Villain(s)  Giant gorilla

Actor(s):  Michael Gough, Margo Johns, Jess Conrad, Claire Gordon

Brief Description  Konga (1961) is a British-American science fiction horror film directed by John Lemont and produced by B-movie mogul Herman Cohen. Noted for its campy tone and hammy performances, the 90-minute Eastmancolor film functions as an exploitation riff on King Kong, shifting the focus onto a mad scientist who uses a growing ape to commit a series of vengeful murders.

Plot:
The film opens after a plane crash in Uganda. Famed British botanist Dr. Charles Decker (Michael Gough) is presumed dead. A year later, he spectacularly returns to London accompanied by a baby chimpanzee named Konga. Decker reveals that during his time missing, he lived with a local tribe and discovered a revolutionary link in evolution: a serum derived from insectivorous, carnivorous plants that can expand cells and cause animals and plants to grow to massive proportions. Decker transforms his home greenhouse into a terrifying laboratory of giant, pulsating plants. Assisted by his secretary, housekeeper, and secret lover, Margaret (Margo Johns), Decker tests the serum on Konga. The injection causes the chimpanzee to instantly morph into a ferocious, life-sized gorilla that obeys Decker's hypnotic commands.

As Decker’s megalomania spins out of control, he starts using the hypnotized, gorilla-sized Konga to eliminate anyone who threatens his ego, career, or personal desires. Dean Foster (Austin Trevor): Decker's university dean who threatens to pull his academic tenure and dismisses his theories. Professor Tagore (George Pastell): A scientific rival who challenges Decker's evolutionary claims. Bob Kenton (Jess Conrad): A young student. Decker has developed an obsessive infatuation with a beautiful student named Sandra Banks (Claire Gordon). To clear his path to Sandra, Decker sends Konga to murder Bob, Sandra's boyfriend, right outside his home.

Margaret grows increasingly jealous and horrified by Decker’s open grooming of Sandra. Realizing Decker will never marry her, she seeks revenge. She injects Konga with a massive, lethal overdose of the growth serum. The overdose causes Konga to grow into a gigantic, skyscraper-sized monster. Now a towering beast, Konga breaks through the greenhouse roof, instantly crushes Margaret to death, and scoops up Dr. Decker in his massive hand. Konga tramps through the streets of London, sparking mass panic and widespread destruction. He carries Decker all the way to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. The British Army arrives with machine guns. Riddled with bullets, the dying monster hurls Decker to the pavement below, killing him. As Konga collapses and dies, the effects of the serum wear off, and his giant body reverts back into a tiny, innocent baby chimpanzee.