I've probably seen this movie half a dozen time in as many years, and a few more times many more years ago than that. As I did with Plan 9 from Outer Space, the first I learned of this movie was via the overly snide but still useful It Came from Hollywood. I knew then that this was the sort of movie I needed to see, and when it finally happened, it was well worth the effort. Much ink has been invested over the years in discussing this film and highlighting its many mis-steps, and along with Plan 9, it is one of the great and indisputable pillars of legendarily awful cinema. And like Plan 9, I fully feel that Robot Monster lives up to the hype.

A family is out for a jaunty picnic in a rock quarry (world-famous Bronson Caverns, location for more cheap movies and TV shows than can be counted) when they stumble across a couple geologists. Their "getting to know you" banter is interrupted by some static and a loud noise, and then, surprise! We are years into the future. Humanity has been slaughtered in an alien invasion, and the only free people left are the family and geologists. The alien invasion force is combing the world for them, except that...no wait. It isn't a force. It's one guy, the famous dude in a gorilla suit with a space helmet and TV antennae on his head. This alien conqueror, Ro-Man, lives in a cave near where the humans are hiring. Also, bubbles come out of his cave, as if he has captured the entire Lawrence Welke Orchestra and made them play for his amusement.

Pretty much everything about the movie is colossally inept, starting with the incredibly cheap alien and the fact that he has conquered the world with just a ray gun, and now he lives in a cave out in Bronson Caverns. If it was me, I'd move into...I don't know. Not a dirty cave with a folding card table. If you've never seen this movie, then its badness can't possibly be effectively communicated by any means other than watching it. And watch it you should. It absolutely does not disappoint. And that twist ending! Amazing!

Labels: Set: Sci-Fi Classics