10 Amazingly Bad Rip Off Films You've Never Seen

Released in Christmas of 1976, the Dino de Laurentiis-produced King Kong was a $24 million folly for which a forty foot high, six and a half ton monster robot was specially constructed, even though the filmmakers decided not to use it. In theatres within a week was Ape, a no-budget Korea-lensed 3D knock-off whose star appeared to be an extra in a monkey mask and wool sweater.

Leaving out the expedition to Skull Island, the dinosaurs, plus Kong’s introduction and subsequent capture, Ape begins three-quarters of the way through the traditional narrative with the hirsute antagonist wading ashore to stomp model buildings and throw around vehicles that look suspiciously like Tonka toys.

In a sequence strangely absent from its bigger-budgeted brethren, our antagonist, smitten by a hanglider, skips along merrily behind it, arms aloft, head moving from side to side. “Let’s see him dance for his organ grinder now,” growls an unimpressed General, before sending in some wire-supported helicopter gunships. He’s left open-mouthed, however (as is the audience), when Ape/ Kong swats them aside before giving him the finger.