BA_Harrison
Konga is, for the majority of its running time, a mundane mad scientist movie; only in its closing moments does the film become the desperate King Kong rip-off that its derivative title suggests. But that doesn't improve matters much.The deranged doctor in question is botanist Charles Decker (Michael Gough), who, having been lost in the jungles of Uganda for over a year, finally returns home to England with Konga, his pet chimpanzee (UK quarantine regulations clearly non-existent back in the '60s), plus several specimens of rare insectivorous plant-life. Using these plants, Decker concocts a formula designed to generate rapid growth in animals and tests his serum on Konga, with incredible results: the chimp not only increases in size, but also turns into a gorilla!Having added a little something to his concoction to ensure obedience, Decker then proceeds to use Konga to remove anyone who has been getting in his way, starting with the troublesome dean at his university, followed by a rival scientist, and then Bob, jealous boyfriend of Sandra (Claire Gordon), the pretty student that the dirty old doctor has designs on (can't say I blame him though: she definitely stands out from the other girls in his class!).When Decker informs his besotted assistant Margaret (Margo Johns) of his plans to dispose of Konga, and she subsequently overhears him telling Sandra that he has no more use for her, she releases Konga, giving him one last blast in the arm of Decker's serum. As a result, the ape grows bigger than a house, kills Margaret, grabs Decker, and goes on the rampage in Croydon High Street, before legging it to London to be shot at by the army. After wasting much of their ammo shooting at Big Ben, the soldiers adjust their sights and bring Konga crashing to the ground (but only after he has thrown Decker to his death).Not only does Konga suffer from a dreadfully dull and derivative script, but this utterly abysmal monster movie doesn't even compensate by delivering a half decent creature, it's over-sized ape being nothing more than a man in a really bad gorilla suit (which, incidentally, is the same one used in several other dreadful films, including z-grade sci-fi clunker Robot Monster). Fans of very bad movies might get a kick out of the wonderfully daft carnivorous plants in Decker's greenhouse, the dated scenes where the groovy students get down to some cool tunes on their transistor, and Sandra's rather dangerous looking bra, but most viewers will find little to go ape over.
Scott LeBrun
Well...at least producer Herman Cohen is right up front about what exactly he's ripping off here. However, there is a hook in that he's combining a King Kong type story with your typical "Frankenstein" type of cautionary tale. The demented scientist determined to play God in this instance is insane botanist Charles Decker (Michael Gough). Having crash landed in Africa and been missing in action for a year, Decker figured out the means of greatly increasing size in plant and animal matter. So he takes his newfound chimpanzee friend Konga, and injects him with his extra special new formula. The result is a great big man-in-a-gorilla-suit monster that eventually goes insane with rage.This *could* have been more of a campy delight, but too often it gets bogged down in story and becomes dull. There's not that much action here. Of course, considering just how *awful* the special effects are, that might have been for the best. The actors do their best, and due to the fact that they've got their own problems and aren't having to deal with Konga, they don't look *too* embarrassed. Margo Johns plays Margaret, Deckers' loyal assistant who's uncomfortable being party to things like murder, which Decker tries to dismiss as just "testing Kongas' loyalty". But she's willing to let it slide, provided that Decker marry her. But the gal that he's really got his eyes on is his vivacious, lovely student Sandra (Claire Gordon), whose boyfriend Bob (Jess Conrad) gets understandably upset. Also among those slumming away with this material are Austin Trevor, Jack Watson, George Pastell, Vanda Godsell, and Leonard Sachs. One worthy component is the music by Gerard Schurmann, but what really makes it watchable at all is Goughs' wonderful schlock movie hambone acting. As you can imagine, Decker is one of those "I'll show them! I'll show them all!" nut jobs in the classic tradition.A young Steven Berkoff has an early, uncredited role as a student.Five out of 10.
ferbs54
Released in 1961, the U.S./U.K. co-production of "Konga" marked the first time that theater goers were shown a giant ape going bonkers in the heart of a major city since "King Kong" itself, 28 years earlier. Of course, fans had been given the 1933 sequel "Son of Kong," but in that one, Kong, Jr. is more of a good-natured, oversized pet, and one who never makes it off Skull Island and into civilization, as had the old man. And in "Mighty Joe Young" (1949), although the titular big guy does engage in a mild temper tantrum, he is more fondly remembered today for his heroic efforts at a small-town, burning orphanage. In "Konga," however, the ape is huge and the rampage is through the heart of London, and if Konga's fury is a bit on the somnolent side and his general appearance rendered somewhat tacky by dint of some truly subpar special FX, these two factors do not prevent the film from remaining good, cheezy fun, now 53 years after its initial appearance.In the film, directed by John Lemont, the viewer meets a maniacally dedicated botanist named Charles Decker (wonderfully well played by British horror icon Michael Gough). When we first encounter the scientist, he is just returning from the jungles of Uganda, where his plane had crash-landed a year earlier. While lost in the wilderness there, Decker had encountered some marvelous new strains of insectivorous plants, and once back in London, he sets about on his new experiments: to extract the essences of these plants and create a breakthrough growth serum. The viewer is first tipped off to Decker's unhinged mania when he shoots his own house cat, who had lapped up a few drops of the serum. Even Decker's infatuated, middle-aged assistant, Margaret (Margo Johns), begins to look at him a bit askance after that action! But Margaret has an even greater surprise in store, when Decker's serum is used on his cute little African chimp, Konga, doubling its size, and later, when another injection causes Konga to grow to the size of a formidable-looking gorilla! Unfortunately, Decker soon begins to use his powerful ape to exterminate all his perceived enemies: the college dean, who had been threatening to halt Decker's work; an Indian botanist whose experiments rival his own; and the boyfriend of one of his students, Sandra (Claire Gordon), on whom Decker has a rather icky crush. And talk about hell having no fury like a woman scorned! When Margaret finds out about this infatuation of Decker's, she gives the Konga gorilla a superinjection, causing the big galoot to grow exponentially, and leading to that above-mentioned stroll around the area of Big Ben....Writing about the film in the indispensable "Time Out Film Guide," Geoff Andrew calls "Konga" an "inept, silly, and ludicrously enjoyable monster movie," and it is difficult to rebut any one of those three points. Yes, the FX ARE inept--especially the sight of Konga holding a doll that is supposed to be Margaret, and those almost embarrassingly bad transformation scenes (the screen turns all wavery as Konga grows in size)--but, somehow, they are endearingly, cheezily inept. And yes, the film can be a mite silly at times (a hypnotized gorilla doing its master's bidding?!?!), but never to the point where the viewer's intelligence is insulted. And, of course, the movie is most certainly enjoyable, with a juicy script and a Gough role that the beloved actor digs into with zest. Indeed, Gough is easily the single best component of this movie, and when he is not on screen--which only happens during the last 15 minutes of the film, during Konga's nighttime London boogie--the picture suffers. Strangely enough, that climactic ending, which the sadly soon-to-be-defunct "Maltin Movie Guide" correctly deems an "exceptionally dull rampage," may be the single weakest segment of the picture, with Gough's role limited to close-ups of his face as he grunts "Konga...put me down!" This rampage, sadly, does NOT fulfill the picture's poster claim: "Not since 'King Kong' has the screen exploded with such mighty fury and spectacle!" Otherwise, though, Gough is a pleasure to watch...and listen to; I love his exquisite British enunciation, especially on the repeated word "plants." And, oh...those carnivorous plants in Decker's greenhouse! How much fun are they to watch? (One of them almost looks like a possible pint-size inspiration for the Audrey II man-eater in 1986's "Little Shop of Horrors.") Such a shame, then, that the viewer never learns the final fate of Sandra, who, when we last see her, is screaming her pretty blonde head off, her arm caught in the grip of one of the acid-secreting nasties! All told, then, "Konga" is still another fun entertainment from producer Herman Cohen, who also gave us such wonders as "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla," "Target Earth," "I Was a Teenage Werewolf," "I Was a Teenage Frankenstein," "Blood of Dracula," "How to Make a Monster," "Horrors of the Black Museum" (also with Gough), "The Headless Ghost," "Black Zoo" (also with Gough), "Berserk" (also with Gough) AND "Trog"! And if "beauty killed the beast" in "King Kong," then, in poor, addled, narcotized, somnolent Konga's case, the cause of death must be ascribed to around 10 quadrillion bullets. (Amusingly, half of these tracer bullets, fired at point-blank range, seem to go very wide of the mark, as they sail over Konga's head; a very poor reflection on British marksmanship!) As Big Ben tolls Konga's death knell at the film's tail end, the viewer can only wonder how much more damage London might have incurred, had Konga possessed 1/10 of King Kong's fury and spunk....
museumofdave
It's A Gorilla film, folks! Whether its Kong or Konga, Mighty Joe Young or The Ape, I love gorilla movies, especially the kind where men in cloddish hairy suits lunge around the streets terrifying entire populations. This is one of those--a totally inept mad scientist movie that maintains momentum through sheer foolishness, complete with foaming beakers in the lab, human dreams of world domination, strange murders late at night, and best of all, a gorilla that just gets larger with every injection. This is a silly romp, filmed in bright pastels, and riddled with clichéd dialogue. I had fun, and if you like this sort of thing, you probably will, too. This film and The Little Shop of Horrors were made in the 1960s. and both feature overgrown carnivorous plants with strange appetites for human flesh. What was it about 1960, anyway? It must have been the something in the water!
