Congo (1995) - Popcorn and Coke advised for this corny, fun killer gorilla rampage

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A cool, well-composed poster for Frank Marshall's Congo

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A diamond mission disappears in the Congo, and the greedy father of its leader sends a new mission off, which partners up with a scientist with a talking gorilla. ... - But the jungle keeps a murderous secret: SPOILER Grey killer gorillas!

Congo is an adaptation of a Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park (1990)) novel. It is essentially a trashy lowbrow story (that, as is often the case with such fare, also contains a super laser!), but this one is lavishly produced by Kathleen Kennedy (Lincoln (2012)) and Sam Mercer (Things We Lost in the Fire (2007)).
Congo features enormous sets, set pieces that wooed me, impressive gorillas by effects and creature whiz Stan Winston (Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)) as well as a killer cast:
Laura Linney (Hyde Park on Hudson (2012)), Delroy Lindo (The Cider House Rules (1999)), Joe Pantoliano (The Sopranos (2001-04)), Joe Don Baker (The Living Daylights (1987)), a screaming Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead II (1987)), Grant Heslov (Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)), who is funny as a slacker American with no real purpose in the film, and finally Tim Curry (It (1990), TV miniseries) as a Romanian diamond maniac. - Yes...!
Congo is one of the four films directed by 5-time Oscar-nominated producer Frank Marshall (Arachnophobia (1990)). It is written by John Patrick Shanley (Doubt (2008)), who has supplied it with lots of goofy lines, - but what of it? - They seem entirely appropriate here in Congo, a highly entertaining, amusing, wacky 90s ride of a movie.

Tim Curry has a loony part in Frank Marshall's Congo

SPOILER (sorry...) - This happens! In Frank Marshall's Congo

Watch the corny trailer for the film here

Cost: 50 mil. $
Box office: 152 mil. $
= Box office success
[Congo was a summer release, fresh in the tracks of the spectacular and spectacularly successful Jurassic Park (1993). It opened #1 in the US with 24.6 mil. $. It ended up making 81 mil. $ domestically (53 % of the total gross). The gorillas were not CGI, because hair could not be rendered credibly artificially yet, which reportedly disappointed some of the fans of the book, (although it was a good job and undoubtedly the right thing to do.) Congo received generally negative reviews, but Roger Ebert got it and gave the film 3 out of 4 stars (equal to Film Excess' 4 heart rating here) and called it 'hilarious'.]

What do you think of Congo?

Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) or, Gill-Man Begins!

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One of the colorful, sexually charged posters for Jack Arnold's Creature from the Black Lagoon

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A rock mission on the Amazon river gets altered dramatically, when they discover that a local legend, 'the gill man', is not merely a legend but a real, strange, strong, homicidal creature!

Creature features neat photography (by William E. Snyder (The Conqueror (1956))), including underwater footage, but it is a severely dated movie.
Its heavy motif score gets repeated almost in eternity to the monster's hand, rising up... Score by uncredited Henry Mancini (The Square Jungle (1955)), Hans J. Salter (Red Sundown (1955)) and Herman Stein (The Mole People (1956)).
The film is not really scary, but often involuntarily humorous and also not exactly wild in, for instance, its character inventions, (script by Harry Essex (Dragnet (1947)) and Arthur A. Ross (The Great Race (1965))).
Creature from the Black Lagoon is directed by 50's sci-fi champ Jack Arnold (Tarantula (1955)); it is an entertaining but essentially overrated monster horror sci-fi.

A wonderful PR still for Jack Arnold's Creature from the Black Lagoon

Watch the original trailer here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 1.3 mil. $
= Uncertainty
[The film premiered in Detroit in February and then opened on a regional basis on different dates, in 'flat' form as well as in 3D in larger downtown theaters, although the 50's 3D phenomenon was already dying out at the time. Fans of the film have been dreaming of seeing it in decent 3D for decades, which seems to have been realized in 2012. The film has two initial sequels, and a reboot has been ricocheting around Hollywood for decades now without happening.]

What do you think of Creature from the Black Lagoon?