Title: KongaKiller Monkey: Konga
What the heck?: Charles Decker, a respected British botanist, crash lands somewhere in the African jungle and disappears. Several months later, Decker emerges from the wild, unscathed and eager to prove his latest theory that plants are the evolutionary connection between man and whatever came before man. Amoebas or whatever. Anyway, Decker plans to prove this crackpot theory with the help of Konga, a chimp buddy he hooked up with in the jungle. By injecting Konga with a strange green elixir made from the leaves of some ludicrously large venus flytraps, carnivorous pitcher plants, and something that looks like a giant purple penis with a wagging tongue (ew), Decker successfully turns the chimp into, first, a larger chimp, and finally, a man in a shoddy gorilla costume. Decker than hypnotizes Konga to attack and murder his rivals, both personal and professional. When Decker's housekeeper/lab assistant/wife/doormat, Margaret, catches the psychotic scientist tongue raping a student in his greenhouse of horrors--those penis plants! those horrible, horrible penis plants!--she injects Konga with more serum than one gorilla-suited man can conceivably take, and the Big Ben-sized super beast breaks free from Decker's lab, taking a leisurely stroll around London, being extra careful not to knock over any buildings or step on any of the horrified citizenry.
What's to like: Michael Gough's delightfully intense performance as Dr. Decker.
What's to not like: the special effects are shoddy even by 1961 standards; the film waits so long to super-size Konga, that by the time he does grow to extraordinary heights, the movie only has 10 minutes left until the credits; absolutely none of the destruction featured in the film's poster ever happens; it literally took me three days to watch this thing and no one should have to spend three days with Konga.
Next time: Will we take a shine to Monkey Shines?
