“Those were some fancy shenanigrams you pulled there, Manborg.”
What’s it all about? From the 80s-obsessed brains of director Steven Kostanski and Astron-6 comes MANBORG, a sixty-minute feature film about a half-man, half-robot former soldier who must fight against the hell creatures that have enslaved humanity. After “waking up in a box”, Manborg (Matthew Kennedy) is joined in his quest by Number One Man (Ludwig Lee), an Asian martial arts expert with a dubbed-over voice; Justice (Conor Sweeney), an illiterate Australian with a penchant toward catchphrases; and Justice’s sister and love interest to many, Mina (Meredith Sweeney). MANBORG also stars Adam Brooks as Doctor Scorpius.
I need to preface what will be a very short post on MANBORG with this: I am not the target audience for MANBORG. I am not a grindhouse aficionado; The only exploitation films that I’ve seen are a handful of blaxploitation flicks, like COFFY, CLEOPATRA JONES and FOXY BROWN. I saw MAD MAX once and barely remember it. I think ROBOCOP is a ridiculous piece of trash. Yes, I did play Mortal Kombat as a child, but the film left me with an uncomfortable expression on my face. The only VHS I ever owned were all Disney movies. All in all: I’m the worst possible audience member for the world premiere of Astron-6′s MANBORG. Despite all that, however, I still laughed — maybe not as much as every other person during the screening or as much as I did during the collective’s other film at the festival, FATHER’S DAY. But I still laughed.
Below is the trailer for MANBORG. If you watch this trailer and think it might be your cup of tea, you should run over to the Astron-6 website and immerse yourself in their filmography. If you’re like me and are dumbfounded after watching the trailer but still interested in Astron-6, you should check out the more accessible FATHER’S DAY.
Toronto After Dark Film Festival runs from October 20-27, featuring gala parties, nightly pub social events, Q&A’s with filmmakers and a zombie appreciation night with reduced tickets for the undead. For complete festival and film info including trailers and advanced tickets, visit www.torontoafterdark.com.
Notes: Directed by Steven Kostanski; Written by Steven Kostanski; Starring Matthew Kennedy, Ludwig Lee, Conor Sweeney, Meredith Sweeney and Adam Brooks.
