421-Monster A-Go Go

Film Year:  1965
Genre:  Horror, Science Fiction
Director:  Bill Rebane
Starring:  And then...there were no actors...
MST Season:  4
Featured Short:  "Circus on Ice"

The Short

Why settle for one indignity when you can have two?  Circus on Ice is exactly what it sounds like, a circus on ice.  Here we have ice skating shenanigans being put on for our entertainment.

There’s not a lot to say about this one, except that some of the show is kind of neat.  And some of it...not so much.  When we’re reduced to interpretive dance on a deer being shot then that’s when I get up to refill my popcorn.

The Movie

“What you are about to see may not be possible…” warns the narrator at the beginning of this film.  Well if you insist, but this movie’s realism is what’s drawing me in.

A space capsule crash lands on Earth.  As the government frantically searches for the astronaut, a monster begins attacking anybody who stumbles into its line of sight.  Could this monster be the astronaut mutated into some hideous beast?  The answer is no...well...maybe...it’s hard to tell in the most infamous ending to a movie in Mystery Science Theater history.

Monster A-Go Go is one of the most inane films ever featured on the show.  Originally filmed by the young, ambitious auteur Bill Rebane, who would later make his MST masterpiece Giant Spider Invasion, this film about a rampaging mutant astronaut ran out of funding and was left unfinished (but don’t worry, because Incredible Melting Man will eventually pick up the baton on that).  Years later the footage was bought and cheaply edited together into an incoherent ramble of a movie that we know today, all in the name of making a double feature out of some other movie.

It’s a mess.  A dull one too.  It’s one thing to be schlocky, but to be boring is sin in entertainment.  Monster A-Go Go doesn’t have much material in itself to tell a complete narrative, so the film diverges off into different paths.  Some are relevant but unnecessary, while others are irrelevant and baffling (...that car repair scene…).  And it’s clear that the people assembling the leftovers don’t have much interest in anything other than doing the bare minimum.  After all, this is a movie which didn’t care about foley so they had someone offscreen mimicking a telephone ring for sound effect.

And yes, there’s the ending.  The footage assembled didn’t have a climax, just a build-up to one.  Spoiler alert (as if you care):  The monster is tracked underground where the trail goes cold and the monster vanishes.  Meanwhile the astronaut is found miles away, safe and sound.  The end.  No refunds.

Technically we have a movie here.  By which I mean we have moving pictures that portray people doing actions of some sort.  That counts as a movie.  For getting that right Monster A-Go Go has more competency than I probably should give it credit for.  But then again it’s a movie with not much monster and not much “a-go-go” either.  So maybe I should take that back.

The Episode

Here in Monster A-Go Go we are given something of an impossible task.  The movie is about as close to portraying nothing as a film could possibly get (or at least a solid second place to Starfighters).  The riffing is usually at its height when it reacts to the film and basking in its oddness.  There’s a scene early on in which the space capsule is seen, and the film expects us to believe something so small carried a man to the stars and back.  Servo quips what we’re all thinking:  “Douglas was pear-shaped, very short, and stood the whole way.”  When the movie tends to slog, they really don’t have much ammo for it and quip it like a regular film.  The effort is admirable, but the movie anchors them a bit too much in spots while they can soar in others.  The short probably put them in a good mood for this film, as that thing was zesty and high on energy.  They warmed up with some fast and steady quips for the appetizer, which kept their level respectable for the mean, indigestible main course.

But if they were hurting from the movie, the host segments barely show it (outside of the final segment, which has the bots breaking down and crying).  There’s actually a bit of lighthearted spirit being portrayed here as they tend to be more playful than the riffing.  I quite like the dissection of “The Pina Colada Song,” which really picks apart everything that always rubbed me the wrong way about that song.  I’m also a big fan of the segment where Gypsy “doesn’t get” Crow or Servo, prompting one of my favorite Servo lines “Nobody does.  I’m the wind, baby.”  The Mads’ invention exchange is also a highlight:  Johnny Longtorso, the doll who comes in pieces, which is a product that takes “some assembly required” to a brand new level.  I’m not sure if this segment predates the fad where toy companies actually did practice selling portions of a large toy separately (usually with other toys), but if it did kudos on them.

Monster A-Go Go is a movie that hurts, though for practiced fans of the series the riffing is just funny enough to make it worthwhile.  Add in quality host segments and a solid short and you have a pretty good one.  Newbies best steer clear of this one for the time being, though.

Good

The DVD

The monster disappeared...then reappeared on Rhino’s Volume 8 collection.  Audio and video were good and there were no bonus features.  The volume was eventually rereleased by Shout Factory, but this one contained an interview with director Bill Rebane, who discusses getting started in the industry, getting the film off the ground, and running out of money.  There is also a trailer to the film on the disc.