{"id":28381,"date":"2018-07-02T08:11:50","date_gmt":"2018-07-02T12:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=28381"},"modified":"2018-07-02T08:13:29","modified_gmt":"2018-07-02T12:13:29","slug":"cyborg-1988-collectors-edition-blu-ray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2018\/07\/02\/cyborg-1988-collectors-edition-blu-ray\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyborg (1988): Collector\u2019s Edition [Blu-Ray]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Albert Pyun\u2019s \u201cCyborg\u201d is a lot more famous for its back story and production woes than it is for the actual movie. There\u2019s even the famous tale of how much of the sets and outfits for the characters were re-used from the cancelled \u201cSpider-Man\u201d movie, and sequel to \u201cHe-Man\u201d that Golan Globus failed to finish. It\u2019s a shame, because in the eighties when a whole sub-genre sprang from the success of \u201cMad Max,\u201d we got a whole library of post apocalyptic action films with gritty warriors charged with saving mankind or something like a child or village. In a massive sub-genre of B grade copycats, \u201cCyborg\u201d is one of the best.<\/p>\n

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Pyun\u2019s \u201cCyborg\u201d is still a fine and entertaining early vehicle for Jean Claude Van Damme who was at the beginning of his massive career and does a great job playing hero Gibson. We set down on a world that\u2019s been ravaged by the apocalypse. After an unknown infection wipes out most of the world, and turns a lot of the population in to the undead, the remaining civilization has turned in to savage hunters and foragers. Gibson is a Slinger, a hired bounty hunter kind of warrior who hunts down pirates. Haunted by his past, he\u2019s thrust in to a grand plot to protect a cyborg who holds the key to curing the horrible infection and restoring the world. But she\u2019s being hunted by a horrible warrior known as Fender, who wants the cure to hold over everyone and rule the world with.<\/p>\n

Known as \u201cSlinger\u201d internationally, \u201cCyborg\u201d is a childhood favorite that I mostly remember as being a late night basic cable staple. A friend of my aunts was a hardcore action geek and every time he visited us he\u2019d pop in a VHS of \u201cCyborg\u201d recorded off of TNT, and we\u2019d have a ball. Pyun\u2019s movie is a tad disjointed and unevenly paced at times, but it\u2019s an entertaining and action packed post apocalyptic ride. If you love the sub-genre as much as I do, you\u2019ll enjoy the whole kit and caboodle as I did. There are savages, martial arts, stop motion cyborgs, zombies, Christ symbolism, gratuitous nudity, switchblades in boots, and even a rain soaked showdown. How can you not enjoy what Albert Pyun puts down for his audience?<\/p>\n

Van Damme is fun as the silent warrior who has no choice but to stop this gang of pirates, and fate intervenes when he realizes Fender is also the man who murdered the only family he\u2019d ever known. Van Damme is in prime physical shape and often times even resembles an anime character. Vincent Klyn is also intense as villain Fender. \u201cCyborg\u201d is reliant on a heavy formula of hand to hand combat, and running, and it works as a simplistic bit of B grade science fiction that doesn\u2019t try to re-invent the wheel. I\u2019m glad that years later \u201cCyborg\u201d is still a fun action movie you can watch with some beers and nachos.<\/p>\n

Shout! produces a great Collector\u2019s Edition in spite of not including the Director\u2019s Cut, and the lack of Van Damme in the extras. There\u2019s a full audio commentary with writer and director Alber Pyun, and \u201cA Ravaged Feature: The Making of Cyborg.\u201d At thirty minutes, this features Albert Pyun, Vincent Klyn, Deborah Richter and Terrie Batson, director of photography Philip Alan Waters and editor Rozanne Zingale, all of whom tell us how the film was made. Everything from how it was once a Masters of the Universe sequel, the huge problem with the editing process that promoted Van Damme to intervene, and much more.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fun look at such a novel film. \u201cShoestring Fantasy: The Effects Of Cyborg\u201d is a twelve minute visit with visual effects supervisor Gene Warren Jr. , Go-Motion technician Christopher Warren and rotoscope artist Bret Mixon, all of whom discuss the neat special effects for the film including the green screen and stop motion work. At an hour in length there\u2019s \u201c<\/strong>Expanded Interviews From Mark Hartley\u2019s Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films\u201d which garners unfiltered interviews with Albert Pyun and Sheldon Lettich. Finally there\u2019s the original theatrical trailer, and a still gallery.<\/p>\n