The Guyver 4K Review (Unearthed Films)

The Guyver is a 1991 science fiction superhero film directed by special fx artists Screaming Mad George (A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, Re-Animator franchise, Children of the Corn III, Silent Night Deadly Night franchise, The Dentist 2, Society, Freaked, Jack Frost, An American Werewolf in Paris, and Predator) and Steve Wang (Planet of the Apes, Hellboy, The Monster Squad, Gremlins 2, Guyver: Dark Hero, Godzilla, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, and X-Men: The Last Stand). It was written by Jon Purdy (Joshua, Star Portal, and Unabomber). It’s based on the character created by writer Yoshiki Takaya. It was produced by Brian Yuzna (Re-Animator franchise, Return of the Living Dead III, The Dentist franchise, Silent Night Deadly Night franchise, From Beyond, Dolls, Warlock, Ticks, Dagon, Honey I Shrunk The Kids, Necronomicon: Book of Dead, and Society). In 1994, a sequel known as Guyver: Dark Hero was released. Dr. Tetsu Segawa (played by: Greg Joung Paik from Crash, Get Smart, Balls of Fury, and Dexter) is on the run after taking a top secret alien device known as The Guyver from Chronos. He is tracked down by the ruthless Lisker (played by: Michael Berryman from Cut and Run, The Hills Have Eyes franchise, Weird Science, The Devil’s Rejects, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Deadly Blessing) and he returns metal briefcase to his boss Fulton Balcus (played by: David Gale from Re-Animator franchise, The Brain, Syngenor, The First Power, and Savage Weekend). They quickly discover The Guyver is still missing after opening it. CIA agent Max Reed (played by: Mark Hamill from the Star Wars franchise, Body Bags, The Machine, Batman franchise, Masters of the Universe: Revelation, The Flash franchise, Child’s Play, and Village of the Damned) gives Dr. Segawa’s daughter Mizuki (played by: Vivian Wu from Heaven and Earth, The Last Emperor, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, and Dinner Rush) the bad news. Her boyfriend Sean Barker (played by: Jack Armstrong from Twisted Twin, The Tick, All My Children, Guiding Light, and Student Bodies) accidentally finds the Guyver unit after following them to the crime scene. Sean ends up getting attacked by a vicious gang that’s trying to rob him which activates the Guyver and it fuses with his body automatically. Sean is now a target of Balcus and the deadly Chronos company. Mizuki gets captured for bait so they get back their powerful weapon. Chronos is determined to get their property returned at any costs. The vengeful Sean crosses paths with Weber (played by: Spice Williams from Fatal Games, From Dusk Till Dawn, and Sexbomb), Dr. East (played by: Jeffrey Combs from the Re-Animator franchise, Love and a 45, Castle Freak, From Beyond, The Frighteners, Star Trek franchise, Gotham, Doctor Mordrid, and Lurking Fear), Ramsey (played by: Peter Spellos from Sorority House Massacre II, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, Bound, Phoenix, and Munchie franchise), and Striker (played by: Jimmie Walker from Good Times, Airplane, and Doin’ Time) during all this chaos. He must learn how to accept this new gift or maybe curse in his life. Can Sean as The Guyver save everyone from the evil Chronos???? The Guyver is an awesome hybrid of science fiction and superhero. During this time, they were making more family friendly material when it came to similar movies. The Guyver went with more of an adult feel to it. Producer Brian Yuzna was on a killer streak at the moment, his creative mind was one of the best in horror. The Guyver isn’t exactly a pure horror feature but it has several elements in it. Considering it was directed by two of the most talented special fx artists Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang, it’s no big surprise that this has some of the most impressive fx during the 90’s. It has some nice gore and violence when all the chaos hits. It had around 50 different creature and monster fx used in the production. You will probably recognize some of the fx crew that worked on it such as Wayne Toth (Halloween franchise), Eddie Yang (Iron Man), Shaun Smith (The Stand), Jake McKinnon (Land of the Dead), Aaron Sims (Gremlins 2), Andy Clement (Deadpool franchise), and Michael Deak (Ghoulies II). The Zoanoids all have their own unique look here. It’s the monsters that all the villains in The Guyver transform into when they are fighting until the death. The Guyver suit is top notch, he’s one of the coolest looking superheroes from the 90’s. Jack Armstrong as Sean Barker is just okay as the lead. He’s nothing special but he can handle all the action scenes here so that’s probably why he was given this job. I just feel like he got outshined by everyone in this. Vivian Wu is great as Mizuki, she does her best to bring out Jack Armstrong’s talents when it comes to their chemistry. Mark Hamill as Max Reed is one of his greatest performances in his entire career. It was something different for him so he really took advantage of it. He only had a supporting role but since he was so popular in the Star Wars franchise, he was basically promoted here as the main character in most promotional material. If someone hasn’t seen this before, they generally think he’s going to be The Guyver. Michael Berryman as Lisker is very underrated in this, he’s the henchman for the main villain but honestly he has much more screen time compared to David Gale’s Fulton Balcus role. Besides The Hills Have Eyes, it’s definitely his 2nd highest quality role that he’s ever done. He really stood out in The Guyver plus he had his own goons here so he damn near could be considered the most important bad guy. The Guyver’s supporting cast is loaded with so much talent that includes David Gale, Jeffrey Combs, Jimmie Walker, Spice Williams, Peter Spellos, Greg Joung Paik, Linnea Quigley (The Return Of The Living Dead), and Willard E. Pugh (RoboCop 2). It has some hilarious scenes that reunites David Gale and Jeffrey Combs from Re-Animator which is always a blast to watch. Combs plays Dr. East for his small role, it’s a cool nod to his iconic horror role. Horror icon Linnea Quigley plays a scream queen doing a film when the real monsters show up to it. There’s all kinds easter eggs and appreciation for the genre during The Guyver. It has a quality mix of action, science fiction, horror, superhero, comedy, and drama in this crazy film. The monster battles were some of highlights when it came to the fights. The Guyver is a product of it’s time so it still holds up for 90’s fans when it comes to it’s strong replay value. I still don’t think this one gets the love and attention that it deserves. Hopefully, this 4K will give it a whole new fanbase. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Unearthed Films! This 2160p (1.85:1) transfer with HDR10 from a brand new 4K restoration from the original R-rated 35mm camera negative. Unearthed is putting other boutique labels on notice with their 4K debut when it comes to home video. This is the best that The Guyver has ever looked and I’ve damn near seen it in every available format at this point. It blows away the previous Arrow Video disc plus it’s a little over 5 minutes longer and it’s a more brutal version compared to that one. It has a few different audio options which includes English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English: LPCM 2.0 tracks on this UHD. The audio sounds fantastic for this brand new presentation especially the score. All of the dialogue is crisp, the action is elevated, and the music has a killer boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has a brand new exclusive “Audio Commentary” with directors Screaming Mad George, Steve Wang, and it’s moderated by author Dom O’Brien. This audio track is loaded with information and stories from the sci-fi production. The directors go into great detail about they both shot different things while working on this and they actually rarely shot together. They both have their strengths when it came to filming. They both chat about why they cast certain people in The Guyver and their experience with them. They obviously get into the fx, monsters, and action for the feature. They took it more serious than your typical film maker because that’s where they came from in the movie business. They joke around a lot, you can hear them having fun revisiting their movie. I learned so much more than I thought I would about The Guyver here. It has a brand new exclusive “Audio Commentary” with FX artist Evil Ted Smith and miniature supervisor Wyatt Weed. This is more of a technical audio track. It’s very detailed about the behind the scenes stuff. If you are into special fx and film crew stuff then you will love it. I enjoyed that it was totally different from the other commentary. These are the only extras located on the UHD, the rest of them are on the blu ray disc. It has an almost 36 minute brand new exclusive “Interview” with producer Brian Yuzna. He chats about getting into the film business really late in life. He mentions all the side gigs that he did before he started producing and directing. He talks about how everything got started for him and his origins when it comes to cinema. He brings up Re-Animator and his work with Stuart Gordon. He knew Screaming Mad George from previous fx for some of his earlier productions so that’s how he became a producer for The Guyver. He didn’t know much about the original source material when it was pitched to him. He chats about how the project got started. He goes over the casting when they were setting everything up. He brings up getting a distribution deal with New Line Cinema but they decided to only release this as direct to video instead of theatrical. He talks about them editing the movie before it’s official release. He talks about his personal experiences from The Guyver and it’s cool to hear a different perspective for the sci-fi feature. It has an almost 57 minute brand new exclusive “Interview” with co-director Screaming Mad George. He chats about his start when it came to mainstream special fx gigs. He talks about some of the bigger fx artists that he worked for back in the day and the popular films that he did fx work in. He mentions that he knew Steven Seagal before he got into acting. He brings a variety of things about The Guyver production. He breaks down the cast and why he decided to work with them on The Guyver. He gets very technical about the behind the scenes and fx moments from the movie. He goes over his collaboration experience with Steve Wang. He shares what it was like working under producer Brian Yuzna for this science fiction superhero hybrid. He really enjoys himself here and he loves to laugh, Screaming Mad George has a great time revisiting his epic career in this. It has the exclusive unreleased little over 7 minute “Suit Tests”. It has audio commentary with directors Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang. There’s a 2nd version with audio commentary from FX artist Evil Ted Smith and miniature supervisor Wyatt Weed. It has the exclusive unreleased a little over 14 minute “Outtakes” with audio commentary with directors Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang. It has the exclusive unreleased almost 11 minute “Gag Reel” that includes audio commentary with directors Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang. It has a brand new exclusive “Promotional Gallery” that’s a little over 6 minutes. It has a brand new exclusive “Production Gallery” that’s a little over 19 minutes. It’s awesome to see all these unreleased and rare footage from The Guyver after all these years. It has an “Alternate Title Sequence” (English, German, and Spanish) that’s a little over 6 minutes. It has 4 different “Trailer” for English, German, Spanish, and French. Unearthed put a little bit of everything when it came to The Guyver on this set so it’s nice to check this stuff out. The last disc is a CD. It’s the complete score for The Guyver from composer Matthew Morse. It has 19 tracks on the disc and it’s around 45 minutes total. It also comes with a slipcover, reversible artwork, a booklet, blu ray, and a CD for this amazing UHD debut from Unearthed Films. It’s loaded with so many new and unreleased special features. This is the definitive home video release for The Guyver, this is the version that you need. This is must own for any science fiction or superhero collection. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!