This sci-fi horror flick has been called the worst film ever made. Its ranking on iMDB is 1.4, making it the second lowest rated film. The film stands up to that lofty reputation. However, unlike films like PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE or ROBOT MONSTER, this one isn't so bad, it's good like some claim. Those films find ways of entertaining with their ineptitude. What keeps MONSTER A-GO-GO from attaining that wonderful BOMB status is that it's painfully boring.
A space capsule crashes to Earth. Frank Douglas (Henry Hite) has been infected with radiation portion, which has shriveled his skin like a prune and made him wander around like a zombie. Anyone who comes too close to him turns into a raisin and dies. Dr. Manning (George Perry) has been keeping him alive with an antidote, but now he's on the loose. Col. Steve Connors (Phil Morton) leads a force to contain the "monster."
This story is told in the most plodding way. There is no sense of urgency as the plot languishes on unnecessary details like men getting dressed in their hazmat suits and long-winded nonsense speeches about space radiation. Everything is shot flat and medium wide. It's like the film lost all it's close-up footage and was left with only establishing shots. The performances are bad, but not bad enough to be laughable. And every other scene seems to create a new loose end. Characters are introduced and then abandoned. All of a sudden there's a random scene where a random guy fixes the car of a random woman in a tight sweater. One insert shot the monster's feet is the only thing that connects it to the rest of the film at all.
Some of this can elicit a chuckle or two, but there is nothing like the classic WTF moment in BRIDE OF THE MONSTER where buffalos inexplicably superimposed over Bela Lugosi's speech about creating a race of superhumans. The funniest moment comes early one when the police go to investigate the downed space capsule and one wonders when NASA added contortion as a requirement of space travel, because there is no way the seven foot Hite fit in there let alone him and other astronaut in this "two-man" capsule. But that laugh comes quick and early and that's the height of so bad, it's good.
After 70 minutes, you want the film to just end. And it does. It's going along and then the ending seems like the filmmakers just ran out of film and came up with whatever ending they could tack on. I guess it was the merciful thing to do to the audience. The best way to sum up this film is quote its ashamed director Bill Rebane, who actually titled the film TERROR AT HALF DAY before he sold it to B-horror maestro Herschell Gordon Lewis, who re-edited the film with additional footage. He said after all these years, "I don't know why people want to watch this shit."
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Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
