Glazed Gorilla, Bearly Evil, Ghost Criminals

In King Kong vs. Godzilla, the 1962 kaiju classic dust up, there was the hilariously memorable and infamous scene where Kong gets drunk as a mecha-skunk and passes out, his bar tab covered by jungle natives. This is so he can be taken passively to Japan for promotional purposes and ends up in a smackdown with Godzilla, who is a total teetotaler. (The outcome depended on whether you live in the US or Japan.) Now you can get a Drunk Kong action (or would that be non-action) figure and get your jungle boogie on.

From TemptingToysandCollectibles.com website: “Rotokaiju drunk King Kong 1962 30cm Vinyl figure fully built and painted (made in 2020). This limited version was completely built and painted by the manufacturer and has the ‘drunk’ Kong face and three Suma Juice jars.” Drunk Kong stands 12” inches tall — or 12” long when he’s laying in the gutter, stinking of Suma Juice highballs. That’s the fun news. The opposite of that is Drunk Kong costs $1,999.00. (Conversely, a six-pack of Suma Juice is only $1.00._ Spend your money here.

The way they transport Drunk Kong off Faro Island was genius, strapping him to hot air balloons and gently escorting the drunky monkey off the premises. FYI: If you plan on chugging down a few jars of Suma Juice (called Soma Juice on the box and Farolacton Juice on Kong’s island), be sure and have a designated balloon handler to get you home — don’t drink and float.

So while we head to the Faro Island’s corner liquor store to stock up on Farolacton Juice and become a party animal, here are a few upcoming horror/sci-fi movies that may or may not make your head swell up like a balloon…

ADALYNN / March 28, 2023 (VOD)

“A mother is fighting postpartum depression and slipping over the edge. It becomes hard to distinguish where depression ends and her nightmares turn real as she and her newborn are haunted by a stalker unlike any other.”

Probably a demonic nanny/babysitter. I had one. She let me get away with murder.

NIGHT OF THE KILLER BEARS / April 18, 2023 (VOD)

“After not seeing each other for a long time, five teenage friends living in Bangkok go on a vacation together, staying at a quiet resort isolated from the city. Things take a dark turn when it’s revealed each of them have hidden secrets, and unbeknown to the group, there is someone observing them. When one of them ends up brutally murdered, paranoia and distrust surrounds the group, motivating each remaining member to accuse each other of being the murderer or considering the possibility that the real murderer is the unseen presence observing them, and that they all are in danger.”

Bears are the new sharks in horror movies recently, what with the moderate successes of Cocaine Bear (2023), Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023). But for really scare bears, that chemical pollution-mutated one in The Prophecy (1979) and the alien-mutated one in Annihilation (2018) are both pretty…grizzly.

LEGEND OF THE WHITE DRAGON / Release pending 2023 (VOD)

“Erik Reed, The White Dragon, has returned home to Virtuo City three years later after being defeated in a colossal battle against the ancient overlord, Ashtagor. The crystal he used to become the White Dragon was broken in two as a result of the epic battle, both pieces were subsequently lost. Being blamed for the destruction and collateral lives lost, his identity was outed after the battle thus making him a fugitive from the law. We now follow Erik on his journey as he teams up with treasure hunters from the past who help him reclaim his power as the White Dragon. Once reunited with his powers, he and his team are now ready to battle a new threat, Dragon Prime, who seeks revenge against the White Dragon and try and defeat Dragon Prime in order to get one step closer to clearing his name and being able to protect his family from an ancient evil that still lurks in the darkness — Ashtagor.”

A lot going on here. Then again, the trailer explodes with spaceships, punching violence, future bikinis, ancient overlords with dumb names, revenge glares and costumes that look more at home in a 1980s video game. So yeah, I’ll watch the movie.

DEADLAND / Release pending 2023 (VOD)

“A U.S. Border Patrol Agent tries to apprehend the ghost of his father, a grave decision that will haunt him forever.”

Related or not, ghost criminals are the worst because it’s near to impossible to keep ’em in jail, what with being able to walk through walls ’n stuff.

Photogenic Ghost

Driving home with his girlfriend after drinking with some buddies and thinking he’s gonna get some action because he’s all liquored up and in the mood for some lovin’, Tun (that’s really his name) runs over a young gal crossing the road. He thought it was a speed bump and kept going.

Over the next few days, Tun — a photographer — is snapping pics of a high school graduation. He notices white streaks on some of the photos and in one shot, sees the face of the gal he ran over and left to die in the mean streets of Bangkok. Later, examining the pictures closely, he looks at the girl’s face…AND IT TURNS AND LOOKS AT HIM! How can a photograph do that? Is that even legal?

Then more eerie stuff starts to happen to him and his girlfriend, enough to send her on a mission to find out who they turned into roadkill. As it just so happens, the dead gal was a former girlfriend of Tun’s. And his camera? A gift given to him by the previously-living girl as a present of some sort. But something else is happening — all Tun’s drinking buddies are practicing high dives off tall buildings. (Problem is, you can only practice the dive once.)

It’s here he spills the beans about meeting the girl back in his school days, dating her and then moving in together and more than likely touching each other’s private parts. The gal was frightfully shy and mercilessly teased by Tun’s classmates…the same ones that are now thinking they can fly.

He eventually broke up with her and she attempted suicide by cutting her wrist with a knife intended for kitchen use only. But where things really get ugly is when Tun’s current girlfriend finds a bunch of pictures of his ex-girlfriend getting gang sexed by his drunk friends, pictures HE took. Time for the dead girl to turn up the juice on the Haunt-o-Meter™. 

Since hitting the girl with the car, Tun’s neck has been aching — and now it’s hurting even more. But he can’t think about his neck right now as the dead girl is walking on the ceiling…UPSIDE DOWN! He crawls out onto the fire escape in the pouring rain (complete with wind and lightning), only to have his dead ex crawl after him…UPSIDE DOWN! This makes Tun let go and he hits the ground like a wet wonton.

Cracked skull, broken arm, probably a fair amount of poop in his pants, when Tun gets out of the hospital he starts taking pictures around his apartment. But it’s only when Tun takes a picture of himself in the mirror that we find out why his neck hurts so much. While the truth didn’t goon us out, it was pretty neat all the same.

Shutter (The Original) (2004) has several false endings, like when you eat budget Thai food and think you need to make some bathroom tofu, but don’t/can’t. The best stuff, though, happens in the last 15 minutes. Like when making bathroom tofu.