King Kong Lives (1986)

[shukocarl]

Is there any love around this forum for the guilty pleasure (so bad, it's good) that is KING KONG LIVES?
I'd love to see this on blu with a long documentary from all involved, it would fascinating to understand why this got made 10 years after the almost-reverential take that ended with Kong's death fall.
Various put the budget between 10 and 18 million dollars and it only took 4 at the box-office.
Also, who decided to go with the ludicrous tone the film had- and the inclusion of Lady Kong/lovey-dovey romantic scenes!
This is begging for a good blu with the "warts n' all" story thrown in for good measure!

[Zillamon51]

Who owns the rights to this? Kong just had a successful prelim bout in Skull Island, and is setting his eyes on the big G's crown in 2020. This is the time that *someone* should be getting their pterodactyls in a row for a Blu-ray release. Calling Shout Factory!

I have this goofy sequel on DVD. I'd upgrade in a (giant artificial) heartbeat, and an in-depth making-of doc would be the alligator skeleton on the cake. Arrow Video? Somebody?

[steev210]

We can't even get a U.S. release of "King Kong" '76 from Paramount which is unbelievable this many years into the format especially since Kong remains such a popular/iconic character.

Last I was aware Fox had the home video rights to "King Kong Lives" having acquired them from Warner Bros when they owned the distribution rights to VHS. Fox was the last studio to distribute a Region 1 DVD release in the late 90's.

Since "Kong: Skull Island" was a WB release I think the studio should make every effort to try and regain control of the title and promote it coincide with the release of "Godzilla vs. Kong" in 2020.

I'm surprised they didn't try to do this when "Kong: Skull Island" was released in 2017. I'd love to get KK '76 and KKL on blu!

[redxrebellion]

Loved this back in the day. Would get this in a heartbeat

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by steev210

We can't even get a U.S. release of "King Kong" '76 from Paramount which is unbelievable this many years into the format especially since Kong remains such a popular/iconic character.

Last I was aware Fox had the home video rights to "King Kong Lives" having acquired them from Warner Bros when they owned the distribution rights to VHS. Fox was the last studio to distribute a Region 1 DVD release in the late 90's.

Since "Kong: Skull Island" was a WB release I think the studio should make every effort to try and regain control of the title and promote it coincide with the release of "Godzilla vs. Kong" in 2020.

I'm surprised they didn't try to do this when "Kong: Skull Island" was released in 2017. I'd love to get KK '76 and KKL on blu!

There's a region free UK release for the '76 Kong that has a great transfer and audio along with some great special features just FYI in case you aren't region free. You can access the special features by selecting the Japanese language option at the beginning when the list of language options come up.

It is ridiculous though how many films seem to make it to blu ray in other countries but not ours or takes an extremely long time for them to get released here.

[MJD64]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

There's a region free UK release for the '76 Kong that has a great transfer and audio along with some great special features just FYI in case you aren't region free. You can access the special features by selecting the Japanese language option at the beginning when the list of language options come up.

It is ridiculous though how many films seem to make it to blu ray in other countries but not ours or takes an extremely long time for them to get released here.

Well, damn! I got this on Blu from CD Japan about a year ago for just under $8 shipped and found it well worth it for the transfer and audio alone; I could never access the extras, but just tried what you posted and voila!...there they were! Thanks, man!

[CelluloidPal]

Originally Posted by shukocarl

Is there any love around this forum for the guilty pleasure (so bad, it's good) that is KING KONG LIVES?
I'd love to see this on blu with a long documentary from all involved, it would fascinating to understand why this got made 10 years after the almost-reverential take that ended with Kong's death fall.
Various put the budget between 10 and 18 million dollars and it only took 4 at the box-office.
Also, who decided to go with the ludicrous tone the film had- and the inclusion of Lady Kong/lovey-dovey romantic scenes!
This is begging for a good blu with the "warts n' all" story thrown in for good measure!

Funny you mentioned this one. It's running on Sony Movie Channel and caught it as it started. It's laughably bad without question and quite frankly, I don't know what they were thinking. Even its trailer was laughable.

This and the 1976 version were produced by Dino De Laurentiis but Lives was released by his DEG label and StudioCanal owns DEG's library.

[Monterey Jack]

One of the worst sequels ever made.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by MJD64

Well, damn! I got this on Blu from CD Japan about a year ago for just under $8 shipped and found it well worth it for the transfer and audio alone; I could never access the extras, but just tried what you posted and voila!...there they were! Thanks, man!

No problem!

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

One of the worst sequels ever made.

Yeah this movie is wretched. The only good thing about it is the brief Linda Hamilton boob shot but I'll just stick with The Terminator for that.

[MisterKorman]

I don’t know what I expected as a child when I rented the VHS of King Kong Lives, but I will always remember that it was the first movie I ever hated.

[Monterey Jack]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

Yeah this movie is wretched. The only good thing about it is the brief Linda Hamilton boob shot but I'll just stick with The Terminator for that.

It also has a nice score by John Scott, but other than that, it's hilariously awful.

[CSM101]

I’d love to upgrade my dvd of this. Maybe I’ll pop it in when I get home. I’d definitely be down for King Kong Lives on blu.

[Aclea]

It's not in the Lifeforce or Death Wish 3 league, but it is a lot of fun:



One of those sequels no-one seems to know about, King Kong Lives originally sounded like a joke when Dino used to pitch it in interviews - King Kong has been in a coma for ten years and desperately needs a giant artificial heart transplant but they can't find enough giant ape plasma for him to survive the operation. Luckily Brian Kerwin stumbles across Lady Kong (a redhead with comedy boobs) in Borneo, so it's chainsaws away as Linda Hamilton and a crew of what look like construction workers put what looks like a minisub in there and in next to no time Kong's up and about and as horny as Hell. Kong's just gotta have it and breaks loose, sweeps Lady Kong off her paws (he carries her off in his arms) and the lovebirds find themselves pursued by the army and rednecks alike ("I want that ape's head on the hood of my pickup!") while Linda and Brian try to save them while realising that "We're primates too."

As insane as it sounds. Did I mention Baby Kong? Kong picking a redneck's cap out of his teeth after they ill-advisedly "have their fun with him" (yes, that's really the phrase that's used!)? The fact that at one time Joel Grey was lined up to play Kong? It's a film so wonderfully inane and misconceived that it's hard not to love if you can enter into the spirit of it, and it does boast a genuinely terrific score by John Scott.

15. Kong's Final Battle (King Kong Lives 1986) Soundtrack - YouTube

[redxrebellion]

If I remember right don’t you get a quick flash of Linda Hamilton’s boobs in this?

[Kazutaka]

Originally Posted by redxrebellion

If I remember right don’t you get a quick flash of Linda Hamilton’s boobs in this?

Who could pay attention to that, Lady Kong is topless the entire movie.

[RalphoR]

Maybe Umbrella could put this out for our region A locked brethren since they just released a nice Silver Bullet bd. I wish they could follow that up with Dragonslayer, The Ghost and the Darkness, and Prophecy.

[brooks101189]

Originally Posted by redxrebellion

If I remember right don’t you get a quick flash of Linda Hamilton’s boobs in this?

Like .0000000001 of a second.

[Underworld54]

Originally Posted by Aclea

It's not in the Lifeforce or Death Wish 3 league, but it is a lot of fun:



One of those sequels no-one seems to know about, King Kong Lives originally sounded like a joke when Dino used to pitch it in interviews - King Kong has been in a coma for ten years and desperately needs a giant artificial heart transplant but they can't find enough giant ape plasma for him to survive the operation. Luckily Brian Kerwin stumbles across Lady Kong (a redhead with comedy boobs) in Borneo, so it's chainsaws away as Linda Hamilton and a crew of what look like construction workers put what looks like a minisub in there and in next to no time Kong's up and about and as horny as Hell. Kong's just gotta have it and breaks loose, sweeps Lady Kong off her paws (he carries her off in his arms) and the lovebirds find themselves pursued by the army and rednecks alike ("I want that ape's head on the hood of my pickup!") while Linda and Brian try to save them while realising that "We're primates too."

As insane as it sounds. Did I mention Baby Kong? Kong picking a redneck's cap out of his teeth after they ill-advisedly "have their fun with him" (yes, that's really the phrase that's used!)? The fact that at one time Joel Grey was lined up to play Kong? It's a film so wonderfully inane and misconceived that it's hard not to love if you can enter into the spirit of it, and it does boast a genuinely terrific score by John Scott.

15. Kong's Final Battle (King Kong Lives 1986) Soundtrack - YouTube

Wow, that final battle is about as terrible as it gets. This is the monster that is supposed to give Godzilla a fight in 2020. Laughable.

[SethRex]

You know what. I would love a full fledged 'The History of King Kong', that goes through the history and making of each of the King Kong movies'.