If Gorgo was The United Kingdom’s answer to Godzilla, then Konga was most likely their answer to King Kong. Konga is the story of Dr. Charles Decker (Michael Gough), a well-renowned scientist and botanist who has returned from Africa with man-eating plants and a friendly chimpanzee that he uses for a size growing experiment. The chimpanzee, who is named Konga morphs into the size of a gorilla after Dr, Decker injects him several times with a growth hormone. He does the dirty work for Dr. Decker, who has gone mad from his trip to Africa, by killing anyone who opposes him. Margaret (Margo Johns) his assistant learns that he is using Konga to kill his enemies and later discovers she is to be replaced an attractive student Sandra Banks (Claire Gordon) that Dr. Decker has taken a lustful liking to. Margaret gains control of Konga, who grows to monstrous proportions, proceeds to break free of his lair in Dr. Decker’s home and goes on rampage, destroying London, while holding onto the doctor himself (well a Dr. Decker doll technically)!

Konga is another lively B-movie, played seriously but mostly gets laughs due to the ape suit worn in the film and the cheesy effects. The face of the giant ape and the shots where the beast is holding obvious dolls make this flick a real hoot. The film does have a sense of charm and overall is highly entertaining. Horror legend Michael Gough gives a tour de force in the over-acting department as Dr. Decker. Other films you can see more of his over the top performances are Trog and Horrors of the Black Museum. Herman Cohen served as an executive producer and co-writer of this movie. Many of you might be familiar with his work on I was a Teenage Werewolf and I was a Teenage Frankenstein; therefore, you should know what to expect with Konga.

Long awaited on Blu-ray, Konga debuts on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. Sporting a brand new 2K scan, Konga has never looked better. The video presentation is filled lively, vibrant colors. Daylight scenes are especially breathtaking, the scenery is just vivid with blue skies, green trees. Even the clothes the actors wear are rich and bold. Black levels are balanced, and you can see what’s happening during scenes taking place at night. Interior shots taking place in the greenhouse and the classroom all look finely detailed and have deep, rich textures.

The audio quality for this release is also superb. The English DTS-HD master audio 2.0 track sounds dynamic with dialog, screams, Konga’s roars and other action noises coming in clear. No defects in the audio were detected. English subtitles are available for this release.

On the downside, there aren’t many extras for this release as one would have hoped, but at least there are a few supplements to enjoy. To start with, there is a promotional and stills gallery which shows some high-resolution photographs of behind the scenes and images used for promoting the film. A Konga Radio Spot is a 30 second entertaining radio spot advertising the release of Konga. The advertisement in its 30 seconds, compares Konga to King Kong and is pretty funny.

Theatrical trailers for Konga and other Kino Lorber monster movie releases in their Blu-ray catalog include A*P*E , Dinosaurus!, and The Land Unknown round out the extras.

Konga is a film I’ve been watching and been a fan of since I was a kid. Sure, the film is silly, but its lightheartedness is what makes the movie so much fun. This Blu-ray release is the best the movie has looked and sounded out of all the previous releases; it was more than worth the wait to obtain this Blu-ray.

Director- John Lemont

Cast- Michael Gough, Margo Johns

Country of Origin- UK

Distributor – Scream Factory

Number of Discs – 1

Reviewed by – David Steigman

Date- 02/03/2020