A plane crashes in a remote jungle. Many survive, but the front end of the plane and the cockpit are nowhere to be found. The only way to seek help is to find the cockpit and radio a message.
Ed Malone (Jeff Denton) climbs a small hill and sees the cockpit about a mile distant. A group decides to leave the plane to search for the radio. John Roxton (Rhett Giles) leads the group through the jungle. The remaining survivors stay at the crash site in case a plane passes by.
The group arrives at the fuselage to learn that it's not part of the plane they crashed in. In addition, the radio and critical instruments have been stripped and removed. They are startled by the arrival of Lieutenant Colonel Challenger (Bruce Boxleitner), who managed to travel alone to the downed plane, carrying a briefcase he doesn't seem to want to part with.
The group continues to look for the cockpit with some individuals being killed or lost along the way. They encounter a military plane. Challenger tries to rig a missile as a signal gun, but fails. The group finds a cavern for shelter that night, and are attacked by giant prehistoric scorpions (Brontoscorpio). John and Tianka are killed, while a desperate Ed, Challenger, Rita, Dana, and Natalie flee for safety. As they escape from the stream, they are captured by natives living on a plateau. It is learned that the natives have been stripping the planes to avoid outsiders. The natives are discovered to be survivors from a crash long ago, and have developed a sacrificial rite to appease the creatures of the jungle. Dana and Natalie are brainwashed into joining them, while Ed is chosen as the sacrifice.
However, the sacrificial ceremony fails when a giant ape (Gigantopithecus) attacks a swarm of flying dragon-like lizards, and Dana (who faked being brainwashed) saves Ed. They meet up with Challenger and Rita, then spot military jets overhead, moving in to attack the giant ape, but are destroyed. Challenger kills a native, but dies during the ape's rampage, leaving Ed to fight it alone.
Ed detonates a nuclear bomb from a crashed plane and successfully kills the ape, but also destroys their cockpit, trapping Ed, Rita, and Dana in the jungle. They contemplate dying, to which Ed tersely replies, "Not today," as they stare in the distance.
The character of Professor Summerlee is now a woman named Rita Summerlee.
The expedition in the novel originally journeyed to the Lost World to prove Prof. Challenger's claims that dinosaurs lived in modern times. In the film, the expedition accidentally crash-land into the Lost World.
There was no giant ape in the novel, the original antagonists were a race of ape-men living in the Lost World.
In the film, the characters are stranded on an island, however, in the novel and previous film adaptions, the story takes place on a plateau.
There are Brontoscorpios (giant scorpions), giant spiders, man-eating vines and giant winged lizards in the film. In the novel there are only dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures.
In the movie many characters, including Challenger and John Roxton die. However they survive in the original novel.
Reception
HorrorTalk found the movie to be one of the Asylum's best, stating "The bottom line is King is a fun romp through the jungle from beginning to end."[2]
Dread Central agreed it was a better work, but criticized the third act as convoluted, as well as lacking the titular ape.[3]
