King Kong Lives



The remake of King Kong (1976) continued to ape the original film by having a crappy sequel that introduces King Kong’s child. But while The Son of Kong (1933) took place on Skull Island and had more dinosaurs, King Kong Lives (1986) is set almost completely in the southern United States and features a couple of baby snakes and alligators.

After plummeting from the World Trade Center Kong was left in a coma. He was moved to the fictional but real sounding Atlantic University, which has been working feverishly for years to revive the ape. They’ve even built a giant artificial heart, and have surgeon Amy (Linda Hamilton) waiting to do the procedure. What they don’t have is enough giant ape blood to keep Kong alive during the surgery, due to the complete lack of giant apes to donate. I guess neither Arnold Schwarzenegger nor Ron Perlman count.


"I went to Giant John Hopkins Medical School."

Luckily an Indiana Jones type named Hank (Brian Kerwin) finds a giant female ape in Borneo. Yep, Borneo, which doesn’t even have any regular sized gorillas. Sure, there is no such thing as giant apes, but at least the original King Kong had Kong living on a completely fictional island off a continent that does have gorillas. In any case, Hank sells the female ape, dubbed Lady Kong, to the institute. Amy performs the operation and Kong is back on his feet.


"That's it, I'm never staying in a Super 8 Motel again."

Perhaps even more bizarre than the existence of giant apes is that Atlantic University would buy two giant apes and have no secure place to house them. Both King and Lady Kong escape and hide in the wilderness. The military corners the apes and captures Lady, but King drops into a river and is assumed dead.

A year later Amy and Hank are working to get Lady Kong released from the army base where she’s being kept. King is living in the Louisiana swamps, eating alligators. His presence is discovered and he goes on a rampage that ends with his saving Lady Kong. Just as Kong finally defeats the perusing military Lady Kong goes into labor and Baby Kong is born. The movie ends with everyone living happily on a reserve in Borneo.


Philosophers will work hard to figure out which is the most savage primate in this picture.

The whole movie is silly, but it’s made with very little humor. It also largely misses the point of a Kong movie by concentrating on two romances, one between horrible unattractive monsters, and the other between King Kong and Lady Kong. Most of the power of the Kong story comes from a love triangle where one participant is a giant monster. The sheer silliness of the spectacle of Linda Hamilton trying to make googly eyes at Brian Kerwin is only outdone by the spectacle of the two no doubt male actors in ape suits trying to make googly eyes at each other.

Much like the 1976 remake, the makers of King Kong Lives don’t appear to be sure who they are making a movie for. Kids enjoy King Kong, that’s for sure. So why is King Kong Lives so gruesome? There is a scene where Kong literally tears a red neck to pieces, a scene where he eats an alligator (unconvincingly played by a baby alligator), and Lady Kong’s imprisonment in a disused missile silo isn’t very happy. There’s also rampant swearing, and Linda Hamilton, in a move that definitely didn’t foresee the freeze frame ability of DVD, even flashes her breasts. The result is a movie that makes Toho’s two stabs at King Kong (King Kong vs. Godzilla and King Kong Escapes) look dignified by comparison.


"I sure hope Dino De Laurentiis was in there."

Posted: Fri - October 1, 2004 at      

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