In Defense of Schlock: ROBOT MONSTER (1953)

Рет қаралды 2,297

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 43

@SirSmoldham 4 күн бұрын

John Landis once said, "People see a good horror movie to get scared. They see a bad horror movie to have a good time." Considering what went into its making and it still has a score by an Oscar winning composer (who also wrote the music to "Cat Women of the Moon"), I enjoy it a little more than most.

@rsacchi100 4 күн бұрын

It is amazing how it all came together. I like all the background information. Congratulations, you're the only other person I've watched who brought out the "it was a child's dream" angle as a reason for the film being as it is. Children, and adults, have strange dreams. A bubble machine makes sense from that perspective. You did a good job of going deep into the dream. Amateur film makers can learn a lot from this video.

@racookster 4 күн бұрын

I've never seen this movie, but halfway through the review, I was thinking it couldn't be that bad with the talent involved in making it. What happens when you've got a schlock producer and writer with almost no budget, but competent actors and a talented composer doing the score? Well, this, I guess.

@christopherwaldrop5293 3 күн бұрын

My introduction to Robot Monster was the 1982 comedy/documentary It Came From Hollywood which featured some of SNL's original cast and Cheech & Chong making fun of old movies. Robot Monster only got a passing mention for its low budget which was, in all seriousness, a really cheap and unfunny joke. I really enjoyed this thoughtful and serious review. Most, if not all, "bad" films are, in my opinion, really unpolished gems. Your review really shows how that applies to Robot Monster. Another "bad" film is I Was A Teenage Frankenstein. In much the same way that Robot Monster is a young boy's way of processing grief Teenage Frankenstein takes an exaggerated look at puberty as body horror.

@thrashpondopons8348 3 күн бұрын

Good Call on Roman being a glib representation of The Grim Reaper! & I LOVE your explanation of why we defend Schlock Films!

@madahad9 4 күн бұрын

As a child of the 70's I fed on a steady diet of monster and horror movies. Good or bad they were fun and developed my imagination. But there was also sort of subversive side that I couldn't articulate at the time. Those movies that I watched were of an era where the cast was almost exclusively adults. It wasn't until the late 50's and into the 60's where "teenagers" became more prominent and the adults were usually relegated to supporting roles as the disbelievers or naysayers to the monster currently terrorizing the town. But as a kid seeing adults being attacked by monsters was very cathartic and I usually rooted for the monster. I still have a soft spot for some of them, and a few still hold up to a modern viewing. Unfortunately I didn't get the opportunity to see such "classics" as Plan 9 or Robot Monster until I was much older. I didn't see the former until after seeing the Tim Burton Ed Wood biopic and all the references went over my head at the time. I did read about both in the Golden Turkey Awards books by the snotty Medved brothers. They were responsible for attaching the title "Worst Movie Ever Made" to Plan 9. I think they took it way too seriously. When I finally saw it I was expecting something unspeakably bad---instead I had a blast. Everyone has their own definition of "bad". My own would be something that's unwatchable. Plan 9 does not fit that criteria. It's too much fun to be bad. It's worst " sin" is that it's inept. Ed Wood really had no talent as a filmmaker---not even in the most fundamental sense. But Robot Monster just feels like it was made quickly and cheaply to turn a fast buck, although I doubt they got rich for their efforts, but if it's written by a man who has the word "dung" in his name you should expect something that you might step in while crossing a cow meadow.

@stillbuyvhs 2 күн бұрын

Ed Wood could get his cast & crew excited. According to Bob Burns he had everything a good director needed...except taste & talent. (Those last few words may be an exact quote from the book "It Came from Bob's Basement", which is a good read if you like 50's sci-fi. It has making of info on a bunch of AIP movies, from Bob's personal recollections; plus photos of his large prop collection.)

@jameskerr8091 4 күн бұрын

This is probably the most thorough review of Robot Monster that I have ever watched. Good job!

@TheUnapologeticGeek 4 күн бұрын

Thanks!

@gmanley1 4 күн бұрын

And Ro-Man was also the inspiration for the character of Minion (voiced by David Cross) from the 2010 DreamWorks movie, Megamind.

@thedon-e6514 4 күн бұрын

Well that was a hot take! I don’t even remember the ‘it was all a dream’ ending - wonder if it was cut from the version I saw (2D at the long gone but not forgotten Valhalla cinema in Melbourne that played all this wild and crazy stuff!) And looking at the return on investment it clearly is not the worst film ever 😁 You have made me want to see it again in 3D!

@morgangallowglass8668 4 күн бұрын

Truly a classic of pure, FUN, schlock! Thank you for another brilliant vid!

@stillbuyvhs 3 күн бұрын

10:17 My guess: the film was shot in 4 days, without insert shots, retakes, etc. The filmmakers then asked people back for reshoots & the like. These took place at different times, resulting in conflicting reports. Also, I'd suggest that it was such a minor film no one committed exactly how the shoot went to memory. To them it was just another job.

@markearnestfromreno613 4 күн бұрын

Who knew Robot Monster was an existentialist allegory about death and its horrible price? 😮 Nice work with what you had on the docket.

@iancroft1447 3 күн бұрын

Yep Robot Monster is a Scifi classic & YOU TUG just made an absolutely classic Vid ! Been waiting for this ep & it most definitely didn’t disappoint. THANX Mr. Geek !

@tomsenior7405 4 күн бұрын

Still not seen this one. I do not recall it being broadcast in the UK. If it were on a Satellite Channel, I would have stood no chance. My family were not poor enough to pay for Satellite TV. Excellent breakdown. Thank you. Now I know why the clips keep popping up in American stuff.

@Malvito 3 күн бұрын

The movie is available on Blu, from 3-D Film Archive (Bob Furmanek); I contributed to the Kickstarter. Fantastic disc, with a lot of extras, and some very good 3D. (I have to use the anaglyphic red/green, not having a 3D setup.) It was an investment I am happy to have made. I had read some existentialist content into this one, though not quite as heavily as demonstrated on this video; my reading had to do with Ro-Man's deep meditation on the meaning of The Plan. I might have read more into the boy's plight but, with all due respect to the actor, I found the kid to be annoying and was rooting for Ro-Man and his calcinator death-ray. I would love to hear Ro-Man reciting beat poetry in a darkened nightclub, accompanied by bongos, with a beret balanced atop his diving helmet. And, of course, free-flowing bubbles. Space bovines -- FIRST MEN IN THE MOON?

@JohnWilliamNowak 3 күн бұрын

Someone involved in this film had an excellent backgound in contemporary pulp SF. If I had made a movie when I was eight, I'm confident it would have felt a great deal like Robot Monster.

@IvorPresents 4 күн бұрын

Excellent I believe the 3D DVD is available. Music made the movie twice as scary, Bernstein also brought us, The Magnificent Seven. The Great Escape and so many more.

@stevenhandzel5929 4 күн бұрын

Had to look up what a bovine was, but good choice for next movie review!

@Vates104 3 күн бұрын

I regret that I have never seen Robot Monster. I will put that on my Christmas list. Seriously I will.

@SnarkNSass 4 күн бұрын

Loved it! 👏🏻👍🏻😎

@HansRickheit 3 күн бұрын

It's a hard film not to love. Thank you for the video!

@dannystaton5386 4 күн бұрын

Greetings from South Carolina 🎉great times today

@gmanley1 4 күн бұрын

I guess this movie is more influential than I thought.

@wimvanderstraeten6521 4 күн бұрын

I've seen a few movies in 3-D, like World War Z and Piranha 3-D, and imo it's a pretty superfluous gimmick. Every now and then something jumps at you or is thrown at you and that's it. I really don't see the point. It could be interesting if 3-D would make you feel like you're actually a character in the movie, but I guess that would be too intense and probably not feasible.

@alexprocyk8805 2 сағат бұрын

Steven King wrote in Danse Mcabe that he thinks everything is funny when he's high, and he took some particularly strong weed before watching it and nearly laughed himself into a hernia.

@michaelhurley3171 4 күн бұрын

At least some of the bad movies of the 50s and 60s were fun, campy and had some value. Whereas the bad movies of today are just bad!

@Demolitiondude 4 күн бұрын

Push the button frank!

@madahad9 4 күн бұрын

Try a wonderful oddity called The Wild World of Bat Woman. I discovered it (like many others) on Mystery Science Theater 3000. I bought the DVD copy which contained both their version as well as the original one. It makes an Ed Wood movie look competent and well structured by comparison. But I love it. It's like something that you might create while in the grip of a very high fever. It makes Zero sense. I've watched both versions about an equal amount of times.

@jannewass4540 3 күн бұрын

Yes!

@HeathcliffBlair 4 күн бұрын

That was fun... and interesting! Thanks. 👍

@zoperxplex 4 күн бұрын

I wonder if the research does weigh a ton? In any case humanity is saved and Roy and Alice can move on and perform their duties as Adam and Eve of the next generation, a lesson more pertinent today than ever before, as we are now most assuredly hurling ourselves down the concourse of oblivion.

@stevenhandzel5929 4 күн бұрын

My choice for a bad movie to review? Get around to completing the Superman movie series! Supergirl and Superman IV are both incredibly bad but with so much heart they’re wonderful!

@TheUnapologeticGeek 4 күн бұрын

I was just thinking about that this morning!

@ethanreynolds3522 4 күн бұрын

If this movie was to me remade, what would you change about it?

@TheUnapologeticGeek 4 күн бұрын

As little as possible, honestly. Maybe show those other two survivors in the rocket that you never actually see.

@ethanreynolds3522 4 күн бұрын

@@TheUnapologeticGeek How about we can make the Ro-Man look like actually robots. And the Ro-Man in the gorilla suit be rebuilt by the professor for the kids to protect them.