Strong and Moving!

Load of rubbish!!

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Some bad films have amusement value in their badness, and are entertaining as a result. This one isn't. No amusing lines of dialogue, no characters who are a "hoot", just a dull, plodding excuse for a plot that's a chore to get through despite the short running time. A guy in a gorilla suit with a plastic helmet is supposed to be an alien monster. Even the godawful The Creeping Terror had a more monster-looking monster LOL.

Robot Monster seems to have been one of those bad movies that appears to have been quite well known in its day. It drew widespread scorn at the time of its release and it's not necessarily very difficult to understand why. It was made for the, even then, incredibly low budget of $16,000 and it was seemingly shot in four days. At no point during proceedings does the film ever suggest that this might not be true. It has seriously threadbare sets, which seem to consist of a cave and a wall. While the alien baddie Ro-Man essentially consists of a gorilla suit and a diving helmet. A somewhat strange concept for a 'robot' it has to be said. But then again I'm not very convinced that he is even supposed to be a robot in the first place and instead seems to be an alien who has been sent to Earth after his people have obliterated the human race by means of a death ray or something. To that end we have a post-apocalyptic land populated solely by a handful of survivors who are still around on account of one of their number, an archaeologist, having developed a serum that gives them all immunity from every conceivable disease. Why is it that it is an archaeologist who has made this ground-breaking discovery? No reason really, that's just the way it is. In fact that sentence could apply to many questions regarding the content of this movie.Needless to say, Robot Monster is something of an entertaining viewing experience. It may be clunky as hell but it's endearingly put together. Ro-Man is certainly the main draw and is a commendably ridiculous creation. He is one of the most iconic characters in 50's sci-fi schlock for sure. He is a bit of a surprisingly evil being though and at one point actually murders a little girl which was somewhat unexpected I have to say. But mostly, he just stands around the entrance to a cave shouting out about all the perturbation and despair he is going to deliver at some later point. On a separate note, seeing as this one was released during the very brief craze for 3D movies in 1953 its poster promised that this was going to be another 3D spectacular; needless to say it was never released in 3D at all, which in some ways only adds to its overall standing.

No need to get into the loony plot. Thanks to this ghastly treasure, I nominate Ordung and Tucker for the Outpatient Hall of Fame. After all, who else but the ditzy would think a gorilla suit topped by a diving bell is the stuff of nightmares. And if that's not scary enough, top it off with a menacing Lawrence Welk bubble machine. Still, when those alien bubbles came flying at me, I was under the bed in nothing flat. Yes indeed, this lunatic mess qualifies for not just any award, but for a big fat Golden Turkey. I love it when the world's at stake, and a shirtless Roy and a busty Alice traipse off to the weeds for some serious canoodling. Nice to know Hollywood won't let world's end interfere with a commercial product. But the movie's real star is lowly Bronson Canyon. It's a burned up pimple on the face of LA that no 50's schlock would be complete without. Then too, I love the way a waddling Ro-Man clumps up and down the desiccated slopes like he's looking for Humane Society rescue. Oh well, what can you say about a near home-movie that cost all of sixteen grand. Heck, production companies spend that much on lunch these days. Still, someone should have let the cast in on the joke. They play things like there's an Oscar at stake. Anyway, a tip of the diving helmet to the makers of this inspired mess. Meanwhile-- Is it safe to come out now?

"Robot Monster" is a wonderful film about a gorilla in a diving helmet who loves bubbles and beautiful women. Oh, and the gorilla is also a ROBOT MONSTER! FROM SPACE! He's killed all but 5 people on planet Earth and is trying to finish the job! And... Well really that's about it. Except that one of the 5 is a beautiful woman and the monster wants to keep her alive for his own purposes, much to the chagrin of his superiors (and her boyfriend who has a severe aversion to wearing shirts).Like most bad movies, a lot of stuff happens that doesn't make any sense and leaves the viewer wondering what they missed; but this gem actually addresses its incongruity in its final plot twist - which is possibly the biggest let-down of the film. While a little drawn-out, "Robot Monster" is a classic example of the beyond-B sci-fi movie genre and often glorious in its awfulness.