Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
disliked it.
Phil Tucker's Robot Monster is perhaps the most unfairly maligned science fiction film in history, usually dismissed by critics and historians as a notoriously bad movie, in a league with Edward D. Wood Jr.'s
Plan 9 From Outer Space and other grotesquely inept, low-budget science fiction films. Those critics and writers seem to have missed the movie's point. It is true that producer/director Tucker was working on a total budget of around 16,000 dollars, with only four days in which to shoot, and he didn't have much of a handle on how to direct actors. The special effects are ludicrous, as was the footage cut in from other movies, including One Million B.C.,
Invasion USA, and
Flight to Mars. And if you add in a script that was seemingly way short on logic, or even coherency, and a title creature played by
George Barrows in a gorilla suit with a diving helmet, it would seem like Robot Monster couldn't possibly have anything going for it. Yet it does have a logic, and even an aesthetic consistency that works, not only within the frame of reference of the movie itself, but from the standpoint of the viewer. Essential in appreciating Robot Monster is keeping in mind that the main body of the movie consists of an eight-year-old boy's nightmare -- if you add in the fact that the boy having the nightmare misses his deceased father and also enjoys science fiction, then it suddenly seems quite logical and coherent. Robot Monster is the poorest member a small group of fantasy movies (ranging from
The Wizard of Oz, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T,
Curse of the Cat People, and
The Boy With Green Hair on the upper end through
Invaders From Mars and
Godzilla's Revenge in the upper-middle ranks) that deal with childhood -- its dreams, fantasies, and its frustrations. It lacks some finesse, any polish, and even some basic competency in its execution, but it does -- in its editing, pacing, and structure -- capture the irrational, uncontrolled nature of dreams and nightmares better than any of those more respected movies (with the possible exception of The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, which is a glorious and unique film). Robot Monster most closely parallels the plot of
William Cameron Menzies'
Invaders From Mars, a much more respected movie, which is odd considering that Menzies' movie was released in late May of 1953, just a few weeks before Robot Monster. Both movies promised 3-D that wasn't delivered, both are about boy heroes battling aliens from outer space, both include parents and surrogate parents for the boy, and both feature young girls who are killed by the aliens. One does wonder if the producers, having gotten wind of Menzies' film either in pre-production or through previews, rushed their movie into production and into theaters. Both films are very disquieting in their depiction of dreams, and surprisingly close to this writer's own memory of nightmares he had as a child, though the budgetarily emaciated Robot Monster comes closer to the mark. Watching it as an adult, this reviewer was eerily reminded of the texture and eerieness of dreams and nightmares that he had as a child. The way that the action unfolds, suddenly and with huge leaps in logic and thought, are seen the way a child sees the world. The threadbare sets, which are missing what we know to be vital pieces, also resemble the settings of dreams. The serious yet cavalier manner in which the marriage of Roy and Alice is depicted mixes the boy's love of his older sister and respect for the young scientist with his abhorrence of what would have been called "gooey love stuff" in movies. The whole notion of a brave young boy facing down a space invader hangs together beautifully once one accepts the setting as a dream. It's actually a very enchanting film for all of its mistakes and holes, screenwriter
Wyott Ordung and producer/director Tucker having successfully transformed most of the production's shortcomings into virtues. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide