Congo

In the opening scenes of this gripping film, TraviCom employee Charles Travis (Bruce Campbell) finds himself in a remote corner of the Congo, nestled on the slopes of a dormant volcano. Accompanied by his friend Jeffrey, they venture into uncharted territory, driven by a shared sense of adventure and discovery. However, their excursion takes a dark turn when Jeffrey's sudden disappearance and gruesome demise serve as a stark warning that they are not alone in this unforgiving environment. As Charles frantically searches for his friend, he becomes the unwitting target of a mysterious force that strikes without warning.

Meanwhile, back at TraviCom headquarters in Houston, Dr. Karen Ross (Linney), Charles' ex-fiance and an electronics expert with a background in CIA operations, waits anxiously to establish communication with her partner via satellite. But when she finally manages to activate the video feed on his camera, she is met with a harrowing scene of destruction and chaos - evidence that something has gone catastrophically wrong at their remote location.

As Karen struggles to make sense of the carnage, TraviCom CEO R.B. Travis (Baker), Charles' father, reveals the true purpose behind their expedition: the quest for a rare blue diamond believed to exist only in volcanic regions, with the potential to revolutionize communication technologies. He tasks Karen with finishing what Charles started - namely, finding the elusive gemstones.

In a separate thread of narrative, Dr. Peter Elliott (Dylan Walsh), a young primatologist from the University of California at Berkeley, has been working tirelessly to develop a groundbreaking method for teaching human communication skills to primates. With the help of his assistant Richard (Heslov) and a cleverly designed backpack and glove system, they've made tremendous progress with a remarkable gorilla named Amy (voiced by Shayna Fox). However, as Amy's emotional state begins to deteriorate due to recurring nightmares and psychological problems, Peter becomes increasingly concerned. Her constant painting of an eye surrounded by trees serves as a haunting clue that she may be trying to convey a deeper message.

With the prospect of returning Amy to her natural habitat in Africa looming, Peter is faced with the daunting challenge of securing funding for the expedition. Enter Herkermer Homolka (Curry), a Romanian philanthropist willing to underwrite their journey. As Karen joins forces with Peter, driven by her own desperation to find Charles and uncover the truth behind the mysterious events unfolding in the Congo, she brings with her an added layer of financial backing for their perilous quest.

As the expedition embarks on its African adventure, they're met with a mixture of warm hospitality and stern authority by their seasoned guide, Captain Munro Kelly (Hudson). However, their initial excitement is short-lived as they're soon apprehended by local authorities and interrogated by a no-nonsense military leader (Delroy Lindo) who demands a substantial bribe in exchange for safe passage. It's only after parting with a considerable sum that the group boards another plane, but their journey takes an unexpected turn when Munro reveals to them that their team leader, Homolka, has a history of ill-fated expeditions searching for the fabled "Lost City of Zinj". The group's covert border crossing into Zaire is marked by a harrowing parachute descent into the dense jungle after their plane is shot down by Zairean soldiers. As they set up camp, Karen (presumably) begins to establish communication with Travis in Houston via satellite link, but just as she's about to initiate the video feed, Peter and Amy (presumably) inadvertently sabotage her equipment, prompting Travis to mistakenly send a third team to join them. The next morning, an enigmatic tribe of ghostly apparitions appears at their campsite, claiming to have witnessed a deceased white man clad in TraviCom insignia.

The tribesmen guide the group to the site where they find Bob, a member of the original TraviCom expedition, who's not quite dead but rather comatose. As they attempt to revive him, Bob suddenly regains consciousness and lets out a blood-curdling scream upon catching sight of Amy before coughing up blood and succumbing to shock. The group is left bewildered as they press on into the jungle by boat, narrowly escaping a deadly hippopotamus attack in the dead of night. Along their route, they're treated to a haunting spectacle: a burning cargo plane streaks across the starry sky, its fate sealed as it's shot down by the Zaire military and doomed to crash in the dense foliage.

As tensions simmer beneath the surface, Munro continues to probe Homolka about his fixation on the lost city. Homolka eventually reveals that a cryptic book from Soviet Georgia sparked his obsession with Zinj, where King Solomon was believed to have unearthed a vast diamond mine. The illustration featured an unusual design – an open eye – eerily mirroring Amy's recurring motif. Homolka comes to a startling conclusion: Amy has somehow intuited the location of Zinj and can lead them there.

As the expedition delves deeper into the mysteries of Zinj, the ominous presence of a dormant volcano looms large, its slumbering power hinting at an imminent awakening. Peter, Karen, Munro, Homolka, and Kahega (Akinnuoye-Agbaje), the group's stalwart head porter, venture into the ancient city's ruins, leaving Amy, Richard, and the remaining porters to wait anxiously outside. The initial foray yields a striking discovery: a recurring hieroglyphic motif that seems to reverberate with an air of foreboding.

The tranquility is shattered when Richard bursts into the city, his face smeared with blood, his eyes wild with fear. He collapses lifelessly, and a gray gorilla emerges from the shadows, flinging the severed head of a porter at the group before being dispatched. The gruesome scene unfolds further as Munro falls prey to another gorilla's ferocious attack, only to be saved by Kahega's bravery.

Amy's appearance, her expression etched with terror, serves as a stark reminder that the expedition has entered uncharted territory. As night descends, the group sets up camp, but the gray gorillas prove relentless, launching a series of attacks on the perimeter. The automated machine guns set up by Karen prove instrumental in repelling these assaults.

Homolka's translation of the hieroglyphic message - "We are watching you" - sends shivers down the spines of the group. In the morning, a somber count reveals that several porters, Amy, and Homolka themselves have vanished.

The expedition's fortunes take another downturn as they re-enter the ruins of Zinj, only to stumble upon Homolka's discovery: Solomon's fabled diamond mine. The group is quickly ambushed by the gray gorillas, who guard the mine with tenacity. Homolka's untimely demise serves as a precursor to a maelstrom of violence, as the others open fire on their assailants.

In the chaos that ensues, Karen and Peter stumble upon Charles' lifeless body, his hand clutching a magnificent blue diamond. As the gorillas close in, Kahega and the remaining porters fall one by one, their ammunition exhausted. Peter is dragged away from Karen and Munro by the relentless primates.

Amy arrives on the scene, her ferocity in protecting an injured Peter allowing Karen to harness the power of a powerful laser, which she uses to devastating effect against the gorillas. The volcano's eruption serves as a cataclysmic backdrop, as the mine collapses into molten lava, granting the trio a fleeting chance to escape as their tormentors succumb to the inferno.

As the remnants of the devastated city succumb to the unforgiving forces of nature, Karen takes refuge in her determination to unravel the secrets that lie ahead. With a somber tone, she reaches out to Travis (actor's name) and delivers the crushing news: Charles has met his untimely demise, but the discovery of the diamond mine remains a beacon of hope. However, as the reality of Travis' mercenary nature sets in, Karen's resolve hardens like molten lava. She hijacks the laser beam, redirecting its fury towards Travicom's behemoth satellite, a symbol of their cold-hearted pursuit of profit. The once-mighty spacecraft implodes in a blaze of sparks, a testament to Karen's unyielding defiance.

Meanwhile, Peter is forced to bid farewell to Amy, who tenderly bestows upon him a delicate flower before embarking on a perilous journey with a troop of majestic mountain gorillas. As the sun dips into the horizon, casting a warm orange glow across the landscape, Peter, Karen, and Munro prepare to take flight in their hot air balloon. With a symbolic gesture, Karen commands Peter to jettison the sole diamond she managed to salvage from the mine's depths, as if casting aside the shackles of greed and materialism. As the balloon soars above the jungle canopy, Amy watches wistfully, her gaze lost in the vast expanse of the unknown, where the boundaries between civilization and wilderness blur into a haze of uncertainty.