King Kung Fu Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

King Kung Fu Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 21, 2026

It probably doesn't take a movie reviewer to tell you that a movie with a title like King Kung Fu is going to pack in all the absurdity it can. This little obscure flick was released in 1987, and if you're watching and scratching your head and you feel like it's somehow out of time, well, it is. Work on the film began 13 years earlier in 1974 which makes so much more sense after watching it and comparing the on-screen product with the release date. And, even today, the movie is a relic of a bygone era. Sure, the modern movie world is flooded with ultra-cheap movies, but few of them today feel quite so organic as this one. King Kung Fu almost plays like a love letter to the absurd side of cinema, and audiences who can just go along for the ride will find a deeply flawed but very fun little escapist venture that might just define the phrase, "don't take it seriously; just have fun with it." Embrace the absurdity.

The plot of the movie doesn't exactly reach Shakespearian heights. And the script doesn't even really reach Coherent heights, either. When a Chinese Martial Arts Master, Al Funku (Jim Erickson), gifts his pet gorilla (John Ballee) to the United States as an international goodwill gesture, it becomes big news. En route to New York City, a pair of low-rent, down-on-their-luck Wichita reporters -- Bo Burgess (Billy Schwartz) and Herman (Tim McGill) -- decide that the gorilla's arrival is just their ticket to make a name for themselves. So, they call up their local Pizza Hut and hire pretty waitress Rae Jean Fey (Maxine Gray), promising fame and fortune if she will come alongside of them. Their plan: slather her up in banana oil and draw the gorilla right to her. But the gorilla escapes and is chased down by local law enforcement, led by J.W. Duke (Tom Leahy) and his second-in-command, Pilgrim (Stephen S. Sisley). Embrace the absurdity.

So, despite the various nods to King Kong, including a character named "Rae Fey" (a play on King King actress Fay Wray), the title character is not a giant capable of scaling tall buildings (though he did, apparently, stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night; see the film's final reel for the gag). "King Kung Fu" is a man dressed in a gorilla suit who accomplishes everything from crashing a baseball game to participating in an Old West shootout reenactment. It's funny because it's so completely off the wall, but that seems to be the work order for the film: just throw the character into pretty much any weird situation and let the good times roll. Embrace the absurdity.

The film certainly aims to be some sort of parody of King Kong, and plenty of other movies, or maybe just Hollywood in general or whatever tickled Writer/Director Lance D. Hayes' fancy on whatever day he worked on whichever page of the script. There's even a pretty good John Wayne impersonator playing a police captain named "J.W. Duke,' playing on Wayne's name and nickname, and even wearing the hat and bandana scarf and playing up the vocal parody for all its worth (and it somehow doesn't grow grating or tiresome, again because the movie seems to walk that tightrope between stupid and harmlessly fun with uncanny skill...or maybe sheer dumb luck). Mostly, the gags are just sort of thrown out there and performed without the comedic timing and acting chops that someone like Leslie Nielsen or Bill Murray could so effortlessly bring to a movie like this; King Kung Fu would have infinitely benefited from some better acting and more finely honed humor rather than just tossing everything at the wall and hoping the dripping slop somehow makes a masterpiece. And it does, somehow and someway, make a masterpiece, in its own unique way. Embrace the absurdity.

King Kung Fu Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Reel Vault presents King Kung Fu on Blu-ray via a burned BD-R disc. The 1080p transfer is, per the packaging, "restored from a new 4K scan." The results are more than satisfactory considering the film's age and low budget nature. Watching even without real scrutinizing does reveal a picture softer than many. It is obvious that budgetary constraints restricted the quality of the shoot, resulting in a less complex picture than one would find of a similarly restored 4K scan on a bigger budget film. Detail sometimes struggles to reach high points, leaving the film looking a bit flat and soft. But there is more than enough here, thanks to the inherent film resolution and the 1080p muscle, to bring out the best the film has to offer. There's enough definition to the gorilla suit, faces and clothes, and locations to satisfy base requirements -- and then some -- and reveal just about everything there is to see in King Kung Fu. Colors are bold, maybe lacking the nuance and finely-tuned richness of superior fair, but again, it's difficult to criticize the transfer for capturing what the original elements have to offer. No doubt the 4K restoration has done wonders for the material; there's not much in terms of wear and tear to be seen, and the grain structure, while dense, is pleasing enough, especially when viewing from normal distances. I can't say that this is a reference worthy disc, but Reel Vault's work is commendable for bringing just about as much llfe as possible to this obscure little flick.

King Kung Fu Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The included LPCM uncompressed 2.0 soundtrack is nothing to write home about, but that's because the movie's soundtrack is nothing to write home about. it's as simple as simple gets; it's clear that only a fraction of the film's tiny budget went into its audio elements, leaving the track sounding rather flat by its nature. But even flat and not at all dynamic, clarity suffices, delivering music, effects, and the spoken word with enough raw definition that gets the job done. Spacing is limited and uninteresting, with no real sense of dynamic engagement from the 2.0 track and not much real opportunity to venture beyond the middle area. Dialogue does image nicely to that center space, at least. The track seems like a perfectly fair representation of the original audio elements. With that in mind, it earns a solid enough score for fidelity to the original material.

King Kung Fu Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of King Kung Fu contains one extra. Simianscope: The Making of 'King Kung Fu' (720p, 28:02) explores the film's evolution, budgeting, script and humor, shooting locales, making some of the more absurd scenes, and much more. It's an agreeable little piece that features a number of participants joyfully looking back at the making of the film. It's clear they all cherish the memories. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

King Kung Fu Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

King Kung Fu is not a good movie, but it's quite appealing nevertheless. It's always inane, often a little bit insane, but infinitely enjoyable. Reel Vault's Blu-ray delivers solid video and audio that offer just about best case scenario for the film. I would have loved a commentary track or two in addition to the retrospective supplement, but at least that's well worth a watch. Embrace the absurdity. Recommended!