King Kong Lives Reviews

Only De Laurentiis would dare to make the same colossal mistake twice. When we last saw Kong in 1976, he had taken a nosedive off New York City's World Trade Center and had gone splat on the pavement below. Well, Kong didn't die. You see, he just sank into a deep coma and has been kept in a huge warehouse for the last 10 years until doctors and technicians had time to invent an artificial heart the size of a Volkswagen "bug." Before the operation can begin, however, a huge blood supply must be found. Luckily, a female Kong has just been discovered on the island of Borneo, and the big gal is shipped to the US so that she can serve as Kong's donor. The operation is a success (it is also one of the goofiest scenes ever committed to film), and Kong's diseased heart is replaced with a brand-new one made of steel and fiberglass. Actually, the heart works too well. When Kong smells a female his size in the warehouse next door, he becomes amorous, breaks his bonds, and leaves his warehouse hospital room to rescue his newfound love. The apes then make a dash for the mountains--with the Army, led by crazed colonel Ashton in hot pursuit. Soon the lovesick leviathans produce a baby Kong. This was all a joke, right? One can only imagine the production meeting that took place between studio chief De Laurentiis, producer Schumacher, director Guillermin (who actually came back for more after the first-remake disaster), and writers Shusett and Pressfield. In all fairness, there is a lot of camp value here. Fans of truly bad cinema couldn't ask for a sillier big-budget production--envisioned with the utmost seriousness.