King Kong Lives (1986) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - December 18, 1986

General audiences were not all that happy with this campy, goofy, and nutty sequel to 1976's only slightly less campy, much less goofy, and nowhere near as nutty King Kong. This thing left a smoking crater at the box office during the 1986 holiday movie season and, most likely, drove the final nail into the coffin of the short-lived DEG production company.

I was working at the Empire Cinema in San Francisco at the time, which is one of the theaters it opened to to empty seats at on the west side of the Bay Area, so I got to see it on the big screen.

Truth be told, I do not think the movie is that bad. If it had been made 20 years earlier, and in Japan, I think it might be a tad more beloved in giant monster movie circles. Maybe. But in the United States in 1986, King Kong Lives was woefully out of touch and out of place for what for audiences wanted and expected from a movie of this kind. So it goes.

King Kong Escapes [Kingu Kongu no gyakushû (1967)] - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - September 4, 1968

While King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963) was a programming staple of both syndicatied televison stations and non-prime-time network affiliate time slots, King Kong Escapes (1967) was nowhere near as prevalent. Well, that is how I remember it being, at least.

Although the advertising here credits Arthur Rankin, Jr. as producer-director, Ishirô Honda was the actual director. Rankin probably directed the voice acting for the English language release, which would explain the credit.

It seems that star Rhodes Reason held a rather uncharitable view of Honda. In Stuart Galbraith IV's book Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo! The Incredible World of Japanese Fantasy Films, Reason said of Honda, "Honda-san was a hack. I've worked with hundreds of hack TV directors and he could fit beautifully over here doing a number of motion pictures and things. He knows his craft, but there was nothing special about Honda-san as a director."[Pg. 61] Oof.

Being a Universal release, King Kong Escapes was coupled with a re-issue of Hammer Film's Brides of Dracula (1960) at the Solano Drive-In and the Lorenzo and Fruitvale Theatres. Now that is an awesome double-bill.

At the Lux King Kong Escapes was paired with Warkill (1968), a non-fantastical and very gritty World War II set action-thriller that had been filmed in the Philippines.