Robot Monster!

"I must, but I cannot!" This is the desperate moan which erupts from the helmeted maw of "Ro-Man", the titular Robot Monster. If you've never seen Robot Monster (otherwise known as Monster from Mars) then you have been cheated out of experiencing one of the most exquisitely awful movies of the 20th Century. If you've never seen it in 3-D, then I have to say you've not seen it at all in its malignant glory. This movie was made for small money and shot mostly on location in the famous Bronson Canyon and partially demolished territory which would become Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. 

The story goes that the Earth has been invaded by shaggy aliens with space helmet heads. All of the people of the planet have been killed save for seven. Two we never meet, and they die quickly enough. But the other five are the center of the story. They are a family comprised of one father (John Mylong), one mother (Selena Royle), two daughters-one of marrying age (Pamela Paulson and Claudia Barret respectively) and one son (Geoffrey Moffat). The son is our protagonist and there are secrets about him which explain the story. A young man shows up and falls in love with the elder daughter and then it seems that the inhuman "Ro-Man" (George Barrows with John Brown's voice) also gets a whiff of interest this final fertile Earth dame. That is the dilemma he suffers under when ordered by his leader "The Great Guidance" (the same actors and the same ape-suit with a different helmet) To say more would ruin what few surprises are in this meager movie which runs just over an hour. 

One nifty detail for us comic book fans is that apparently the producers of this movie went out in 1953 and snatched up a bunch of weird comics to serve as a backdrop for the logo when the movie begins. For your convenience I've search for the titles, and you can find them in the little gallery below. 

One title, Strange Suspense Stories, was even altered and had the Robot Monster label slapped on it. The comics are from the Fawcett, Charlton and Dell companies. It might've been a more dangerous thing to feature comics so proudly in 1953 when the hobby was under attack by moralists across the globe. 

I owned a VHS copy of Robot Monster, but I have to say my recent purchase of the Robot Monster DVD has really opened my eyes to this project -- almost literally. The 3-D process is well presented here, and it even captures the practically unique item in that at one point the producers make use of a visual gimmick called "Retinal Distress" when they give us different images for each eye. It's a subliminal trick and this is the only movie of its era which did it, or so say the folks who did the commentary. 

Those folks also recommended Robot Monster Diaries, a book about the movie. It was pretty cheap and while it's a thin book, it must be remembered it discusses a very thin movie. Great wonky stuff. I recommend both the DVD and book for those who love great bad movies. If you can't wait and want to see it in 2-D, check out this link to the Internet Archive. 

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