As 2023 comes to a close, we also reach the end of our yearlong celebration of King Kong, who made his cinematic debut 90 years ago, on March 3, 1933. The creation of movie producer Merian C. Cooper and author Edgar Wallace, brought to stop-motion life by effects master Willis O’Brien, King Kong went on to become a worldwide cultural icon that inspired generations of Monster Kids who grew up to be directors, writers, and special-effects creators.
But we have one last treat to show you before the New Year rings in: In horror-monster circles, one of the most famous stories in the making of the original King Kong was the cutting-room-floor fate of its “spider pit” sequence in which Kong’s human pursuers are attacked by horrific arachnids and insects after Kong throws them off a log bridge. Although the log scene remained in the final cut, the grisly horrors faced by the fallen rescuers was excised and thought lost forever. Over the years, its existence became a point of debate, with some cinephiles even claiming the scene was never shot since no footage could be found.
But back in 1963, during the celebration of Kong’s 30th anniversary, the gold standard of horror magazines, Famous Monsters of Filmland (edited by Forrest J Ackerman, cocreator of Vampirella), presented a two-page photograph in its twenty-sixth issue (cover-dated January 1964) that showed irrefutable proof that the scene (or at least photographic evidence of it) existed:
The FM caption reads: THIS IS IT! The censored spider at the bottom of the ravine into which Kong shook Denham’s men from the log. 5 years from now we will probably have to suffer another set of Doubting Thomases who are just a little too young to be buying this issue but by then will be all of 10 and will be writing in to challenge our statement that we were the first (after 30 years!) to bring you the Spider foto from KING KONG! We are counting on you, who are seeing it for the first time now, to come to our defense in 1969 when the new crop of Doubters starts heckling us! (Historic foto from the personal possessions of the late Willis O’Brien.)
(By the way, a version of the pit sequence finally did make it into the movies, in Peter Jackson’s 2005 version of King Kong. Willis O’Brien never came close to the skin-crawling absolute nightmare fuel found in the Jackson film. Giant leeches with huge mouths filled with teeth? Gah!)
Intrigued by what might have been? Interested in reading how it would have played out? Then you’re in luck, because the friendly fiends here at StarWarp Concepts have just the e-book for you!
King Kong is a republication of the 1932 novelization of the original movie classic. Written by Delos W. Lovelace, based on the story by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper and the screenplay by James A. Creelman and Ruth Rose, it includes scenes that didn’t appear in the final cut of the film—including the notorious “spider pit” sequence. Our version features six original black-and-white illustrations by comics artist Paul Tuma, whose work has appeared in the pages of The Twilight Zone, Paul Kupperberg’s Secret Romances, and Bloke’s Terrible Tomb of Terror.
Not familiar with the beauty-and-the-beast story of Kong and his “love interest,” Ann Darrow (who was played in the 1933 original by the queen of the scream queens, Fay Wray)? Well, here’s our edition’s back-cover copy to bring you up-to-date:
Ann Darrow was a down-on-her-luck actress struggling to survive in Depression-era New York when she met moviemaker Carl Denham. He offered her the starring role in his latest film: a documentary about a long-lost island—and the godlike ape named Kong rumored to live there. Denham needed a beauty as a counterpart to the beast he hoped to find, and Ann was the answer to his prayers.
Mystery, romance, a chance to turn her life around, even the possibility of stardom—to Ann, it sounded like the adventure of a lifetime! But what she didn’t count on were the horrific dangers that awaited her on Skull Island—including the affections of a love-struck monster…
King Kong is available for download, so visit its product page for ordering information.
