Coming Soon from Unearthed Films.
Toshiki Takaya’s anime and manga are science fiction body horror martial arts chaos mixed in with a ton of concepts involving corporations, mutant aliens, and genetics. America saw “mutants” and ran with it in an effort to kind of build upon the winning formula of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” In effect, 1991’s American adaptation of “The Guyver” takes the very gory original material and transforms it in to a silly, but absolutely fun love letter to Japanese culture and just horror in general. With the help of Screaming Mad George’s amazing special effects, director Steve Wang realizes a lot of concepts from the original source material that would have otherwise been utterly impossible in 1991.
Sean Barker is a college student who discovers the “Guyver”, an alien mechanical device that merges with his own body, turning him into a super-powerful cyborg fighting machine. The device belongs to Chronos, an evil corporation run by human mutants that metamorphize into monstrous soldiers called “Zoanoids”. Chronos badly wants the Guyver back and sends a gang of Zoanoids to kidnap Sean’s girlfriend, Mizuki. Sean rescues Mizuki with the help of Max Reed, a CIA agent determined to keep the device from falling into the hands of Chronos.
“The Guyver” squeezes by more on charm and originality more than anything, as director Steve Wang takes the decidedly serious original series and turns it in to a more upbeat ro.mp. Even with the introduction of murderous giant monsters, and vicious aliens, “The Guyver” maintains its fairly campy tone. A lot of that is saved, once again, thanks to how exciting the concept of The Guyver is with the titular being himself coming to life in dazzling effect. “The Guyver” even enlists a host of horror nods from Mark Hamil co-starring, to enlisting the likes of Peter Spellos, Michal Berryman, and Willard E. Pugh respectively. The icing on the cake is David Gale as the film’s central villain with Jeffery Combs following behind as the mad scientist Dr. East.
It’s just a mélange of crazy and fun that takes such a streamlined series in to so many wild directions. Along with an excellent interpretation of the Guyver armor for the live action medium, Screaming Mad George enlists a slew of great monsters and mutants. As well there are as some great bits of body horror thrown around that really help emphasize that this it would have been better had it been played with a straight face. “The Guyver” is a ton of fun and while its follow up “Dark Hero” is so much better and in line with the vision of the original anime, Steve Wang does a bang up job with a sleek and cool superhero that is long overdue for a big budget reboot in America.
The newest release from Unearthed Films comes with the 4K and Blu-Ray packed together, or a single disc of the Blu-Ray. Both versions also come with the CD soundtrack, as well as a collectible booklet with an essay by Dom O’Brien, the author of Budget Biomorphs: The Making of The Guyver Films as well as Liner notes by composer Matthew Morse. Sadly, there’s no poster. I wish they’d have supplied one, but beggars can’t be choosey. The 4K Blu-Ray comes with a new restoration of the original R Rated Cut. There’s a new Commentary with co-directors Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang, moderated by Dom O’Brien, the author of Budget Biomorphs: The Making of The Guyver Films.
The Blu-Ray comes packed with the aforementioned bells and whistles. There’s also a new interview with producers Brian Yuzna, a new interview with co-director Screaming George, new Suit Tests with commentary by co-directors Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang, brand new Outtakes with commentary by co-directors Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang, a new Gag Roll with commentary by co-directors Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang, and a new Production & Artwork Gallery. There is also an Alternate Title Sequence, the original vintage Trailers, and finally the original soundtrack on a separate included CD as composed by Matthew Morse featuring remixes of the theme from 2007 and 2021.