It’s not uncommon for the first in a franchise to be the best, but the drop-off in quality between the original 1933 King Kong and any of the sequels and remakes is a pretty steep cliff. However, none were quite as bizarre as 1967’s King Kong Escapes, the second adventure of the great gorilla for Toho Studios. After facing the king of the monsters in King Kong vs. Godzilla, the king of Skull Island gets a solo adventure in which he faces off with giant reptiles and his own robot doppelgänger. Of course, it all comes from the mind of scriptwriter Takeshi Kimura: Fresh off turning Frankenstein into a giant kaiju for Frankenstein vs. Baragon and The War of the Gargantuas, his take on another classic Western monster is equally unique and baffling. – Richard Whittaker
