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Robot Monster

Robot Monster

List Price: $14.99
Your Price: $13.49
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Too awful to endure!
Review: I received this DVD for Christmas in the two-pack with Plan 9. I could not get through this one-hour mess, even in the company of 2 good friends with great senses of humor. The "message" of the movie was completely lost on us. The basic message of Plan 9 actually made sense, and could have been salvaged with better writing and acting, and the movie as it stands is still ENTERTAINING---you can watch it with any mix of sympathy and mockery. Robot Monster is merely boring. Still, if you're a hard-core fan (and ONLY a hard-core fan) of truly awful cinema, then by all means, don't let this one pass you by!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Is this suppose to make any sense?????
Review: What words can I say about this movie that hasn't already been said about it?? Did you know that the director tried to commit suicide after he read the reviews when this movie came out??..The monster(if you call it that)is laughable and the bubble machine doesn't help matters any either.MST3K did this one in their first season and it was good,even though it would've been a whole lot better if they did it during later seasons......The movie does move kind of slow....Can be painful...Maybe a beer or a good stiff drink would help for the movie itself....

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A true cult classic!!!
Review: This DVD is by far the best version of this cult classic on home video!!! I'ts from Image so you know you're getting quality!!! The quality while not picture perfect,is superb!!! Also includes trailers for other similar Image releases!!! Five Stars!!! A+

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: CAL-CU-LATE, HU-MAN!
Review: HU-MANS, LISTEN TO ME!!
SHOW YOURSELVES, AND I PROMISE YOU A PAINLESS DEATH. YOU ARE SAVAGE BARBARIANS. NON RO-MAN. ANIMALS!! NONE SHALL ESCAPE ME. I SHALL FIND A WAY TO RID THIS PLANET....OF HU-MANS.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Our Possible Future??
Review: OK, it's every bit as terrible as you've heard. Perhaps worse. Even so, "Robot Monster" must be seen in all it's wretched glory! From the imbecilic dialogue to the moronic costumes, this is a classic sub-schlock masterpiece! Ro-Man is a cultural icon. He represents all that is wrong with the world. We Hu-Mans have much to fear from his calcinator death ray! Not to mention the hideously ridiculous "Great Guidance". I shudder to think of such a possible future! A future with a defeated planet earth and a decimated population. Imagine six numbskulls remaining as our only hope! It's too horrible to fathom! This movie must be seen again and again. Watch for the hand holding the plastic rocket / jet, during the infamous space station scene! If this is indeed our future, let us weep...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A classic 'must have' for all collectors of this genre
Review: I first saw this delight in, I think, 1983 on 'Channel 4', and as far as I know this is the only time the whole flick has been shown on mainstream tv in the UK. Thence I obtained a 'Rhino' VHS that had the truly awful 3-D print. And now, here it is on wonderful DVD.

The dear reader need not be troubled again with the plot (if you can call it that), or the special effects (you most certainly can't call them that - after the Ro-mans themselves my favourite is the spaceship where you can momentarily see the hand and wire holding it up!); others have said more than enough. It suffices to verify that if you are only going to own one dreadful film in your collection, then it should be either this one or Plan 9 from Outer Space or, perhaps, The Beast from Yucca Flats (if Santa Claus Conquered the Martians was available on DVD that would make it four).

Not untypically there are a few minor gripes, and a comparison is begged with the DVD edition of 'Plan 9 ... '. The latter is a better buy in that it has been cleaned up more, especially the sound, and there are many more 'extras'. It may be that no-one has done any serious work on Robot Monster, which would be a pity, but if my memory serves me correct the Channel 4 showing referred to had a humorous introduction by Michael Medved. Perhaps that is lost though. Also you STILL don't get to see the bare bosom that the Rhino people had unkindly blacked out. If these were corrected then all 5 stars would have been awarded without hesitation.

Otherwise, watching this is an experience you will never forget.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: "Truly Unbelievable"
Review: Incredible plot, unbelievable special effects, Oscar calibre acting -- what more could you ask from a movie? Unfortunately, except for the unbelievable special effects, you don't get any of that here. And the effects are TRULY unbelievable! With only one actor in the mix, HunkyBoy George Nader, a tongue-in-cheek attitude is the only way to watch this flick. Yeah, there are other people in it, but obviously none are actors. The cheesy props belong in an Ed Wood movie. The poor guy in the gorilla suit had to be dying of heat stroke during the making of the film. My favorite line: "You sound like Hu-Man, not Ro-Man." I loved it all. From high heels in the desert to the rocket on a wire held by a very visible hand to the wing nuts on the aliens view screen. It was all a total hoot. If you're looking for THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, this is not the movie for you. But if you're an Ed Wood fan, this could be right up your alley.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: DVD Could Have Been Better for Ro-Man
Review: I am not going to go into the plot as it is already covered elsewhere in reviews. I want to speak specifically of the quality of the DVD. I own an Admit One Video VHS copy of Robot Monster that was lifted from a Medallion TV version. This DVD version is slightly shorter than the Admit One VHS version. The primary reason is in the TV version they reran the old Dinosaur footage prior to the main titles to help pad out the time. The other difference it that the DVD version has a brief (VERY BRIEF) intermission title that pops up in the middle of the movie. I found this a cool touch.

The DVD print source, however, is not as good as the VHS version. Also, the only extra is the trailer. The trailer is in pretty fair shape and a nice bonus. A feature commentary would have been a nice addition to this classic turkey. Perhaps someday, a better version will be available on DVD, although this one isn't too bad.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ro-Man VS Hu-Man
Review: The villians communicate thus:

A: Do you question the plan?

B: No, I only postulate. (Extremely excessive gestuculation)

Therefore, this movie rules.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Robot Monster: The Critical Test Supreme
Review: ROBOT MONSTER is one of a handful of embarrassingly bad movies that defy traditional methods of film criticism. In judging the depths of inanity to which a director and cast may plunge, the film critic tries to separate the poorly made but ill-advised efforts that clearly represent the director's and the cast's reaching out to say something noble from an equally abysmal effort but one in which the perpetrators of this film had nothing else in mind save reaching an audience of simpletons.
It is this crucial distinction between separating the rotting wheat of criminal excesses like CALIGULA or HEAVEN'S GATE from the less stultifying but the more perversely enjoyable cinematic chaff like ROBOT MONSTER or its companion piece PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE.
Repeated viewings of ROBOT MONSTER reveal that director Phil Tucker had to have been a soul brother of Ed Wood,Jr. Both directors filled their movies with a sort of wretched excess of misplaced exuberance. It is to their credit that both tried to make their monsters blossom with kinetic energy. They can hardly be faulted that neither one knew how to harness this wretched excess. Tucker directed actor John Barrows to play the diving helmeted gorilla Ro-Man with a true wild abandon. Barrows spent much of the movie loping up and down Bronson Canyon muttering about his latent sexual desire for the human female, fetchingly played by Claudia Barrett. As Ro-Man spread his arms in and out, he reminded me of a hirsute Hulk Hogan posing for the crowd. It is very nearly a waste of time to discuss the plot in any meaningful way. What I think is meaningful is to recognize that Tucker (probably-I hope) meant to involve the audience on a subconscious dream level. On this 3D marijuana induced level, things make no sense but the audience does not mind that. And perhaps it is this willing suspension of normalcy that will always allow truly entertaining drivel a place in the hearts of those who are not ashamed to say so. Tucker's ROBOT MONSTER, then, may be a tale told by an idiot, but it does mean something, even if that something invites the viewer to scratch a hard to reach psychological itch.


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