I have a feeling the reason we got that atrocious ending was because the previous director never filmed the ending and they probably didn’t have the same actors to work with. So they basically just gave us a non ending.
According to Bill Rebane, there was a complete movie. I think he's completely full of it because he's responsible for the worse looking footage with horrible audio.
Muffins McGeez - agreed, and I know it would be a windfall for Mark if he had a lot more subs. But I kind of like that we're a fairly small but ferociously loyal bunch. When he does take off, we can say we watched him when he was below a quarter million subs!
I love it that, for your reviews of movies from the 50s and 60s, you say "Welcome back to the program", instead of "the show". You gotta be classy when you're in the 50s and 60s.
Just when I thought MST3K had this movie covered perfectly, in swings Mark! Might be your best review in a good while, and all those scenes of you editing yourself into the movie are fantastic. I for one would totally watch a full episode of you just navigating your way through these old B movies in period costume with your signature humor. Great work as always!
Well, MST3K did pick up on one point that Mark failed to mention: the ridiculousness of the capsule itself. "Douglas was pear-shaped, very short, and stood the whole way!" Otherwise, flawless review.
This movie is infamous for the quote "Suddenly, there was no monster." (actually a misquote, much like "Play it again, Sam", just one of the many things this film has in common with Casablanca). And while I don't think they gave it much thought, it was just a voice over line to try to paper over the fact that they had never filmed any actual ending to this movie at all, to whatever extent any meaning *can* be gleaned from those lines, my interpretation is considerably trippier than Mark's: I think they were going for some vague notion that reality suddenly shifted and they were now in some sort of Parallel Universe where events had unfolded differently and the monster had never existed. Because that's not a cop-out at all! (Other things this film shares with Casabanca: -They're both in Black & White -They both feature flying vehicles shown in a ridiculously small scale: the capsule in Monster A GO-G-O and for Casablanca, in the finale that takes place at an airfield at night there's an establishing shot where you see a plane in the background being worked on by two mechanics. That's actually a forced perspective shot done in a small studio where the plane is in reality a half-sized miniature made to look further away than it actually is and the two mechanics are midgets to help pull off the illusion. -Neither film features Joe Don Baker -Both films were largely made up as they went along, and neither had a clear idea what the ending would be before they actually shot it. In the case of Casablanca, they couldn't decide if Ilsa should stay with Rick at the end or leave with Lazlo, and when they couldn't put it off any longer they decided to shoot both endings and figure it out later, but after shooting the now-classic first ending where Rick convinces Ilsa to get on the plane they knew they nailed it and never even bothered filming the second. Meanwhile Monster A GO-GO went them one better and never filmed any ending at all, instead just coming up with some bullshit voice-over to handwave away the entire movie.)
Like your take on similarities with "Casablanca." But just imagine if, in the penultimate scene of "Casablanca," a narrator had intoned: "But then suddenly, there *was* no Major Strasser! In fact, there *were* no Nazis! And Victor Lazlo was actually a balding high school chemistry teacher from Pennsylvania! Ilsa was in reality his overweight, peroxide-blonde wife! Rick was a diabetic toll-booth attendant, and Sam his anorexic roommate!"
OH God! I saw this in one of the DVDs from MST3K. The copy they used was so deteriorated that they even acknowledged on the movie that they were just improvising because they couldn't understand what the actors were saying and what's going on. "I recall this episode as being the first time we decided explicitly to write sketches having nothing to do with the movie. Really, we had no choice. (...A)ny topic that is about something (that is, any topic that exhibits "topicness") cannot, by definition, have anything to do with this movie." -Paul Chaplin, The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide Tom and Crow were so upset at the movie, that the metaphor for its badness had to be done in paragraphs. And they where in tears as they say it. "Joel, it's this movie. It was really depressing! It was like being a little kid and eating dinner at your Aunt Ruth's apartment in the summer, and it's hot in there and she's got a local Christian radio station on, and there's nothing to do or look at 'cause all she's got in the apartment are Good Housekeeping magazines and linen doilies!" Then i saw this movie like it is, without a riff track or anything. I am not joking, only movie in all my life that made me want to... delete myself from earth (Again, this is not a way to say it, i truly wanted that from the sadness this movie made me feel). Really horrible stuff, and the audio track was so damaged that my brain just felt like end it all. I cried but not for a reason i can explain, ilustrate or rationalize. For me is like someone or something compressed the 7th layer of hell in a film. There is no way a real group of humans would do this by mistake. This was made with the sole purpose of bringing sadness and despair to earth.
Thank you for that perfect review of a film so bad that hosting a screening should be classified as cruel and unusual punishment under international law. Even Joel & Co. couldn't get me through it. Seriously, though: beautifully crafted comment. I almost peed myself laughing.
This was the first MST3K I ever saw. I had just spent 28 hours straight awake on a road trip from Orange County to Ft. Worth Texas to meet my friend who was going to school there. As soon as my friends and I piled out of the van we watched this at his place. I remember dying in laughter at the Circus on Ice short that got riffed as the appetizer...and then watched this monstrosity in feverish horror before finally collapsing. It sparked a lifelong love of MST3K, but I must admit I've only been able to get through it once or twice in the 30 years since I saw it. Watching it without a riff track...you're a better man that I, Gunga Din.
Hershell Gordon Lewis needed a movie to release on a double bill, so he cobbled this together. He wanted something theatre owners couldn't claim was making the profit instead of the main feature, and boy did he succeed.
So, like... What was even the point of this movie? And why was the alien wearing the astronaut's suit? Did he stole and left the poor guy naked somewhere or did he just have it lying around? Loved the return of the easily distracted photographer btw
Isn't it obvious? Big reveal - THERE NEVER WAS A MONSTER. What we were seeing was an extension of the astronaut's perception of himself. He no longer saw himself as a member of the earth-based community, so he reached out to beings who, to him, were alien, and in doing so, his high levels of radiation accidentally killed them. He eventually accepted his new status and handed himself over the proper authorities, and... okay, I'm sorry, I can no longer do this with a straight face. It's just a load of shit that went unfinished and went though multiple hands to try to finish it. Mark managed to make the sections we had to sit through palatable because he's brilliant.
What was the point of the movie? Herschell Gordon Lewis bought an unfinished movie from Bill Rebane's production company to fill out the second half of a double feature. He shot some additional footage, slapped on an ending or slapped the ending senseless, did some quick editing and fun fact: HGL is the narrator. A notorious bad movie director bought the footage from an even worse director to create some sort of bad movie alchemy. What was the point of Bill Rebane's move? He saw the Creeping Unknown and thought "I can do this" and then failed to do it. That's Creeping Unknown or the Quatermass Xperiment, not the Creeping Terror though it's easy to confuse two of them.
@@FanboyFlicks - You likely already thought of all this, but I'd love to see these: "Mark's Top Ten Worst Movies." "Mark's Top Ten Best-Worst Movies." Or, "Worst Worst Movies" "Top 5 Worst Dubbed Movies" "Top Ten Worst Fight Scenes" " Top 5 Worst Vanity Projects:
I can forgive almost any B movie, I can forgive bad special effects, bad dialogue, bad acting, etc....but when the ending involves the monster/threat simply *DISAPPEARING* well, I can't forgive THAT!! even the padded scenes are too much!! Love ya, mark. thanks for enduring this and yes, I saw the MST3K version, it was barely watchable!
But MST3K did such a great job ridiculing this POS! It's one of my favorite episodes because there is so much to riff on. And who can forget "Johnny long torso, Johnny long torso, the man who comes in pieces. ka-ching!"
I was introduced to your channel just a couple weeks ago, and have now watched (and rewatched) most everything on it -- had to stop and say something because I lovvvvve the content that you make! A+++ stuff, and your editing jokes and humor get me pretty much every time! Hopefully it's fun for you to make, too! Thanks for all the introductions to badness, and So Bad It's Goodness so far! Looking forward to more! Also, I have a recommendation for you if you find the time or interest. There's a movie nobody's heard of called "Choke" starring Dennis Hopper and Michael Madsen that is full of ridiculousness that it really tries to play seriously. I was surprised that the two of them were in a movie I'd never heard of, until I watched it. It's the worst Everything, in a great way. (I would believe someone if they told me Dennis Hopper couldn't read, having seen this movie) The whole movie can be seen on youtube now, too (here in the US, at least.) Info on it's kinda tricky, but the director put a trailer for the film on his own youtube channel years back, and left a bunch of replies to comments that are... I'll just keep sticking with 'interesting'. Hahaha Anyway! Love what you do, always looking forward to more! Positive Vibes!
@@cinemafanatic2010 HELL YEAH!! link please!! (Funny you respond now. I'm at work and have been sneaking in my earbuds to combat the insane boredom. Mark's videos are on my playlist and I JUST listened to this one again.) I can't even make it through this film with Rifftrax's (MST:3K?) help.
I think this conversation from The Simpsons episode where Homer became a hippie describes this movie: -We had problems with the script. -It's look like that you didn't have a script. -That was the problem.
Well....my friend told me that her dog died this morning and she was very sad but i did what a best friend should do in that situation. I told her that THE CAPSULE CAME BACK.
We need Mark's top five most hated movies, or top ten. I'd love to see your top 5 most fun bad movies as well. Thank you for suffering through all of these nightmares for our entertainment.
So appearantly, Bill Rebane started working on this flick (then called "Terror at Midnight") when he was only 24 years old. It would have been his directional debut, but he ran out of what little money he had. Which makes me wonder how it would have been if he had completed it as originally intended. I mean, it still wouldn't have been good. It still would have been a Z-grade flick, but I bet it would have been a little more comprehensible with an ending that makes more sense. I mean, the film only really starts derailing when the Lewis-directed bits begin. The Voiceovers and that Twist-ending was also all Lewis' doing.
Lewis said he released Monster a Go Go because he needed a movie on a double bill that theater owners couldn't claim was making the profits; he was successful.
So before even watching I have to say thank you so much for covering this movie. I have absolutely been fascinated with this movie since I first saw it riffed on mystery science theater. I’ve probably seen that movie 40 times by now since then. despite there being several minutes of annoying beeping near the end I used to fall asleep to it because the drab dull barely recorded audio of scientists talking about radiation always helps me drift off. This movie also always reminded me of the incredible melting man and similar movies where an astronaut becomes the monster but incredible melting man has some charm to it and good effects despite the stupid lazy plot. Meanwhile Monster A GO-HOME can’t even bother to record actors or scenes or plot action endings…. BOOOO! BOOOOOOOOO! Boooooo!
Say what you will about Ed, but whether the subject matter was aliens, atomic monsters, cross-dressing or Communism-infused juvenile delinquency, he always swung for the fences.
Mark, I LOVE your work! I do wish you had touched on the "a go go" part of the title. Here's my take: the film was released in 1965. It was the Era of "go go", go go dancers, music etc. They added "go go" to the title to try to make the film "hip".
I follow this channel since years and I can’t understand where the 1 M. subscribers are. But I like he has many Patreons and I am going to become one more. But there are many high quality channels out there, but Mark beats them all with his production value, his great eye for flaws I wouldn’t have recognised, his good knowledge of film making (within another channel I am making short movies too), his quotes and jokes (never have to laugh really in other videos but Mark makes me lol!) and he is a guy you wants to be friends with. Great.
"I don't know..." either...🙂but one thing i know for sure: your reviews, your delivery, your hate-love relationship with bad movies, the production, the humour, the whole package...its so funny - a much needed distraction from the terrible war- situation here in Europe. I know, It sounds a bit dramatic🤔...but thank you!
Holger, You sound like a good guy to me. This goodness you feel here from watching my fav 💡 MST3K 3000 🚀 With the horrors of war. See? We're not dramatic at all. Just remember the hateful ones who yell the loudest aren't the majority. We are. For example ask any working family in the world, What is important to you? They will tell you, love of family. Living in peace. Being happy. That right there makes the world a better place. Be happy! So long from Iowa! 🌽🚜
MST3K’s Monster a Go-Go episode is a true classic. Apparently when asked what was the very worst movie they had on their show, Joel and the guys said THIS one.
The fake phone ring sound is my very favorite part of this movie when it was featured on MST3K. It's an ungodly slow movie with bad sound and entirely too much voice over, but that fake brrrrring makes me giggle.
Y'know... I haven't been a subscriber for very long. Only right before he changed the name from "Bad Movies!" To "Weird Movies with Mark". This guy is not only helping me with understanding filmography, screenwriting, character and story development, post production, etc.; He is also damn hilarious and entertaining. I get pretty excited whenever he has a new video.
I am paused at 2 minutes. Mark just gave the premise of the film. We detect something in orbit, send a capsule up for a better look, it loses contact, and then it's found back on earth a few days later. That is a pretty good idea for a story. What could possibly go wrong? Edit: I finished the video. I.. wow. The best part of this movie were the parts I didn't have to watch. Hilarious video as always, though.
Mark my man, idk if Ive said it before, but you look sharp wearing the suit and tie. It's a brilliant juxtaposition to your humor. I also really appreciate the tone of contempt you have for some of these movies that you hate lol I know they're not the most fun for you to do, but it's so damn funny. You're killin it. :)
I remember searching for a movie review channel that took a comedic approach. A lot of suggestions I got were great reviews but not really that funny. When I got the suggestion for this channel I didn't have high hopes ngl. But I was glad to be proven wrong as this is one of my favorite shows and I love it completely! I'm so glad to have found these amazing pieces of entertainment. Thanks Mark!
I'm new here and binge watching this guys content! The hard work in these videos are not only amazing but well done. I like the green screen and roto scoping and script. Plus the sound and color match
This is one of your BEST videos !!!!!! Really funny shit indeed Mark well done , you should have 1 million subs for sure and I think you will get there…peace
Oh man I know what you mean about that old phone. My grandparents lived on a farm and had a fight bell or a school bell wired up to alert you when people got into your driveway it would ring and it was absolutely terrifying if you happened to be right next to it when it went off.
One point. The capsule could have contained the astronaut. Why? They explain the pig grew to "twice the size". Meaning the dude wasn't 7 foot. So... The astronaut was clearly a dwarf. 😅 Oh, and I wear tweed a lot. I hate burrs with a passion.
It’s mental you only have a couple hundred subs man I assumed you’d be sitting near the millions considering the quality of your content. Keep up the great work!
This Made My Day!! btw..the film's Director, Bill Rebane, actually plays the jealous boyfriend who gets killed outside of his car. You Rock ...Your Channel Rocks!! Cheers!!
I always liked when Mark has a beard, it looks really good on him. But in addition of the suit ! Oulala ! The suit and the beard look perfect on him 🔥🔥
Welcome back! You are not putting out enough of these. Inserting yourself into the film is super funny. I wonder, can you insert yourself into color films? I know films like Carrie (1976) or Race with the Devil are not actually bad films, but I think it would be interesting to see how you handle those films.
Of course you missed the truth in advertising on the poster: It said "will give you the wim-wams (aka "jitters"), and certainly that first phone ring seemed to have very accurately sent wim-wams (aka "jitters") up your spine (aka backbone, aka jim-jam aka etc.). So you proved yourself to be making a monumental error in your lording over this film. On the other hand, you are way TOO KIND to this "it wants to be reviled" movie! Thanks! Great video!
One thing I've always wondered about that was, was that location sound from the day of the shoot? If yes, why not simply delete it like all the other lost audio? If not, whose genius idea was it to dub in constant dog barking, and what was their reasoning for doing so? Is it supposed to signal "monster approaching?"
"So I guess the whole time it was an alien, who eventually went down into the sewer and disappeared. Kind of like this movie." Man that line cracked me up lmao Mark, never stop doing these, you are a gem. Been watching since 2015, keep it up!
Around 3:50 a person removes their raincoat and the belt isn’t threaded through any of the loops in the coat and so comes off separately. People don’t wear belted trench coats much anymore but when they did they didn’t want to lose the belt.
The symptoms of frustration, confusion, and boredom (and apathy) you describe at the beginning are also the signs of early-onset dementia in adults. Just so you know. 😄
As a child of the 50s I followed the Mercury program as avidly as anyone else, and the diminutive size of the Mercury capsule @3:25 was a FEATURE! It was meant to be a one-seater and carry the pilot for less than one orbit of the earth at first. "Start small but think big" seemed to be the NASA philosophy in the early 60s...
I've watched all of your bad film reviews in the last week or so, and I just wanted to say I've been going through a bit of a tough time, and your videos got me into a much better place. So thanks..
I saw this celluloid gem at the local drive in. "The Horror of Party Beach" was the co-feature. For some incidental music, they could have had the monster murdering "Going to A Go-Go" (Smokey Robinson).
2:20 that’s spring reverb if I’ve ever heard it, maybe they amped and re recorded the audio through a guitar or Hammond organ amp to raise the level and forgot to turn the reverb off? It kinda makes sense when the guy is on the microphone, common audio trick to make it sound “official,” but the conversation when they’re just standing around is an obvious technical fail. This concludes audio dork minute. Like and subscribe. To Mark that is, awesome channel.
I mean, it’s greatest crime is that it’s boring. And when you think about it, those are the ‘worst’ kind of bad movies. The true worst movie ever made you probably will never see…one so boring, uneventful, and confusing that it’s locked in some studio vault and never was released in theaters or brought straight to home video/streaming.
I’ve just watched your video , beautifully said . I don’t really know what to say , I just thought I had to let you know , God only knows what kind of world we’re heading to ! Keep up the good work !!
I found your channel during lockdown and have to say: your content is fantastic!! It speaks volumes about growing up in NJ that I've seen many of your movies in theaters (Mutilator in particular was a trip down memory lane). If you're up for an awful movie, please look up Burial Ground! I don't know how, but I saw that in a movie theater as well and it is a cult classic with my oldest son and I!
