A space capsule is shot into orbit to investigate some mysterious satellites. Suddenly, communications are lost and the ship crash lands in a field. Astronaut Frank Douglas is missing and the helicopter pilot who discovered the accident is found dead, his body shrivelled and distorted. Soon other victims are found, all "cooked to death" in the same gruesome fashion. Has Douglas metamorphosed into the enormous, scarred creature (Henry Hite) responsible for the killings? Government scientist Dr. Logan begins secretly treating the monster with an experimental antidote which helps quiet its homicidal tendencies for a while, until the creature destroys the laboratory and heads out to the countryside once more. The army is called out to assist in the giant's capture and the public is alerted to the existence of a radioactive monster stomping through the area. Clad in protective gear and hot on the trail, the soldiers suddenly realize that, inexplicably, the monster appears to have vanished into thin air. A telegram arrives with the news that Frank Douglas has been found alive and well in a lifeboat 8,000 miles away and the case is closed. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide
Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
disliked it.
The surreal anti-masterpiece Monster a Go-Go! is an incoherent concoction brewed solely to fill space on a double bill. Bill Rebane's unfinished film
Terror at Halfday was purchased by
Herschell Gordon Lewis for exhibition with his own
Moonshine Mountain, as control over both pieces of a double feature was economically advantageous. The discarded footage was pieced haphazardly together by Lewis (who opted for the pseudonym of "Sheldon Seymour") and explained with officious, and sometimes sarcastic narration. It's hard not to sneer; the prop space capsule couldn't hold a normal sized man (let alone a ten-foot-tall monster), a few irrelevant scenes feel like they've been dropped in from other films, and there's a sudden non-ending where everything stops and the narrator simply explains that everything turned out all right. With a hip frat rock soundtrack and self-deprecating advertisements ("You've never seen a picture like this -- thank goodness!"), Monster a Go-Go! was clearly a film that never intended to stand on its own, and as such feels like a good natured shrug of "ahhh, so what" throughout. Ridiculous pseudo-scientific babble, oatmeal-and-eggwhite makeup for the monster, and a baffling lack of linear logic make it delirious viewing today, and recommended for everyone. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide