exploitation films Archives - The Monster Island Film Vault

Hello, Kaiju Lovers! Nate and Jet move on to jolly ol’ England for the penultimate stop on the Monster Island World Tour, but it’s to discuss the sleaziest of the 1961 European kaiju movies: Konga. Thankfully, Nate is joined by the co-hosts of the podcast Record All Monsters (and…fugitives…?), who un-ironically like this movie. While it’s a King Kong “knockoff,” the studio paid RKO $25,000 for the rights. Not to mention, aside from featuring a giant gorilla (for 15 minutes) who carries humans in his hand, it has almost nothing in common with Kong. But hey, it has Michael Gough (aka Alfred Pennyworth) in it! The Toku Topic, appropriately, is the mad scientist archetype.

“Jimmy’s Notes” on this episode COMING SOON!

Buy Robert’s book, Record All Monsters: The Book of the Essays from the Podcast (https://a.co/d/gFq6W2U).

Listen to the Record All Monsters’s episode on Konga: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/09-konga-mad-scientists-and-the-return-of-giant-monkeys–49864456.

Hollywood Gorilla Men: http://www.hollywoodgorillamen.com/.

Check out Nathan’s spinoff podcasts, The Henshin Men and The Power Trip, and Henshin Power V3!

We’d like to give a shout-out to our MIFV MAX patrons Danny DiManna (author/creator of the Godzilla Novelization Project); Damon Noyes, The Cel Cast, TofuFury, Eric Anderson of Nerd Chapel, Ted Williams, Wynja the Ninja, Christopher Riner, The Indiscrite One, Eli Harris, Jake Hambrick, Matt Walsh (but not that Matt Walsh), Jonathan Courtright, Leon Campbell, Michael Watson, and Sam Allred! Thanks for your support!

You, too, can join MIFV MAX on Patreon to get this and other perks starting at only $3 a month! (https://www.patreon.com/monsterislandfilmvault)

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This episode is approved by the Monster Island Board of Directors.

Timestamps:

Introduction: 0:00-16:46
Entertaining Info Dump: 16:46-24:37
Toku Talk (main discussion): 24:37-1:45:59
Podcast Ad – Henshin Power V3: 1:45:59-1:48:08
Toku Topic – Mad Scientist Archetype: 1:48:08-2:33:13
Outro (housekeeping, etc.): 2:33:13-2:41:31
Credits: 2:41:31-end

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#JimmyFromNASALives #MonsterIslandFilmVault #Konga #MonsterIslandWorldTour #kaiju #Britain #England #UnitedKingdom

Bibliography/Further Reading:

Golembiewski, Kate. “How the Term ‘Mad Scientist’ Began and How It Shapes Our World.” Discover Magazine. 3 Oct. 2022. Updated 25 Sept. 2024. https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/how-the-term-mad-scientist-began-and-how-it-shapes-our-world.
LeMay, John. Kong Unmade: The Lost Films of Skull Island Revisited, Vol. 2: 1961-2021.
LeMay, John. Movie Milestones #4. April 22, 2021.
“Konga.” IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055058/.
“Konga (film).” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konga_(film).
“Mad Scientist.” TV Tropes. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MadScientist.
“Mad scientist.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_scientist.
“Mad Scientist Archetype.” Know Your Archetypes. https://knowyourarchetypes.com/mad-scientist-archetype/.
“Mad Scientist Stock Character.” Know Your Archetypes. https://knowyourarchetypes.com/mad-scientist-stock-character/.
Morton, Ray. King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon – From Fay Wray to Peter Jackson. Applause Theatre &Cinema Books, 2005.
Nevins, Jess. “Alchemists, Astronomers, and Wild Men: A History of the Mad Scientist, Part One.” Gizmodo. 2 June 2011. https://gizmodo.com/alchemists-astronomers-and-wild-men-a-history-of-the-5805477.
Nevins, Jess. “Organ Theft and the Insanity of Geniuses: A History of Mad Scientists in the Industrial Age.” Gizmodo. 7 June 2011. https://gizmodo.com/organ-theft-and-the-insanity-of-geniuses-a-history-of-30813602.
Romeo, Jess. “The Evolution of the Mad Scientist.” JSTOR Daily. 30 Oct. 2021. https://daily.jstor.org/the-evolution-of-the-mad-scientist/.
Schoell, William. Creature Features: Nature Turned Nasty in the Movies. McFarlane & Company, Inc., 2008.
Stiles, Anne. “Literature in ‘Mind’: H. G. Wells and the Evolution of the Mad Scientist.” Journal of the History of Ideas, Apr., 2009, Vol. 70, No. 2 (Apr., 2009), pp. 317- 339. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40208106.
Warren, Bill. Keep Watching the Skies! (Vol. 1). McFarlane & Company, Inc., 2010.
Windahl, Leah. “Method to the Madness: How to Bring the Mad Scientist Archetype to Delightfully Disturbing Life.” Backstage. 5 June 2024. https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/mad-scientist-archetype-explained-77336/.

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Hello, Kaiju Lovers! The most cited man on MIFV, John LeMay, returns for his all-but-mandatory-at-least-once-a-season appearance to discuss the second Shaw Bros. film we’ve covered this season: Mighty Peking Man. This infamous cult classic was a favorite of director Quinton Tarantino, and it’s easy to see why: it’s sleazy yet weirdly artsy. It feels like an exploitation film at points—especially with the gorgeous Evalyn Kraft running around in nothing but a goatskin bikini—but the special effects are remarkably well-executed thanks to Keizo Murase. Since it’s John’s favorite “Kongsploitation” movie, that is the first of two Toku Topics this episode, with the other being the Peking Man fossil, which partly inspired this flick.

Check out this episode’s epilogue, “Davida and Goliathon”!

Read “Jimmy’s Notes” on this episode here: https://monsterislandfilmvault.com/?p=2166.

Check out Nathan’s spinoff podcasts, The Henshin Men and The Power Trip.

We’d like to give a shout-out to our MIFV MAX patrons Danny DiManna (author/creator of the Godzilla Novelization Project); Damon Noyes, The Cel Cast, TofuFury, Eric Anderson of Nerd Chapel, Ted Williams, Wynja the Ninja, Brad “Batman” Eddleman, Christopher Riner, The Indiscrite One, Eli Harris, Jake Hambrick, Edwin Gonzalez, Matt Walsh (but not that Matt Walsh), Jonathan Courtright, Robert Kidd, and Leon Campbell! Thanks for your support!