Monster a Go-Go

Director(s) - Bill Rebane (The Capture of Bigfoot, Twister's Revenge) and Herschell Gordon Lewis (Moonshine Mountain, Scum of the Earth)

Starring - Philip Morton (TerrorVision, Viewer Discretion Advised), June Travis (The Case of the Black Cat, The Gladiator), and George Perry 

Release Date - 1965

Genre - Horror/Sci-Fi

Tagline - "An astronaut went up... a "guess what" came down!"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I think we are in the golden age of movie collecting.  We have so many boutique labels bringing us movies in high definition that would normally never see the light of day.  I'm not talking Evil Dead and Dawn of the Dead getting another re-release on a different format but movies I've never heard of getting remastered and restored for the first time since their theatrical release.  A few weeks ago Arrow Video announced the release of the Bill Rebane box set called Weird Wisconsin.  I was really intrigued by this.  Up to this point the only Rebane film that I had seen was Blood Harvest which was released by Vinegar Syndrome.  Not long after the announcement of this release I received the blus to review from my friends over at MVD.  I couldn't wait to dig into it so I started with 1965's Monster a Go-Go.

      The film follows an astronaut that crashes back to Earth in his shuttle but they are unable to retrieve his body.  They suspect he perished in the crash but when bodies are discovered drained of life they suspect that he lived and is mutated by the radiation he was exposed to while in space.

     Blood Harvest is an extremely rough slasher but the cheesy and campiness of the film makes for a very fun movie experience.  I was hoping that even though these films are twenty some odd years apart that the cheesy would still be as entertaining here as it was in Blood Harvest.  Sadly, it wasn't.  Monster a Go-Go is not a bad film but it's not as fun either.  It's a bit slow, predictable, and lackluster.  The acting in this one is solid enough but far from perfect.  The characters are very cliched and flat but they work well enough for the story.  The cast is dedicated to their roll but their performances do come up a little short at times.  The story for this one is one we have seen many times before especially by 1965.  An astronaut returning to Earth mutated is nothing we haven't seen before especially in sci-fi films of the 50s and 60s.  Because of this the film is rather predictable but it does offer up some fun even if you know exactly where it's going.  Finally, the film has several deaths that take place off screen.  No blood or gore for this one but we do get some make-up effects that makes the scene work.  It's nothing spectacular but they do their job.  Overall, Monster a Go-Go is far from perfect.  Its a fun one for a first time watch but you have to be open to it.  It's predictable but not THAT bad.