Bride of the Gorilla

Plot

Deep in the South American jungles, plantation manager Barney Chavez (Burr) kills his elderly employer in order to get to his beautiful wife Dina Van Gelder (Payton). However, old native witch Al-Long (Gisela Werbisek) witnesses the crime and puts a curse on Barney, who soon after finds himself turning nightly into a rampaging gorilla. When a wise but superstitious police commissioner Taro (Chaney) is brought in to investigate the plantation owner's death and a rash of strange animal killings, he begins to suspect that all is not as it seems. Dina is also becoming suspicious of Barney, who seems to be more in love with the jungle than with her. She follows him one night into the jungle, only to be attacked by the feral Barney. Taro and his friend Dr. Viet (Conway) follow her screams in the jungle and shoot Barney.

Cast

In other media

There is a mocking reference to the movie in the 1973 first-season episode "Sticky Wicket" of M*A*S*H.

The movie is featured in the first episode of the Ed the Sock series This Movie Sucks! with commentary making fun of the movie by Ed, Liana Kerzner and Ron Sparks.

The film was also the first movie lampooned on MSTing show Incognito Cinema Warriors XP in 2008. The film was greatly ridiculed by the characters, who made much light of the overly-dark scenes taking place in the jungle, as well as the promiscuous nature of Barbara Payton's character.

Production

The film was shot in 10 days. Edward G. Robinson Jr. was originally cast for the movie but was fired by the producers after his arrest for writing a bad check for $138 to the Laguna Beach Garage. The gorilla of the movie's title only appears in the last few minutes of the film. The film's working title was The Face in the Water. Curt Siodmak considered interchanging the roles of Lon Chaney Jr. and Raymond Burr, but because of Chaney's deteriorating looks the idea was dropped.