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To me, this movie is perfection.

Such a frustrating disappointment

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

"The Gorilla Gang" is the second krimi film I have seen, after "The Dead One in the Thames River". About the best I can say for it is that it's not as bad as that one was.It is similarly boring and confusing, though. The bad guy (or guys?) have a comparable modus operandi: they send messages to meet their victims and then off them. The death scenes are even less realistically handled in this movie: In "Dead One", the victims were taken out with the least convincing headshot-by-sniper-rifle ever captured on film. In "Gorilla Gang", the bad guy (or guys?) dresses up as a gorilla and strangles the person to death.Apparently the costume grants its wearer a gorilla's strength as well, since the victims can't seem to fight back at all.The whole "bad guy dresses up as a gorilla" thing, coupled with the movie being called "gorilla GANG" when we only ever see one gorilla on screen at a time, would seem to be an indication that we are in for a classic so-bad-it's-good movie. This is not the case. Unfortunately, after watching these two krimis I'm getting the impression that such absurdity was just a reaction to an oppressively formulaic plot outline the filmmakers were working with. They couldn't amuse you, so they may as well amuse themselves at your expense.

"Der Gorilla von Soho" or "Gorilla Gang" or "Ape Creature" is a German color movie from 1968, so this one will soon have its 50th anniversary. It is another entry from the Edgar Wallace series that was made back then, especially by Alfred Vohrer and he is the director here once again. The film is one of these rare movies from the franchise that make it actually until the 90-minute mark. The lead actor here is Horst Tappert ("Derrick") and I must say he was one of the main reason why I did not like this film here. Another one would be the antagonists. The gorilla is pretty ridiculous and not in a good way. They did better with the animal characters in other films. And the real main antagonist (who we do not find out until the very end) is truly forgettable and bland. This film needed improvement in many areas I think and even the usual themes from these Edgar Wallace like the comedy and the several plot twists could not save this film. Still I must say I was a bit shocked about the very ending. Was that really a joke on male genitals? I am not sure. But it does not matter anyway as everything before that is certainly not worth sitting through. Watch something else instead.

"Der Gorilla von Soho" is very similar to the earlier "Die toten Augen von London" by the same producer and director, yet not half as good. A killer in a gorilla costume sneaks through the streets of London, because nobody notices a 6 ft gorilla in a big city, therefore it seems the perfect disguise... ANYWAY, very rich people are drowned after they made the mistake of writing a testament that donates all their money to the so-called welfare organization of Mr.Parker. The police assumes this is not a coincidence and starts investigating against Mr.Parker, but proof is hard to find. "Der Gorilla von Soho" has a lot of action scenes and at least isn't boring, but involuntarily funny. It has not much suspense and tries some cheap jokes and sleazy nudity instead. In the cast, Albert Lieven is an excellent villain, young Uwe Friedrichsen is overacting a bit as the enthusiastic, but inexperienced police sergeant, while Herbert Fux in his only appearance in the Wallace series plays a gangster perfectly well.

This 1968 color German-made feature was one of the last of the Edgar Wallace series, and like the later films it introduced horror and sex elements. The earlier black-and-white films were staples on american UHF TV in the 60s and 70s, and most are fascinating exercises in style and suspense. The later color films wound up being re-titled and shown on the bottom half of double bills at drive-ins in the early 70s, where I originally saw this one, where it was released by Sam Sherman's Independent-International Pictures. It's grotesque, sleazy, and over-the-top, and introduces too many characters, but seeing it again after 25 years I still find it a worthwhile experience and a good way to waste 90 minutes. No one makes 'em like the Germans do!