The plot concerns an American astronaut, Frank Douglas, who mysteriously disappears from his spacecraft as it parachutes to Earth. The policemen in one scene inspect the landing site of Douglas's capsule and notice a burned patch, only to dismiss it as a prank. The vanished astronaut is apparently replaced by or turned into a large, radioactive, humanoid monster. This is revealed when it comes into the scene and kills off Dr. Logan. A team of scientists and military men also attempts to capture the monster – and at one point succeed and imprison it in the lab, only to have it escape. Neither the capture nor the escape is ever shown, and both are simply mentioned by the narrator.
At the end of the film, the scientists corner the monster in a sewer under Chicago, but the monster suddenly disappears. The scientists receive a telegram stating that Douglas is in fact alive and well, having been rescued in the North Atlantic, perhaps implying the monster was an alien impersonating Douglas. The narrator provides the film's infamous closing narration:
As if a switch had been turned, as if an eye had been blinked, as if some phantom force in the universe had made a move eons beyond our comprehension, suddenly, there was no trail! There was no giant, no monster, no thing called "Douglas" to be followed. There was nothing in the tunnel but the puzzled men of courage, who suddenly found themselves alone with shadows and darkness! With the telegram, one cloud lifts, and another descends. Astronaut Frank Douglas, rescued, alive, well, and of normal size, some 8,000 miles away in a lifeboat, with no memory of where he has been, or how he was separated from his capsule! Then who, or what, has landed here? Is it here yet? Or has the cosmic switch been pulled? Case in point: The line between science fiction and science fact is microscopically thin! You have witnessed the line being shaved even thinner! But is the menace with us? Or is the monster gone?
The film had an unusual production history.[2] Director Rebane ran out of money while making the film. Herschell Gordon Lewis, who needed a second film to show with his own feature, Moonshine Mountain, bought the film, added a few extra scenes, included some new dialogue, and then released it, creating an odd, disjointed film with little continuity. Rebane had abandoned the film in 1961; Lewis did not finish the film until 1965, so he was unable to gather all of the original cast, resulting in almost half the characters disappearing midway through the film to be replaced by other characters who fill most of the same roles. One of the actors Lewis was able to rehire had dramatically changed his look in the intervening years, necessitating his playing the brother of the original character. At one point, when a phone supposedly rings, the sound effect is obviously a person making a noise with his mouth.[3]
Release and reception
Critical reception has been predominantly negative, with the film regarded as being one of the all-time worst.
Allmovie gave the film a negative review, calling it "an incoherent concoction brewed solely to fill space on a double bill"[4] while TV Guide panned the film, calling it "garbage".[5]
Dennis Schwartz from Ozus' World Movie Reviews gave the film a negative review. In his review of the film, Schwartz called it "One of the most incoherent films ever made because the plot line can't be explained rationally nor are the characters clearly defined."[6] When reviewing the film, Horror News.net also noted the reason behind its negative reputation: "The film itself falls into the 'worst' category with not only a lethargic presentation but with its odd-pieced editing style. Some scenes pop in out of nowhere that really don't seem to have much to do with the previous scene. Others are typical conversation scenes that are just edited back and forth in a haphazard way. I think the film stands better as a piece to be mocked and laughed at than as a real piece of important cinema. In fact, you may find humor in just those elements alone that make the experience one to look for mistakes, continuity errors and ridiculous logic at times. Why they felt the need that it needed some hipster dance scenes thrown in to sell more tickets is beyond me. But the result is so odd that it also deserves a laugh. It's classic B-grade miss mash that only has appeal in its disjointed effort."[7]
In 1993, the film was featured in an episode of the satirical film-riffing television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 on Comedy Central alongside the short Circus on Ice.[8] The MST3K version of the film was released by Rhino Home Video[9] as part of the Collection, Volume 8 DVD set. It was soon re-released by Shout Factory[10]
The film's original director, Bill Rebane, released a "Special Collector's Edition" with commentary and other extras on Synergy Entertainment on October 19, 2010.[11]
Monster a Go-Go! was released with Psyched by the 4-D Witch as a DVD double feature by Something Weird Video.[12]
