A*P*E!

One more movie that darted into theaters to snack up on the furor over the 1976 remake of King Kong was the Korean effort weirdly named A*P*E which apparently stood for "Attacking Primate MonstEr" which is awkward enough but then the subtitle reads "Not to be confused with King Kong" with the King Kong in large letters just to invite such confusion. Paul Leder was the director of this flick, set in various locations in South Korea. 

The Famous Monsters of Filmland cover above apparently references the movie since it begins with a battle between APE and a shark. The shark in the actual movie is apparently already deceased and the thrashing about has a decidedly lackluster last-minute quality and that results from the fact it was done at the last minute in a lackluster fashion.

The movie stumbles along with Joanna Kerns showing up as an American actress who rebuffs the proposal of her journalist boyfriend Rod Arrants to pursue her career. Then APE appears, gets a chubby for Joanna and like all these kinds of movies chases her about all over the landscape, picking among the terrified humanity for his golden-haired honey. Meanwhile the Korean military mobilizes in the slowest fashion possible to give him time to batter down some apartment complexes and fight a boa constrictor or two. Finally they have the last battle and he chucks boulders and they fire shells until the end arrives.

This ain't a good movie, as you might be already able to tell. It was exploitation in nearly all aspects of its conception and construction. It was made to turn a quick buck and then disappear, but that was before VHS and DVD and such things and now it is with us for all time. It's a harmless entertainment, if by harmless you mean a bloody mess.

Rip Off