Mandroid Blu Ray Review (Full Moon Features)

Mandroid is a 1993 science fiction action film directed by Jack Ersgard (Invisible: The Chronicles of Benjamin Knight, The Visitors, Rancid, Living in Peril, Acts of Betrayal, and Justice). It was written by C. Courtney Joyner (Doctor Mordrid, From a Whisper to a Scream, Prison, Class of 1999, Invisible: The Chronicles of Benjamin Knight, Puppet Master franchise, Trancers franchise, Lurking Fear, and Quadrant) and Jack Canson (Bad Channels, Robot Wars, Trancers II, Nowhere to Run, Seedpeople, Subspecies, and Body Chemistry franchise). It was produced by Charles Band (Puppet Master franchise, Ghoulies franchise, Crash and Burn, Head of the Family, Hideous!, Blood Dolls, Tourist Trap, Laserblast, Seedpeople, ShadowZone, Bad Channels, Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity, Robot Wars, Beach Babes from Beyond, Pet Shop, Doll Graveyard, Evil Bong franchise, The Resonator, Death Streamer, Quadrant, Baby Oopsie franchise, and Arcade). It was followed up by 1993’s Invisible: The Chronicles of Benjamin Knight!!!!! In his hidden laboratory deep in Russia, Dr. Karl Zimmer (played by: Robert Symonds from The Exorcist, Catch Me If You Can, And Justice for All, C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud, Freddy’s Nightmares, and Superstition) has invented the powerful Mandroid, a humanoid robot which follows the motions of a man in a special control suit. He has offered the invention to the United States but Zimmer’s partner Drago (played by: Curt Lowens from The Entity, Angels and Demons, Invisible: The Chronicles of Benjamin Knight, Miracle at St. Anna, Necronomicon: Book of Dead, and Monsters) has different plans when he gets greedy. He wants to sell the Mandroid to the military for a nice payoff. He’s willing to close the deal at any cost. As the forces of good and evil collide, the monstrous Mandroid lurches to life to crush ’em all!!!! Mandroid is an independent superhero feature from Full Moon back in 1993. They only did a few of these types of projects but they were usually really good especially compared to some of the bigger ones being made at the same time. Director Jack Ersgard added a different style to this one so that helps it stand out even more. Veteran Robert Symonds as Dr. Karl Zimmer is the creative force behind this secret experiment. He wants use the Mandroid as good but he knows it could be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands. Experienced character actor Curt Lowens is the selfish and twisted Drago. He’s the partner with Zimmer on this groundbreaking device. He is offered all kinds of money for it but he can’t convince the Dr to give it up to the government. Drago gets desperate and he decides to take action himself for full control. He gets disfigured so he has to wear a mask after the split. His look reminds me of Destro from G.I. Joe which is awesome. Special fx artist Jake McKinnon (Invisible: The Chronicles of Benjamin Knight, Puppet Master franchise, Wishmaster, From Dusk Till Dawn, House of 1000 Corpses, and Ginger Snaps franchise) is the uncredited Mandroid here. The appearance reminds me somewhat of The Wraith. The rest of the supporting cast includes Jane Caldwell (Trancers III), Brian Cousins (Invisible: The Chronicles of Benjamin Knight), Michael Della Femina (Invisible: The Chronicles of Benjamin Knight), Patrik Ersgård (The Visitors), Ion Haiduc (Trancers franchise), Mircea Albulescu (Youth Without Youth), and Adrian Pintea (Lurking Fear). Mandroid doesn’t get the appreciation that it truly deserves. It’s packed with gun play, death, and violence. The special fx lead by Michael Deak (Ghoulies franchise, From Beyond, Bride of Re-Animator, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Friday the 13th: The New Blood, Seedpeople, The Resonator, and Tales from the Hood) are the highlight about this independent production. Mandroid looks like it has a larger budget because there’s so much talent behind the scenes for it. It feels a little like Darkman meets Robocop. This was Full Moon Features in their prime when they were distributed by Paramount Pictures. Charles Band had some of his best creative moments during this time frame, it’s my personal favorite run from them for their entire existence. Mandroid still holds up after all these years, I really hope the sequel Invisible: The Chronicles of Benjamin Knight is next when it comes to being upgraded because it hasn’t been released since the early DVD days. This is currently streaming on Tubi, Fawesome, and Amazon Prime right now if you are curious about it or just want to revisit it before making a purchase. I love the superhero sub-genre and this is a total blast, RECOMMENDED!!!! This 1080p (1.78:1) transfer is from a brand new restoration from the original camera negative. I’ve seen this 90’s superhero film on almost every home video format over the years and this is a real solid improvement compared to all of those. It has stylish cinematography, quality production design, interesting locations, and impressive visual/special fx especially for it’s small budget. It has multiple audio options which includes English: Dolby Digital 5.1 and English: Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks on the disc. It’s full of violence and action so it keeps itself busy when it comes to explosive audio. All of the dialogue is very clean, the chaos is elevated, and the music has big boost to it. It has the little over 21 minute “Original VideoZone”. This has interviews with Charles Band, Jack Ersgard, Robert Symonds, Michael Della Femina, Jake McKinnon, Mel Tooker, Lara Porzak, Patrik Ersgård, and Ted Haines. VideoZone was one of the first actual behind the scenes featurettes made before extras really become a major addition for home video. Charles Band knew there was a future in it. He announces some upcoming projects during the introduction. It goes over the concept. They bring up that the original script changed a lot since they started filming it. They chat about their experiences on it. It has plenty of behind the scenes footage here from the shoot. The first 11 minutes are dedicated to Mandroid in this. The next 3 minutes focuses on Puppet Master 4 and 5. This has a conversation with legendary director Jeff Burr that goes over his current work with Full Moon Features at the time this was made. He goes over all of the other horror sequels that he worked on before this. The rest of it is dedicated to other coming attractions. It has the “Original Trailer” for Mandroid. It has a variety of 6 Full Moon related “Trailers”. Man and Machine are one again on Blu Ray for the very first time. It’s available everywhere right now including FullMoonHorror.com and MVDShop.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!