:38:12.369
safe bet to kind of herald the new studio that

00:38:12.369 --> 00:38:14.840
he was launching and stuff like that. That was

00:38:14.840 --> 00:38:17.239
also part of, part of why he decided to do this.

00:38:18.219 --> 00:38:20.880
And I thank you. Cause I, that reminds me, he,

00:38:20.980 --> 00:38:24.920
I did read, he had had a string of flops leading

00:38:24.920 --> 00:38:28.460
up to King Kong lives and yeah, spoiler alert.

00:38:28.519 --> 00:38:32.719
He did not break his streak. No, it's just swinging

00:38:32.719 --> 00:38:39.440
big strike. What's right. And then apparently

00:38:39.440 --> 00:38:42.380
Martha, his wife, took over the company, you

00:38:42.380 --> 00:38:44.199
know, and he's like, all right, you can do this

00:38:44.199 --> 00:38:46.099
from now on. I'm not striking out here. This

00:38:46.099 --> 00:38:49.760
is this is your business now. Here you go, honey.

00:38:50.059 --> 00:38:52.960
Yeah. Good luck. I got this. Let's just focus

00:38:52.960 --> 00:38:56.619
on Hannibal Lecter, please. Yeah. Yeah. Not a

00:38:56.619 --> 00:39:00.800
bad idea. Eventually, De Laurentiis landed on

00:39:00.800 --> 00:39:05.719
a script by John Shusett and Steven Pressfield

00:39:05.719 --> 00:39:11.599
that. was about bringing King Kong back to life.

00:39:11.880 --> 00:39:15.639
Well, okay, so let me back up. One thing, one

00:39:15.639 --> 00:39:17.380
sticking point was that De Laurentiis needed

00:39:17.380 --> 00:39:21.300
a reason, a believable reason why King Kong would

00:39:21.300 --> 00:39:24.980
have survived the fall from the World Trade Center

00:39:24.980 --> 00:39:29.260
in King Kong 76. Fair question. How would King

00:39:29.260 --> 00:39:31.880
Kong live? Well, Shusett and Pressfield came

00:39:31.880 --> 00:39:34.420
up with this idea of an artificial heart. Kong

00:39:34.420 --> 00:39:37.409
has been in a coma for 10 years. On a respirator,

00:39:37.510 --> 00:39:42.190
Ben is shaking his head, and they put an artificial

00:39:42.190 --> 00:39:46.829
heart in Kong. And De Laurentiis said, yes, I

00:39:46.829 --> 00:39:51.150
like that. But what he didn't like, which I just

00:39:51.150 --> 00:39:53.730
find very strange, De Laurentiis was not sold

00:39:53.730 --> 00:39:56.989
on the idea of a female Kong. He thought audiences

00:39:56.989 --> 00:40:01.429
wouldn't buy it until, I think it was Pressfield,

00:40:01.510 --> 00:40:05.130
said, Dino, he had to have had a mother. To which

00:40:05.130 --> 00:40:06.949
Dino De Laurentiis said, by God, you're right.

00:40:07.010 --> 00:40:09.929
I never thought of that. There can be a female.

00:40:10.849 --> 00:40:16.670
I'm like, Dino, what? Yeah. What planet are you

00:40:16.670 --> 00:40:22.110
on? I heard that originally, like in the very

00:40:22.110 --> 00:40:24.789
early drafts, it wasn't even that they needed

00:40:24.789 --> 00:40:27.250
blood. It was that they were going to do sort

00:40:27.250 --> 00:40:29.489
of like when pandas get bored in the zoo, they

00:40:29.489 --> 00:40:32.050
might bring a female in to keep them interested.

00:40:32.110 --> 00:40:33.070
And it was going to be that. They were going

00:40:33.070 --> 00:40:35.619
to revive Kong. And then they weren't, he was

00:40:35.619 --> 00:40:38.460
just bored. So they found a female Kong and brought

00:40:38.460 --> 00:40:41.400
her in. And I guess it was going to be more like

00:40:41.400 --> 00:40:43.340
she was going to be chasing after Brian Kerwin

00:40:43.340 --> 00:40:45.500
the entire time. Like she would just keep picking

00:40:45.500 --> 00:40:47.780
him up no matter where they were. That kind of

00:40:47.780 --> 00:40:51.579
sounds more fun. I don't know. We can do that.

00:40:52.360 --> 00:40:54.780
I wouldn't mind seeing that version. Yeah. Cause

00:40:54.780 --> 00:40:56.960
the blood transfusion thing seems a little bit

00:40:56.960 --> 00:40:58.679
weak in this movie. I don't know if the science

00:40:58.679 --> 00:41:03.980
holds up. I gotta say. That's the part that we're

00:41:03.980 --> 00:41:06.519
not sold on, yeah. Yeah, I'm buying everything

00:41:06.519 --> 00:41:09.019
else, but not that. Oh, yeah. Well, Ben, that's

00:41:09.019 --> 00:41:12.360
interesting because I have heard other conversations

00:41:12.360 --> 00:41:17.179
about this movie where the viewer or the critic

00:41:17.179 --> 00:41:22.739
missed the traditional Kong lusting after a human

00:41:22.739 --> 00:41:26.639
element that's not in this movie. Because instead,

00:41:26.780 --> 00:41:30.099
Kong finds a mate more of his style, more of

00:41:30.099 --> 00:41:32.659
his species. Something more appropriate, you'd

00:41:32.659 --> 00:41:36.059
even say. But yet, do we miss something as a

00:41:36.059 --> 00:41:41.340
Kong film without that aspect? There's a little

00:41:41.340 --> 00:41:44.900
bit of that with Lady Kong and Mitch. Towards

00:41:44.900 --> 00:41:46.599
the beginning, like a couple jokes about that,

00:41:46.659 --> 00:41:48.539
but it's never really... I think they're mostly

00:41:48.539 --> 00:41:50.460
jokes. I don't think it's ever treated very seriously.

00:41:51.480 --> 00:41:54.840
Like most things in this movie. Yeah. I don't

00:41:54.840 --> 00:41:56.800
mind it personally. I like the change of pace.

00:41:57.619 --> 00:42:02.250
Yeah, I think, you know, Credit where credit's

00:42:02.250 --> 00:42:04.170
due, they did take the story in a completely

00:42:04.170 --> 00:42:07.789
different direction. And I think that's, I think

00:42:07.789 --> 00:42:11.050
that's, you know, I don't know the word I'm laudable.

00:42:11.210 --> 00:42:13.170
I mean, I think it's good that they tried something

00:42:13.170 --> 00:42:17.550
different for sure. It does sort of, I don't

00:42:17.550 --> 00:42:19.849
know. I mean, I can't tell if it's the specific

00:42:19.849 --> 00:42:23.230
story or if it's just this movie, but a lot of

00:42:23.230 --> 00:42:27.110
Kong's character has changed in this one. Like

00:42:27.110 --> 00:42:32.070
there doesn't seem to be quite as much. and he's

00:42:32.070 --> 00:42:35.730
just sort of, you know, a lovesick gorilla most

00:42:35.730 --> 00:42:40.329
of the time. Yeah, I know what you mean. Because

00:42:40.329 --> 00:42:43.510
like even in King Kong versus Godzilla, like

00:42:43.510 --> 00:42:45.230
I'm thinking about other Kong movies where he

00:42:45.230 --> 00:42:47.969
doesn't climb a big building with a woman in

00:42:47.969 --> 00:42:51.329
his grips. But there's something about King Kong

00:42:51.329 --> 00:42:54.769
Lives, like could this be, is this a King Kong

00:42:54.769 --> 00:42:56.889
movie or could this just be any other ape movie?

00:42:57.639 --> 00:43:01.400
You know, like what about Kong makes a Kong movie?

00:43:02.000 --> 00:43:05.900
Right. Yeah. It kind of unexpectedly becomes

00:43:05.900 --> 00:43:08.280
a movie about like family and companionship,

00:43:08.280 --> 00:43:10.840
you know, which is pretty sweet. I mean, we kind

00:43:10.840 --> 00:43:12.739
of see that in the Linda Hamilton and the Brian

00:43:12.739 --> 00:43:14.900
Kirwan character too. Like they develop a relationship

00:43:14.900 --> 00:43:17.260
at the same time. So it's kind of a romance.

00:43:17.460 --> 00:43:20.539
And yeah, I mean, I don't mind that, but it is

00:43:20.539 --> 00:43:23.159
like very much against like the King Kong lore.

00:43:23.260 --> 00:43:26.989
So I could imagine. fans of the original or even

00:43:26.989 --> 00:43:29.989
the 1976 remake probably not enjoying that new

00:43:29.989 --> 00:43:32.449
direction very much. Yeah, there just really

00:43:32.449 --> 00:43:35.210
isn't anything remotely terrifying about this

00:43:35.210 --> 00:43:38.610
movie. And that's the big thing. Like even in

00:43:38.610 --> 00:43:41.829
the 76 King Kong, like he's rampaging through

00:43:41.829 --> 00:43:45.289
New York at one point and he's legitimately killing

00:43:45.289 --> 00:43:48.630
people. Like he's still a huge beast and you

00:43:48.630 --> 00:43:50.949
get that sense of like giant monster on the loose

00:43:50.949 --> 00:43:54.840
and that makes it kind of fun. And yeah. This

00:43:54.840 --> 00:43:58.019
is not a scary movie. There's no terror in this.

00:43:58.059 --> 00:44:01.340
This is a love story starring giant apes. Yeah.

00:44:01.440 --> 00:44:05.119
I will counter that, though, when Kong literally

00:44:05.119 --> 00:44:09.900
snaps a man in half and you see all the violence.

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.260
And then he eats a man. That's true. I couldn't

00:44:14.260 --> 00:44:16.840
believe that when that happened. But those parts

00:44:16.840 --> 00:44:21.079
stick out so brutally because they're outliers.

00:44:21.119 --> 00:44:23.659
Because I think you're right. Overall, the movie...

00:44:23.920 --> 00:44:27.460
lacks that kind of horror but when it happens

00:44:27.460 --> 00:44:31.159
i was like holy mother of god what yeah yeah

00:44:31.159 --> 00:44:34.960
i i will i i'm sure we're going to get into this

00:44:34.960 --> 00:44:37.260
but there's a lot of tonal inconsistency in this

00:44:37.260 --> 00:44:40.639
movie we're like yeah it's generally yeah we'll

00:44:40.639 --> 00:44:44.900
we'll get there yeah so anyways filming started

00:44:44.900 --> 00:44:49.349
in april 1986 in tennessee In the Pigeon Forge

00:44:49.349 --> 00:44:51.849
area, which is in the mountains, but then also

00:44:51.849 --> 00:44:56.630
in North Carolina, where I believe the De Laurentiis

00:44:56.630 --> 00:44:58.969
Entertainment Group had its studios in North

00:44:58.969 --> 00:45:03.489
Carolina. The film was released in December 1986.

00:45:03.510 --> 00:45:06.730
As we said, it was a big old flop. Speaking of

00:45:06.730 --> 00:45:09.969
the Soviet Union again, I read that it was the

00:45:09.969 --> 00:45:14.710
highest grossing foreign film in the USSR, which

00:45:14.710 --> 00:45:20.550
is... I mean, I guess some foreign film had to

00:45:20.550 --> 00:45:23.110
be. Yeah. But I guess it was King Kong Lives.

00:45:24.010 --> 00:45:27.969
That's strange. According to, I want to reference

00:45:27.969 --> 00:45:32.449
my book Kaiju Unleashed by Sean Pryor, friend

00:45:32.449 --> 00:45:35.550
of the pod. He has one page on King Kong Lives.

00:45:35.670 --> 00:45:38.469
I just want to cite his numbers on box office.

00:45:40.269 --> 00:45:45.630
The film earned $4 million on an $18 million

00:45:45.630 --> 00:45:50.329
budget. according to Sean Pryor. That is not

00:45:50.329 --> 00:45:55.929
good. That's not a hit. No. No. They had like

00:45:55.929 --> 00:45:58.690
a huge marketing budget too, right? I don't remember

00:45:58.690 --> 00:46:00.449
the exact numbers, but I thought it was like

00:46:00.449 --> 00:46:04.050
11 million. No, that seems like too much. But

00:46:04.050 --> 00:46:06.849
like they marketed the hell out of this movie

00:46:06.849 --> 00:46:09.590
and it did not work out in the end. No, well,

00:46:09.670 --> 00:46:13.429
and they marketed it so strangely. Like, I don't

00:46:13.429 --> 00:46:14.670
know if you've ever seen the posters, but it's

00:46:14.670 --> 00:46:18.380
like. America's hero is back and he's not happy.

00:46:19.280 --> 00:46:22.719
And Kong's not America's hero, and that has nothing

00:46:22.719 --> 00:46:26.699
to do with the movie. See? That's that Cold War

00:46:26.699 --> 00:46:33.019
stuff. Yeah. But it doesn't play. Maybe that's

00:46:33.019 --> 00:46:34.800
why it played in the Soviet Union. Like, this

00:46:34.800 --> 00:46:39.500
is America's biggest... Oh, we are winning. Yeah.

00:46:40.320 --> 00:46:46.699
I think Ivan Drago is Russia's kaiju. Ooh. A

00:46:46.699 --> 00:46:49.539
giant Ivan Drago versus King Kong. Who wins?

00:46:50.880 --> 00:46:53.239
That means we can bring Rocky III or whichever

00:46:53.239 --> 00:46:57.139
one it is to the podcast. Ah, there you go. Number

00:46:57.139 --> 00:47:01.159
four. Rocky IV. Okay. Sorry. Not a Rocky podcast.

00:47:02.059 --> 00:47:05.800
But I love those movies. Yeah. So King Kong Lives

00:47:05.800 --> 00:47:08.400
is a failure coupled with another De La Renta

00:47:08.400 --> 00:47:12.599
flop at the time called Taipan. Ended up bankrupting

00:47:12.599 --> 00:47:15.920
the company. And the company wouldn't last much

00:47:15.920 --> 00:47:21.920
longer. DEG was bought out in 1989. Roger Ebert

00:47:21.920 --> 00:47:24.440
and George Siskel have a fun little anecdote

00:47:24.440 --> 00:47:28.630
about this. Yeah, the De Laurentiis group sent

00:47:28.630 --> 00:47:31.469
a notice to Roger Ebert and George, or Gene Siskel,

00:47:31.469 --> 00:47:34.190
that they could not play snippets of King Kong

00:47:34.190 --> 00:47:36.869
Lives on their show unless they had positive

00:47:36.869 --> 00:47:39.489
things to say about it. And the critics couldn't

00:47:39.489 --> 00:47:41.869
find anything good to say about it. And also

00:47:41.869 --> 00:47:44.429
they couldn't find like any good clips from the

00:47:44.429 --> 00:47:46.670
movie to like play on their show. I read that

00:47:46.670 --> 00:47:48.429
that wasn't just Siskel and Ebert. That was like

00:47:48.429 --> 00:47:50.789
all critics in the United States. Like in order

00:47:50.789 --> 00:47:52.590
to play scenes from the movie, they had to say

00:47:52.590 --> 00:47:55.119
that they had to give it a positive review. And

00:47:55.119 --> 00:47:57.639
from what I read, no critics agreed to do that.

00:47:57.719 --> 00:48:00.260
Like, no, we cannot do that. That's against our

00:48:00.260 --> 00:48:04.980
professional integrity. That's crazy. Because

00:48:04.980 --> 00:48:07.420
there are maybe a couple individual scenes that

00:48:07.420 --> 00:48:10.019
might be kind of fun. I'm glad that nobody, like,

00:48:10.019 --> 00:48:12.320
you know, was coerced into giving it a positive

00:48:12.320 --> 00:48:14.820
review. But there are maybe a couple scenes that

00:48:14.820 --> 00:48:20.480
are fun in this movie. Yeah, it's certainly,

00:48:20.579 --> 00:48:23.369
I don't even know. No, I think it is the weakest

00:48:23.369 --> 00:48:25.369
King Kong movie I've ever seen. But I mean, like,

00:48:25.369 --> 00:48:29.050
yeah, it's not the worst movie of 1986 or anything

00:48:29.050 --> 00:48:36.889
like that. It's not unwatchable. But Rotten Tomatoes,

00:48:36.889 --> 00:48:41.849
for what it's worth, it has an 8%. Which, again,

00:48:42.010 --> 00:48:45.940
that's not good. That's pretty low. I was wondering,

00:48:46.039 --> 00:48:48.119
you know, on the theme of like the tail end of

00:48:48.119 --> 00:48:50.679
the Cold War, did the movie Red Dawn come out

00:48:50.679 --> 00:48:52.780
in 1986? Because that one's pretty bad. That

00:48:52.780 --> 00:48:55.579
was around that time. Oh, it's 1984. Never mind.

00:48:55.639 --> 00:48:58.360
I take it back. Top Gun was the highest grossing

00:48:58.360 --> 00:49:01.760
film. Crocodile Dundee, Platoon. Yeah. So, you

00:49:01.760 --> 00:49:04.139
know, there's some classics there. Howard the

00:49:04.139 --> 00:49:06.860
Duck came out in 1986, a notoriously bad movie.

00:49:07.099 --> 00:49:13.340
Did it? No. Back to School was the sixth highest

00:49:13.340 --> 00:49:15.800
grossing film of the year. Good for Missing the

00:49:15.800 --> 00:49:18.940
Dangerfield. Under the Cherry Moon with Prince

00:49:18.940 --> 00:49:20.880
also came out that year, but that movie kind

00:49:20.880 --> 00:49:23.159
of rocks. I know it has a bad reputation, but

00:49:23.159 --> 00:49:25.940
it's great. I love it. I have not seen that one.

00:49:26.460 --> 00:49:30.000
Oh, you're missing out. I love it. Notorious

00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:31.619
bomb that holds up pretty well, I would say.

00:49:31.980 --> 00:49:35.849
Cool. Well, good. On that note, let's head into

00:49:35.849 --> 00:49:38.349
our sponsor break. Camp Kaiju is sponsored by

00:49:38.349 --> 00:49:40.329
Zach Linder and the Zach Pack, powered by Coldwell

00:49:40.329 --> 00:49:43.630
Banker Realty. Your source for real estate, home

00:49:43.630 --> 00:49:45.969
rehab, fixing and flipping for investor clients

00:49:45.969 --> 00:49:48.510
and residential buyers. Reach out to the Zach

00:49:48.510 --> 00:49:51.210
Pack today for real estate services. Follow the

00:49:51.210 --> 00:49:53.670
Zach Pack on social media and contact the Zach

00:49:53.670 --> 00:49:56.349
Pack for investment opportunities. Link in the

00:49:56.349 --> 00:50:00.000
show notes. Matt. Anything in Mania's mailbox?

00:50:00.440 --> 00:50:03.460
Uh, actually, yeah. We do have a little note

00:50:03.460 --> 00:50:06.320
here from Kaiju Nick. Thank you for writing in,

00:50:06.360 --> 00:50:30.599
Kaiju Nick. He says, Thank you, Kaiju Nick. Always

00:50:30.599 --> 00:50:34.559
a pleasure to see Mr. Laurie unexpectedly. And

00:50:34.559 --> 00:50:36.719
to see him on Camp Kaiju as well, or hear him

00:50:36.719 --> 00:50:41.000
anyway. Yeah, honestly, Kaiju Nick, Mr. Laurie's

00:50:41.000 --> 00:50:43.880
very happy about that email. I had to show him

00:50:43.880 --> 00:50:45.900
what email is, but once he got the hang of it,

00:50:45.920 --> 00:50:48.920
he loved it. I'm sure he'll have something to

00:50:48.920 --> 00:50:51.099
say about that. Did he even remember acting in

00:50:51.099 --> 00:50:54.000
that movie, 20 ,000 Leagues Under the Sea? Like,

00:50:54.059 --> 00:50:56.699
oh, this doesn't ring a bell. I say, I don't

00:50:56.699 --> 00:50:58.760
remember him being in 20 ,000 Lakes Under the

00:50:58.760 --> 00:51:06.000
Sea. He plays Kirk Douglas's little buddy. He's

00:51:06.000 --> 00:51:09.739
like right -hand man. Oh, really? Yeah. Laurie's

00:51:09.739 --> 00:51:12.679
pretty understated in the role. I mean, it's

00:51:12.679 --> 00:51:15.920
a really bombastic film, and Kirk Douglas just

00:51:15.920 --> 00:51:20.320
consumes screen presence. But Laurie's there,

00:51:20.400 --> 00:51:25.539
solid, doing his job. Yeah. Always likable. I'll

00:51:25.539 --> 00:51:29.199
pass that on to Mr. Lurie. And he's going to

00:51:29.199 --> 00:51:33.719
talk about a little film from 1944 called Voodoo

00:51:33.719 --> 00:51:37.280
Man. It stars John Carradine, Bela Lugosi, and

00:51:37.280 --> 00:51:41.539
George Zuko. And this movie, I love reading these

00:51:41.539 --> 00:51:47.460
letterbox synopses. So apparently the tagline

00:51:47.460 --> 00:51:51.199
for Voodoo Man is his lust for voodooism spells

00:51:51.199 --> 00:51:55.739
D -O -O -M. Yeah, the movie is about a bad doctor

00:51:55.739 --> 00:51:58.420
and his helpers who lure girls to his lab for

00:51:58.420 --> 00:52:01.059
brain work to help his wife. What does brain

00:52:01.059 --> 00:52:04.739
work mean? What does any of that mean? Right.

00:52:04.820 --> 00:52:06.820
I don't know. To help his wife. Help his wife

00:52:06.820 --> 00:52:13.119
with what? Good question. I'm a little scared.

00:52:14.300 --> 00:52:16.599
And how does voodoo fit into all that as well?

00:52:17.380 --> 00:52:20.739
And is it his lust that spells doom? Like, how

00:52:20.739 --> 00:52:23.610
does that work? I guess we'll have to listen

00:52:23.610 --> 00:52:39.570
and find out. Welcome to the Poverty Row Studios

00:52:39.570 --> 00:52:43.829
on the other side of Hollywood, where the stars

00:52:43.829 --> 00:52:47.510
were dimmer and the red carpets dripped with

00:52:47.510 --> 00:52:50.530
blood. Together we will watch the best of the

00:52:50.530 --> 00:52:53.550
worst. Movies known for their limited budgets,

00:52:53.909 --> 00:52:56.989
outlandish concepts, and questionable performances,

00:52:57.510 --> 00:53:01.030
but with enough haunted houses, zombies, ape

00:53:01.030 --> 00:53:03.829
men, and devil bats to keep you up at night.

00:53:04.309 --> 00:53:08.349
This is the Poverty Row Picture Show, and I dare

00:53:08.349 --> 00:53:17.110
you to sleep through these nightmares. I am Peter

00:53:17.110 --> 00:53:21.230
Lorre, and yes, I was in 20 ,000 Leagues Under

00:53:21.230 --> 00:53:25.670
the Sea. And, and, the Nautilus was not the only

00:53:25.670 --> 00:53:29.289
dreamboat in the production. Kirk Douglas, am

00:53:29.289 --> 00:53:33.650
I right? I'll swear by his tattoo. Yes, well,

00:53:33.909 --> 00:53:37.010
that's more than I can say for Matthew Cole Levine,

00:53:37.090 --> 00:53:40.170
leaving me for dead in this rotten apartment.

00:53:41.809 --> 00:53:45.440
Well, before I digress... Thank you, Kaiju Nick,

00:53:45.579 --> 00:53:51.619
for your electronic correspondence. And thank

00:53:51.619 --> 00:53:55.380
you, Peter Laurie, for willingly giving me the

00:53:55.380 --> 00:53:59.760
microphone for this segment. Wait, what? Is that

00:53:59.760 --> 00:54:04.219
you, Bela? Bela Lugosi? Well, Matthew just let

00:54:04.219 --> 00:54:07.980
anyone in these days. I have ways of getting

00:54:07.980 --> 00:54:11.760
through locked doors. And considering tonight's

00:54:11.760 --> 00:54:17.320
review is about my 1944 film, Voodoo Man, I'm

00:54:17.320 --> 00:54:21.239
afraid I must do the honors. Fine by me, pal.

00:54:21.539 --> 00:54:24.460
I mean, I still need to pack. I need to comb

00:54:24.460 --> 00:54:29.320
my hair. Find a new place to hang my hat. Listeners,

00:54:29.320 --> 00:54:33.300
I will return next week for all new thrills when

00:54:33.300 --> 00:54:37.480
we discuss a non -Belé Lugosi movie called...

00:54:37.820 --> 00:54:42.719
The Monster Maker. And I will hang about and

00:54:42.719 --> 00:54:46.500
tell you all what the Voodoo Man's lust is all

00:54:46.500 --> 00:54:50.519
about. Yeah, good luck with all that. Children

00:54:50.519 --> 00:54:55.860
of the podcast, I bid you welcome. Voodoo Man

00:54:55.860 --> 00:54:59.139
marks my eighth and final picture with Monogram

00:54:59.139 --> 00:55:03.659
Studios. You have seen me yuck it up with yeast

00:55:03.659 --> 00:55:07.579
side kids. You have seen me play gangsters and

00:55:07.579 --> 00:55:11.579
mad scientists. You have seen me wrestle zombies

00:55:11.579 --> 00:55:16.860
and devil bats and play the best ape man this

00:55:16.860 --> 00:55:21.079
side of the jungle. And now, to end my contract

00:55:21.079 --> 00:55:24.780
with Monogram, I don a necromancer's robe as

00:55:24.780 --> 00:55:28.179
John Carradine and George Zuko abduct young women

00:55:28.179 --> 00:55:31.059
from my nefarious plan to transfer their life

00:55:31.059 --> 00:55:33.860
forces into the corpse of my beautiful bride.

00:55:35.340 --> 00:55:38.000
Now Voodoo Man has been called a better film

00:55:38.000 --> 00:55:41.500
than most I made in the 1940s. Indeed, after

00:55:41.500 --> 00:55:44.440
my time with Monogram, the choice roles were

00:55:44.440 --> 00:55:48.139
hard to come by. Even Universal stopped calling.

00:55:48.780 --> 00:55:52.960
Oh sure, there was Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein

00:55:52.960 --> 00:55:57.699
in 1948, but that was about it until the Ed Wood

00:55:57.699 --> 00:56:01.920
pictures and my own slow descent into the fangs

00:56:01.920 --> 00:56:07.329
of death in 1956. So I thank you, and Peter Lorre,

00:56:07.429 --> 00:56:10.010
for being kind to me on the Poverty Row Picture

00:56:10.010 --> 00:56:13.409
Show. Even if the movies themselves were less

00:56:13.409 --> 00:56:16.389
than praiseworthy, I did what I could with what

00:56:16.389 --> 00:56:19.769
I had. But always better to reign in hell than

00:56:19.769 --> 00:56:24.090
serve in heaven. And so, I bid you adieu, and

00:56:24.090 --> 00:56:27.889
until we meet again, remember, I was once in

00:56:27.889 --> 00:56:32.010
a movie called Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla.

00:56:40.599 --> 00:56:55.739
So stupid. I am your master. I have transformed

00:56:55.739 --> 00:56:59.619
you into a giant of great strength, and you must

00:56:59.619 --> 00:57:03.070
obey me. This innocent -looking greenhouse is

00:57:03.070 --> 00:57:06.070
the secret workshop of Dr. Decker. These unusual

00:57:06.070 --> 00:57:10.050
foliages are insectivorous and carnivorous, man

00:57:10.050 --> 00:57:13.349
-devouring plants, and contain a rare chemical

00:57:13.349 --> 00:57:19.789
of growth of as yet unknown powers. Conga, towering,

00:57:19.809 --> 00:57:25.570
terrorizing threat to civilization. Conga, ever

00:57:25.570 --> 00:57:28.909
-growing man -made beast of immeasurable strength.

00:57:43.239 --> 00:57:58.139
He said, let me down. Help! Help! Fantastic.

00:57:59.000 --> 00:58:01.760
There's a huge monster gorilla that's constantly

00:58:01.760 --> 00:58:04.159
growing to outlandish proportions, loosing the

00:58:04.159 --> 00:58:54.460
streets. Well, let's get back to King Kong Lives,

00:58:54.699 --> 00:58:59.920
shall we? Someone's got some lust and it's spelled

00:58:59.920 --> 00:59:04.199
K -O -N -G. There are. That should have been

00:59:04.199 --> 00:59:07.039
the tagline on the poster. I admittedly, guys,

00:59:07.159 --> 00:59:09.159
I think this movie is pretty light on themes

00:59:09.159 --> 00:59:12.840
because I wrote that militarism. I think that's

00:59:12.840 --> 00:59:15.239
there. I don't think the movie is trying to explore

00:59:15.239 --> 00:59:19.139
that at all. I just found it like part and parcel

00:59:19.139 --> 00:59:22.309
of 1980s action movies. Like they all seem to

00:59:22.309 --> 00:59:25.389
have the same cigar chomping characters in the

00:59:25.389 --> 00:59:29.510
military going rogue and loose cannons and all

00:59:29.510 --> 00:59:33.429
that kind of stuff. I agree. I was thinking about

00:59:33.429 --> 00:59:37.110
this today. I don't think I'm not going to give

00:59:37.110 --> 00:59:38.809
the writers credit because I don't think this

00:59:38.809 --> 00:59:40.889
is what they were like. I don't think that they

00:59:40.889 --> 00:59:43.789
were thinking this much into it. But Colonel

00:59:43.789 --> 00:59:47.409
Nevitt specifically does, you know, within the

00:59:47.409 --> 00:59:49.349
context of the time that it was made, this is

00:59:49.349 --> 00:59:52.150
10 years. and change after the end of the Vietnam

00:59:52.150 --> 00:59:56.250
War. And I think it just speaks more towards,

00:59:56.309 --> 00:59:58.630
it's like a copy of what you saw a lot in the

00:59:58.630 --> 01:00:02.690
80s, which was the soldier who had a lot of questions

01:00:02.690 --> 01:00:06.369
about, you know, their career, like, why were

01:00:06.369 --> 01:00:08.829
they involved in this war? Were they on the right

01:00:08.829 --> 01:00:11.230
side? It didn't end the way that they wanted

01:00:11.230 --> 01:00:14.849
it to. And they're looking for some sort of glory

01:00:14.849 --> 01:00:18.849
to, you know, really, like, reclaim. And so...

01:00:19.509 --> 01:00:21.969
Nevitt kind of falls into that where it's like,

01:00:22.030 --> 01:00:24.869
ha ha, we have the enemy. It's the apes. Let's

01:00:24.869 --> 01:00:29.289
get them, boys. And in a way, there's those other

01:00:29.289 --> 01:00:33.469
like his second in command seems pretty conflicted

01:00:33.469 --> 01:00:37.050
about Nevitt's just, you know, ignoring the higher

01:00:37.050 --> 01:00:39.449
ups and going going rogue. He doesn't seem to

01:00:39.449 --> 01:00:41.610
be quite as into it. And he's a little bit younger.

01:00:41.730 --> 01:00:44.550
So, you know, maybe there is some generational

01:00:44.550 --> 01:00:46.269
pull. But again, that's assigning a little bit

01:00:46.269 --> 01:00:51.610
too much to. to a movie of this nature yeah i

01:00:51.610 --> 01:00:54.090
don't know like how deep that theme is but i

01:00:54.090 --> 01:00:55.769
agree that it's there and it is like prevalent

01:00:55.769 --> 01:00:57.989
in a lot of 80s movies i think and maybe we see

01:00:57.989 --> 01:01:01.929
that in the hunters who like apprehend king kong

01:01:01.929 --> 01:01:05.170
which seems unlikely i don't think those seemingly

01:01:05.170 --> 01:01:07.130
not very intelligent guys would be able to do

01:01:07.130 --> 01:01:09.329
that but but you know those guys are also a little

01:01:09.329 --> 01:01:11.530
bit like gun happy trigger happy and then they're

01:01:11.530 --> 01:01:14.000
the ones that are killed in the most brutal way

01:01:14.000 --> 01:01:16.940
imaginable in the movie. So, yeah, there's, you

01:01:16.940 --> 01:01:18.840
know, between, like, the military guys and those

01:01:18.840 --> 01:01:20.800
guys, I think that theme is there for sure, as

01:01:20.800 --> 01:01:23.579
thin as it might be. And there's one of those

01:01:23.579 --> 01:01:28.900
hunters who actually says, hey, let's not tease

01:01:28.900 --> 01:01:31.460
King Kong. Like, let's try to treat him with

01:01:31.460 --> 01:01:35.139
a little respect, maybe to parallel that military

01:01:35.139 --> 01:01:38.579
character. I think talking about it now, I was

01:01:38.579 --> 01:01:42.349
reminded of First Blood. Watching King Kong lives

01:01:42.349 --> 01:01:46.010
like Kong's running through the mountains and

01:01:46.010 --> 01:01:50.269
like, yeah, a lot of that just screamed first

01:01:50.269 --> 01:01:53.210
blood to me, too. Yeah. Which dives into similar

01:01:53.210 --> 01:01:58.230
themes, obviously. Yeah. And then I was kind

01:01:58.230 --> 01:02:00.869
of surprised that Mitch is like the complete

01:02:00.869 --> 01:02:02.630
opposite of that, you know, like I feel like

01:02:02.630 --> 01:02:04.590
maybe early on in the movie when he's on the

01:02:04.590 --> 01:02:06.789
phone with like Dr. Franklin and some of the

01:02:06.789 --> 01:02:09.760
other like. philanthropist donors or whatever.

01:02:09.880 --> 01:02:12.320
Maybe we think that he's going to be this materialistic,

01:02:12.360 --> 01:02:15.139
money -grubbing Indiana Jones character. That's

01:02:15.139 --> 01:02:17.139
even a line of dialogue at one point in the movie,

01:02:17.219 --> 01:02:20.039
paraphrasing a little bit. But then he almost

01:02:20.039 --> 01:02:22.960
immediately turns into this nice guy who wants

01:02:22.960 --> 01:02:26.480
to save and rescue both Lady Kong and King Kong.

01:02:26.780 --> 01:02:29.000
So, you know, I thought it was somewhat surprising.

01:02:29.550 --> 01:02:31.309
maybe not especially interesting though, that

01:02:31.309 --> 01:02:35.090
like he's, he's not the sort of like, you know,

01:02:35.090 --> 01:02:38.329
militaristic, like macho guy that we might expect.

01:02:38.389 --> 01:02:40.409
He has kind of a soft, soft heart, you know?

01:02:41.170 --> 01:02:45.570
Yeah, I agree. Yeah. And there's a, this relates

01:02:45.570 --> 01:02:49.010
to my second point, like the Amy Franklin character.

01:02:49.849 --> 01:02:53.369
Yeah. She has a lot of agency in this film, especially

01:02:53.369 --> 01:02:56.469
compared to other female leads and other King

01:02:56.469 --> 01:03:01.739
Kong movies. And, in her relationship with Hank

01:03:01.739 --> 01:03:05.219
Mitchell, like they end up making love one night,

01:03:05.340 --> 01:03:09.019
but it's like very consensual. Even like the

01:03:09.019 --> 01:03:13.460
male character asks her, are you sure? And she's

01:03:13.460 --> 01:03:16.579
like, yeah, we're primates. We're primates too.

01:03:16.800 --> 01:03:21.199
We're primates too. I liked it. I thought it

01:03:21.199 --> 01:03:24.599
was very sweet and, but also believable. It was

01:03:24.599 --> 01:03:26.880
like wholesome. Yeah. Yeah. And, and going back

01:03:26.880 --> 01:03:29.039
to what you were saying, Matt, I think. That

01:03:29.039 --> 01:03:31.360
is one reason that they wrote Mitch the way that

01:03:31.360 --> 01:03:35.019
they did, probably, is because it had to be believable

01:03:35.019 --> 01:03:41.139
that she would fall for him. And it is very refreshing,

01:03:41.360 --> 01:03:45.519
I think, especially in the 1980s, to see a strong

01:03:45.519 --> 01:03:48.159
female character who is kind of calling the shots

01:03:48.159 --> 01:03:50.639
in that relationship right from the start. I

01:03:50.639 --> 01:03:53.239
mean, she's the one that, you know... drives

01:03:53.239 --> 01:03:55.159
him off the road and is like, you're coming with

01:03:55.159 --> 01:03:57.639
me, you know, to go search for the Kongs and

01:03:57.639 --> 01:04:00.599
stuff like that. Like it's, I don't know. I like

01:04:00.599 --> 01:04:03.840
that. And, and even at the right at the beginning,

01:04:03.920 --> 01:04:07.679
when they, when they bring lady Kong in and Mitch

01:04:07.679 --> 01:04:11.079
seems very concerned about the apes wellbeing,

01:04:11.440 --> 01:04:13.900
you can, there's a look that she gives and where

01:04:13.900 --> 01:04:16.159
it's like that Linda Hamilton that Amy gives

01:04:16.159 --> 01:04:19.199
that, you know, it seems to signal like, okay,

01:04:19.239 --> 01:04:22.340
he's, he's. he's not all bad you know like they

01:04:22.340 --> 01:04:25.059
do a good job at establishing that relationship

01:04:25.059 --> 01:04:29.460
yeah i think so too this is one of the things

01:04:29.460 --> 01:04:31.780
i liked about the movie and i'm okay just diving

01:04:31.780 --> 01:04:35.059
into that a little bit i just as a whole i really

01:04:35.059 --> 01:04:37.619
enjoyed linda hamilton and brian kerwin's chemistry

01:04:37.619 --> 01:04:40.760
i thought they they acted well together they

01:04:40.760 --> 01:04:43.699
were believable together and i think they they

01:04:43.699 --> 01:04:46.900
carry a lot of the movie I think Brian Kerwin

01:04:46.900 --> 01:04:48.739
maybe on his own is a little bit, I don't know

01:04:48.739 --> 01:04:52.159
if he has like leading man charisma, but like

01:04:52.159 --> 01:04:54.340
the two of them together, they do have nice chemistry

01:04:54.340 --> 01:04:57.000
together. I think as a tandem, they do carry

01:04:57.000 --> 01:04:59.199
the movie pretty well. Oh yeah, he's definitely,

01:04:59.420 --> 01:05:03.480
he's not Harrison Ford, right? But he is what

01:05:03.480 --> 01:05:06.800
he is. And he's like, he's just a nice guy. He's

01:05:06.800 --> 01:05:10.960
a good boy who ended up with Linda Hamilton.

01:05:11.719 --> 01:05:15.599
Just a badass surgeon, heart surgeon. Like, right.

01:05:16.280 --> 01:05:18.539
She's way out of his league, but good for him.

01:05:18.860 --> 01:05:25.360
Yeah. Any other themes you guys want to add?

01:05:26.480 --> 01:05:30.460
It's, it's pro science, pro scientific advancements.

01:05:30.460 --> 01:05:32.840
I mean, that's pretty cool. Like the story, I

01:05:32.840 --> 01:05:36.840
guess the, not that anyone's ever constructed

01:05:36.840 --> 01:05:40.409
a gigantic. ape heart. But I mean, it did have

01:05:40.409 --> 01:05:45.230
some roots in reality that in 1982, they had

01:05:45.230 --> 01:05:47.329
successfully, some scientists, I don't remember

01:05:47.329 --> 01:05:49.929
who, but had successfully developed an artificial

01:05:49.929 --> 01:05:53.889
heart. And, you know, it is kind of nice that

01:05:53.889 --> 01:05:57.309
prior to the apes going rogue and the army going

01:05:57.309 --> 01:05:59.349
rogue, you know, there does seem to be like a

01:05:59.349 --> 01:06:02.250
lot of excitement in the general public for,

01:06:02.250 --> 01:06:04.750
you know, this scientific achievement. Like,

01:06:04.769 --> 01:06:07.340
that's kind of nice to see. I was thinking about

01:06:07.340 --> 01:06:11.320
that real life science and it made me realize

01:06:11.320 --> 01:06:15.300
that how much of our science now was science

01:06:15.300 --> 01:06:18.559
fiction at one point. Sure. That's just like

01:06:18.559 --> 01:06:20.360
a big question that I was like, Oh wow. Cause

01:06:20.360 --> 01:06:23.960
like these days there's organs transplants related

01:06:23.960 --> 01:06:27.119
to pigs and like pig kidneys getting into people

01:06:27.119 --> 01:06:29.900
and everything with, I mean literally cloning

01:06:29.900 --> 01:06:34.699
animals and stem cells and you know, like not

01:06:34.699 --> 01:06:37.179
too long ago. Any of that was science fiction.

01:06:37.820 --> 01:06:40.000
And I guess that would be like, you know, polar

01:06:40.000 --> 01:06:42.320
opposite to the military in this movie. Like

01:06:42.320 --> 01:06:44.340
you have military on one side and then scientific

01:06:44.340 --> 01:06:46.420
interests on the other. And I guess maybe you

01:06:46.420 --> 01:06:48.059
have like money in the middle, you know, like

01:06:48.059 --> 01:06:50.800
some of the donors and philanthropists are like,

01:06:50.840 --> 01:06:52.719
maybe don't seem like great people, but they're

01:06:52.719 --> 01:06:54.199
kind of like caught in the middle a little bit,

01:06:54.219 --> 01:06:57.139
you know? Yeah. I mean, even some of the scientists

01:06:57.139 --> 01:06:59.519
are like, they talk about that, like how, you

01:06:59.519 --> 01:07:01.480
know, you don't want another university to have

01:07:01.480 --> 01:07:04.079
the only living giant ape and stuff like that.

01:07:04.480 --> 01:07:08.059
True. Yeah. I kind of like alluded to this before,

01:07:08.099 --> 01:07:09.920
but just like, you know, I talked about like

01:07:09.920 --> 01:07:12.460
family and like procreation a little bit. I didn't

01:07:12.460 --> 01:07:14.500
really bring that up before, but like we do have

01:07:14.500 --> 01:07:16.340
baby Kong at the end of the movie and it's kind

01:07:16.340 --> 01:07:19.199
of just like life finds a way, which is sort

01:07:19.199 --> 01:07:20.920
of the theme of Jurassic park a little bit too.

01:07:21.099 --> 01:07:23.840
Not to put that at the same level of, of King

01:07:23.840 --> 01:07:26.440
Kong lives or vice versa, I should say, but you

01:07:26.440 --> 01:07:28.849
know, kind of like an. I don't know, sort of

01:07:28.849 --> 01:07:32.110
an optimistic theme. Like as unlikely as it is

01:07:32.110 --> 01:07:34.269
that there would be a Lady Kong and she's brought

01:07:34.269 --> 01:07:36.489
to the United States and then she and Kong would

01:07:36.489 --> 01:07:39.289
procreate, even though they're both like 50 feet

01:07:39.289 --> 01:07:41.610
tall and the military is looking for them like

01:07:41.610 --> 01:07:44.409
at the same time, still life finds a way. Like

01:07:44.409 --> 01:07:46.869
I was like, oh, it's kind of like a not so good

01:07:46.869 --> 01:07:50.510
version of Jurassic Park in a way. In that one

01:07:50.510 --> 01:07:54.550
tiny thematic way. Yeah. If there had been a

01:07:54.550 --> 01:07:58.159
third movie. You know, it like it left the ending

01:07:58.159 --> 01:08:03.139
open to another sequel. Yeah. Kong, Lady Kong

01:08:03.139 --> 01:08:07.380
or Mama Kong at that point. I like Mama Kong.

01:08:07.400 --> 01:08:13.360
That's Mama Kong. Yeah. It also reminded me of

01:08:13.360 --> 01:08:15.380
Son of Godzilla a little bit, which is definitely

01:08:15.380 --> 01:08:17.960
not my favorite Godzilla movie, but you know.

01:08:18.560 --> 01:08:22.579
Seeing Godzilla and his or, yeah, it's his, I

01:08:22.579 --> 01:08:25.600
think, child in that movie is like, oh, this

01:08:25.600 --> 01:08:27.359
is kind of ridiculous, but funny and sweet at

01:08:27.359 --> 01:08:30.180
the same time. It's a shame we never got to see

01:08:30.180 --> 01:08:33.899
Kong live long enough to judge his parenting

01:08:33.899 --> 01:08:36.699
techniques the way we can with Godzilla. Yeah.

01:08:38.880 --> 01:08:41.000
It's certainly possible that he survived at the

01:08:41.000 --> 01:08:45.279
end if he came back for this movie. Maybe he

01:08:45.279 --> 01:08:47.140
could have come back in another one. I mean.

01:08:47.609 --> 01:08:50.590
Okay, I've been sort of like, I was shaking my

01:08:50.590 --> 01:08:54.890
head earlier. If the guy can survive a fall off

01:08:54.890 --> 01:08:58.810
the World Trade Center, his body riddled with

01:08:58.810 --> 01:09:02.649
bullets, and stay in a coma for 10 years, he

01:09:02.649 --> 01:09:05.989
can totally survive getting shot up outside a

01:09:05.989 --> 01:09:10.029
barn by considerably less soldiers. Yeah, there's,

01:09:10.029 --> 01:09:13.350
no, of course he could totally have pulled through.

01:09:13.630 --> 01:09:16.909
Yeah, yeah, I think he did. I want to believe.

01:09:17.350 --> 01:09:21.409
But his big heart just couldn't take it anymore.

01:09:22.250 --> 01:09:26.229
It's heartbroken. Let's talk about the good,

01:09:26.289 --> 01:09:29.630
the bad, and the ugly. The campy. Good, the bad,

01:09:29.630 --> 01:09:32.909
and the campy. With King Kong Lives. What do

01:09:32.909 --> 01:09:35.270
I have on my notes here? Okay, so first of all,

01:09:35.310 --> 01:09:37.649
the movie King Kong Lives opens up with a flashback

01:09:37.649 --> 01:09:41.930
to Jeff Bridges, Jessica Lange, on the top of

01:09:41.930 --> 01:09:46.350
the World Trade Center from King Kong 76. I didn't

01:09:46.350 --> 01:09:49.130
mind that. It just reminded me how bloody and

01:09:49.130 --> 01:09:51.890
violent the end of that movie was with the helicopters,

01:09:51.970 --> 01:09:55.470
which is the ending of this movie is also as

01:09:55.470 --> 01:09:59.430
violent or bloody. I love the first appearance

01:09:59.430 --> 01:10:02.329
of Lady Kong. And it's really funny because I

01:10:02.329 --> 01:10:04.270
was taking notes and I didn't know how else to

01:10:04.270 --> 01:10:07.170
refer to this female Kong, but as Lady Kong in

01:10:07.170 --> 01:10:10.489
my notes. Yeah. And then the characters literally

01:10:10.489 --> 01:10:13.329
referred to her as Lady Kong. I was like, oh,

01:10:13.470 --> 01:10:19.149
it's not just me. Okay. That's pretty campy.

01:10:19.630 --> 01:10:25.789
Yeah. A lot of my good notes are also campy notes.

01:10:25.869 --> 01:10:30.069
I just found this movie just a camp fest. The

01:10:30.069 --> 01:10:34.670
whole beginning in the surgery, open heart surgery

01:10:34.670 --> 01:10:39.189
on King Kong. And they have giant prop medical

01:10:39.189 --> 01:10:44.470
instruments. It's like a huge, like practically

01:10:44.470 --> 01:10:46.949
a table saw at one point that they're just sticking

01:10:46.949 --> 01:10:50.829
in there. Yeah. The enormous like suction tubes.

01:10:52.329 --> 01:10:55.869
I love those. It seemed like a bad 50s B movie.

01:10:56.069 --> 01:10:58.529
Like if it was in black and white, it just would

01:10:58.529 --> 01:11:02.210
have been a parody of itself. But it was taken

01:11:02.210 --> 01:11:05.310
so seriously and I loved it. I loved the whole

01:11:05.310 --> 01:11:08.640
opening because I've never seen. anything in

01:11:08.640 --> 01:11:12.359
a movie like that open heart surgery on a giant

01:11:12.359 --> 01:11:16.819
gorilla yeah and then they bring in the giant

01:11:16.819 --> 01:11:20.479
mechanical heart and it falls off its chain at

01:11:20.479 --> 01:11:25.380
one point yeah honestly the most suspenseful

01:11:25.380 --> 01:11:27.699
part of the movie i was on the edge of my seat

01:11:27.699 --> 01:11:33.380
yeah is it gonna work that's it just falls and

01:11:33.380 --> 01:11:34.979
falls to the floor and that's the end of the

01:11:34.979 --> 01:11:39.630
movie right there But, oops, power to the filmmakers.

01:11:40.630 --> 01:11:42.630
Five minutes in, I thought this movie was over

01:11:42.630 --> 01:11:44.970
because I was like, I don't know. Is Kong going

01:11:44.970 --> 01:11:49.750
to live? Well, it's in the title. I mean, if

01:11:49.750 --> 01:11:51.890
you didn't know the title. I didn't know. If

01:11:51.890 --> 01:11:53.130
you don't know the title, how long is he going

01:11:53.130 --> 01:11:55.550
to live? It was released as King Kong 2 in foreign

01:11:55.550 --> 01:11:59.289
markets. It was, yeah. Maybe folks in Russia

01:11:59.289 --> 01:12:01.130
just didn't know if he was going to live or not.

01:12:01.289 --> 01:12:03.109
They were like, well, it's King Kong 2. I don't

01:12:03.109 --> 01:12:06.590
know what that means. I don't think the visual

01:12:06.590 --> 01:12:10.430
effects are terrible. I think they're obvious,

01:12:10.710 --> 01:12:13.810
like when there's a blue screen effect. Yeah.

01:12:14.010 --> 01:12:17.670
But I don't think it's distractingly bad. Like,

01:12:17.670 --> 01:12:20.109
again, I think it fits within that campy world

01:12:20.109 --> 01:12:22.829
where it's like, oh, you can see the strings

01:12:22.829 --> 01:12:25.350
in a Godzilla movie, but that's okay. Like, that's

01:12:25.350 --> 01:12:29.890
what we're here for. And what's up? Oh, I think

01:12:29.890 --> 01:12:33.340
it's certainly, you know, comparable to. The

01:12:33.340 --> 01:12:36.979
Return of Godzilla, which came out in 1984, I

01:12:36.979 --> 01:12:39.880
would say that those special effects are... I

01:12:39.880 --> 01:12:41.380
don't know, actually. I think maybe I like the

01:12:41.380 --> 01:12:43.119
Return of Godzilla a little bit more, but they're

01:12:43.119 --> 01:12:47.659
certainly on par for the time. Yeah. Yeah, it's

01:12:47.659 --> 01:12:53.720
like mid-'80s. We're not quite to CGI yet, but

01:12:53.720 --> 01:12:56.439
we're almost there, and just seeing where all

01:12:56.439 --> 01:13:00.420
the visual effects land can be hit and miss sometimes.

01:13:01.579 --> 01:13:03.859
But I do like the model work. I like the suit

01:13:03.859 --> 01:13:09.239
work in this film. I appreciated that the apes

01:13:09.239 --> 01:13:12.119
actually walk on their knuckles in this movie

01:13:12.119 --> 01:13:15.420
as opposed to just being upright. Yeah, good

01:13:15.420 --> 01:13:19.500
ape acting. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. I like when we

01:13:19.500 --> 01:13:23.079
first meet Lady Kong in Borneo, I think it is.

01:13:23.689 --> 01:13:26.529
Hank is like, you know, he's kind of like, he

01:13:26.529 --> 01:13:29.050
lays down to sleep and then he realizes that

01:13:29.050 --> 01:13:31.409
he's basically lying on Lady Kong. And then like

01:13:31.409 --> 01:13:33.449
this enormous like ape hand kind of like chases

01:13:33.449 --> 01:13:35.529
him around the jungle a little bit. And like,

01:13:35.590 --> 01:13:37.810
I actually really liked the like energy and like

01:13:37.810 --> 01:13:39.609
the speed and the movement of that scene and

01:13:39.609 --> 01:13:42.569
like the big robotic ape arm or whatever, an

01:13:42.569 --> 01:13:44.369
ape hand. Like I thought that was pretty well

01:13:44.369 --> 01:13:46.329
done. And like a good introduction to that character,

01:13:46.449 --> 01:13:49.710
you know? I think so too. Yeah, that was fun.

01:13:49.810 --> 01:13:54.180
Yeah. Yeah. I think overall, lady kong i think

01:13:54.180 --> 01:13:57.460
looks better than king kong in this movie like

01:13:57.460 --> 01:13:59.779
i think lady kong look you know is it's a really

01:13:59.779 --> 01:14:03.739
good costume and yeah i really enjoyed it i have

01:14:03.739 --> 01:14:06.720
to give a shout out honestly and this is this

01:14:06.720 --> 01:14:10.939
is probably where seven -year -old me comes back

01:14:10.939 --> 01:14:15.199
to things i really liked the final scene when

01:14:15.199 --> 01:14:18.399
when Kong's lying there and he's dying and his

01:14:18.399 --> 01:14:22.100
son. And like, I find that I won't lie. I find

01:14:22.100 --> 01:14:25.140
that very touching. Like when the kid gets in

01:14:25.140 --> 01:14:27.140
his hand and he's really excited and happy and

01:14:27.140 --> 01:14:28.939
he feels the love and then Kong dies, like that's

01:14:28.939 --> 01:14:32.399
actually really, it was really sad. And for better

01:14:32.399 --> 01:14:35.619
or worse, it made me think about being a father.

01:14:35.760 --> 01:14:38.640
And, you know, I have this photograph of the

01:14:38.640 --> 01:14:41.199
first time I ever held my kid. Like our doula

01:14:41.199 --> 01:14:43.739
just took a picture when it happened and I treasure

01:14:43.739 --> 01:14:46.260
that photo. And it's like, just sort of like

01:14:46.260 --> 01:14:49.260
fusing my own experiences on this, you know,

01:14:49.260 --> 01:14:52.060
giant monkey and his little teeny tiny monkey.

01:14:52.140 --> 01:14:55.659
But like it really, it, that, that hit me. I

01:14:55.659 --> 01:15:00.420
won't lie. I think it is a, the ending is a downer

01:15:00.420 --> 01:15:04.239
and it's not what we would get today. If this

01:15:04.239 --> 01:15:06.520
movie was made today, everything has to be a

01:15:06.520 --> 01:15:10.220
happy ending. So I do also appreciate a more

01:15:10.220 --> 01:15:15.760
poignant ending. Yeah. Yeah. It's touching and

01:15:15.760 --> 01:15:17.279
it's bittersweet, I think, because like, you

01:15:17.279 --> 01:15:19.840
know, Lady Kong and her son are back in Borneo

01:15:19.840 --> 01:15:22.319
and seem to be enjoying this kind of idyllic

01:15:22.319 --> 01:15:24.199
existence. But of course, King Kong is not there

01:15:24.199 --> 01:15:26.619
to enjoy it with them. So I like the bittersweet

01:15:26.619 --> 01:15:28.800
nature of it. I agree with both of you. Yeah.

01:15:29.939 --> 01:15:33.340
The only other thing I have to give a bit of

01:15:33.340 --> 01:15:36.260
a shout out to is I liked the music. I don't

01:15:36.260 --> 01:15:40.340
necessarily think it fits the movie, honestly,

01:15:40.460 --> 01:15:43.310
but I really like. The music, I think, is really

01:15:43.310 --> 01:15:46.529
pretty. The main theme is very lovely. And I

01:15:46.529 --> 01:15:49.890
like the theme for the military. I think it's

01:15:49.890 --> 01:15:51.810
good. I don't think it's as good as John Barry's

01:15:51.810 --> 01:15:55.550
score for the last one. But I do like the music.

01:15:55.550 --> 01:15:58.729
So I had to give that props. For those listening,

01:15:58.850 --> 01:16:01.710
Ben Cook -Felts is a musician, professional musician,

01:16:02.050 --> 01:16:07.289
and provides Armenia's mailbox theme music. Yeah.

01:16:07.350 --> 01:16:11.670
Well, so yeah. I don't know what that says. Now

01:16:11.670 --> 01:16:14.010
that you know that I really enjoy this music,

01:16:14.270 --> 01:16:16.850
you be the judge if you want to check out my

01:16:16.850 --> 01:16:21.510
stuff. But, you know. The Minions mailbox music

01:16:21.510 --> 01:16:24.409
is great. I love it. Oh, there you go. We thank

01:16:24.409 --> 01:16:27.510
you, Ben. Of course. Yeah. I was just going to

01:16:27.510 --> 01:16:30.270
add one more thing to the good category. I agree

01:16:30.270 --> 01:16:31.970
with everything both of you guys said. And I

01:16:31.970 --> 01:16:36.060
actually do, just to reiterate what... I'm very

01:16:36.060 --> 01:16:37.899
sorry. I can't remember if it was Vincent or

01:16:37.899 --> 01:16:39.699
Ben who said this, but whoever was talking about

01:16:39.699 --> 01:16:42.619
just like the monkey suits, the ape suits. I

01:16:42.619 --> 01:16:44.479
think Rumbaldi does pretty good work in this

01:16:44.479 --> 01:16:46.600
movie. And I like the visual effects for the

01:16:46.600 --> 01:16:48.340
most part, even if they are kind of obvious at

01:16:48.340 --> 01:16:50.539
times. But the new thing I was going to add is

01:16:50.539 --> 01:16:52.899
that I think there's like a lot of visual energy

01:16:52.899 --> 01:16:55.039
and excitement and imagination in some of the

01:16:55.039 --> 01:16:58.119
scenes. Maybe not in certain scenes, but like,

01:16:58.159 --> 01:17:00.560
you know, early on over the opening credits,

01:17:00.680 --> 01:17:03.319
we have this like very long crane shot that's

01:17:03.319 --> 01:17:05.340
going through this big warehouse. King Kong is

01:17:05.340 --> 01:17:08.979
like strapped to a table basically. And it's

01:17:08.979 --> 01:17:11.560
like a very long shot. It's not especially like,

01:17:11.640 --> 01:17:14.640
you know, the camera sort of just like is on

01:17:14.640 --> 01:17:16.699
a crane and it tracks back and it's not like

01:17:16.699 --> 01:17:19.399
especially like acrobatic, but it looks good.

01:17:19.420 --> 01:17:22.140
And like, there's an attempt at like visual uniqueness

01:17:22.140 --> 01:17:24.439
there. So I appreciated that. And then in the

01:17:24.439 --> 01:17:28.239
scene where Lady Kong arrives at the airport

01:17:28.239 --> 01:17:30.720
and like all these reporters are there, it's

01:17:30.720 --> 01:17:33.789
like a really. jam -packed scene there's a lot

01:17:33.789 --> 01:17:36.250
going on and the camera's flying all over the

01:17:36.250 --> 01:17:37.890
place I think it's like on a truck or something

01:17:37.890 --> 01:17:40.550
and it's like circling around this huge group

01:17:40.550 --> 01:17:42.649
of people and I was like oh this is actually

01:17:42.649 --> 01:17:45.789
like visually a very like exhilarating scene

01:17:45.789 --> 01:17:48.010
there's a lot going on and I feel like it's it's

01:17:48.010 --> 01:17:50.989
pretty well shot credit to the cinematographer

01:17:50.989 --> 01:17:53.590
who maybe his work on the James Bond movies helped

01:17:53.590 --> 01:17:55.970
with that a little bit but I think you know there

01:17:55.970 --> 01:17:58.029
are certain scenes where there is a lot of visual

01:17:58.029 --> 01:18:00.029
excitement in the movie and I appreciated that

01:18:00.590 --> 01:18:03.909
Yeah, I think it's easy to forget that because

01:18:03.909 --> 01:18:06.369
this is kind of a cheesy 80s monster movie that

01:18:06.369 --> 01:18:09.529
a lot of the crew that worked on this were very

01:18:09.529 --> 01:18:11.569
competent and had a lot of, you know, had pretty

01:18:11.569 --> 01:18:15.970
strong pedigree. Oh, yeah. This was an A movie,

01:18:16.149 --> 01:18:20.670
100%, despite its maybe B movie sensibilities.

01:18:21.029 --> 01:18:25.689
They put effort into this. And I think it shows.

01:18:25.930 --> 01:18:28.869
I don't think this movie's as bad as people...

01:18:29.350 --> 01:18:32.010
As the masses say it is. Just putting that out

01:18:32.010 --> 01:18:36.609
there. Let's talk about the bad things. I think

01:18:36.609 --> 01:18:39.390
there are things that don't work. Again, I'm

01:18:39.390 --> 01:18:42.270
just speaking for myself, though. I just find

01:18:42.270 --> 01:18:45.729
this movie, even when it is bad, it's more campy

01:18:45.729 --> 01:18:50.270
and still enjoyable. So I actually kind of had

01:18:50.270 --> 01:18:52.270
to struggle with like, okay, but what really

01:18:52.270 --> 01:18:56.750
doesn't work for me? I think, thinking hard,

01:18:56.909 --> 01:19:02.039
I think... The movie's a little long at points,

01:19:02.180 --> 01:19:04.680
like a little long in the tooth. I think that

01:19:04.680 --> 01:19:08.399
runtime's an hour 40 minutes or something. And

01:19:08.399 --> 01:19:11.720
a lot of it does fly by. It's got a lot of action.

01:19:12.159 --> 01:19:14.640
But some scenes I just felt like ran a little

01:19:14.640 --> 01:19:17.680
too long. The stuff with the redneck hunters

01:19:17.680 --> 01:19:21.779
felt a little dissonant to me. I was like, oh,

01:19:21.920 --> 01:19:24.260
okay, this is fine. But again, this scene is

01:19:24.260 --> 01:19:27.890
running too long for me. these guys are very

01:19:27.890 --> 01:19:31.970
obnoxious i definitely want to see them die but

01:19:31.970 --> 01:19:35.210
they're they're a lot right now for me it had

01:19:35.210 --> 01:19:37.750
kind of a jaws ripoff vibe to me too i just wanted

01:19:37.750 --> 01:19:40.109
to interject that sorry oh yeah no i picked that

01:19:40.109 --> 01:19:44.109
up yeah yeah i wish lady kong had more to do

01:19:44.109 --> 01:19:50.390
like ultimately she was a love interest but if

01:19:50.390 --> 01:19:52.130
we're talking about female agency we can talk

01:19:52.130 --> 01:19:55.300
about female ape agency right and I just like

01:19:55.300 --> 01:19:58.880
what's a version of this movie where she is a

01:19:58.880 --> 01:20:02.779
fighter as much as Kong. Like, I'd like to see

01:20:02.779 --> 01:20:06.500
that version, too. I will say I maybe again,

01:20:06.600 --> 01:20:08.979
it's because of my history that I give this movie

01:20:08.979 --> 01:20:11.460
less of a personally, I think I give it a little

01:20:11.460 --> 01:20:14.460
less of a past. And maybe I would if I was just

01:20:14.460 --> 01:20:19.239
seeing it for the first time. I feel like unlike

01:20:19.239 --> 01:20:22.640
some other kaiju movies or unlike even something

01:20:22.640 --> 01:20:27.960
like. Kong Skull Island, which to me is insane,

01:20:28.060 --> 01:20:29.960
doesn't make any sense, but it's a lot of fun.

01:20:30.399 --> 01:20:34.159
I didn't quite get that like, personally, I didn't

01:20:34.159 --> 01:20:36.479
quite get that sense of fun with this movie.

01:20:36.539 --> 01:20:38.739
I think part of it is that the pedigree was so

01:20:38.739 --> 01:20:42.100
strong that it felt like the movie that they

01:20:42.100 --> 01:20:47.039
were making didn't always jibe with the script

01:20:47.039 --> 01:20:50.739
and the tone of what was written. So to me, I

01:20:50.739 --> 01:20:53.750
mean, it's a fascinating movie. And I will say

01:20:53.750 --> 01:20:56.029
that like, it's definitely, you know, I think

01:20:56.029 --> 01:20:58.010
worth watching just because it's like, you will

01:20:58.010 --> 01:21:01.050
never see a movie like this. And it's, it's remarkable

01:21:01.050 --> 01:21:04.470
that it got made, but there are definitely, there

01:21:04.470 --> 01:21:06.689
are definitely a lot of things that, yeah, it

01:21:06.689 --> 01:21:08.510
just, I don't know, especially in the middle

01:21:08.510 --> 01:21:11.029
when, when Kong's just walking around in the,

01:21:11.029 --> 01:21:15.329
in the swamps eating gators, like it didn't really

01:21:15.329 --> 01:21:20.609
hold my interest the way that I wished it, it

01:21:20.609 --> 01:21:23.859
had. And there are, it's just, you know, you

01:21:23.859 --> 01:21:28.659
do have to just take a real big swallow and go

01:21:28.659 --> 01:21:31.239
along with the plot of this, you know, to even

01:21:31.239 --> 01:21:34.779
accept that it all starts with him needing a

01:21:34.779 --> 01:21:36.739
blood transfusion and go from there. Like, there

01:21:36.739 --> 01:21:39.899
are so many questions that are just not answered.

01:21:43.159 --> 01:21:48.020
I'd agree with that, man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I

01:21:48.020 --> 01:21:51.159
also agree. I think there are a lot of wasted

01:21:51.159 --> 01:21:54.300
opportunities in this movie. You know, like how

01:21:54.300 --> 01:21:58.270
how does Hank? apprehend lady Kong and bring

01:21:58.270 --> 01:22:00.590
her back to the United States. Like we don't

01:22:00.590 --> 01:22:02.310
see any of that. And there's sort of a joke about

01:22:02.310 --> 01:22:04.109
it when Hank returns to the U S and he's like,

01:22:04.189 --> 01:22:06.050
Oh, I left a trail of bananas, which is kind

01:22:06.050 --> 01:22:07.789
of funny, but it's like, Oh, but I actually want

01:22:07.789 --> 01:22:09.949
to know how you did this. Like, right. That could

01:22:09.949 --> 01:22:12.170
have been a great scene. And like, even with

01:22:12.170 --> 01:22:14.989
the open heart surgery scene, like it's all off

01:22:14.989 --> 01:22:16.930
screen for the most part, we do see the, the

01:22:16.930 --> 01:22:19.869
huge props and that's amusing, but like, you

01:22:19.869 --> 01:22:21.890
know, we could have had some like gnarly special

01:22:21.890 --> 01:22:25.289
effects of like enormous ape ventricles and like,

01:22:25.770 --> 01:22:28.350
and like blood and everything. I know it's 2013,

01:22:28.369 --> 01:22:30.670
but that would have been pretty cool. I would

01:22:30.670 --> 01:22:32.789
have liked to see that. And like we were saying

01:22:32.789 --> 01:22:35.090
before, like if Lady Kong had been a little bit

01:22:35.090 --> 01:22:37.270
more of a fighter and like had more of a role

01:22:37.270 --> 01:22:39.710
to play towards the end, instead of being kind

01:22:39.710 --> 01:22:42.250
of just primate in distress, damsel in distress

01:22:42.250 --> 01:22:43.970
or whatever, like that would have been cool to

01:22:43.970 --> 01:22:46.670
see. So yeah, I mean, I think it's like a movie

01:22:46.670 --> 01:22:49.630
of wasted opportunities in certain scenes. Ben,

01:22:49.689 --> 01:22:51.329
you mentioned this before, but I think the tone

01:22:51.329 --> 01:22:53.670
is a little bit inconsistent at times. Yeah.

01:22:54.079 --> 01:22:56.640
we have the brutal killing of those redneck hunter

01:22:56.640 --> 01:22:59.520
guys, but then we also have some like wacky comedy

01:22:59.520 --> 01:23:01.260
of like King Kong being hit in the head with

01:23:01.260 --> 01:23:04.260
a golf ball and stuff. It's like, you know, the

01:23:04.260 --> 01:23:06.239
handling of tone could be a little bit sharper

01:23:06.239 --> 01:23:09.880
in this movie. And and like speaking of that

01:23:09.880 --> 01:23:12.060
stuff where like he's King Kong is like wandering

01:23:12.060 --> 01:23:14.680
around eating gators getting hit by a golf ball.

01:23:15.000 --> 01:23:16.479
It's like, oh, that could have been actually

01:23:16.479 --> 01:23:20.380
kind of a fun like homage to like Godzilla if

01:23:20.380 --> 01:23:23.220
he had like actually attacked a city. I know

01:23:23.220 --> 01:23:26.539
that's like, you know, standby stuff and like

01:23:26.539 --> 01:23:28.359
a kaiju movie, but it would have been cool and

01:23:28.359 --> 01:23:30.850
I would like to see that. But yeah. I don't know.

01:23:30.869 --> 01:23:32.869
That's pretty much all I have. And I think like

01:23:32.869 --> 01:23:35.529
this movie is really silly and ridiculous, but,

01:23:35.529 --> 01:23:37.789
but that's like the campy charm of it. So it's

01:23:37.789 --> 01:23:39.630
hard to put that totally in the bad category,

01:23:39.630 --> 01:23:42.930
you know? Yeah. I, if I could say one more thing

01:23:42.930 --> 01:23:45.630
I do, this is sort of in the, in the plot thing.

01:23:45.729 --> 01:23:48.130
And it, it, it ate at me when I watched it again,

01:23:48.210 --> 01:23:52.750
just, I wish that we had some idea of what Colonel

01:23:52.750 --> 01:23:56.409
Nevis end game was like, he's holding lady Kong,

01:23:56.550 --> 01:23:59.699
but to what end the government. wants to get

01:23:59.699 --> 01:24:03.180
rid of her. Everyone is saying, let's just deal

01:24:03.180 --> 01:24:06.340
with this and get this ape. You know, why is

01:24:06.340 --> 01:24:10.220
he holding on? What, what is he planning to do?

01:24:10.340 --> 01:24:12.699
You know, I just, I wish we'd known a little

01:24:12.699 --> 01:24:15.739
more about that. Yeah. I agree with his lack

01:24:15.739 --> 01:24:19.279
of motivations. At one point he says, you know,

01:24:19.279 --> 01:24:21.180
his men can't train because they have to watch

01:24:21.180 --> 01:24:24.239
the apes. I'm like, was that your whole motivation?

01:24:24.520 --> 01:24:28.029
Like there's nothing really like. really compelling

01:24:28.029 --> 01:24:32.449
him to stand in the way of, of scientific progress.

01:24:32.510 --> 01:24:34.409
Like he's just there. He doesn't really have

01:24:34.409 --> 01:24:36.710
a compelling reason for this. So I think that

01:24:36.710 --> 01:24:40.050
lacks. I also wanted to add that the scale in

01:24:40.050 --> 01:24:44.229
this movie, the sense of scale. Yeah. Bothered

01:24:44.229 --> 01:24:47.550
me at times like baby Kong at the end fits in

01:24:47.550 --> 01:24:52.550
the palm of daddy Kong's hand. I'm like, I get,

01:24:52.630 --> 01:24:55.489
I'm thinking of the scale. Cause surely baby

01:24:55.489 --> 01:24:58.590
gorillas. aren't that small maybe they are i

01:24:58.590 --> 01:25:00.710
don't know but like it just seemed like a really

01:25:00.710 --> 01:25:05.329
small baby like a really yeah small baby i agree

01:25:05.329 --> 01:25:07.550
with you there's inconsistencies too with the

01:25:07.550 --> 01:25:10.850
like the scale of the alligators versus the human

01:25:10.850 --> 01:25:13.550
redneck hunters and just all that stuff like

01:25:13.550 --> 01:25:17.569
yeah it's not it's not consistent yeah yeah yeah

01:25:17.569 --> 01:25:21.869
and i think not seeing the the apes in a cityscape

01:25:22.740 --> 01:25:24.960
adds to that frustration too because they're

01:25:24.960 --> 01:25:26.979
in they're among trees and mountains but like

01:25:26.979 --> 01:25:29.960
that doesn't really help me again with a sense

01:25:29.960 --> 01:25:33.260
of scale not like a you know a 20 -foot skyscraper

01:25:33.260 --> 01:25:35.960
for instance so yeah i don't know just little

01:25:35.960 --> 01:25:41.260
things like that uh campy stuff what haven't

01:25:41.260 --> 01:25:45.899
i mentioned there okay here's a moment that i

01:25:45.899 --> 01:25:49.729
i have to shout out pong pulls a Rambo and he

01:25:49.729 --> 01:25:52.909
jumps into the river into the raging river to

01:25:52.909 --> 01:25:57.170
escape and I first of all I love this scene I

01:25:57.170 --> 01:25:59.470
think it's really well shot and he's like going

01:25:59.470 --> 01:26:04.630
down the rapids and it's all very serious until

01:26:04.630 --> 01:26:09.989
Kong bonks his big old head on a rock and it's

01:26:09.989 --> 01:26:14.399
shot in slow motion and I'm just like this isn't

01:26:14.399 --> 01:26:16.579
sell it's not they're not selling this very well

01:26:16.579 --> 01:26:20.100
he bonks his head and then blood is in the water

01:26:20.100 --> 01:26:23.079
i'm like what the couple i mean we've already

01:26:23.079 --> 01:26:24.460
talked about some of the things that for me are

01:26:24.460 --> 01:26:26.260
just straight up campy like colonel nevet and

01:26:26.260 --> 01:26:30.340
the hunters and some of the ape puns are gloriously

01:26:30.340 --> 01:26:33.420
campy but i mean they're all over the place i

01:26:33.420 --> 01:26:35.859
i will say that i think this falls into campy

01:26:35.859 --> 01:26:39.460
there are just a few production inconsistencies

01:26:39.460 --> 01:26:42.640
that kind of like That struck me. The two that

01:26:42.640 --> 01:26:46.640
I noticed were at the beginning, the credit says

01:26:46.640 --> 01:26:49.380
it's the, I think it says the Atlanta Institute,

01:26:49.399 --> 01:26:52.140
but then during the movie, they call it the Atlantic

01:26:52.140 --> 01:26:55.979
Institute the entire time. And then also the

01:26:55.979 --> 01:26:59.260
big one for me that just kind of made my brain

01:26:59.260 --> 01:27:02.359
explode was after the heart surgery is successful

01:27:02.359 --> 01:27:04.680
and the reporters talking and there are all these,

01:27:04.680 --> 01:27:07.500
you know, people waving signs and one's guy.

01:27:08.029 --> 01:27:10.250
It's got a gorilla costume on. There's a sign

01:27:10.250 --> 01:27:15.649
that says, You Kong, Me Faye. Which is a reference

01:27:15.649 --> 01:27:18.569
to Faye Ray, who's not part of this universe.

01:27:19.029 --> 01:27:21.289
And in fact, shouldn't be anyway, because that's

01:27:21.289 --> 01:27:23.350
the actress who played Ann Daryl. Like that whole

01:27:23.350 --> 01:27:25.069
thing. I was just like, how did that get in this

01:27:25.069 --> 01:27:28.909
movie? That just, it boggled my mind. And in

01:27:28.909 --> 01:27:30.810
that scene, there's a flash of a Confederate

01:27:30.810 --> 01:27:34.500
flag. Yes. Yeah. And given some of the like racial

01:27:34.500 --> 01:27:37.000
coding of King Kong, like the original King Kong,

01:27:37.000 --> 01:27:38.840
like, you know, I mean, it's just like kind of

01:27:38.840 --> 01:27:41.300
a bad look in general, you know? Yeah, absolutely.

01:27:41.340 --> 01:27:44.500
And the rednecks. You could read a very dark

01:27:44.500 --> 01:27:47.359
message into all that for sure. I think that's

01:27:47.359 --> 01:27:51.579
there. Yeah. Yeah. It seems almost unintentionally

01:27:51.579 --> 01:27:54.420
there though, you know, which is like, I mean,

01:27:54.420 --> 01:27:57.479
if it is intentional, like why not make a clearer

01:27:57.479 --> 01:27:59.579
point of that, you know? I feel like that's kind

01:27:59.579 --> 01:28:01.579
of a consistent thing with just the King Kong

01:28:01.579 --> 01:28:04.420
story in general, like how much of this subtext

01:28:04.420 --> 01:28:06.979
is intentional, how much of it just is and a

01:28:06.979 --> 01:28:11.039
product of its time. Yeah, for sure. It feels

01:28:11.039 --> 01:28:13.439
kind of awkward to go back to some campy stuff

01:28:13.439 --> 01:28:16.060
now, but there's a lot of it in this movie. And

01:28:16.060 --> 01:28:19.300
like, I do like some lines of dialogue, you know,

01:28:19.300 --> 01:28:21.779
I think are intentionally funny. And like when,

01:28:21.840 --> 01:28:25.100
when a guy runs in, like one of the. I don't

01:28:25.100 --> 01:28:26.640
know. He's in like the hospital, the warehouse

01:28:26.640 --> 01:28:28.460
where they're operating on King Kong. And he's

01:28:28.460 --> 01:28:31.100
like, the other monkeys go and ape shit. I thought

01:28:31.100 --> 01:28:34.159
that was kind of fun. I also love the fact that

01:28:34.159 --> 01:28:36.680
like when they're trying to like restrain Lady

01:28:36.680 --> 01:28:39.779
Kong, there's only one guy, one guard who's in

01:28:39.779 --> 01:28:42.140
the warehouse fucking King Kong. And then when

01:28:42.140 --> 01:28:44.800
King Kong inevitably breaks his restraints, this

01:28:44.800 --> 01:28:47.140
guy doesn't know what to do. And he's like just

01:28:47.140 --> 01:28:49.640
a complete buffoon. I love that guy. Whoever

01:28:49.640 --> 01:28:53.079
they cast is perfect for that role. And when

01:28:53.079 --> 01:28:56.079
Mitchell and Franklin are trying to break into

01:28:56.079 --> 01:28:59.539
the lab, there's one guard at the gate and the

01:28:59.539 --> 01:29:03.119
gate is open. And Mitchell basically pulls that,

01:29:03.159 --> 01:29:05.300
hey, look over there and pushes them out of the

01:29:05.300 --> 01:29:08.659
way and they make a run for it. Yeah, I love

01:29:08.659 --> 01:29:13.039
it. I legitimately laugh like genuinely when

01:29:13.039 --> 01:29:14.859
they're going, one of the times they're going

01:29:14.859 --> 01:29:17.659
in to check in on Lady Kong and they're not sure

01:29:17.659 --> 01:29:19.500
that Kong is still alive. They haven't found

01:29:19.500 --> 01:29:22.000
him yet. Linda Hamilton says something like,

01:29:22.060 --> 01:29:24.539
you know, have you, you're the one that said

01:29:24.539 --> 01:29:26.140
to the other doctor that you're the one that

01:29:26.140 --> 01:29:28.619
said that, you know, apes mate for life, that

01:29:28.619 --> 01:29:30.600
the male returns. And he's like, not when he's

01:29:30.600 --> 01:29:38.899
dead. I laughed at that. There was a line. Mitchell

01:29:38.899 --> 01:29:42.539
was in a car with, it was like towards the end.

01:29:42.699 --> 01:29:44.939
I don't know. He, they had to get somewhere in

01:29:44.939 --> 01:29:49.560
a hurry. And Mitch says, we got to hump it. And

01:29:49.560 --> 01:29:52.199
I was watching with the subtitles and I was like,

01:29:52.199 --> 01:29:55.340
is that an 80s thing that people said? That's

01:29:55.340 --> 01:29:59.960
very strange. I also really love the reporter

01:29:59.960 --> 01:30:01.859
who's talking about Lady Kong in the warehouse.

01:30:01.899 --> 01:30:04.479
And he's like, this is the biggest ladies dressing

01:30:04.479 --> 01:30:06.739
room ever made. I thought that was a pretty ridiculous

01:30:06.739 --> 01:30:11.479
line. And then, sorry, the last thing for the

01:30:11.479 --> 01:30:13.500
campy category for me is one of my favorite scenes

01:30:13.500 --> 01:30:16.060
in the movie when they're trying to restrain

01:30:16.060 --> 01:30:18.920
Lady Kong and then King Kong breaks in. And then

01:30:18.920 --> 01:30:21.039
the military is trying to shoot apparently both

01:30:21.039 --> 01:30:24.380
Lady Kong and King Kong. And Hank is like just

01:30:24.380 --> 01:30:27.960
causing havoc in every way he possibly can. It's

01:30:27.960 --> 01:30:29.859
like, man, this is pandemonium. It immediately

01:30:29.859 --> 01:30:32.300
just like devolves into chaos. And they're like

01:30:32.300 --> 01:30:37.069
cars on fire. I love that. Yeah, that scene is

01:30:37.069 --> 01:30:39.529
amazing. It's just totally ridiculous the entire

01:30:39.529 --> 01:30:41.670
time. It's so fun. Why were there cars driving

01:30:41.670 --> 01:30:46.390
through the warehouse? It makes no sense. It's

01:30:46.390 --> 01:30:49.949
brilliant, yeah. Hank is riding on the back of

01:30:49.949 --> 01:30:52.270
a Jeep, and he kicks the driver in the back of

01:30:52.270 --> 01:30:54.590
the head. But he does it very gingerly, probably

01:30:54.590 --> 01:30:56.850
not trying to actually kick the actor in the

01:30:56.850 --> 01:30:58.989
head. I really love that moment as well. Amazing.

01:31:00.590 --> 01:31:04.479
Yeah, they kind of repeat that whole... sense

01:31:04.479 --> 01:31:08.239
of pandemonium in the, like the small town where

01:31:08.239 --> 01:31:11.979
Kong crashes in on and, and the red decks go

01:31:11.979 --> 01:31:15.600
crazy and there's bikers and people shooting

01:31:15.600 --> 01:31:18.600
off rifles and in the crowd and cars are crashing

01:31:18.600 --> 01:31:22.479
again. Just. Yeah. And in the middle of it, there's

01:31:22.479 --> 01:31:25.260
all this pandemonium. And then this guy said,

01:31:25.380 --> 01:31:27.300
Hey baby, wait till you see this gets on his

01:31:27.300 --> 01:31:29.600
motorcycle and just drives between Kong's legs.

01:31:29.699 --> 01:31:34.420
Like that's great. Yeah. Totally ridiculous,

01:31:34.640 --> 01:31:37.739
man. He said, I've always wanted to do this.

01:31:37.760 --> 01:31:42.199
Here's my chance. I've always dreamed of there

01:31:42.199 --> 01:31:45.140
being a giant gorilla that I can ride my bike

01:31:45.140 --> 01:31:53.460
through his legs. Yeah. Oh, man. Yeah, this movie

01:31:53.460 --> 01:31:58.520
is funny. But here we are at the end of our episode.

01:31:59.100 --> 01:32:03.279
We got to give it a rating. As always, Matt,

01:32:03.420 --> 01:32:05.439
would you please do the honors of telling us

01:32:05.439 --> 01:32:08.539
those four ratings? I would love to. This is

01:32:08.539 --> 01:32:10.760
my favorite part of every episode. Our highest

01:32:10.760 --> 01:32:13.460
rating on Camp Kaiju is it is a timeless classic.

01:32:13.479 --> 01:32:16.100
It definitely stands the test of time. Our second

01:32:16.100 --> 01:32:18.079
highest rating is there may be some antiquated

01:32:18.079 --> 01:32:20.220
moments, but overall, it's great. It stands the

01:32:20.220 --> 01:32:23.760
test of time. Our third rating is it may be historically

01:32:23.760 --> 01:32:26.300
significant or just fun, but it does not stand

01:32:26.300 --> 01:32:29.060
the test of time. and our lowest rating, it is

01:32:29.060 --> 01:32:31.579
not worth revisiting. It definitely does not

01:32:31.579 --> 01:32:36.239
stand the test of time. I think that there are

01:32:36.239 --> 01:32:40.899
plenty of antiquated moments that we've discussed

01:32:40.899 --> 01:32:44.640
that do not work, that do not hold up, but I

01:32:44.640 --> 01:32:46.880
enjoyed this movie so much more than I thought,

01:32:47.000 --> 01:32:49.600
maybe because the bar was so low for me coming

01:32:49.600 --> 01:32:54.180
into it. I had a blast watching it. Yeah, I think

01:32:54.180 --> 01:32:58.300
some scenes ran long, but... I would watch this

01:32:58.300 --> 01:33:01.500
movie again, especially paired with another King

01:33:01.500 --> 01:33:04.520
Kong movie. So I'm going to say overall, it's

01:33:04.520 --> 01:33:06.819
great. And I think it does stand the test of

01:33:06.819 --> 01:33:11.680
time. I love it. Ben, I feel like maybe you should

01:33:11.680 --> 01:33:13.800
have the last word because you kind of indirectly

01:33:13.800 --> 01:33:16.520
brought King Kong lives to the podcast. So sure.

01:33:16.880 --> 01:33:19.239
So I can go next if you'd like just very quickly.

01:33:19.300 --> 01:33:22.979
But for me, I would say this movie is fun. But

01:33:22.979 --> 01:33:24.899
I don't know if it totally stands the test of

01:33:24.899 --> 01:33:28.920
time. I think it could have been even better

01:33:28.920 --> 01:33:31.739
if the movie had had a sharper handle on tone,

01:33:31.899 --> 01:33:33.399
if it had been a little bit more intentional

01:33:33.399 --> 01:33:35.720
about some of the depictions, some of the ideas.

01:33:36.460 --> 01:33:39.239
But it is really fun. I mean, honestly, with

01:33:39.239 --> 01:33:41.060
the critical reputation in this movie, I thought

01:33:41.060 --> 01:33:42.720
I was going to give this our lowest rating, and

01:33:42.720 --> 01:33:44.560
I'm not going to do that. It is a very fun movie.

01:33:44.760 --> 01:33:49.860
So, you know, I do understand the... critical

01:33:49.860 --> 01:33:52.199
lambasting this movie got upon its release, but

01:33:52.199 --> 01:33:55.680
it's fun. So it'll get our second lowest rating

01:33:55.680 --> 01:34:01.600
from me. Okay. Yeah, I have to... I think I have

01:34:01.600 --> 01:34:06.039
to agree with you, Matt. I... You know, I have

01:34:06.039 --> 01:34:08.739
known this movie for a very long time, and...

01:34:08.920 --> 01:34:12.539
I will still, to this day, recommend the 76 King

01:34:12.539 --> 01:34:16.739
Kong to anyone who's even a casual fan. I legitimately

01:34:16.739 --> 01:34:19.920
love that movie. I turn to it as comfort food

01:34:19.920 --> 01:34:24.279
at least once a year. I do not put King Kong

01:34:24.279 --> 01:34:28.020
Lives in the same category. It's a curio. I mean,

01:34:28.079 --> 01:34:32.800
it is fun. I wouldn't call it historically significant.

01:34:33.800 --> 01:34:37.260
I think it's worth checking out if you're a more

01:34:37.260 --> 01:34:39.199
diehard fan, for sure, or if you're in the mood

01:34:39.199 --> 01:34:42.500
for some laughs. But yeah, I don't think it stands

01:34:42.500 --> 01:34:45.659
the test of time. I need to revisit the 76 Kong.

01:34:45.779 --> 01:34:48.600
I've seen it a couple times. I was a little lukewarm

01:34:48.600 --> 01:34:52.239
on it, but I'm in the mood now, especially after

01:34:52.239 --> 01:34:55.520
watching this sequel. Yeah, I like the 76 one.

01:34:55.560 --> 01:34:57.279
I haven't seen it in a while, but I do like the

01:34:57.279 --> 01:34:59.460
star power in that movie. Jeff Bridges and Jessica

01:34:59.460 --> 01:35:01.220
Lange, a lot of fun to watch in that one, and

01:35:01.220 --> 01:35:04.090
pretty good creature effects, too. Yeah. Yeah,

01:35:04.130 --> 01:35:06.590
there it is, folks. Really glad we finally talked

01:35:06.590 --> 01:35:09.170
about this movie. There's still plenty of other

01:35:09.170 --> 01:35:12.569
King Kong movies we have yet to cover on the

01:35:12.569 --> 01:35:15.810
podcast. One day we will get to all of them.

01:35:16.229 --> 01:35:19.369
I'd love to cover other films tangential, like

01:35:19.369 --> 01:35:22.090
Konga, for instance. Yeah. Have you ever seen

01:35:22.090 --> 01:35:25.069
Konga, Ben? Yes, I have. I mean, I've only seen

01:35:25.069 --> 01:35:27.369
it a couple of times, but yeah, I like it. I

01:35:27.369 --> 01:35:29.970
was going to say also, I don't know if even maybe

01:35:29.970 --> 01:35:31.770
you've done this, but the Mighty Peking Man.

01:35:33.050 --> 01:35:35.930
No, that's a good one. That's another giant movie.

01:35:36.750 --> 01:35:39.770
All right. Two and a half years from now, you'll

01:35:39.770 --> 01:35:43.609
get an email from me. Can't wait. No, I hope

01:35:43.609 --> 01:35:47.149
to have you back on sooner than that, if you're

01:35:47.149 --> 01:35:49.989
willing. Yeah. Thank you both. It was a lot of

01:35:49.989 --> 01:35:52.409
fun and yeah, really enjoyed being on it. Thank

01:35:52.409 --> 01:35:54.670
you so much. Yeah. Thanks, Ben. Have a good night,

01:35:54.689 --> 01:36:08.399
man. Thanks for watching! or if you'd like to

01:36:08.399 --> 01:36:11.000
be a featured voice on the show, leave a voicemail

01:36:11.000 --> 01:36:15.220
at 612 -470 -2612. Tell us about your favorite

01:36:15.220 --> 01:36:17.020
monster movies, your favorite King Kong movies,

01:36:17.159 --> 01:36:19.520
and more. Go ahead and check out our website,

01:36:19.760 --> 01:36:23.920
CampKaijuPodcast .com, for more info. Camp Kaiju

01:36:23.920 --> 01:36:26.600
is recorded in Minneapolis, St. Paul, with Minya's

01:36:26.600 --> 01:36:30.840
Mailbox Music by the one and only Ben Cook Feltz.

01:36:31.470 --> 01:36:33.409
Thank you, friends. Give it up for him. Follow

01:36:33.409 --> 01:36:37.069
him on the socials. I'll include all those links

01:36:37.069 --> 01:36:39.829
in the show notes. And until next time, stay

01:36:39.829 --> 01:36:43.109
campy. Camp Kaiju is sponsored by Zach Linder

01:36:43.109 --> 01:36:45.229
and the Zach Pack, powered by Coldwell Banker

01:36:45.229 --> 01:36:48.250
Realty, your source for real estate, home rehab,

01:36:48.449 --> 01:36:50.310
fixing and flipping for investor clients and

01:36:50.310 --> 01:36:53.199
residential buyers. Reach out to the Zach Pack

01:36:53.199 --> 01:36:55.659
today for real estate services. Follow the Zach

01:36:55.659 --> 01:36:58.100
Pack on social media and contact the Zach Pack

01:36:58.100 --> 01:37:01.119
for investment opportunities. Link in the show

01:37:01.119 --> 01:37:01.380
notes.