Inframan (1976)

Those of you unlucky enough to have read most of my reviews on these pages will know that on certain films I tend to reminisce and get a tad sentimental. This film from the infamous Shaw Brothers Studios is one of those flicks I get all teary-eyed thinking about. I remember popping this flick in my old Beta player and watching it so many times I eventually wore the damn cassette out. As a seven year old whose entire world at the time were Godzilla films and Marvel Comic books, "Infra-Man" came across to me as sort of a bizarre hybrid of both worlds.

The story basically goes as follows. A series of earthquakes has awakened an ancient race of evil beings led by a certain Princess Dragon Mom. As for that name, I think somewhere in the dubbing the translation got messed up a bit. Anyway, she is of course bent on global conquest and making all of us lowly earthlings her slaves. Who can stop her and her evil hordes? Well, the boys over at Science Headquarters usually deal with these types of situations, but are at a bit of a loss as how to stop the Princess. That is until a character known as the "Professor", sort of the head guy in charge, decides to create an "Infra-Man", a type of super man if you will. To do this daring task he needs a man of honesty, integrity and all that good stuff. After all, you wouldn't want to give a complete asshole super powers now would you? Science cadet Rayma steps forward to undergo the risky surgery that will turn his body into a living reactor, full of power ("powa" as the Professor would say) and energy to stop the evil Princess and her monster hordes. Soon enough, the surgery is complete and with a few back flips and nifty arm motions, Rayma can transform into Infra-Man, complete with catchy red suit, blue bug eyes and antennae that pop out of his head. Infra-Man can shoot lasers and missiles with his hands, can jump incredibly high as well as fly, and grow to Godzilla size proportions to fight those extra large bad guys. Don't forget about those thunder ball fists which enable Infra-Man to kick major monster ass. Loaded with lots of great kung-fu fight scenes and choreography as well as the usual cheesy sounds found in your typical kung-fu flick. You know, that "whoosh" sound someone makes every time they punch or kick. Lots of nifty monsters, complete with zippers on the back of the suits keep Infra-Man busy as he tries to restore peace across the land. Plenty of cheesy sets and costumes as well as a nifty score add to the fun of things. Now if only someone would put out a DVD special edition of this one, I could die a happy man. Terrific stuff. Long live the mighty Infra-Man!!