Ghost of a flea: King Kong

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July 16, 2005

King Kong

Peter Jackson's King Kong is a return to his roots. And casting a digitally-mediated Andy Serkis as King Kong is inspired. Seeing as it is inevitable I may as well be (one of) the first to suggest having King Kong climb Minas Tirith and swat at the Nazgul buzzing around his head. Skull Island is doing a remarkable Mordor impersonation... otherwise there is a distinct Sam Raimi feel to the trailer.

The name Kong of the original "one-ape revolution", it turns out, is a Malaysian word for gorilla.

This film is a horror story set in Depression America in 1932 about a movie producer who travels to Skull Island on the ship Venture, captures a giant gorilla, and brings it back to New York. The King Kong story begins with the documentary films made by Merian Cooper such as Grass in 1925 and Chang in 1927. Cooper wanted to film "the ultimate in adventure" and he wrote the story of a giant ape creature who falls in love with a blond, a Beauty and the Beast fable.

While I could not agree King Kong was "the most terrifying movie monster of all time" the 1933 original is a classic. And while I know it is classic movie monster heresy to write this but I prefer the Dino De Laurentiis "tiger in your tank" 1976 version with the spooky, John Barry soundtrack.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at July 16, 2005 10:22 AM

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