Not long after WWII, a young man and his wife travel to New Guinea on a pilgrimage to recover the bones of his much loved father, shot down by the Japanese. They unwittingly travel to a taboo valley where a monster from hell awaits them. (Screenplay and Novel).

SYNOPSIS:

SYNOPSIS

The story is told by an old man near death, Harry Palmer. In his dimly lit den in his home in the US, he is recording his story in an old ledger. We are first taken back to 1945, during the war in New Guinea against the Japanese. Royce Palmer, Harry’s father, leaps from his plane but we are not told if he was killed. We are then taken to 1952, seven years after the war. The old man describes a native hunting party roaming into the Ramu Valley. ‘Ramu’ meaning - the Valley of Death. Due to drought caused by the El Ninio ocean current, there is little food. The hunting party, from a coastal village, knows it is breaking an ancient taboo by entering the Ramu, but due to starvation they have no choice.

Once there they stumble upon a downed warplane. In it they discover some dogtags and a photograph of a man and a boy (Royce and Harry). At that moment, however, they are attacked by a monstrous animal, as yet unseen, which kills them all.

In their village, the only person who knows of their intended destination is the leader’s son, a 14 year old boy named Kila Rono. With his father missing, Kila ventures after him.

At the Ramu he discovers the remains of his father’s body and takes the dogtags he still clutches. It is then he sees what killed his father. Terrified, he makes a lucky escape.

Kila travels to the white settlement of Madang. There he gives the dogtags to the area

patrolman, John Godson, and tells him his fantastic story. Godson does not believe him about the giant animal, a massively large, black crocodile, but sends the dogtags to Canberra, and the Australians send them on to Washington, where they are relayed to (Harry) Palmer.

Palmer and his attractive wife, Mary, arrive in Madang and are met by Godson. He

explains to Palmer the difficulties associated with salvaging his father’s remains i.e. the jungle, cannibals, disease, and the local natives’ unwillingness to go into the area.

Palmer asks about the supposed giant croc that Kila Rono said took his father. Godson

discounts it as exaggeration, if not a straight-out lie. He points out that if Palmer goes to the Ramu he will need a croc shooter, otherwise no natives will follow. He recommends Tom Cole. Cole is retired and living on a copra plantation. Godson doubts if Cole will be interested, but even so takes them to see him.

Palmer and Mary meet a gruff and arrogant man in Cole. But he is intrigued and agrees

to guide them. Godson, who must investigate the recent slaying of two German

missionaries by cannibals near the Ramu, asks if he can hitch a ride. They take Cole’s Dakota to Faita, a US airstrip abandoned after the war with Japan. There Palmer relates to Mary that he feels responsible for his father’s disappearance. Royce Palmer was a small town doctor. He assisted a young black girl with an illegal abortion and was later disbarred for it. He joined the airforce when war broke out because he had no other means of supporting his family. But Harry Palmer was responsible for the girl’s pregnancy, and had never told his father.

The party take rafts up the Ramu, and then begin their long trek. Along the way there is a deadly confrontation with cannibals, a terrifying bushfire, and an earthquake ‘wave’, all of which cause fatalities within their expedition crew. Finally they reach the Ramu Valley. Kila will take them no further and so departs, while Godson also departs to go on to Winepee. Cole, Mary, Palmer and four bearers go down into the forbidden valley.

They discover the plane, and it is indeed Royce Palmer’s. At that moment, however,

when we are expecting them to be attacked by the giant pukpuk (crocodile), they are

attacked by cannibals. Two bearers are killed and the rest are captured and taken to the cannibal village, which bears marks of a crocodile cult. We suspect that this is the village Royce Palmer landed in.

Once there, they find Godson’s native patrolman cooked alive over a fire. They are

imprisoned in a hut and find Godson there, also captured. After Cole’s bearers are

cooked and eaten, it is revealed the cannibal’s have more devious plans in mind for the white survivors. Godson is tied up before a giant ramp leading into the river. To everyone’s horror we see for the first time the pukpuk. It is indeed 50 feet long and some twenty tons in weight (3 times bigger than a T-Rex). It emerges from the river, and devours Godson.

A few days pass, and another sacrifice is due. In the hut, however, Kila appears and

tries to free them. Although unsuccessful he provides Cole with the means to escape.

Mary is to be sacrificed next but Cole saves her, and along with Palmer and Kila they

flee the village.

Palmer, shooting at their pursuers, is speared, and Kila returns to assist him. Cole and

Mary, meanwhile, are on a log jam in the river. Without warning the pukpuk attacks

them, breaking the log jam and sending them hurtling through flood waters. Cole and

Mary are carried miles downstream.

Palmer and Kila hide and Palmer is in a bad way. As this is happening, Cole and Mary

are being hunted by the pukpuk. Stuck on a cliff face, they try numerous ways to escape, but without success. Here we learn that the attraction they have shared throughout the expedition is felt by them both. But both know it is an unrealistic love and can never be.

Finally, Palmer and Kila find them, trapped on the cliff face. In a last bid to free them, Cole gambles everything, as much for Mary as for himself. Palmer, Mary and Kila escape the valley, and after a great struggle, and with their energy spent, they are captured by fierce looking warriors. They are taken to a village, but we discover it is not the cannibal village. Mary has a bad case of malaria and Palmer’s leg has become gangrenous. He is only semi-conscious. But we learn, finally, that this is the village Royce Palmer parachuted into. His unmanned plane flew on and merely crashed in the Ramu.

We have been told that if a malarial patient receives quinine and is allergic to it they will die. We do not know Mary’s fate as Royce injects her with quinine. Palmer is next seen in a hospital bed, his leg amputated. He is reading a letter from his father. In it his father explains that he was never happy with his life in America. When it came to war he could not bear the thought of killing another man, and so deserted, taking medical supplies with him. He thanks his son for coming to look for him, but tells

him he is now happy, and prefers his life with the natives.

We are back in the den with the old man. He has completed his story and closes the

book. The next day he is found dead. As a man from the coroner’s office supervises the removal of the body, he is asked by a worker as to what he should do with the books in the office, one of which is Palmer’s manuscript. The man goes to the kitchen and asks an old woman what she would like them to do with the books. It is Mary. She survived.

She asks for the books to be stored in the attic. Undiscovered, Palmer’s manuscript is parceled away with other books, and dumped in a box in the attic. Mary, with her few belongings, is now an invalid. As she is sent off to a nursing home in a taxi, we see she holds a photograph of her and Cole. In her last days she still cherishes the thought of their unrequited love.

We see the boxes in the attic, knowing they contain Palmer’s manuscript, there,

perhaps, for the new owner of the house to discover, and our sequel to begin.

RAMU