The armies of Hell have taken over the Earth, and all that stands
in the way of the villainous Count Draculon and humanity's total
extinction is a motley crew of misfits led by the mighty MANBORG:
a warrior that's half-man, half machine, but all hero.
Once a young soldier killed during first war against Hell,
Manborg reawakens in the future, rebuilt as a walking weapon and
mankind's last hope. Struggling to learn the secret of his
origins, Manborg unwittingly befriends a post-apocalyptic
Australian punker, a wielding vixen, and a kung-fu master,
before finally squaring off against Count Draculon in a desperate
and bloody bid to take back the Earth!
Special Features: 2 Commentaries, Deleted & Alternate Scenes,
Bloopers, Behind the Scenes, Stop Motion, Montage, VFX Montage,
Short Film, Interviews, Premiere Q&A
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A deliberately junky tribute to the low-budget, genre-mashing
exploitation hybrids that seemed to proliferate on video store
shelves during the 1980s and early 1990s, Manborg captures the
essence of its psychotronic forebears through a barrage of
stop-motion animation, knowing references to t cinema, and
comic book ultraviolence. Produced, directed, and starring
members of the Canadian film collective known as Astron-6
(her's Day), Manborg starts on a delirious high note, with the
armies of the world locked in combat with the forces of Hell, led
by the monstrous Count Draculon (Adam Brooks). A soldier (Matthew
Kennedy) left for dead in the wake of Draculon's assault is
rescued by a scientist (Brooks again) and rebuilt into the
titular hero, a half-man, half-machine who's understandably
confused by his new body and its array of weaponry. Manborg, as
he comes to name himself, is soon whisked away by Draculon's
henchman, the Cenobite-like Baron (Jeremy Gillespie), and thrown
into a gladiatorial arena to fight an array of monsters alongside
punkish Aussie Justice (Conor Sweeney) and his decidedly American
sister Mina (Meredith Sweeney), as well as the ponderously
overdubbed martial arts expert #1 Man (Ludwig Lee). Though
dystopian action/science fiction films like RoboCop and (more
accurately) dismal knockoffs like The Vindicator and R.O.T.O.R.
are clearly the foundations on which Astron-6 have built Manborg,
their ultimate goal seems to be the full range of '80s-era genre
films, from rubber- monsters and foreign postapocalyptic
freakouts to video game-inspired kung fu (and vice versa).
They're mostly successful in hitting their marks, which is even
more impressive given that the whole affair was largely
constructed through greenscreen work and frame-by-frame
animation.
Occasionally, one wishes that the producers had devoted as much
time to the script or casting than to production design: Kennedy
makes for a wan hero, and Conor Sweeney quickly wears out his
welcome as the twitchy Justice. Keeping the impressive Count
Draculon off-screen for most of the picture is also an
unfortunate choice, given that his second, the Baron, is robbed
of any sense of menace by a silly one-sided romance with Mina
that's never as amusing as the filmmakers believe it to be. But
at 70 minutes in length, it's hard to find real fault with
Manborg, which ultimately remains a loopy but effective tribute
to the filmmakers' vision and the films that inspired it. The
disc is surprisingly thick with supplemental features, many of
which are devoted to the creation of the film's visual and
special effects. Two commentaries are also featured, which will
probably appeal to diehard Astron-6 fans, though the cast and
crew track has its humorous moments. The best extra is
unquestionably the faux trailer for Bio-Cop, a long but
frequently funny blend of -movie tropes and gross-out
horror like Street T about a lawman who's less than enthused
about his newfound ability to dissolve into a puddle of slime
while in pursuit of bad guys. It hits all the right tonal notes
as Manborg while striking a better balance between humor and
action. --Paul Gaita