"Robot Monster" [Blu ray Review]

by Mike Imboden

Normally here at “The Good, the Bad, and the Verdict”, both Joseph and Mike give their thoughts on a slice of cinema. However, here and there they will be taking the reins in a solo outing. For this installment, it’s Mike with a solo review of the 70th Anniversary 3D Restoration of Robot Monster.

Synopsis

A cosmic catastrophe has wiped out humanity, and now the last six survivors must outwit that strangely iconic alien menace, Ro-Man (George Barrows). Taking orders from the pitiless Great Guidance, Ro-Man wavers in his pursuit of human annihilation when he falls in love with a girl (Claudia Barrett). Can dashing young Roy (George Nader) save her?

The Good

The restoration looks very nice. I made a point of watching an old copy of this before putting this Blu-ray copy in and it’s quite obvious this has been cleaned up and boasts a sharper, cleaner image. The 3D is much better than I expected it to be, having only seen it as a regular, black and white film. Honestly, it makes it a far more watchable film. The audio sounds fine, but I wasn’t able to really discern much of a difference between this and the older copy I had - but I feel like I can’t really include this in either the Good or the Bad section because my hearing ain’t what it used to be after listening to decades of music that was far too loud.

There’s a ton of extras, and while the majority of it is in 2D, the 3D features are exceptional and very entertaining, my favorite being the Whatever Happened to Ro-Man? Faux-fluff news piece and the inclusion of a 3D golden-age comic book. I will admit to not having the time to go through all of the 2D features as it seemed daunting due to the number of selections (and the lure for me was the whole 3D aspect anyway).

The Bad

There’s really not much to say about this restoration that would be considered Bad aside from the film itself. But let’s be honest - if you’re buying this version it’s either because you collect 3D films or you have a soft spot for the film, and in either case the subjective (but, pretty accurately negative) technical qualities of the movie won’t matter.

The Verdict

If you’re a fan of films from the “golden age” of sci-fi, you shouldn’t have to think too hard about adding this to your collection - even critics of the film may want to revisit Ro-Man with this restored version just to see the quality 3D that, despite being the old anaglyph red-blue style, looks just as good as many of the films that came out during the post-production 3D conversion glut of the previous decade.

If seeing the movie in a nearly pristine, cleaned up version isn’t enough of a selling point, there’s also the plethora of extras that make this an exceptional offering.

70th Anniversary 3-D Restoration by the 3-D Film Archive!
Contains over Two Hours of Bonus Materials, including audio commentary, trailers, and much more!
Blu-ray can be viewed in Blu-ray 3-D format, compatible anaglyphic 3-D (one pair of glasses included), or 2-D! (DVD can be viewed in compatible anaglyphic 3-D or 2-D only)
Region Free
Video Resolution/Codec: 1080p MVC/MPEG-4, 1080p AVC/MPEG-4
Aspect Ratio(s): 1.37:1

Robot Monster 70th Anniversary 3D Restoration, from Bayview Entertainment, is available via most online movie retailers.

Robot Monster