BERSERK (1967), aka BERSERK!

Director: Jim O’Connolly

Writers: Herman Cohen, Aben Kandel

Producer: Herman Cohen

Cast: Joan Crawford, Ty Hardin, Judy Geeson, Diana Dors, Michael Gough, Robert Hardy, Geoffrey Keen, George Claydon, Philip Madoc, Sydney Taffler, Ambrosine Philpotts, Thomas Cimarro, Milton Reid, Ted Lune, Golda Casimir, Peter Burton, Marianne Stone, Miki Iveria, Howard Goorney, Reginald Marsh, Bryan Pringle

During a performance at The Great Rivers Circus in England, tightrope walker Gaspar the Great (Thomas Cimarro) is killed in a gruesome accident. As a result, circus attendance soars. The steel-willed co-owner and ringmistress of the circus, Monica Rivers (Joan Crawford), appreciates the increase in revenue that the morbid publicity generates. But as more deaths to circus personnel occur, suspicion and fear spread among the circus performers.

The Flashback Fanatic movie review

Once again the team of producer Herman Cohen and his writing partner, Aben Kandel, provide more thrills and chills in 1967’s Berserk. During the 1960s, American filmmaker Cohen’s productions had settled in England, but they were still punching the audience’s panic buttons. The horror Cohen is pitching this time around has a circus setting. Many circus acts serve to pad out the film’s running time and add a lot of production value to make this B-film seem quite lavish. It is the Billy Smart Circus that provides many of the acts we see performed under the big top. Two other British-backed movies were also filmed in this famous venue: Circus of Horrors (1960) and Circus of Fear (1967).

Cohen’s Berserk provides even more spectacle with his chosen star: Joan Crawford. The Oscar-winning actress was entering the twilight of her career, but during the 1960s she had already appeared in a few successful shockers. In 1962’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Crawford co-starred with another aging Hollywood legend, Bette Davis. That hit film led to the “psycho-biddy” trend of thrillers starring older, established actresses usually playing against type. For horror-meister William Castle, Crawford starred in Straight-Jacket (1964) and I Saw What You Did (1965).

Supposedly, Joan Crawford’s clout prompted a title change for this film. Originally, it was called Circus of Blood, but Crawford suggested Berserk. That was certainly a memorable title that I’ll bet Crawford thought sounded a bit less exploitational. Her title would also keep this film from being confused with the previously made circus-based thrillers. What remains unknown is did Crawford suggest the title with or without an exclamation mark? The onscreen title has no punctuation, yet the posters for the film usually add an exclamation mark. Which is it?! It’s enough to drive this anal-retentive film fanatic berserk!

It seems that no matter what stage her career was at, or the intent of the material she was performing in, Joan Crawford always gave it her all. She did not think that headlining a lurid thriller made her any less of a star. In fact, Crawford quite rightly must have felt that her name was lending these productions a lot of prestige. She also thought that her fans must always perceive her as a star. Therefore, she had to give them a performance worthy of a star. In addition to her ballyhoo as the ringmistress announcing the acts and her take-charge demeanor with circus employees, Crawford deftly delivers a few saucy one-liners and subtle expressions that display her character’s worldly confidence.

Joan Crawford seems simpatico with her role in Berserk. Crawford was determined and relentless in achieving and maintaining her stardom. She channels that same resolve into her performance as the head of the circus that is the story’s setting. Her Monica Rivers is rather opportunistic about the bizarre death of her tightrope performer that has resulted in very profitable notoriety for her circus. Monica also demands that the show must go on, and it seems that her commanding presence is all that keeps the circus folk in line despite their paranoia. There are not a lot of shadings to her character or any others in this film, yet there is some ambiguity about them, which is appropriate in a mystery yarn.

For this horror fan, and a devotee of producer Herman Cohen’s flicks in particular, another name in this cast that gets my attention is Michael Gough. With Joan Crawford’s star power taking center stage, Gough is left with a supporting role instead of the villainous main attraction he had provided to distinguish Cohen’s previous Horrors of the Black Museum (1959), Konga (1961), and Black Zoo (1963). I find it quite interesting that Gough’s usual dominant and heartless role in a movie relationship is reversed in Berserk. Here his Albert Dorando is the subordinate and lovelorn business partner to Crawford’s Monica Rivers. Actor Gough performs an amusing about-face having the decency to criticize Crawford’s character for being cold-blooded about the tragedy that took the life of a circus performer. But fear not, Gough fans! The great Michael Gough’s vile villainy would be redeemed in the next Joan Crawford-starring Herman Cohen fright flick, Trog (1970).

Ty Hardin had starred as the hero on the ABC television network Western series Bronco (1959-62). Here Hardin plays hot-tempered Frank Hawkins, the handsome replacement for the deceased Gaspar the Great. Hawkins is suspect for not only conveniently showing up to replace the just-killed high-wire artist, he also is pretty deliberate about putting the moves on Monica Rivers. His proposition to become her business partner in the circus makes him appear up front about his ambitions, yet he still seems rather suspicious. While Hawkins acts frustrated with Monica’s reserve in their potential romance, we wonder if his urges are driven more by profit than passion.

The sexy standout in Berserk is Diana Dors. Once groomed to be the British alternative to Marilyn Monroe, Dors provides plenty of sparks to justify her blonde bombshell status. As Matilda, the assistant to the magician Lazlo (Philip Madoc), she is the circus sexpot and troublemaker. Whether she is trying to seduce the Magnificent Hawkins, badmouthing the magician she lives with, spreading malicious gossip, or getting into catfights, Matilda is probably my favorite character in Berserk. Any bodacious babe who drops by with notions of nookie in her noggin and brings her own booze is still a class act in my book.

Judy Geeson shows up as Angela Rivers, Monica’s just-booted-from-boarding school daughter. Angela’s reunion with her mother serves to soften the edges of the Monica Rivers character, making the hard-nosed circus owner a bit more sympathetic. This also seems to be following the Herman Cohen formula for having youthful characters prominent in his horror films.

Like many giallo films, or the slasher films that they would inspire, Berserk has us playing the whodunit guessing game. The oh so dapper Detective Supt. Brooks makes sure that we are mulling over the various suspects. As was often the case in Cohen’s films and horror movies in general, the officers of the law are diligent but largely ineffectual. Nevertheless, I enjoy Robert Hardy’s smooth assurance as Brooks. He convinces us that having him tag along with the Rivers Circus should reveal the killer. In the meantime, Brooks displays the smoothest fast draw I’ve ever seen when lighting Monica’s cigarettes. Although some may regard the police procedural antics as just padding, I appreciate that the authorities dealing with fright flick atrocities are often out of their depth. This lends a lasting sense of chaos and unease to the proceedings.

Ultimately, Berserk is simply a showcase for Joan Crawford that kills time with circus acts and squabbles between the murders. Fully enjoying the film requires one to appreciate being part of that circus lifestyle for an hour and a half. I am all too happy to settle for this vicarious video experience. Although my immaturity means that I am never too old to consider running away to join the circus, unless I could land a sideshow gig as the Great Couch Potato, I would probably end up pounding tent stakes and shoveling up elephant droppings.

This post was contributed to The Third 'Favorite Stars in B Movies' Blogathon hosted at Films From Beyond the Time Barrier.

BLACK ZOO (1963), aka HORRORS OF THE BLACK ZOO

Director: Robert Gordon

Writers: Aben Kandel, Herman Cohen

Producer: Herman Cohen

Cast: Michael Gough, Jeanne Cooper, Rod Lauren, Jerome Cowan, Virginia Grey, Elisha Cook, Jr., Edward Platt, Douglas Henderson, Marianna Hill, Warrene Ott, Oren Curtis, Byron Morrow, Eilene Janssen, Joseph Mell, Jerry Douglas, Eric Stone, Zamba (the lion), (and uncredited cast members) Claudia Brack, George Barrows, Dani Lynn, Susan Slavin, Herman Cohen, Daniel Kurlick, Michael St. Angel 

Michael Conrad (Michael Gough) is the proprietor of the Conrad’s Animal Kingdom zoo in Los Angeles. Conrad is absolutely devoted to his animals and treats them with kindness and reverence. The wild animals are so docile in Conrad’s care that he can control them. Whenever anyone threatens to disrupt his life or his zoo, Conrad uses the most dangerous of his animals to kill the offender. 

The Flashback Fanatic movie review 

Producer Herman Cohen was on quite a roll of youth-oriented horror films in the 1950s beginning with such attention-getters as I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) and I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957). The titled monsters may have been teenagers, but they were made into killers by the schemes of the evil adults that controlled them. Cohen would continue with his teen-angst terrors into the next decade. However, those ’60s productions were more focused on the middle-aged antagonists responsible for all of the villainy. The youths were no longer the title subject or the main drivers of the plot. While those later films seemed to fixate almost exclusively on the petty ambitions and egos of their middle-aged fiends, they still depicted young people being exploited, traumatized, or victimized by their elders. 

In 1963’s Black Zoo, Cohen had once again concocted a crazy scenario that let actor Michael Gough off his leash to chew the scenery as only one of my favorite movie madmen can. As in two previous Cohen productions, Horrors of the Black Museum (1959) and Konga (1961), Michael Gough’s lead performance as another obsessive and amoral asshole provides most of the entertainment value. That’s plenty for this fan of actors you love to hate. 

Cohen and co-writer Aben Kandel usually reworked premises from previous classic horror films for their own victimized-youth productions. 1933’s Murders in the Zoo seems to be the probable inspiration for Black Zoo. Both films feature a maniacal zookeeper killing his enemies with wild animals. The novelty of those beasts sharing a lot of screen time with the actors was something to distinguish each film from its competition in the genre. 

That is not to say that Black Zoo is a remake of the earlier film. Like all of the other Cohen-Kandel stories, Black Zoo is a variation on a horror trope that goes its own demented way. In the case of this film, the villain does not just use wild animals to dispose of his enemies; he actually controls the beasts. At first it seems that this ability is just the unlikely result of zookeeper Michael Conrad’s love and care of the animals. There is a later suggestion of some mysticism involved. Conrad is a member of an eccentric animal-worshipping cult. There is no direct correlation stated between Conrad’s cult activity and his uncanny control of his beasts. However, being the Michael Gough fan that I am, I can explain almost any antics his despicable characters perpetrate. 

Although I can contrive some credibility for the feats a Michael Gough villain performs, I certainly can’t justify his absolute assholery. (That damned spell-check is even more anal than I am. Assholery is a word, dammit!) It’s bad enough that Gough’s Michael Conrad makes assassins out of his zoo animals. Conrad also treats Carl (Rod Lauren), his mute, teenaged zoo attendant, like a slave. He gets totally pissy about his wife, Edna (Jeanne Cooper), having a few drinks with dinner, and then he flies into a rage when she shows any concern for the sad, mute Carl. Control freak Conrad finally stoops to get his own hands dirty with domestic violence. Amazingly, this abuse turns out to be some very effective foreplay. One murdered casserole and a vicious backhand later, Conrad and Edna are lip-locked in the kitchen. Where’s the justice? This is just another fine example of why we all love to hate Michael Gough villains. 

That kitchen scene leaves us wondering what the hell Jeanne Cooper’s Edna ever saw in the selfish Michael Conrad. Dysfunction between the featured couple is another mainstay of earlier Cohen-Kandel horror films. Like the male heel in the other stories, this film’s Michael Conrad can turn on the charm when he wants to put up a good front. I expected him to start hitting on the cute art students that are sketching animals at his zoo. Gough’s Dr. Decker in Konga would have probably been making the moves here on young Audrey (Marianna Hill). Yet this movie’s Michael Conrad seems devoted only to his zoo animals. 

Rather surprisingly, when Audrey tries to flirt with the handsome, mute Carl, this never leads to anything more than giving Conrad another opportunity to be the belligerent boss. It would have seemed like the perfect opening for more character conflict by having the lonely Carl wanting more out of life than being Conrad’s bullied henchman. This story focuses almost entirely on the “family” of Michael Conrad, wife Edna, young Carl, and the zoo animals.

Those featured animals are usually shown sharing scenes with the actors. Aside from our old friend, the homicidal gorilla suit (George Barrows this time) from Konga, the other dangerous beasts are big cats. We are not only treated to tiger and lion attacks, we also get to see assorted huge felines lounging on the furniture in Conrad’s living room as he serenades them with his pipe organ. They are even allowed to attend a funeral rite Conrad conducts for his deceased tiger in a foggy forest. There are also a couple scenes where the lion is walking right past Michael Gough without the benefit of any trick photography. Maybe it helped the lion to keep his cool sensing that Michael Gough himself was actually very fond of animals. That took a helluva lot more nerve on Gough's part than petting a baby chimp back in Konga! 

Michael Gough’s co-star, Jeanne Cooper, is required to play a character almost as offbeat as the crazed Conrad. As Edna, she had a trained chimp act that she was developing before she married Conrad and devoted her show solely to appearing in Conrad’s zoo. Jeanne Cooper’s acting chops are given quite a workout against Michael Gough in the aforementioned dinner demolition scene. This squabble is mostly covered in a few long takes that show how veteran performers can keep things moving with the spirited back and forth of their performance. That ability to handle long dialogue exchanges must have been a great asset to Jeanne Cooper for her later soap opera career in her forty-year-long role of Katherine Chancellor from 1973 to 2013 on the CBS television series The Young and the Restless (1973 — present). 

Two other familiar television faces appearing here are Edward Platt as Chief Detective Rivers and Elisha Cook, Jr., as zoo attendant Joe. Platt was immortalized later in the decade playing another frustrated authority figure, The Chief, on the spy-spoof series Get Smart (1965-70). Cook had already established himself as mild-mannered or victimized film characters since the 1930s. From the mid-1950s through the mid-1980s, Cook was also a familiar guest star in a multitude of television series. 

While producer Herman Cohen’s earlier Gough-starring films, Horrors of the Black Museum and Konga, get more attention, this 1963 production really delivers the villainy seasoned fright flick fans can relish: zookeeping zealotry inspiring animal attacks and casserole carnage. Black Zoo is yet another cockeyed horror premise valiantly legitimized by the great Michael Gough at his beastly best.

HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER (1958)

Director: Herbert L. Strock

Writers: Herman Cohen, Aben Kandel (as Kenneth Langtry)

Producer: Herman Cohen

Cast: Robert H. Harris, Paul Brinegar, Gary Clarke, Gary Conway, Paul Maxwell, Eddie Marr, Dennis Cross, Malcolm Atterbury, Morris Ankrum, Walter Reed, John Phillips, Robert Shayne, Heather Ames, Pauline Myers, John Ashley (as himself), Rod Dana, Joan Chandler, Jacqueline Ebeier, Thomas B. Henry, Herman Cohen (uncredited) 

When the new owners of American International Studios decide that the “horror cycle” is over, they layoff Pete Dumond (Robert H. Harris), the film studio’s monster makeup artist. After 25 years of loyal and profitable service for the company, Dumond is bitter and wants to strike back. Using a special drug-laced foundation cream of his own invention, Dumond can bring two actors he is making up as the Werewolf and Frankenstein under his hypnotic control. Ironically, Dumond uses monsters that he creates with his makeup to enact his murderous revenge. 

The Flashback Fanatic movie review

Once again producer Herman Cohen and writer Aben Kandel have a middle-aged genius turn youths into monsters in How to Make a Monster. They had used this plot template three times before in 1957’s I Was a Teenage Werewolf, I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, and Blood of Dracula. They would employ this story device again in 1959’s Horrors of the Black Museum. Teen angst and terror seemed to be a winning combination. Cohen and Kandel knew that their teenage audience would appreciate young characters as sympathetic monsters exploited by the older generation.

Despite this proven formula in How to Make a Monster, I find myself rooting for the fanatically dedicated makeup artist Pete Dumond. Of all the Cohen/Kandel evil crackpots, his motivation is the most relatable. The very interesting dynamic in this story is that Pete Dumond’s well-being is being threatened by others’ career advancement. Unlike the other villains in the earlier Cohen/Kandel films, Pete Dumond is not trying to prove a scientific theory or achieve academic glory. The poor guy just wants to keep his job. While I have always thought that one should work to live and not live to work, if someone cut off my source of income I would be itching for some payback. In Pete Dumond’s case, those incurring his wrath are such smug bastards that they are practically begging to be butchered.

The most unique aspect of this film is its incorporation of the two previous Cohen/Kandel hits I Was a Teenage Werewolf and I Was a Teenage Frankenstein into this story as past films produced at this movie’s film studio setting. We see the Werewolf and Frankenstein characters as film actors in this story that are turned into assassins when made up as monsters by the mad makeup artist. This movie’s film company setting of American International Studios is a fictionalized version of How to Make a Monster’s actual production company American International Pictures. The film studio tour guide in the story even announces that they will visit the set of Cohen and Kandel’s next production, Horrors of the Black Museum. Here is an innovative example of the meta-story in horror films that long predates director Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994) and Scream (1996). 

As Pete Dumond, Robert H. Harris is not only the villain and center of the whole film, he the most sympathetic character in it. While the two young subjects in Dumond’s makeup chair are turned into his hypnotized hitmen, they are oblivious to their acts of murder and only mildly confused afterwards. Unlike the exploited teens in the earlier Cohen/Kandel horror films, we don’t spend a lot of time here with Larry (Gary Clarke) and Tony (Gary Conway), the Werewolf and Frankenstein actors, respectively. Old Pete Dumond is the character we spend the most time with and whose grievances really provide the story’s motivation and sympathy. Sure, he’s the bad guy, but he only becomes evil after being shit on by assholes.

At the top of Pete Dumond’s shit list are the film studio’s new moguls Jeffrey Clayton (Paul Maxwell) and John Nixon (Eddie Marr). They offer the dejected 25-year veteran makeup artist a measly week’s severance pay. The smug Clayton says that telling Pete in person that he is getting canned is “the human way.” Then Clayton is judgmental when Pete angrily refuses to accept the paltry kiss-off check and Clayton tells him that maybe he has been spending too much time with monsters. I can’t think of another horror film victim more deserving of their fate. 

Monahan (Dennis Cross), the movie lot security guard, is nearly as deserving of an untimely demise. After murder in the film studio, Monahan marches into Pete’s makeup room brandishing his “little black book.” He brags about all of the arrival and departure times of studio staff he has been jotting down. He also hints about other notes he thinks are incriminating and all but accuses Pete of murder. Then the anal asshole has the gall to boast to Pete that his undisclosed knowledge will be taken to the police and Monahan thinks it will result in his promotion to the head of security on the movie lot. Sure, this rent-a-cop is doing a thorough job, but the ambitious blowhard is getting off on this petty opportunity to intimidate the very person he implies that he can implicate. This dick must die!

 

Michael Landon, the original Teenage Werewolf, was not available for this flick. Gary Clarke plays the Werewolf actor Larry. However, the original Teenage Frankenstein himself Gary Conway returns to play Frankenstein actor Tony. It is fun to see these two in the makeup chair while old Pete is prepping them to be turned into his murdering monsters. Our actors-turned-teenage monsters are actually almost minor characters in this story. While they do come in handy for some of the rough stuff, old Pete is not afraid to get his hands dirty with more than makeup. 

Another AIP studio reference would be the filming of a musical number featuring John Ashley. He plays himself and was under contract to AIP at the time. He would star in other AIP films and had actually auditioned for the lead role in I Was a Teenage Werewolf. Ashley also starred this same year in the independent production Frankenstein’s Daughter (1958). 

Continuing the meta-story gimmicks, when the film switches from black-and-white to color, we see our mad makeup artist’s home shrine of his creations. Pete Dumond’s private museum is filled with masks of many monsters that horror buffs will recognize from other AIP films. Many of these were Paul Blaisdell creations while the actual creator of the teenage monsters in the previous films and in this one was Phillip Scheer. I must say that Scheer’s Teenage Werewolf and Teenage Frankenstein are two of my favorite movie monsters. 

On a final note, I not only empathize with the villain of How to Make a Monster, but I wonder if Universal Pictures’ dismissal of Jack Pierce, their makeup genius in the '30s and '40s, played any part in the inspiration for this flick. Like this film’s Pete Dumond, Jack Pierce’s innovative designs not only helped create big profits for his studio, he also created characters that are still horror icons. I suppose if Pierce had ever seen How to Make a Monster, he would have rooted for old Pete even more than I do.

KONGA (1961)

 

Director: John Lemont

Writers: Herman Cohen, Aben Kandel

Producers: Herman Cohen, Nathan Cohen, Stuart Levy

Cast: Michael Gough, Margo Johns, Claire Gordon, Jess Conrad, Austin Trevor, George Pastell, Paul Stockman, Jack Watson, Vanda Godsell, Grace Arnold, Stanley Morgan, Leonard Sachs, Nicholas Bennett, Kim Tracy, Rupert Osborne, Waveney Lee, John Welsh 

After his plane crashed in the jungles of Uganda, esteemed botanist Dr. Charles Decker (Michael Gough) returns to London a year later. He brings with him biochemical discoveries inspired by an African witch doctor’s potions. He will use this new knowledge to imbue animals with plant characteristics to cause accelerated evolution. Dr. Decker’s first experimental subject will be Konga, the pet chimpanzee that he has brought back from the jungle with him. When he instantly evolves the chimp into a gorilla (Paul Stockman), Decker tests his powerful pet’s obedience by sending it out on missions of murder.

The Flashback Fanatic movie review 

Producer Herman Cohen had initiated the teenage monster movie trend in the '50s. He made teenaged takes on the classic monsters with I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957), I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957), Blood of Dracula (1957), and How to Make a Monster (1958). He even worked a Jekyll-and-Hyde variation into Horrors of the Black Museum (1959).

In 1961 Cohen finally started monkeying around with King Kong and made Konga. As in all the previously mentioned films that Cohen concocted with co-writer Aben Kandel, an amoral and obsessive middle-aged protagonist pursues their professional goals by dominating and transforming a youth to kill for them. The difference this time is that the youth is a young chimpanzee that the evil genius transforms into a gorilla. As in most of the earlier films, hypnosis and drugs are part of the villain’s technique of making and controlling the monster. Although an ape is the one transformed by mad science, young humans still figure heavily into the plot. Dr. Decker teaches botany at Essex College and is putting the moves on his shapely, blonde student Sandra Banks (Claire Gordon). Again, as in the earlier films, the middle-aged villain victimizes youths.

Michael Gough, as Dr. Charles Decker, is at his sociopathic best. I hang on his every word as he effuses about his grand discoveries that will revolutionize science or nonchalantly lies through his British stiff upper lip to the police about the mutual respect shared with his first murder victim. There is great joy to be found seeing Gough, as the esteemed Dr. Decker, display incredible insensitivity to his hopelessly devoted “assistant,” Margaret (Margo Johns), seething with megalomaniacal fury at the dean (Austin Trevor) of his college, ooze thinly veiled lust as he patronizes his favorite sexy student, Sandra, or explode with violent, clumsy passion as he tries to convince Sandra to be his new “assistant” by trying to rape her. As fantastic as all the preceding Gough action is, nothing is greater than seeing him clutched in the giant paw of his totally out of control creation and screaming, “I said let me down! You fool! Konga, let me down! Kongaaaa!"

Konga is the second of three consecutive Herman Cohen produced horror films to star Michael Gough. Gough would appear in smaller roles in two other Cohen produced horrors. Absolutely no one could top Gough for asshole villainy. You believe every bit of mad science nonsense he professes, even when you wonder why a chimpanzee turns into a gorilla instead of a giant chimp. You really envy the guy when he takes his devoted assistant Margaret for granted and she remains loyal, even after she makes him admit that he has used Konga to commit murder. You almost have to cheer the bastard on as he manages to charm his pet student Sandra into his greenhouse filled with 7’ tall phallic mutant plants. Beats the hell out of that tired, old show-her-your-etchings routine.

Margo Johns has the rather thankless role of Dr. Decker’s doormat named Margaret. She is an attractive woman who waited a year in the hope that the missing and presumed dead Dr. Decker would return. She maintained his household and tended all the plants in his greenhouse. When Decker finally does return, he tries to downplay her offense taken at his lack of affection by feeding her that no-room-in-a-scientist’s-life-for-that-sort-of-thing balderdash. I’ll be damned if Margaret doesn’t put up with it. She also puts up with Decker ripping out her carefully tended plants, shooting her pet cat, and sending out his pet gorilla Konga to commit murder. But then she sees the rotter escort his nubile teacher’s pet, Sandra, out to the greenhouse for a personal pollination demonstration. Hell hath no fury like a lab assistant scorned. Margaret finally gets to indulge in some payback, though she never gets the chance to enjoy it. Like I said, it’s a thankless role.

Eventually we get to the King Kong-sized action. I really don’t mind the wait. There is so much detestable Dr. Decker behavior that I am satisfied. Once the gorilla becomes a giant, all Decker can do is struggle in Konga’s grasp and scold him at the top of his lungs. Konga’s rampage is underwhelming, so Decker screaming at his creation maintains some interest.

Apparently by this time, no one in the movie is fooled by Decker. He can’t be charming yelling at his monster. It must be obvious to the military that this loudmouth is not a good enough reason for them to hold their fire, so they let loose. That’s what happens to you if you look like Michael Gough instead of Fay Wray.