Robot Monster

In the pantheon of bad movies, few ever achieve the notoriety of Robot Monster (1953), except maybe for Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), as being among the worst of the worst. Written by Wyott Ordung (Target Earth) and directed by Phil Tucker, Robot Monster, intended to be a allegory of the post modern world of World War II, instead has become a cult classic of cosmic proportions in its' complete and utter badness...So what's the movie about? Well, apparently us Earthlings have become too smart for our own good, incurring the worrisome wraith of the Ro-Men, aliens with gorilla bodies and diving suit helmets for heads, as their fear is we will someday become powerful enough to destroy them...or they just want our planet (their motivation seemed to flip-flop between these two ideas). Their plan? Send a deadly emissary (only one) armed with a death ray and bubble machine to annihilate the population of Earth, allowing for others to follow...to which they find great success...almost. Yes, the entire population of our planet, about two billion at the time, are destroyed, except for 5 people. Seems these five people share some sort of immunity to the death ray, and now find themselves huddled for survival in bombed out ruins, trying to hide their existence from the alien fiend, who just happens to reside in a cave not to far from their hiding place. Can these lone survivors, these last remnants of humankind, find a way to destroy or make peace with this menace before they find themselves extinct?Man, this movie, which was shot on location in Bronson Canyon in California, probably one of the most used locations for Hollywood films, was a painfest...cheap effects I can usually take, as I've seen hundreds of B movies, but everything in this film seems like it was scraped from the bottom of some barrel. I guess the most obvious element to start out with is the aliens' extremely cumbersome costume, limiting its' mobility to the point where anytime it would chase someone, for it to actually catch them, the prey would have to either run very slow and awkward, or conveniently trip and fall to the ground. A gorilla suit with a diver's helmet? That's pretty sad, even for a film like this...I especially loved the fact that the person wearing this getup was also wearing a mask within the diving helmet, and so we were unable to see his face, so whenever he spoke, he would usually make all kinds of exaggerated gestures with his hands much like your stereotypical Italian, as if to compensate for lack of facial expressions. And really, what is the deal with the bubble machine? I suspect they got a really good deal (possible free use of it) or something on it, as the company who supplied is listed within the credits, but if I was making a film with the intention of providing chills or scares to my audience, a bubble machine only serves to counteract any terror as bubbles just can help but emote a sense of happiness. I also got really tired of that cheesy view screen the monster kept using to contact his homeworld, where he would then get messages from his leader, known as The Great Guidance, on how to proceed in his task of eliminating these last five surviving members of the human race, which proves entirely too difficult given the ease and speed of which he wiped out the other two billion humans on Earth. The acting was about as bad as you'd expect, and I found myself actually hoping for the alien to eliminate this persistent band of less then plucky survivors. The dialog...once you got past the gorilla suit/diving helmet alien element, the viewer is bombarded by round after round of some really awful dialog. The direction, while not great, is serviceable, but given the mish mash plot, it hardly makes a difference. One bright spot throughout the film was the musical score, presented by legendary Academy Award winning composer Elmer Bernstein, who later working on such films as The Ten Commandments (1956), The Magnificent Seven (1960), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), and The Great Escape (1963), to name a very few.The film, which I believe was originally presented in 3-D (in fabulous 2-D here), looks surprising good. The source material used for the transfer has obviously suffered some deterioration over time, but not as much as I would have thought, as the picture, while having many flaws visually, all seem minor at best. The audio was pretty soft here, as I had crank the volume up high to fully catch every bit of riveting dialogue as it was spoken. As far as special features, there is a theatrical trailer present, along with some other trailers, most all for Ed Wood films I believe, and that's it...not much, considering the cult status level of the film, in my opinion.As I said, cheap effects don't necessarily make for a bad movie, but in conjunction with extremely lame dialogue, incredibly poor acting, passable direction, and a completely incoherent plot equal a cinematic hurting few others have ever achieved. I read that the director, Phil Tucker, took this movie so seriously that when released and the extremely critical reviews began coming in, he was so distraught he attempted suicide, but was unsuccessful, and actually went on to direct about six more films, certainly none as memorable as this, his first. I can't help but wonder when a director makes a film as bad as this, how they can't see just how awful it is prior to releasing it. How deluded would you have to be to think this was actually going to be a good movie? I guess the most important thing to have if you are going to watch this film is a sense of humor, as that is where the main gist of the entertainment lies, unintentional as it may be...Cookieman108

If you're a bad movie fanatic you've probably seen this movie. If you haven't seen it yet, now's the time! In my book this is one of the few serious contenders, along with Plan 9 from Outer Space, for the title of "Most Enjoyable Bad Movie" (as opposed to "Worst Movie of All Time," in which category neither movie even qualifies). It has that same dizzying, surreal effect as an Ed Wood flick, where you can't believe that sane adult humans were in charge. The plot and dialogue are totally inane, stock footage of dinosaurs (from One Million B.C. and Lost Continent) pops up for no apparent reason, the set (Bronson Canyon) and props (bubble machine, ham radio) are as poverty-stricken as they get, it's never boring like many of these cheapies, and Claudia Barrett gets tied up not once, but twice! The only thing holding it back a bit is that Phil Tucker was saddled with semi-competent actors (unlike Wood's stock company of rank amateurs); check out Miss Barrett's histrionic displays in particular. (I wonder if Nixon got his "peace with honor" line from her.)As to the DVD, the box boasts a "pristine" transfer from the original source materials. While "pristine" is a wee bit strong (there is still the usual light speckling throughout) this is definitely the best I've ever seen this movie look. Compared to my Admit One VHS pre-record, the tonal scale, sharpness, and detail are vastly improved; there is simply no comparison at all (although I haven't seen Rhino's VHS transfer). The disc contains the usual chapter stops (displayed on the plain-jane main menu), trailer, and five 'advertisement' trailers for other Image releases. Overall a very nice package. The only thing keeping this from a five-star review is the exclusion of the 3-D version of the film. It can be done; Rhino has issued several 50s B-movies in 3-D on VHS (including Robot Monster), and the increased resolution of DVD would no doubt help the 3-D effects on the small screen. Why this wasn't done we can only speculate (MCA missed the same boat with their Creature from the Black Lagoon DVD). Otherwise, this is probably as close to a definitive release as this film is likely to get.

Imagine finding yourself amongst the last few remaining human survivors on Earth... If that wasn't bad enough, you then have to contend with an alien invasion out to exterminate you. A terrifying scenario for our merry band of heroes to face, especially when the adversary happens to be as scary as this lot...By setting the bar at a new low, director Phil Tucker is to be applauded for managing to out-Wood the great Ed Wood, with this triumphant sub-standard entry into the sci-fi history book of trashy story, script, acting and special effects. Witness the diving helmet attired hirsute invader ambling purposely across the desolate landscape in search of his quarry, the hi-tech gizmo pumping out soap bubbles, the taut dialogue and beautifully understated performances, the stunning visual effects, as the nightmarish terror shares a semi-erotic scene with the lovely Claudia Barrett. Best viewed in a state of intoxication to fully appreciate the subtle nuances and subliminal messages hidden within the multi-layered script. Utter garbage but great fun, and a must-have cult classic for fans of the genre!Decent B/W picture and sound on this Image Entertainment DVD when considering the film's cheapo status, but no subtitles. Film = 1-star, Fun = 5-stars = 3-stars!

"Robot Monster" is a laugh a minute and easily worth the modest price of this DVD. A no frills presentation (sadly not in 3D!), but the film itself is worthy of your attention without fanfare - as long as you are aware that you are in for one of the silliest sci-fi stories ever commited to film. I won't go into details of the plot, as many internet sources have detailed this film's many, many hilarious failings - most notably "Jabootu's Bad Movie Reviews" website, who's article on this film had me in stitches.If you can spare the 60 or 70 minutes time to sit through this humble offering, you'll soon be enjoying incredible scenes of genuine no-budget 1950's sci-fi nonsense, all lovingly played 100% straight by the earnest cast, not to mention the titular "monster" itself which is a man in a gorilla suit wearing a diving helmet on his head. Enjoy the pretentious script, backtrack to see the cracking bloopers a second time, there's loads to enjoy. What a shame this film was intended by it's creator to be a masterpiece or futuristic suspense, the poor man apparently never lived down the humiliation.All we need now is an official DVD release of "The Giant Claw", and both the daftest monsters in movie history will be preserved for another generation. How about it?

questo è un vero B Movie! Un costume di gorilla cui è applicato un casco con antenne ed eccovi servito l'alieno!Naive, sceneggiatura molto zoppicante, mette dentro di tutto, dai raggi della morte dell'alino, ad un super siero imuninizzante a dinosauri giganti. Imperdibile come B movie ,da avere perché, perchè, ehm, vediamo, perchè.... perchè sì! Guardatelo senza troppe (megli o nessuna) pretesa e poi mettetelo via nella vostra collezione. Potrete dire, IO l'ho visto!

Avec Tobor et Ro-man, voici deux séances offertes pour le prix d'une. Si le premier film possède de réelles qualités malgré son statut de série B, le second demeure d'une nullité insoupçonnée, c'est un vrai « navet » malgré la musique d'Elmer Bernstein ! Réalisés tous deux dans les années 50 avec un budget pour cinéastes amateurs alors que l'engouement du public pour les romans d'anticipation explosait, « Tobor le maître du monde » présente un intérêt cinématographique certain : le robot en fer blanc imaginé par Robert Kinoshita, spécialiste du genre à Hollywood servira de référence un an plus tard pour la conception de Robby, le robot prestigieux du chef d'oeuvre « Planète interdite ». Pour donner le change à Tobor (robot en verlan), l'enfant candide mais pas forcément innocent se nomme Billy Chapin, un « pro » de l'écran malgré son jeune âge. Pas si innocent que cela car sa curiosité va l'amener à faire connaissance avec Tobor, un prototype prévu pour piloter les fusées sans la présence d'un homme, pour le meilleur et pour le pire... Billy Chapin saura se faire remarquer en 1955 dans un autre chef d'oeuvre « La nuit du chasseur », un film malheureusement peu ou pas apprécié à sa sortie, concurrence oblige : en 1955 de grands films monopolisaient déjà les toiles avec Oklahoma !, la suite des Don Camillo, La rivière de nos amours, À l'est d'Eden, Les diaboliques... Mais « La nuit du chasseur » réussira sa résurrection grâce aux médias d'aujourd'hui qui véhiculent une image très positive du film, une reconnaissance tardive de la critique mais amplement justifiée. « Tobor le maître du monde » est lui aussi un film intéressant malheureusement présenté en V.O. La musique est simple, elle repose sur une orchestration symphonique d'illustration des images, un travail honnête tout simplement.Avec Ro-man XJ2, pas de surprise : personne n'a peur. Un déguisé dans la peau d'un gorille ayant servi dans « Tarzan » avec Johhny Weissmüller - le gamin du film le défini comme un « Vieux pneu dégonflé » -, un casque de scaphandrier à peine bricolé mais la vitre en moins, de bons gros sentiments et des clichés très américains, des acteurs qui semblent sortis du cinéma muet dont une femme à la poitrine généreuse qui se fera draguer jusqu'au point de se marier la minute suivante (!), des trucages qu'un enfant réussirait à mieux faire (on aperçoit une personne cachée dans le noir qui tient à bout de bras la maquette d'une fusée en feu !), des transistors d'un autre âge électronique, voici une histoire pour série Z. Un an avant l'unique et fabuleux film de Charles Laughton « La nuit du chasseur » et deux ans avant l'incontournable « Planète interdite » quitte à me répéter, le réalisateur totalement fauché Phil Tucker s'offrira tout de même les services d'Elmer Bernstein alors au début de sa carrière. Le musicien âgé de trente ans débutait son extraordinaire parcours de compositeur de musiques de films après s'être fait remarqué à la radio pour ses arrangements de grande qualité. Dans « Robot monster », le violoncelle mélodique et mélodieux domine l'orchestre symphonique ce qui témoigne déjà d'une patte artistique personnelle indéniable ; les timbales martèlent la démarche de Ro-man et quelques sons électroniques ponctuent l'ensemble. Au total l'auditeur ne trouvera pas de quoi s'enthousiasmer devant ces poncifs musicaux mais passons, la partition ne sera jamais réécrite, le film non plus. Il est nul et sa musique demeure, elle, correcte. Au final voici un bon dvd pour les curieux de cinéma.

Wow! I really really don't know what to say to this movie. I thought it was going to be a "Plan 9" type of bad, but it was just bad because it was plainly bad. It's only 62 minutes-long but it looks like 3 hours! Even Lord of the Rings seems shorter! The story is slow, the acting is bad, the direction is bad. I could use any other words to say bad... but bad is the only one that truly means what I'm trying to say. Don't buy unless you are a student in moviemaking or a really... REALLY big fan B-Horror movies because you WILL be disappointed! The DVD features however interesting trailers. Robot Monster deserves his place in the "worst movie ever" list. At least Ed Wood's movies showed heart and passion! Phil Tucker's Robot monster is just heartless and god-awful! Even for 9$, this worthless movie is expensive! Stay away... or else the billion bubbles machine will get you!