For these articles we sometimes try to find obscure movies that most people haven’t heard of to talk about. We definitely review some of the most known silver-screen successes, but really try to focus on the movies that most have overlooked and forgotten.
With this film, I am confident in guaranteeing that no casual movie-goer has ever seen it, but by some miracle we here at Cine-Men managed to obtain a physical DVD.
We are talking about the bizarre experience that is the movie “Manborg.”
To give you a brief plot overview, “Manborg” is the story of an unnamed soldier who is killed by a demon and then awoken several decades later as a human-cyborg man.
He awakens in a vast dystopian future where the entire society is controlled by the same demons that caused his death, being controlled under the evil Count Draculon.
Soon after his arising, he meets and teams up with a martial artist, a gunslinger and an expert knife fighter to ultimately attempt to save humanity from these demons.
Now, as a quick disclaimer, the description of the plot alone is obviously terrible. Even though it was written dreadfully, it was taken completely seriously in the context of the story line. With that being said, you are probably envisioning some D-tier film that you would find in the bargain bin. I know I did.
However, “Manborg” was produced with a low budget of $1,000. You can hardly imagine the film having some insanely good quality acting, writing and directing on a budget of basically dirt in the movie world.
Most good films spend more than that on food on set, nonetheless the entirety of the movie production.
Not to mention, the movie appears to have never actually been box office released and was strictly made to DVD.
Some miscellaneous showing at obscure movie festivals were most likely the most exposure this movie ever received.

My Take:

“Manborg” is a special case in that yes, it is absolutely terrible, cheesy, and not a movie I would click on if I was browsing Netflix.
The fact that the movie almost accepts those characteristics with pride is what the turns the movie back around to be almost a comedy to me.
Everything about the movie from the acting, to the costumes, to the plot is so amazingly brazen in its lack of quality that it has to be appreciated.
When watching the film, it is quite obvious that nearly every single background is a green screen with the characters imposed right in front.
That could be of use for creative purposes if there were a plethora of backgrounds that could be designed and used to really emphasis the movie.
However, seeing as it’s on such a stunted budget, the green screens were not utilized to the best of their abilities and ultimately lowers the quality of the scene and really makes each scene look cheap.
Don’t worry, the characters that are placed in front of the awful backgrounds completely distract viewers from noticing how truly awful they are.
Granted, the way in which they distract is by acting even worse than the background looks.
It became sort of a game that we played while viewing the movie where we attempted to find the thing in the scene that was the lowest quality and it really said a lot about the film itself. Either way, it was hilarious to play.
If there is anything that this movie has going for it, it would be that this movie certainly shows that everyone involved in the making the film loved doing it.
This is a film that is not meant to be taken seriously at all; no one involved did.
There was no attempt at making a box office hit, but in the yearning to make a movie for the fun of it.
There has to be some respect in that given the modern era of corporate buyouts and product placement, there is a different vibe in connection with making movies.
How much money can it make? How many sponsorships can we get?
These are the big questions that come to mind when thinking of the modern-day movies that are being produced and pushed out of every cinematic company.
On top of all of that, I love the irony in a movie about a cyborg having more heart and enjoyment than any Hollywood best-seller can hope to achieve.
This odd and weird collective that shouldn’t have happened really made the movie unique and a genre of it’s own.
Even though the movie itself is not one of highest quality, the feelings of contentment that those involved probably felt in finishing it are enough for me to recommend it to you.