Congo

Congo (1995) is a jungle adventure with a sci-fi streak that you can watch online on iFILM. Directed by Frank Marshall from Michael Crichton's bestseller, it sends an expedition deep into Central Africa after a fabled diamond mine while quietly returning a talking gorilla to the wild.

The travelers make an odd crew. There's a communications expert (Laura Linney), a young primatologist, Peter (Dylan Walsh), and his signing gorilla Amy, whose words come out through a synthesizer glove. Add a slippery Romanian treasure hunter played with full ham by Tim Curry and a no-nonsense guide (Ernie Hudson). The further in they push, the worse the odds get: charging hippos, scalding geysers, and the ruins of a lost city called Zinj, prowled by creatures science refuses to name.

This is pure mid-nineties studio product, made when Hollywood snapped up anything Crichton wrote after Jurassic Park. Nobody mistook it for a masterpiece even then, but the killer apes and laser guns give it a goofy, popcorn charm that's aged into comfort viewing. Stream Congo (1995) online on iFILM.