The word is "cheese" today, as they have decided to make their own cheese and stink up the entire sattelite. While they stink up their vessel with cheese, the mads are stinking up the toy market with Johnny Longtorso... a man who literally needs to be sold separately by itself. With a bunch of small purchases, it adds up to over a hundred bucks. The bots get to make their own toys, as Joel trusts them to take up the mantle. They express creativity, passion and I actually wouldn't mind buying Tom's writer toy, as they are so seldom brought out in toy form.
For some reason, none of the skits have anything to do with the movie in this experiment. It's almost like they wanted to think as little about this "film" as possible, so they decided to do other activities. I suppose it's good on them because all of them are either quite funny or entertaining. From them playing keep-away from Crow to them questioning the lyrics to If you like Pino Coladas, these are pretty fun to watch... The movie... however...
Monster A Go-Go
A man disappears after his capsule lands on Earth, and a monster mysteriously begins to kill people. None of this is right, and all of it is fake. Toasters did it.
What makes this movie bad?
Without a single doubt, if there were ever a master tier of absolutely terrible quality movies from every angle, Monster A Go-Go would have a very prominent seat. It gives Manos: The Hands of Fate and Castle Fu Manchu a run for their money on terrible. With a nonsensical narrator ruining the narrative, literally, a very terrible pacing that is slow as a glacier and an overall film and sound quality that grate against the nerves, this movie hits every single low note. The dialogue is laughable, often inaudible, and every single character has no presence at all. Much like Fu Manchu, it is very hard to decipher who can be considered the "main character" or even a known character of any kind.
The monster is basically the only noteworthy part, and that's mostly because he kills someone and walks away in short order. The narrator tells us they are mangled like no other, but once they take off the first victim's cover... he's a guy... with a face. The music is nerve racking and it's really, literally just everything about this film. There's not even an ending. Literally, there is no ending. This entire film was just footage from an unfinished movie, spliced together with other footage to make something that resembled... Whatever this resembles. I still can't tell.
The Riffs
Somehow, Joel and the Bots found a way to take this horrible fossil of a film and make a very entertaining, and hilarious experiment. Sometimes, movies this bad flop on their face against riffing, Monster A Go-Go gets danced on. Much like its Manos peer, Monster A Go-Go became so bad, it's a classic and that's because these guys give it their best without looking like they're even trying. The movie hurt, though, and many of their riffs reflect that a lot. Even Circus on Ice, the short before the movie, has some awesome riffs and is considered one of the better shorts overall.
The Episode
This could have been one of the biggest stinkers in MST3K history. One single wrong move and all of this would have fallen apart. The movie itself keeps this episode from reaching the Best in Show, but only just by a little. It's still absolute Gold Standard, especially for terrible movies. It beat out Castle Fu Manchu, which is not a terrible episode, but the movie bogs it down far more, where Monster A Go-Go just kept hitting the pressure points of your tickled funny bone. If you're new to MST3K or riffing as a whole, this may be a bit of a strong episode to start with. Try Brain that Wouldn't Die and Werewolf first, then give this one a try.
No comments:
Post a Comment