Manborg

Steven Kostanski | Canada, 2011 | 60 min.

California Premiere!

The armies of Hell have taken over the Earth, and all that stands in the way of the villainous Count Draculon and his total subjugation of humanity is a motley lot of misfits seemingly torn from the pantheon of schlock genre-cinema circa the 1980s. There’s an Australian punker, a knife wielding anime chick, a kung-fu master (voiced with deliriously pitch-perfect stoicism by Kyle Herbert, the narrator from Dragon Ball Z), and of course… Show more the titular Manborg, itself a literal kind of cinematic Frankenstein, both emblematic of pulp sci-fi as obscure as Charles Band’s Eliminators and as broad as Robocop and The Terminator. The master of ceremonies to this cacophony of laser-blasts and comic book ultra-violence is long-standing TAD alumni and Astron-6 special effects prodigy Steven Kostanski (Lazer Ghosts 2, Heart Of Karl), who deftly juggles co-writing, editing and directing duties with the ambitious creation of an extraordinary barrage of elaborate miniatures, iconic costumes and delirious stop-motion creatures that would have Harryhausen and Tippet try to high-five the ghost of David W. Allen out of sheer enthusiasm. Most impressively, despite drawing from so many sources, Kostanski’s universe remains unmistakably original, his voice unquestionably unique and his talent impossible to deny. - Peter Kuplowsky

"There is so much to love in Manborg, so many gifts to cult movie fans. That said, not everyone is charmed by the lo-fi green screen antics. It’s important people understand what they are going to see, namely a movie made for $1000 and shot mostly on a green screen set built in Kostanski’s garage. If you can’t embrace the campy good times then perhaps this isn’t your thing. For those of us who can, Manborg delivers better than anything we’ve seen to date." -Fangoria

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