Manborg

Often a film designed from the ground up to have cult appeal is a total waste time, Self indulgent hot messes that sounded better when the creators envisioning them were riffing on the idea between bong hits. Or so I'd imagine. Manborg could have easily been "that" film. Honestly the first few minutes made me fear the worst. But after settling in a bit this picture, which makes Troma productions look like they were done by ILM finds its ridiculously twisted stride and delivers. In a way anyone who has seen a straight to VHS sci-fi release will recognize.  Or anyone who watched some of the more serious dreck the SyFy channel has put on in the past for that matter.

Only 60 minutes long it's an homage to so many things it's hard to keep track of them all. Dracula, cyborgs, jackbooted demons, light skate boards, hover crafts and sketchy special effects galore. A Frankenstein production of many, many bits of such nostalgia while consistently out cheesing them all.

Given all the the risks inherent in the above it's surprisingly entertaining. Not to mention one of the more quotable films I've seen since The FP.

The film opens with two brothers serving as GI's in a war against (literally) the forces of hell. Led by a very butch Dracula. When the older brother dies the other attempts to take his revenge. Only to get a serious beat down. Fast forward to the bleak dystopian future hundreds of years later as our protagonist awakens. Without his memory and with considerably more cyborg technology attached than he started with. He meets up with another human - a bare chested Asian kung -fu character straight from central casting. Together they and a few other outcasts take on a bunch of demons led by a human hybrid who takes her fashion cues from Ilsa. Soon captured they're locked up with other humans who fight gladiator bouts in an old school Tron like arena for the entertainment of the horned masses.

Into the mix throw a demon jail keeper ("The Baron") with a crush on Mina, the female member of the band ("I called her prisoner number 7. But to me she was always prisoner number 1. "), healthy distrust between everyone and more action film stereotypes than you can shake a nun-chuck at. On the way towards trust building, escape and vengeance there's a ton of entertainingly questionable special effects and snappy dialog. We're reminded of truisms such as "It's never too late to be a hero" and "It's not about the killing. It's about family. We're a family now."  So it's a constructive film as well.  ;-)

You can get a sense of the visual feel from the trailer below. In all honesty I really did not expect to like this film when I sat down with the screener after Fantastic Fest. I'd passed on seeing it during core festival screenings because it just didn't seem like a good bet. That turns out to have been a mistake. Because Manborg's level of destined to be an underground cult classic fun would be seriously enhanced with an audience. Or possible a bong. Maybe both. Or so I'd imagine...