Doomsday Machine
Doomsday Machine (1972) Rewatch? ✅
A classic of slightly rubbish films, cobbled together from footage from 5 years prior, other films, stock footage and some material freshly shot to tie things up, it’s always a pleasantly fun watch.
Thing is, in the grand scheme of low budget sci fi films, it’s nowhere close to the worst thing. Up until the last bit where it runs out of energy, it’s pretty regular stuff. There’s a bit of sixties paranoia, a cludgey attempt at some sort of message and … well, yeah. It’s pretty normal. Take away the “is it China wot did it” and there’s very little you wouldn’t find in some run of the mill fifties tat, even down to the “women, on a space mission???” guff.
“Ah, but Rob, it was released in 1972”, you might feel compelled to say and yes, yes, that’s why I like it!
You see, where it does goes off into its own little world is that very little matches up. There’s scant attempt at making it all look, start to finish, like a coherent film. I suspect had it been finished in the late sixties when a lot of it was filmed, it’d hold together. But it wasn’t, so it doesn’t. Its never especially jarring or disconcerting because, well, it’s one consistent thing is “made with next to no money” so it comes out all a bit silly and rather entertaining. Who needs the same actors all the way through anyway? Or sets. Or models. Or…
A classic of the tat form then and something I save for when I need cheering up a bit. Still works for me.