Review of Robot Monster (1953) by Patrick E — 06 Aug 2008

Robot Monster is the Citizen Kane of abysmal 1950s science fiction. It has everything modern viewers have come to expect from movies of this genre: a laughable plot line, completely improbable situations, ludicrous acting, unbelievably awful special effects, cheapjack production values, gaffes galore, and examples of how to fail miserably at every major aspect of motion picture production. For good measure it also sports easily the most ridiculous "monster" in the history of film! The plot is so thin that it can't even be stretched comfortably over the film's 66-minute running time without generous padding. A family, headed by the requisite German-accented scientist and including a "hot" chick, a "manly" guy, and two cutesy-poo kids wander through the desert after Earth has been annihilated by a guy in a gorilla suit wearing a fish bowl on his head! That's basically it, except for some nonsensical pap about an immunity serum. When the guy in the monkey suit is far and away the best actor in the picture, you've got a MAJOR problem--but compared to John Mylong as "The Professor," Ro-Man is Laurence Olivier. You could drive an articulated truck through the plot holes and the ending is possibly the funniest thing ever committed to celluloid.

Robot Monster is without doubt an absolute masterpiece of filmmaking simply because of the sheer amount of talent it would have taken to create something so atrociously bad. Definitely one of the funniest films ever made. Do yourself a favour, grab a 6-pack and laugh yourself silly at Ro-Man and his awesome calcinator death ray!

Brilliant!

10/10.