King Kong Lives 1986 Screenplay by Ronald Shusett and Steven Pressfield, directed by John Gillermin. It was the last theatrical film for Gillermin, he'd direct a TV movie in 1988. Gillermin directed his first film in 1949, he continued to make a mixed lot of pictures through 1974. He directed The Towering Inferno that year, he followed with King Kong in 1976 and Death On The Nile in 1978. I think that was his peak period, despite King Kong being a box office disappointment. His 80s films were a bit lackluster, Crossover, Sheena and King Kong Lives.
After shooting King Kong in the 1975 movie it turned out he wasn't totally dead yet, some university had taken the body and kept him in a comma for the last ten years. Linda Hamilton plans to replace his damaged heart with an artificial heart. In Borneo Brian Kerwin comes across a giant ape lady. He captures her and brings her to Georgia so she can supply blood for the operation.
That goes well and Kong wakes up. He goes a bit nutty when he can smell a female in the area. He breaks out and frees his new lady friend. They run off into the wilds of Georgia with the military after them bent on murder. Linda and Brian team up together to try to save the giant apes. It doesn't go well for King Kong but Lady Kong survives and bears him a son. Kong get a bit of a look at his son just before he finally dies. Brian arranges a sanctuary for the giant apes in Borneo.
It's a below average film and a lot of critics panned it. At the box office it was a flop in the US and Canada, worldwide it took in $48 million on a $18 million budget, $44 million in ticket sales came from Russia where the film was a big hit. Marketing costs put the film in the red and helped bankrupt the De Laurentiis' Company.
I enjoyed seeing the new Blu-ray but it's still a below average film. There was some laughs, especially when Kong chomped down on a hillbilly. There's plenty of special effects but not all successful. I doubt I'd watch it again. I don't have a copy at home and I'm lacking an interest to buy a copy. I don't even have a copy of the 1975 King Kong.
Darker Than Night 1975 Written and directed by Carlos Enrique Taboada. It's a Mexican film by the same director that directed Poison For The Fairies. It's part of Vinegar Syndrome's 3 film set of Taboada films.
A young woman called Ofelia inherits her aunt's house and fortune. Ofelia is the blond gal and she's supposed to take care of her aunt's cat as part of the deal. Ofelia brings her three roommates along.
One of the gals is a cat hater and that eventually leads to a dead cat. Soon after weird things start happening. The dead aunt starts appearing, that's followed by appearances of a dead cat. One gal is killed and that's followed by a couple of other deaths. At no time do we see the police or any other business that might be associated with dead bodies.
There's not much scary going on and on the whole it's rather pokey. If I was kinder I'd say it was atmospheric. There's a lot of wasted time doing nothing before anything interesting happens. After seeing two film by Carlos I'm not thinking I need to buy this box set. There's a 2014 remake that I have not seen. It looks more promising than the original.
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