King Kung Fu

I revisited my comments here for the first time in years, and was horrified to see that I'd misidentified it as the bad local film they used to show at the Drama Department picnic. Absolutely wrong--that was ANOTHER Wichita POS made for local TV called something like Creature From Beyond Time or similar. The Creature was Tom Leahy, the only remotely amusing actor in King Kung Fu.

I apologize to anyone who was harmed, offended, or left the profession because of my thoughtless remarks.

Otherwise, the rest stands. Bob Walterscheid said it best in his comments herein:

'If you laugh at the opening titles when it says "Filmed in SimianScope" then you'll laugh all the way thru the movie.'

Exactly. Couldn't have said it better.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Original comments:

In my decades-long hunt for the World's Worst Movie, I'm finding that there's distinct categories of Worst. There's sincere-but-lame Worst (Night of Horror), totally-inept Worst (Rat Pfink), crass-exploitation Worst (The Acid Eaters), and so on. There just isn't one standard of Worst that'll put Manos, Blood Feast, and Showgirls on the same rating scale.

King Kung Fu is the World's Worst Movie in the category, "Wichita, Kansas, In-Joke Films Made by Local Commercial Production Companies and Never Released Theatrically." All I can figure is that Bob Walterscheid, the person responsible, saw what fellow Kansas commercial producer Herk Harvey had accomplished with Carnival of Souls up in Lawrence a few years earlier, and decided to try and make his own feature-length film, and in color, yet.

To paraphrase Monster a Go Go, "It was mutilated in a horrible way no one had ever seen before."

The only public showing of this - "film" - I can document was as a running joke at the annual Drama Department picnic at Wichita State University, where you could hoot and point out everyone you recognized. Otherwise, even if you're as dedicated as I am in the hunt for the World's Worst, or, alternatively, even if you're a blood relative of one of the participants, trust me - you DON'T WANT TO KNOW. LET IT GO. PUT THE TAPE DOWN AND BACK SLOWLY AWAY. KING KUNG FU WILL SUCK THE AIR FROM YOUR LUNGS. IF THEY SHOWED THIS MOVIE ON THE BEACH AT PADRE ISLAND AT THE HEIGHT OF SPRING BREAK EVERYONE WATCHING WOULD IMMEDIATELY TURN INTO WARREN CHRISTOPHER.

I'm not kidding.

This movie was made 33 years ago so it was not going to have great visuals like what we are used to today in more modern movies. The film has its funny moments but most of its just so slapstick that its not funny. Its hard to describe the humor of the film. Over acting is one of the funniest things to watch over and over again. B-movies sometimes are funny and this one is one of those types of films. There are lots of other factors that contribute to the film be watchable but it is something that you have to be in the mood to watch. I'm not sure if King Kong Fu was supposed to a comedy or a action flick. Its an odd combination of about three different movie genres.

I am a big fan of slapstick comedy's. And after seeing Cinemassacres review on spike.com, I couldn't resist. The only thing I don't like is the filler. Just cut to the dang gorilla already! And at the end when they are on the building, I love the crappy stop motion effects. And the one liners are great! This is probably one of the best movie ever made. There is no other movie like this, sadly enough. It kinda reminds me of that movie that was playing on the TV in the movie "Troll 2". I think that that movie was called "Grunt", but anyway, King kung fu is A+ entertainment, that I could watch for hours. I recommend it all the way.

As the producer of King Kung Fu, I marvel at the comments about this being "Worst Film Ever". For the correct information, please know that KKF actually played in 11 theaters around the country. Also while standing in the lobby of two theaters the audience laughed their tails off during the film. They then commented that it was "corny". It has been sold to Japan, Taiwan, and Poland. It was shot on 43 locations and has over 40 speaking parts. It was shot in SimianScope. King Kung Fu is the unforgettable story of a Chinese gorilla who knows Karate. After beating up his master (a Kung Fu Master)he is shipped to the U.S. as a gift by the embarrassed master. On the way to New York, he is put on display in Wichita, Kansas where two out of work reporters set him free with plans to "capture" him and get jobs. Police Captain J.W. Duke,(who resembles a certain Western Movie star)and his first officer Pilgrim, get involved in the city wide chase along with Rae Fey and a host of others. The gorilla and the girl end up on top of the tallest building in Wichita, a Holiday Inn. It is full of clichés, spoofs, and a cast of truly memorable characters for a lot of viewing fun. If you laugh at the opening titles when it says "Filmed in SimianScope" then you'll laugh all the way thru the movie. We started in 1974 and released the movie in 1987. (ran out of money several times)If you can accept the fact that it is a guy in a gorilla suit (who by the way does not talk) you can enjoy the film. (a stream of consciousness voice does not mean the gorilla talks). Hey, it's a G rated movie. It was one of two released in 1987. The other one was a Benjie Movie. Take a chance. Bob Walterscheid

First of all, there's not much kung fu in this movie. It's just a guy in an ape suit and goofy comedy. Don't get me wrong, I was expecting an ape suit and something silly... but... it was too silly, and it was not half the action movie I hoped for.

It could have been a fun movie but it was too desperately trying to be funny. Over-acting, spoof characters, cartoony sound effects and cheesy comedic music...those are all things that make me squirm and want to look anywhere else than on the screen. I tried to keep focused but failed, and during the movie I read newspaper, browsed record shop, made more tea to stay awake, planned how to build shelves for my movies, browsed ratings I have given to other movies, thought other annoying movies I'd rather be watching instead, and some boring chores on my to-do list...then I always quickly came back for the movie but it felt like a difficult task to finish.

There's not much plot, and the whole thing about the movie is that if you like the particular overtly silly tone of it, then you like it... but I didn't. If you happen to like slapstick and 70s' camp a lot, then you'll probably get more out of it.