Ape (1976 film)

Ape stylised as APE and released in South Korea as King Kong eui daeyeokseup The Great Counterattack of KingKong is a 1976 monster movie. It was an AmericanSouth Korean coproduction produced by Kukje Movies and the Lee Ming Film Co. South Korea and Worldwide Entertainment USA with 3D effects. Directed by Paul Leder and featuring special effects by Park Kwang Nam, the film stars Rod Arrants, Joanna Kerns and Alex Nicol. It was released at approximately the same time as Dino De Laurentiis 1976 remake of King Kong. The film is generally regarded by some critics as a campy Z movie. In latter years the film has gone under the titles of Attack of the Giant Horny Gorilla for its 1982 grindhouse rerelease, and Hideous Mutant for its original home video release. It marked an early film appearance by Kerns, who later moved to TV movies and shows.

The movie was a quickie production meant to capitalize on the upcoming release of Dino DeLaurentis King Kong. Several plot elements, such as a giant gorillas relationship with an American actress, are essentially lifted from the King Kong story. In fact when the film was announced it was going to be called The New King Kong as it was advertised by a teaser poster. When RKO got wind of this, they filed a 1.5 million lawsuit against the company. Because of the lawsuit the title was changed to APE and the tagline Not to be confused with King Kong was added to the theatrical posters and movie trailer. However the company was able to get away with using King Kongs name not only in its native South Korea but also in some international markets where it was known as Super King Kong and King Kong Returns respectively.The films special effect budget for the miniature buildings was only 1,200. The entire budget for APE was 23,000. The film was shot in justdays. ........

Source: Wikipedia