Manborg (2011)

Holy fuck, I haven't been this entertained by movie in years! Manborg is a real curio, a loving tribute to the 80:s that throws in everything and the kitchen sink in a glorious display of lo-fi special effects and tongue in cheek storytelling in such a way that it is over before you realize you are having the best time in your life.

The gates of hell have opened and mankind are at war with the hordes of demons pouring out, and losing it. A young soldier watches his brother get killed by the evil Lord Draculon before he himself is mowed down by the demonic soldiers. A number of years later he wakes up into a dystopian, demon-controlled society where humanity lives in the blasted cityruins of what used to be Earth. He has now been transformed into the half human - half man:  MANBORG. Together with a small group of cliched characters straight out of 80s actionmovies he has to battle the evil Lord Draculon and his cohorts in order to redeem his humanity and avenge his brother. I hope I did a good job sounding like the text on the back of an old Empire vhs because this is what Manborg feels like.

With a quick glance at Manborg you might dismiss it as cheap and silly but while it actually is both, it doesn't mean that it is boring or worse. On the contrary, the movie (shot entirely on green screen) is full of cool things that are meant to look like that. The special effects are cheap and simple, but designed that way with an production design that I haven't seen elsewhere other than in C64 games or maybe Captain Power and the soldiers of the future if you remember that old tv-show (I haven't seen Captain power since it was released so I dont remember much but it popped up in my mind pretty quick as I started to watch Manborg). There is so much cool stuff here, like the crude but awesome stopmotion demons that pop up everywhere and the lovingly overacting actors (for instance, the asian guy Nr 1 Man who always walks around without any clothes on his upper body and is hilariously dubbed). Everything moves as such breakneck pace that the miniscule 60 minutes feel like 20. And that is my only real complaint, the movie is way too short although they stretch it out to 70 by adding an hilarious trailer after the credits of a fake movie called Bio-Cop, a movie about a police office transformed into a slimy mass after getting doused with radioactive waste and his hijinx after remaining in the police force (he just screams Kill me all the time). Fun stuff indeed.

Yes, I admit, I loved Manborg. It was perfectly tailored to my own tastes in popular culture and is a must see. Astron 6 have perfected the art of loving the 80s and now I want more. Manborg 2? Please? PLEASE?!