“King of Kong Island,” or as the on-screen title announces “Kong Island” (in Italy it’s called “Eve, The Wild Woman”) is yet another cheap-o production from marketing and promotion guru Dick Randall. This time around the Italians and the Spanish collided under Randall’s supervision, and emerged with some mighty fine drive-in sleaze. The film is not well made by any stretch of the imagination, but it is gritty and grimy, unpredictable and full of ludicrous characters, situations and dialogue.
First things first though, there is no King. Secondly, there is no Kong, but rather a gaggle of gorillas with electronic brain receptors that allow a mad doctor, Albert Munier, to control their every move. Thirdly, there is no island, just a jungle. Lastly, there is very little plot.
However, what we do have is fantastic character actor Marc Lawrence (“Pigs”) as the crazed scientist, muscle man Brad Harris (“The Mutations”) as the protagonist Burt Dawson, and the cute as a button Esmeralda Barros as Eve. More goodness comes in the form of Eve and her inability to don a shirt, (or a bra for that matter), and Burt with his inability to dance, even to some of Italy’s swankiest tunes.
Of course no small mention should be given to Dr. Munier’s plan to rule the world with his robotic apes, the bloody surgery footage or the obligatory cat-fight between the two females. The one thing that would have pushed this sucker completely over-the-top would be a performance by John Carradine. Regretfully, he must’ve been busy doing “Astro Zombies”, “Autopsy of a Ghost” or some other such cinematic gem.
Vintage Movie Classics unleashed this along with two other titles; the tiresome jungle mini-epic “White Pongo” and the silly, but entertaining “Bride of the Gorilla.”
