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Kong Island (1968)

What can be more terrifying that gorillas going on a rampage?  How about gorillas going on a rampage because of implants in their brains?  How about it happening on King Kong's Island?

When Diana is kidnapped by gorillas during a safari, Burt Dawson sets off into the deep jungle to find her.  He soon encounters a jungle girl, a mad scientist, and a band of mind controlled gorillas...

Despite the title, "Kong Island", there is no island... and no King Kong.  In fact, the original Italian title, "Eve, The Wild Woman" is in reference to the jungle girl Dawson meets.  One can only assume that American distributors felt that it would do better if they inferred a connection to the popular big ape.

The concept is perfect for a low budget B-movie.  Mix together a mad scientist, a mercenary, a beautiful kidnapped woman, a beautiful jungle woman, and a bunch of mind controlled gorillas.  The story is actually, decent enough for a night of popcorn and relaxing.  While certainly not great cinema, it is definately entertaining and amusing.

The characters aren't deep, but fit perfectly into the B-movie mold.  They aren't meant to make a statement about anything.  They're place is to entertain us.  They know that, and they do it.  Burt's role is to be manly and offer women a nice muscular chest to stare at.  Diana's role is to be the beautiful damsel in distress, and Eve is the beautiful jungle girl that helps Burt, while offering up the sight of strategically placed hair that defies movement and keeps her breasts covered.  And of course, we can't forget that Muller's role is to be the bad guy.  The characters aren't meant to be anything more than that, and I liked that.

The acting was very much in keeping with the character types.  I couldn't help but smile at how silly and serious it all was.  Just simply entertaining.

There is some decent camera work among the rather average stuff, but it was sufficient to give the movie a suitable pace and feel.

Even though I'm disappointed that "Kong Island" had nothing to do with King Kong, I still found myself enjoying it.  Would I be willing to watch it again- probably, yeah.  I'm going to put it in "The Good".
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