Most fans of horror and sci-fi films, especially ones from the ’50s, know of the infamous film Robot Monster (1953), from director Phil Tucker, that stars the notorious Ro-Man, one of the most iconic monsters of that time. Yes, it is one that usually gets the laughs and snickers because it is basically a guy in a gorilla suit with a space helmet on. While this film is usually labeled as one of those “so bad it’s good” kind of films, I will stand by the fact that it is in fact a Turkey, but not by the standards of the Medveds and MST3K. By MY standards of what a Turkey is, which is that if it is entertaining, it can’t be considered a bad movie. While it may not be the most technically efficient, or well-made film, it surely is entertaining. Therefore, no matter how much you must try to calculate it, it CANNOT be qualified as a “bad” movie.

Yesterday, I had the wonderful opportunity to drive up to Madison, Wisconsin for a screening of the recent 3-D restoration of Robot Monster, which we were told was the very first screening on this new print. This was part of the Wisconsin Film Festival that was going on, and while it was a bit warm in the theater, it still didn’t detract how much fun this was. Bob Furmanek, the President and Founder of 3-D Film Archive, was there alongside Jack Theakston and Greg Kintz, who have worked for more than a few years trying to bring this film to its original 3-D presentation were there at the screening for a Q&A afterwards. While it was a short Q&A, they did have some great stories as well as letting us know some of the pains they have gone through to bring this back to life. I can’t thank them enough for taking the time and care that they have on a movie that most people would be puzzled as to why to spend that much time, money, and effort to do this. But they understood why something like this needs to be saved and preserved for fans like me. I was part of the Kickstarted funding to get this off the ground and am so excited to finally see this so close to coming out.

Seeing it on the screen, in 3-D was just amazing. Not only did the print look great, but the 3-D effects were really well done, showing a lot of depth in the picture. It was also so cool to see the theater pretty much packed with people, most of which had never even seen the film before!

Thanks to my friend Brian Fukala for taking the trip with with me, and our other avid movie fan friend, Gavin Schmitt for meeting us there. Movies are always better when you can share the experience with like-minded fans. Also, to the Wisconsin Film Festival for screening this, and especially for all the hard work that Furmanek, Theakston, Kintz, and all the others that have put in many hours of hard work to help bring this back to fans.