16mm Film: KILLER GORILLA - Castle Films - Approach with caution

Description

WARNING:  Let me first say that I am an animal lover, so this morally reprehensible film didn't set well with me at all.  In fact, I even hesitated listing it, but I definitely wouldn't want to keep it.  It graphically depicts animal cruelty, specifically, the mindless killing of two terrified gorillas.  The bull***t plot tries to 'explain' this wholesale butchery as one of self-preservation for the nearby natives whose camp is being infiltrated at night by homicidal gorillas.  Uh-huh. So, naturally, the natives have to take matters into their own hands.  This was Castle's excuse for releasing a 'snuff-film' disguised as 'Adventure' entertainment. What follows is a gleeful narrator interspersed with a plethora of "reaction-shots" from actors and actual natives, as they spear and shoot down two fleeing gorillas out of the trees and parade the animals' dead carcasses proudly.  One can imagine the shell-shocked children who ended up watching this traumatizing drivel who associated Castle Films with W.C. Fields, Abbott & Costello and general innocent fun.  This film clearly illustrates just how far we've come in recognizing these grand creatures as sentient, intelligent beings.  ALL THAT HAVING BEEN SAID...it is a valuable record of what passed for 'entertainment for all ages' back in the 1950s and serves as a reminder of not only how far we've come but how far we still have to go.  (I COMBINE SHIPPING FOR MULTIPLE WINS AND PURCHASES.)