Skull Island

This article is about the fictional Skull Island of King Kong. For other uses, see Skull Island (disambiguation).

Skull Island is a fictional island first appearing in the 1933 film King Kong and later appearing in its sequels and in the two remakes. It is the home of the eponymous King Kong and several other species of creatures, mostly prehistoric and in some cases species that should have been extinct long before the rise of mammalian creatures such as gorillas, along with a primitive society of humans. In the 1962 film King Kong vs. Godzilla and the 1967 film King Kong Escapes, the equivalents of Skull Island are called Farou Island and Mondo Island, respectively. Kong plays a similar role on these islands as the godlike being of the land, a role he plays in all versions of the King Kong story. Skull Island's origins are unknown, however Kong appears to be the only giant gorilla known to exist on the island. However, the 2005 remake shows other skeletons of Kong-sized gorillas, indicating that there was once a group of such creatures of an unknown number living on the island.

Appearance in the 1933 film

Denham's map to Skull Island, as seen in the original 1933 King Kong.

In King Kong, Skull Island is located at approximately 12°S 78°E — somewhere off the coast of Sumatra. There is a distinctive rocky knoll in the center of the island which is shaped like a human skull, hence its foreboding name.

At first, it is thought of as deserted, but upon further examination by the protagonists of the picture, it is filled to the brim with superstitious natives, prehistoric creatures of all sorts, and one extremely large gorilla, known by those on the island as "Kong"^{[citation needed]}.

The ancestry of the natives is never really explained, although the setting suggests they are a South East Asian group. Their barbaric portrayal in the film has provoked complaints and controversy ever since the movie's release. In the sequel film, Son of Kong, we last see Skull Island as it sinks into the sea. Kong's son drowns while holding Carl Denham above the water. Denham survives unscathed.

Skull Island is never referred to by name on film. In the original film, only Skull Mountain is named, while in the sequel Son of Kong, its simply referred to as "Kong's Island". In the novelization of King Kong (1933) by Delos Lovelace, it's called Skull Mountain Island. But RKO referred to it as Skull Island in their publicity materials.

Kong: King of Skull Island, a 2004 sequel-novel which ignores Son of Kong, makes an attempt to reveal the history of Skull Island before the events of the 1933 film's story.

Appearance in the 2005 remake

Denham's map to Skull Island, as seen in King Kong (2005).

The Skull Island of 2005's King Kong is very similar to that of the 1933 film. It is once again a long-forgotten place, noted as being "far west of Sumatra", until a mysterious map leads a group of adventurers to it. It appears to be in a region that affects magnets, and is frequently shrouded in fog. The island is slowly sinking beneath the sea.

The island is shaped like a large hand with long, skeletal fingers. It is surrounded by carved stone reefs, made to resemble faces crying out in anger and pain, and is criss-crossed by an enormous stone wall and covered with jungle-swallowed ruins that are countless generations old, which are all that remain of an unknown, ancient human civilization (possibly Mu) that somehow once existed and thrived on Skull Island.

It is filled with all manner of monstrous creatures, but these beings have evolved past their primitive ancestors. Due to Skull Island's unstable ecosystem, there are many more carnivores than herbivores. Aside from dinosaurs and other large animals, the island is also home to insectoid and worm-like creatures, most of them giants like Weta-Rexes, Arachno-Claws, Scorpio-Pedes and Celocimex.

The island can be broken down into several smaller ecosystems, all shifting and changing as the animals fight amongst each other. These ecosystems are:

• The Crumbling Coastal Region and the Village
• The Shrinking Lowlands
• The Swamp and River System
• The Steaming Jungle
• The Pits and Chasms
• The Uplands

Each has a unique collection of species.

The current native people of Skull Island appear to be of a mixed Melanesian descent, although director Peter Jackson has stated that they are supposed to look like no other people on Earth.^{[citation needed]} They were largely portrayed by a number of different Pacific Island people, but also by natives of Africa and Asia.^{[citation needed]} The actors and extras were sprayed with a brown paint to make all of their skin tones coincide.^{[citation needed]} Many wear pieces of bone in some form (such as a necklace) and some even have smaller pieces of bone embedded or pierced in their flesh, such as through the nose. Artistic scarification is evident on a large number of Skull Islanders. Bright red eyes are a seemingly derived trait.

The Weta Workshop book The World of Kong documents many of the inhabitants, locations and details of Skull island, as of King Kong (2005 film).

Skull Island inhabitants

King Kong and Son of Kong

• Stegosaurus: Appears in a sequence in which it is disturbed by Carl Denham's crew. It charges the men and they fell it with a gas-bomb. As they walk by, it starts to get up again and is shot. Orville Goldner, who worked on the film, described the film's stegosaur as a combination of two genera: Stegosaurus ungulatus and the less well-known Kentrosaurus.
• A long-necked Apatosaurus: The dinosaur is disturbed by the rescue party's raft as it crosses a swamp and capsizes it, attacking the men in the water. Several of them are chased onto land, and one fellow is cornered while climbing a tree and maimed to death by the animal. A common misconception is that the sauropod actually eats the sailor, but it is stated in the script and observed in the film that the dinosaur kills and then abandons the body of a sailor identified as "Tim." The creature reappears in Son of Kong, crying out as the island is sinking.
• A large 2-legged lizard-like creature: This creature climbs up a vine from the crevasse to attack Jack Driscoll. It falls back into the pit when Jack cuts the vine it is climbing. Other than the two limbs, the other distinct feature of this creature is the iguana-like ridge of spikes down its back. Orville Goldner said it was loosely based on the features of the Desmatosuchus.

Charles R. Knight's Tyrannosaurus in the American Museum of Natural History, which the large theropod of the film was based on

• A large theropod which has been identified as either Tyrannosaurus and Allosaurus: The dinosaur was modeled after Charles R. Knight's depiction of a Tyrannosaurus. However, it possesses three fingers per hand, unlike Tyrannosaurus which had only two (however, the number of fingers in Tyrannosaurus was disputed at the time, as a complete manus was not discovered until the mid-1990s). In the documentary I'm King Kong! The Exploits of Merian C. Cooper, included on the 2 disk DVD release of King Kong, Cooper refers to this beast as an Allosaurus, not a Tyrannosaurus, which would help explain the number of fingers. However, the creature was originally intended to be a Tyrannosaurus designed for the canceled Willis O'Brien film Creation (1931). It may also be worth noting that the Tyrannosaurus present in Willis O'Brien's earlier project The Lost World (1925) also had a third finger. The 1932 King Kong screenplay refers to the dinosaur only as a "Meat Eater." The creature appears in the iconic scene where Kong defends Anne from its attack, killing it after a protracted fight.
• An Elasmosaurus-like creature: a highly stylized, serpentine aquatic reptile with a long neck and tail as well as two pairs of flippers. It inhabits the bubbling swamp area inside Kong's cave. Goldner describes the Elasmosaurus as "being designed as more slender then the ones known to science, and its swimming limbs are less prominent. In those respects, it more closely resembles the polydactyl nothosaur Ceresiosaurus. " It battles Kong in the style of a giant, constricting snake.
• A Pteranodon-like pterosaur menaces Anne and is the last major creature to appear on Skull Island. It is slain by Kong.
• Teratornis: These birds can be seen flying around the dead Tyrannosaurus. One is seen eating the dead tyrannosaur and is frightened off by the approaching Jack Driscoll.
• Rhamphorhynchus: The tiny Rhamphorhynchus are seen flying around Skull Mountain. A few are flying around the large cave at the base of Skull Mountain, while others are seen at Kong's lair near the top of Skull Mountain.
• Archaeopteryx: The tiny Archaeopteryx are seen flying around in the jungle. Most notably a few fly by when the Stegosaurus enters the clearing, and one flies out of the dead tree that Kong puts Ann in before he goes to fight the sailors on the log bridge. According to Goldner, they "were made to flit among the trees on invisible wires."
• Arsinoitherium: This huge prehistoric mammal was to chase the men onto the log bridge and corner them between itself and the enraged Kong. in the test reel. According to Goldner, Cooper had second thoughts about the Arsinotherium and "ordered the action to be refilmed using a Styracosaurus. Both versions were eventually thrown out because they captured too much audience attention." This can be attested to by the fact that the sailors didn't just run back across the log when Kong appeared.
• Gigantophis garstini: According to Goldner, "This huge serpent that appeared in one scene and later cut out of the film, had its living prototype in Egypt." This giant snake frightens Ann at the base of the dead tree that Kong puts her in before he battles the sailors on the log bridge. It was in the test reel, but later cut. However, you can still see Ann Darrow's reactions to it below her just before the T. rex shows up in the clearing.
• Cynognathus: It was created and then re-created for the "spider-pit sequence" and portrayed as a stout reptilian predator. Goldner stated that a was loosely adapted, as many of the creatures of the pit were imaginative.
• A giant crab, spider and tentacled "bug": all appear in the original notes, script, and re-created "spider-pit sequence," eating the surviving crewmen in the crevasse.
• Triceratops: In the original script only, encountered by Kong on volcanic flats; he hurls boulders at a herd of them and drives them into a stampede, impaling one of the crew of the Venture.
• Giant Bear: A gigantic bear that attacks Denham and Hilda, but is driven off by the Son of Kong.
• Styracosaurus: Corners Hellstrom, Englehorn and Charlie into a cave in Son of Kong, destroying one of their guns. Originally slated to appear in King Kong, chasing the crew onto the log bridge and keeping them trapped there.
• Cave Serpent: A dragon-like creature that threatens Denham and Hilda, but is fended off and killed by Kiko. King Kong: A History of a Movie Icon calls the creature 'The Dragon' all through its review of Son of Kong. In some respects it resembles a very large Protorosaurus.
• Second unknown, dragon-like plesiosaur: A very stylized incarnation of this marine reptile eats Hellstrom as he attempts to flee at the end of Son of Kong. The 'snapping' version that grabbed Hellstrom was actually the revamped brontosaur from the original film; same holds for the armature version seen briefly snarling in predatory glee.

1976 Remake

• Aside from Kong and the island natives, the only other creature that appears in this incarnation of the island is a giant snake very similar to the Gigantophis garstini.