Hard to rate a movie as bad as this that's so much fun! The key to this one is kung-fu fighting monsters, "thunderball fists", and of course, Princess Dragon Mom! Wielding a very long whip she plots to rule the earth and unfortunately only Inframan tries to stop her. Dig the fact that everybody in the film drives VWs. Shaw Bros' do Ultraman, and it's a pretty bizarre affair. Best scene -- Professor and the monsters on the motorboat going to monkey-skull island. Truly strange.
52 Reviews
I can't deny it - I love this movie!
MightyGorga27 July 2000
Time to own up: Inframan is one of my favorite movies. This film is nothing less than an hour and a half of ferocious martial arts, monsters in costumes cheaper than you can imagine, and the fearsome pronouncements of Princess Dragon Mom - and it's a blast. I rent this movie at least once every couple of months just to remind myself how much fun a low-budget film can be. After all, how can you not love a movie whose villainess has her lair decorated with what appears to be Saran Wrap, and whose hero has to free himself from "liquid ice"?
This is amazing
harybobjoebob17 October 2020
This film steals a lot from ultraman, from sound effects to some of his move set, not saying this is a bad thing just something I noticed. Though inframan does borrow a lot from ultraman he has enough uniqueness to make him his own. Towards the last 3rd of the film his moveset goes mental and hes jumping all over the place blowing things up. The last 3rd is definitely the best part of the film but the film is fun enough to keep you invested until then. I love inframans outfit, the ultra red color pops especially against his dulled grey and green enemies. The creatures in this are extremely wacky and fun, my favorite one is the lizard guy with the horn mustache that breathes fire, the 2 robots are really cool as well. Worth a watch for the camp and the crazy action
A Camp Classic...
Gislef3 September 1998
...that you'll want to watch over and over again. A weird, psychedelic mixture of martial arts movies, Japanese giant monster movies, spy adventures, and just plain goofiness. The plot makes no senses, the characters are thinnest cardboard, and the monsters are truly hilarious. If you wonder where they came up with Power Rangers, look no further than here.
Grade School Playgrounds, Caught On Film
lemon_magic8 April 2014
Warning: Spoilers
"Inframan" is not a "good" movie by any standard, but the energy level is so high and the cheese factor is so outrageous that if you have any patience for Shaw Brothers style old school Chinese movies, you'll probably like it anyway.
It's...hard to describe what the deal is with "Inframan". What it most reminds me of are my grade school playground days, when my friends and I ran around pretending to be jet robots and superheroes and dinosaurs and whatever else came to mind on an instant's notice. Tons of wild creativity and improvisation, absolutely no focus or coherence or logical linking of one thing to another. Watching "Inframan" takes me back to those days - he pulls new powers and abilities out of thin air, seemingly at random.
The Hong Kong/"Engrish" dubbing is the master touch - whatever the actors were saying in their native languages, their dialog loses any subtlety or nuance by the time the English dubbing crew got done with it, and everyone seems to be yelling the first thing that comes to mind at the top of their lungs.
Great fun. Search this one out and watch it once if you have any affection for the old "Kung Fu Theater" genre or the Power Rangers or Voltron or any of that kind of entertainment. You'll realize you have watched something primal.
It's...hard to describe what the deal is with "Inframan". What it most reminds me of are my grade school playground days, when my friends and I ran around pretending to be jet robots and superheroes and dinosaurs and whatever else came to mind on an instant's notice. Tons of wild creativity and improvisation, absolutely no focus or coherence or logical linking of one thing to another. Watching "Inframan" takes me back to those days - he pulls new powers and abilities out of thin air, seemingly at random.
The Hong Kong/"Engrish" dubbing is the master touch - whatever the actors were saying in their native languages, their dialog loses any subtlety or nuance by the time the English dubbing crew got done with it, and everyone seems to be yelling the first thing that comes to mind at the top of their lungs.
Great fun. Search this one out and watch it once if you have any affection for the old "Kung Fu Theater" genre or the Power Rangers or Voltron or any of that kind of entertainment. You'll realize you have watched something primal.
A mix of Tokusatsu and 1970s kung-fu, it delivers what he promises.
IonicBreezeMachine6 May 2020
Shaw Brothers is mostly known for their kung fu films, but they did occasionally try things outside of their wheelhouse namely Mighty Peking Man and Super Infra Man. Super Inframan is your basic rubber suit monster battle but filtered through the lense of Hong Kong kung fu flicks complete with bad audio syncing and out of place sounding impact shots. In terms of plot.....Image if you had an entire seasons worth of Power Rangers plots squished into 90 minutes and compressed the storytelling into about 20 minutes filling the rest with action scenes. The movie is non stop action and unapologetically silly and if you're a fan of silly monster movies or kung fu flicks you'll find something to like. Just don't expect much of a coherent narrative.
Ultaman meets Kamen Rider, Shaw Bros. Style!
grendelkhan21 April 2012
Warning: Spoilers
So, we have this little gem, Super Inframan, or just Inframan, as I remember from TV commercials back in the mid-70s. I had no clue what I was seeing, other than everything looked low budget and wild, like a Godzilla film crossed with bits of Willie Wonka, but with a superhero! I devoured superhero comics at the time and wanted to check this out; but, alas, I had to wait until I was an adult, after the introduction of home video.
The film is a cheesy, low budget mix of the Japanese hero shows Ultraman and Kamen Rider. Those shows featured alien (Ultraman) and cyborg (Kamen Rider) heroes in battle with monsters and monster lieutenants of some evil organization. We get pretty much the same thing here. This time, it's Princess Dragon Mom, she of the tight clothes from the Gene Simmons collection, and her group of monster cronies (including She-Demon, who appears to be some kind of hybrid monster hooker). And what are monster lieutenants without a bunch of grunts for the hero to plow through? Even monsters need cannon fodder! So, off we go to the battles.
As is usual, we have a brilliant scientist (in a rather unconvincing wig), who has designed a weapon to fight the Princess. One of our brave security agents nobly sacrifices himself to become the cyborg Inframan (with a schematic drawing that looks more suspiciously like the Kamen Rider manga illustrations than the final suit). He finds himself decked out in the requisite bug eyed helmet (with robot face) and red vinyl suit (just wipe off with a sponge!) and loads of weaponry that seem to have been rather shrewdly designed, given the scientist didn't know exactly what they were facing. Of course, the monsters oblige things by attacking without a strategy and the mayhem begins.
All in all, this is lightweight fare, but the dubbed dialogue is silly enough to at least give you some chuckles and there is plenty of wild action and stunts to keep your eyes engaged. There's not much for the brain; but, sometimes you just want to have some fun without pesky things like plot and character development. It's certainly fun for the kids and is more entertaining than some of the more ponderous American superhero films. If you enjoy the kind of fare you find on MST3K, you'll have a good time here. Where else can you find thunderball fists, motorcycle helmets with horns, monster dominatrixes, and kids who want to be Infra Girl when they grow up? Certainly not from Disney!
The film is a cheesy, low budget mix of the Japanese hero shows Ultraman and Kamen Rider. Those shows featured alien (Ultraman) and cyborg (Kamen Rider) heroes in battle with monsters and monster lieutenants of some evil organization. We get pretty much the same thing here. This time, it's Princess Dragon Mom, she of the tight clothes from the Gene Simmons collection, and her group of monster cronies (including She-Demon, who appears to be some kind of hybrid monster hooker). And what are monster lieutenants without a bunch of grunts for the hero to plow through? Even monsters need cannon fodder! So, off we go to the battles.
As is usual, we have a brilliant scientist (in a rather unconvincing wig), who has designed a weapon to fight the Princess. One of our brave security agents nobly sacrifices himself to become the cyborg Inframan (with a schematic drawing that looks more suspiciously like the Kamen Rider manga illustrations than the final suit). He finds himself decked out in the requisite bug eyed helmet (with robot face) and red vinyl suit (just wipe off with a sponge!) and loads of weaponry that seem to have been rather shrewdly designed, given the scientist didn't know exactly what they were facing. Of course, the monsters oblige things by attacking without a strategy and the mayhem begins.
All in all, this is lightweight fare, but the dubbed dialogue is silly enough to at least give you some chuckles and there is plenty of wild action and stunts to keep your eyes engaged. There's not much for the brain; but, sometimes you just want to have some fun without pesky things like plot and character development. It's certainly fun for the kids and is more entertaining than some of the more ponderous American superhero films. If you enjoy the kind of fare you find on MST3K, you'll have a good time here. Where else can you find thunderball fists, motorcycle helmets with horns, monster dominatrixes, and kids who want to be Infra Girl when they grow up? Certainly not from Disney!
Sort of like a fart but with spandex and monsters
blitzkrieg17014 April 2004
Let's get one thing out of the way right up front: Infra-Man is NOT a good movie, in fact, it's downright awful. Let's get another thing out of the way: it's a blast to watch anyway.
Basically, Infra-Man is every Ultraman/Power Rangers cliché ever imagined rolled into a single movie. A heroic young fellow who's part of a barely explained government agency (that's clearly hi-tech, since everyone wears clothes made out of tin foil) volunteers to be turned into an overgrown action figure named Infra-Man to stop the evil Princess Dragon Mom and her band of mutants from destroying mankind. That's pretty much all the story thee is, and it all happens in the first ten minutes.
Technically, Infra-Man is a spectacular mess. The pacing is terrible, with periods of incomprehensibly frantic speed sandwiched between stretches of mind-numbing boredom. None of the characters have any personality at all (they're more like props that talk) which is problematic, since none of them get more than half a second of introduction for us to get to know them. The acting is awful on it's own, and the pathetic dubbing only makes things worse. The `monsters' wouldn't even make it onto a Fox Kids show; The Banana Splits were scarier (and they had better special effects, too). Lapses in logic abound (Why does Princess Dragon Mom call us `Earthlings' when she's a `prehistoric super human'? How does every one know to shout `Infra-Man!' when the hero first appears when he's only been around for about thirty seconds? Why does our hero suddenly jump from being powered by a nuclear battery to solar power? Why is he even called `Infra-Man' when he has nothing to do with anything infrared? Why does She-Devil always look so bored?) but the film is clearly a lost cause at this point.
Yet, Infra-Man is an absolute blast. Why? Simple: it's one of those few movies that's so deliriously bad that you can't help but laugh. All that bright and colorful spandex jumping around, the absurdly over done sound effects, the almost seizure-like bad acting, the almost nonexistent special effects, and the complete absence of plot are thrown at the viewer at a speed and volume that is mesmerizing simply because we can't believe anyone would actually do this sort of thing. It's all so grossly bad that you can't help but be entertained by it, sort of like a fart but with spandex and monsters.
Every other reviewer so far has apparently been so swept up in watching this cinematic train wreck that they actually call it good, but don't be fooled. No one is laughing WITH Infra-Man, we're all laughing AT it; and in that sense, it's a blast.
Basically, Infra-Man is every Ultraman/Power Rangers cliché ever imagined rolled into a single movie. A heroic young fellow who's part of a barely explained government agency (that's clearly hi-tech, since everyone wears clothes made out of tin foil) volunteers to be turned into an overgrown action figure named Infra-Man to stop the evil Princess Dragon Mom and her band of mutants from destroying mankind. That's pretty much all the story thee is, and it all happens in the first ten minutes.
Technically, Infra-Man is a spectacular mess. The pacing is terrible, with periods of incomprehensibly frantic speed sandwiched between stretches of mind-numbing boredom. None of the characters have any personality at all (they're more like props that talk) which is problematic, since none of them get more than half a second of introduction for us to get to know them. The acting is awful on it's own, and the pathetic dubbing only makes things worse. The `monsters' wouldn't even make it onto a Fox Kids show; The Banana Splits were scarier (and they had better special effects, too). Lapses in logic abound (Why does Princess Dragon Mom call us `Earthlings' when she's a `prehistoric super human'? How does every one know to shout `Infra-Man!' when the hero first appears when he's only been around for about thirty seconds? Why does our hero suddenly jump from being powered by a nuclear battery to solar power? Why is he even called `Infra-Man' when he has nothing to do with anything infrared? Why does She-Devil always look so bored?) but the film is clearly a lost cause at this point.
Yet, Infra-Man is an absolute blast. Why? Simple: it's one of those few movies that's so deliriously bad that you can't help but laugh. All that bright and colorful spandex jumping around, the absurdly over done sound effects, the almost seizure-like bad acting, the almost nonexistent special effects, and the complete absence of plot are thrown at the viewer at a speed and volume that is mesmerizing simply because we can't believe anyone would actually do this sort of thing. It's all so grossly bad that you can't help but be entertained by it, sort of like a fart but with spandex and monsters.
Every other reviewer so far has apparently been so swept up in watching this cinematic train wreck that they actually call it good, but don't be fooled. No one is laughing WITH Infra-Man, we're all laughing AT it; and in that sense, it's a blast.
Filled with rich, extra cheesy goodness!
InzyWimzy13 February 2004
This is a hoot and a half; a Shaw Brothers' gem. Add in a manga based story, the Shaw Bros. studio lot, sci-fi, and lots of amazing, kampy fighting surpassing even the staged corny fighting by the Bat in blue tights Adam West, and that's Super Inframan in a nutshell. According to production notes, Danny Lee did don the Inframan suit on and I loved the transformation sequences with really 70ish sound effects! There's 70s written throughout this one. I never knew a Demon Princess could dress and look so funky psychedelic! I thought she stopped by a Viking convention. Plus, best use of motorcycle helmets goes to the numerous black-clad skull minions who take turns getting an Inframan-ish beating and lots of well-timed body flips. This film is a very good homage to Japan's Kaiju. Please ignore the fact that the monsters are human-sized rather than several stories tall. The Super Inframan and the Mighty Peking Man should be shown back-to-back at Subway Cinema 2004 at the Film Forum in NYC!
A classic Japanese sci-fi movie.
westleyanson3 June 2004
This is a classic Japanese sci-fi movie. Yes it has terrible special effects, horrible acting and even worse story line. What was so special about it? It was exciting to imagine being infra-man. I think my friends and I must have done the moves a hundred times while playing. The costumes were comical but believable as a kid. The acting was over the top and of course dubbed. But that is what Sci-fi was in the 70's. It is a story that was easy to relate too as a kid and how I long for those days now that I am older. Try to see this movie, you will enjoy it.
Saturday morning children's cartoon material
ckormos17 December 2019
From the first frame of film this movie makes a statement - Saturday morning kids super hero cartoon. Nevertheless, I had a review to write so I kept watching. A prehistoric looking flying creature crashes to the road and the end of the world seems to be happening. Scientists investigate the cause.
This movie seems to be Shaw Brothers attempt to copy and profit from the Japanese sci-fi movie genre. My genre is martial arts movies of the golden age from 1967 to 1984. I found this only because of the Shaw Brothers label and I watched it hoping to see a good fight. I will say no more.
I am amazed that there are currently 41 reviews posted here. I expected to find none. Who watches this schlock? Lots of people it seems. I am double amazed so many people really enjoy it.
Let me just say this movie was not for me. I watched it once and I am done. I won't say anything bad about it as that would be too easy. I'll just say it was great that so many people enjoyed it.
This movie seems to be Shaw Brothers attempt to copy and profit from the Japanese sci-fi movie genre. My genre is martial arts movies of the golden age from 1967 to 1984. I found this only because of the Shaw Brothers label and I watched it hoping to see a good fight. I will say no more.
I am amazed that there are currently 41 reviews posted here. I expected to find none. Who watches this schlock? Lots of people it seems. I am double amazed so many people really enjoy it.
Let me just say this movie was not for me. I watched it once and I am done. I won't say anything bad about it as that would be too easy. I'll just say it was great that so many people enjoyed it.
Danny Lee's my hero!
Captain_Couth17 January 2004
Super Infra-man (1975) was the Shaw Brothers attempt to try and start a franchise super hero like Ultraman. Filmed in Shawscope (panavision) Super Infra-man is an enjoyable action film filled with cheesy over the top bad guys and a whole lot of sci-fi mumbo jumbo. Danny Lee is chosen to become Infra-man when Earth is threatened by a race of interstellar demons. To sum up the movie, just imagine an episode of The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers that was action-directed by Bruce Lee! That's because one of the Dragon's protégés was involved with directing the fight scenes. The whole cast seems to be in on the joke and no one takes it too seriously. Harmless family fun.
Highly recommended!
Factoid: For some reason, the Shaw Brothers like to recycle stock footage from their other films and reuse certain scenes over and over.
Highly recommended!
Factoid: For some reason, the Shaw Brothers like to recycle stock footage from their other films and reuse certain scenes over and over.
Silly-crazy-fun!
cauwboy24 June 2020
You really need to know what you're in for before watching this film, a 70s Children Morning Show, A Chinese Ultraman, Explosions the Movie. It's very campy, very cheesy, the costumes are pretty bad and laughed a lot throughout the film, there were so many crazy things with it that really didn't make any sense and yet the film just moved on with it. For some reason the big bad knew the guy's name that they kidnapped, they knew about the Professor, as if they had met before, and everyone played it with straight faces.
I was never bored watching this film, it was like they squeezed a full season of villains to this superhero, into one film, so much fighting, so many explosions, such sharp cone-bras. It's not for everyone, but if you wanna see an alternative of what a superhero film from the 70s could look like, you really need to give this one a try, haha.
I was never bored watching this film, it was like they squeezed a full season of villains to this superhero, into one film, so much fighting, so many explosions, such sharp cone-bras. It's not for everyone, but if you wanna see an alternative of what a superhero film from the 70s could look like, you really need to give this one a try, haha.
Infra man is an Ultra man lot of Explosions
grace-mark30 July 2012
This movie is good for its time. It's an Ultra man rip off with more explosions than dialogue. There were times when watching Infra man I questioned the story line. For example if there were Monsters attacking your city.... Would you have a picnic with your siblings??? Also the headquarters where Infra man was made has the worst security in the universe. Sure it can see the Actions of Dragon Mom which is miles away but can their specialised equipment detect a monster attacking it 3 meters away???
The fighting was the highlight of this movie and the amount of explosions was hilarious. I watched this movie on a recommendation so my expectations where high. I wish my expectations wont so high. The production of this movie was clunky... Sure the costumes of the monsters look fake and are made of rubber... The production just seems quick, predictable and the story line just doesn't help...
The fighting was the highlight of this movie and the amount of explosions was hilarious. I watched this movie on a recommendation so my expectations where high. I wish my expectations wont so high. The production of this movie was clunky... Sure the costumes of the monsters look fake and are made of rubber... The production just seems quick, predictable and the story line just doesn't help...
Inframan Rocks!
mercuryix11 October 2000
For anyone who has a soft spot for cheesy Asian action pictures, this one has it all; pseudo-sci-fi, kungfu heroes, kungfu villains, Skull Warriors by the thousand, and a villain with one of the most classic names in movie history: the dreaded. Princess DRAGONMOM! Stationed at the earth's core, she wakes up after a ten million year sleep (with her superscience still on the cutting edge and her minions still hanging around waiting for her to wake up), and becomes alarmed at the surface world's progress. She attacks with her massive resources and threatens a stunned world.
Naturally, the answer to this threat of millions of soldiers emerging from the center of the earth is to combat them with a handful of kungfu cops and their one leader, Inframan, a sort of early Cyborg created from a brave volunteer.
Clad in a (very) tight outfit, Princess Dragonmom makes demands to the world's leaders to serve under her. Frankly, I don't see how they could refuse. (Imagine seriously for a moment, the world's leaders having to go on t.v. and announce with a straight face that our world is in danger from.Princess DRAGONMOM!)
Princess Dragonmom has her own special henchmen, in the form of a half dozen of the oddest-looking rubber creatures ever created; one has tentacles for hands and speaks (I swear) in a tough New York accent (remember, this is dubbed); another has a drill-bit for a hand. How do they fight the kungfu cops? With kungfu, of course! The sight of a guy with tentacles doing kungfu blocks and chops (complete with loud THWACKS and POWS) is something I can't quite describe. I found myself rooting for the rubber monsters all the way through the movie.
I thoroughly enjoyed this film. The kungfu goodguys are in there kicking (literally), doing continual blackflips, frontflips and somersaults throughout the entire movie, the skull warriors outnumber the Stormtroopers from Star Wars (oddly, both are dressed in white) and are even worse shots (I think it's the glare from those white helmets), and Inframan kicks anyone's butt he comes up against, which in a way is a little anticlimactic. He's strange-looking and a walking special effect, but not really that interesting a character as say, a Chinese babe with an attitude.
By the end of the movie you may find yourself wishing that Dragonmom had won.
Seven stars.
Naturally, the answer to this threat of millions of soldiers emerging from the center of the earth is to combat them with a handful of kungfu cops and their one leader, Inframan, a sort of early Cyborg created from a brave volunteer.
Clad in a (very) tight outfit, Princess Dragonmom makes demands to the world's leaders to serve under her. Frankly, I don't see how they could refuse. (Imagine seriously for a moment, the world's leaders having to go on t.v. and announce with a straight face that our world is in danger from.Princess DRAGONMOM!)
Princess Dragonmom has her own special henchmen, in the form of a half dozen of the oddest-looking rubber creatures ever created; one has tentacles for hands and speaks (I swear) in a tough New York accent (remember, this is dubbed); another has a drill-bit for a hand. How do they fight the kungfu cops? With kungfu, of course! The sight of a guy with tentacles doing kungfu blocks and chops (complete with loud THWACKS and POWS) is something I can't quite describe. I found myself rooting for the rubber monsters all the way through the movie.
I thoroughly enjoyed this film. The kungfu goodguys are in there kicking (literally), doing continual blackflips, frontflips and somersaults throughout the entire movie, the skull warriors outnumber the Stormtroopers from Star Wars (oddly, both are dressed in white) and are even worse shots (I think it's the glare from those white helmets), and Inframan kicks anyone's butt he comes up against, which in a way is a little anticlimactic. He's strange-looking and a walking special effect, but not really that interesting a character as say, a Chinese babe with an attitude.
By the end of the movie you may find yourself wishing that Dragonmom had won.
Seven stars.
Totally BONKERS and Fun!
tedbragg-121 July 2017
After stumbling across the insane poster, I just knew I had to see this movie. Found it on Google Play, got it and made it through all of it -- laughing my butt off and crying. It's not a comedy, but oh mah gawd, you can tell this is where some of our more recent pop culture hits got their inspiration.
Imagine a fever dream with knockoff PowerRanger baddies and bad Korean anime. That sums it up fairly well. EXTREMELY entertaining and hammy acting... the 'Dragon Mom' villainess and her co-horts will give you nightmares of the pizza variety. Makes you wish they'd make movies as fun and crazy as this again!
Imagine a fever dream with knockoff PowerRanger baddies and bad Korean anime. That sums it up fairly well. EXTREMELY entertaining and hammy acting... the 'Dragon Mom' villainess and her co-horts will give you nightmares of the pizza variety. Makes you wish they'd make movies as fun and crazy as this again!
A fine, if not subtle, blending of two camp genres
jamesrupert20143 August 2017
In 1975, the Shaw Bothers, who were responsible for much of the classic Kung-foolery released in North America during the '70s martial arts fad, produced this unforgettable fusion of acrobatic, if unrealistic, martial arts and the Japanese mecha/kaiju genres. Clearly drawing inspiration (if that's the word) from Ultraman, Super Inframan is a flying cyborg hero equipped with a variety of implausible weapons, which all come in handy when he faces the dreaded Princess Dragon Ma (note: I watched a subtitled version, which may differ from the original names and dialogue) and her band of evil mutants (including a scantily clad and very sexy 'Witch Eye'). Silly in the extreme, the film is almost one continuous fight between "Science Headquarters" agents, including the titular hero, and the evil team. A few brainwashings and kidnappings are thrown in to drive the plot (again, if that's the word) but essentially the movie is a 'chop-socky' in ridiculous costumes. Considering the vintage and genre, the often imaginative special effects aren't that bad (if you ignore the foam-rubber monster outfits). Not for everyone but perfect for some. Note: the version I watched on You-tube may have later subtitling, as the expressions "Chicken---t" and "F--- that b----- up" were used, which I'm sure were not in the version I saw back in the 70's.
The Vidiot Reviews...
capone66610 July 2017
Inframan
The worst part of being a colossal man is that you have to have sex with tunnels.
Luckily, the giant man in this sci-fi flick has been stripped of all sexual desires.
A scientist at Science Headquarters transforms an average officer (Danny Lee) into a living weapon in order to defeat a recently resurrected demon princess and her skeleton ghost henchmen.
While his enhanced martial arts and flashing thunder fists help him dispatch with most of her cronies, Inframan must tap his growth powers to squash the princess' biggest monster.
Marking China's first foray into the superhero genre, this 1975 Shaw Brothers Studio contribution to the fledgling subgenre is absolutely unforgettable. While it's predominantly choreographed stage fights between elaborately dressed parties, this colourful kung fu movie has kaiju leanings once it comes to its monster-sized climax.
Fortunately, China's smog is effect enough to kill off most any giant monster attacks.
Yellow Light
The worst part of being a colossal man is that you have to have sex with tunnels.
Luckily, the giant man in this sci-fi flick has been stripped of all sexual desires.
A scientist at Science Headquarters transforms an average officer (Danny Lee) into a living weapon in order to defeat a recently resurrected demon princess and her skeleton ghost henchmen.
While his enhanced martial arts and flashing thunder fists help him dispatch with most of her cronies, Inframan must tap his growth powers to squash the princess' biggest monster.
Marking China's first foray into the superhero genre, this 1975 Shaw Brothers Studio contribution to the fledgling subgenre is absolutely unforgettable. While it's predominantly choreographed stage fights between elaborately dressed parties, this colourful kung fu movie has kaiju leanings once it comes to its monster-sized climax.
Fortunately, China's smog is effect enough to kill off most any giant monster attacks.
Yellow Light
the original mighty morphin' power ranger fights rubber monsters in this quite lousy drive-in trash
Mikko_Elo_10 June 2005
super inframan the cult movie. of course things like this always find their own, but there was not much for me to enjoy in this one. i was watching old shawscope trash with few redeeming qualities. it would take a while to list everything that was lousy about it, all the clumsy errors, silly costumes, settings, lack of plot...and so on. i didn't find it all very humorous either. the monsters were indeed humorous, and the robots near the end were actually quite imaginative, but the dull scenes between the fights, the awful noise throughout the movie and the utter lack of any deeper meaning put me off. call me a tired dry grown-up, but i might have liked this when i was eight.
Just like old times...
dee.reid20 August 2006
If only I were alive in 1975 to enjoy classic grind-house cinema like "Infra-Man." Quentin Tarantino has yet to serve up the goods, if any, on this classic martial arts/superhero epic. I remember "Infra-Man" quite fondly, if not a little blankly, from my childhood growing up during the early 1990s. I was heavily into my phase of "Bang, bang, shoot-'em-up, G.I. Joe, martial arts, comic books, and outer-space monsters" at that time. "Infra-Man" and Godzilla were probably the cornerstone of my childhood at that point. "Infra-Man" is the Chinese answer to "Ultraman"; an A.D.D. fusion of that Japanese "Ultraman," Hong Kong kick-'em-up, Bruceploitation and straight-up Shaw Brothers-style kung-fu, the evil Princess Dragon Mom (Terry Liu) awakens from a billion-year slumber to conquer the world. She reawakens her army of mutant super-soldiers and unleashes them upon an unsuspecting populace. A brilliant scientist devises a plan to transform a brave astronaut into the first "Infra-Man," a bionic superhero who possesses the necessary strength and weaponry to conquer Princess Dragon Mom and her cohorts. "Infra-Man" is a unique title of unrepentant cheesiness, bad dubbing (is there any else?), and sci-fi kung-fu kick-'em-up. I wouldn't recommend this title to anyone who can't sit through cheesy late-night fanfare. For all its frenetic action sequences, director Shan Hua keeps a tight pace and never lets things slow down once they begin. In my view, they don't really get any better than this. I would suspect that soon a remake on a bigger budget and with better effects is on the horizon. I'm not really looking forward to something like that; it'll just take away all the campy fun and that's something we desperately need from "Infra-Man."
10/10
10/10
If you like the Power Rangers, then you'll like it. And, if you don't, it won't impress.
planktonrules28 July 2009
I rented this DVD because I really like Shaw Brothers movies, not because I am a fan of shows like the Power Rangers and the like. However, I figured with this Chinese studio behind the production, I might still enjoy it. Well, now that the film is over, I can say that I was not at all impressed, as it seemed like a movie only for kids--not fans of serious martial arts films. I appear to be in the minority, though, as all the other reviewers gave it glowing reviews. Now I am not saying that they are wrong--it's just that how much you enjoy this film will really depend on what you think of seeing superheroes and monsters in rubber suits beating each other up for most of the film. They liked it, I didn't--it's as simple as that. I grew up long before the Power Rangers--during the era of Ultraman and even then, I was the only boy in the neighborhood that didn't like the show. So, keep this in mind when reading my review.
The film begins with monster attacks occurring all over the place. Only after this has occurred many times did the leader of these monsters show herself. Now I could not understand why some hot Chinese lady in an odd costume was the queen of a bunch of guys in rubber monster suits or Grim Reaper fighting costumes, but I guess you just have to accept this for what it is. The group of humans sent to fight these monsters is really pathetic and so it's up to the brilliant doctor to turn one of these men into the monster-fighter, Inframan! Inframan can do just about anyth8ing and one by one he beats the snot out of all the baddies--leading to a rather unexciting and highly anticipated finale.
On the plus side, the costumes are pretty cool and SOME of the martial arts are pretty good (particularly later in the film). On the negative side, these are guys in rubber suits beating the crap out of each other! 'Nuff said!
The film begins with monster attacks occurring all over the place. Only after this has occurred many times did the leader of these monsters show herself. Now I could not understand why some hot Chinese lady in an odd costume was the queen of a bunch of guys in rubber monster suits or Grim Reaper fighting costumes, but I guess you just have to accept this for what it is. The group of humans sent to fight these monsters is really pathetic and so it's up to the brilliant doctor to turn one of these men into the monster-fighter, Inframan! Inframan can do just about anyth8ing and one by one he beats the snot out of all the baddies--leading to a rather unexciting and highly anticipated finale.
On the plus side, the costumes are pretty cool and SOME of the martial arts are pretty good (particularly later in the film). On the negative side, these are guys in rubber suits beating the crap out of each other! 'Nuff said!
Completely strange
BandSAboutMovies22 April 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Inspired by the huge success of the Japanese superhero versus monster fare such as Ultraman and Kamen Rider in Hong Kong, the Shaw Brothers produced the first Chinese superhero in 1975, which they called Infra-Man. However, they pushed the envelope created by the Japanese even further, inventing a world where a school bus can crash, Hong Kong can be destroyed, an earthquake can happen and monsters appear all within the first minute of the film.
Let me see if I can summarize the blast of pure odd that I just watched at 5 AM: Princess Dragon Mom (known in the original version of this film as Demon Princess Elzebub) is a ten million-year-old mother of monsters who wants to destroy the Earth. She carries around a whip and has a dragon head on her hand, but can also turn into a monster herself. She also has an entire legion of beasts ready to do whatever she asks, like her assistant She-Demon (Witch-Eye in the original), who is an Asian girl with a hand that has an eyeball in the middle of it. Also: both of these ladies wear metallic bikinis with skulls all over them and have several costume changes. They also have an army of cannon fodder dressed in skeletal costumes, which was obviously the influence for the Skeleton Crew in the new episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
They're battling with Science Headquarters, led by Professor Liu Ying-de. He's used the BDX Project to transform Lei Ma (Danny Lee, The Killer) into the bionic kung-fu kicking motorcycle riding Infra-Man, who has whatever powers he needs for any situation. He's also really good at getting tall and stepping on monsters until their green blood pours out. Bruce Lee tribute actor Bruce Le also appears as Lu Xiao-long, another member of the team.
You get all manner of monsters in this one - the Emperor of Doom, the Giant Beetle Monster, an Octopus Mutant, the Driller Beast, a Laser Horn Monster and the Iron Fist Robots. All of them are given to dramatic pronouncements, overacting and blowing up real good.
Believe it or not, Roger Ebert said, "When they stop making movies like Infra-Man, a little light will go out of the world." Twenty-two years later, he went even further: "I find to my astonishment that I gave Infra-Man only two and a half stars when I reviewed it. That was 22 years ago, but a fellow will remember a lot of things you wouldn't think he'd remember. I'll bet a month hasn't gone by since that I haven't thought of that film. So, in answer to those correspondents who ask if I have ever changed a rating on a movie: Yes, Infra-Man moves up to three stars."
He's right - this movie is completely unhinged, with dragon witch women who threaten to throw little girls down volcanos, blotting out the sun and rocket fists. They should have made five thousand sequels to this.
Let me see if I can summarize the blast of pure odd that I just watched at 5 AM: Princess Dragon Mom (known in the original version of this film as Demon Princess Elzebub) is a ten million-year-old mother of monsters who wants to destroy the Earth. She carries around a whip and has a dragon head on her hand, but can also turn into a monster herself. She also has an entire legion of beasts ready to do whatever she asks, like her assistant She-Demon (Witch-Eye in the original), who is an Asian girl with a hand that has an eyeball in the middle of it. Also: both of these ladies wear metallic bikinis with skulls all over them and have several costume changes. They also have an army of cannon fodder dressed in skeletal costumes, which was obviously the influence for the Skeleton Crew in the new episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
They're battling with Science Headquarters, led by Professor Liu Ying-de. He's used the BDX Project to transform Lei Ma (Danny Lee, The Killer) into the bionic kung-fu kicking motorcycle riding Infra-Man, who has whatever powers he needs for any situation. He's also really good at getting tall and stepping on monsters until their green blood pours out. Bruce Lee tribute actor Bruce Le also appears as Lu Xiao-long, another member of the team.
You get all manner of monsters in this one - the Emperor of Doom, the Giant Beetle Monster, an Octopus Mutant, the Driller Beast, a Laser Horn Monster and the Iron Fist Robots. All of them are given to dramatic pronouncements, overacting and blowing up real good.
Believe it or not, Roger Ebert said, "When they stop making movies like Infra-Man, a little light will go out of the world." Twenty-two years later, he went even further: "I find to my astonishment that I gave Infra-Man only two and a half stars when I reviewed it. That was 22 years ago, but a fellow will remember a lot of things you wouldn't think he'd remember. I'll bet a month hasn't gone by since that I haven't thought of that film. So, in answer to those correspondents who ask if I have ever changed a rating on a movie: Yes, Infra-Man moves up to three stars."
He's right - this movie is completely unhinged, with dragon witch women who threaten to throw little girls down volcanos, blotting out the sun and rocket fists. They should have made five thousand sequels to this.
Boring human chess game
johannesaquila15 March 2022
This movie consists mostly of turn-based fighting between living chess pieces, according to asymmetric rules that are made up on the spot. The white pieces are played by the Professor, the black pieces by Princess Dragon Mom alias Elzibub. The latter comes from outer space or was frozen in an Ice Age and has just been thawed, or something like that.
The film opens with a bus full of children singing a song about a bird falling from the sky. In the next turn, the bus starts shaking for no obvious reason and panic begins. In the next turn, a giant, artificiall looking bird falls from the sky right in front of the bus, and the driver stops. A cheap fade-out effect makes the bird disappear to transition the next turn, in which cracks appear and the road gradually disappears.
At this point I was fairly confident that I would like this film, because I generally like camp movies. Unfortunately, that was the best part.
Everything else basically consists in the two main actors either summoning or equiping their chess pieces (actors in cheap looking costumes), and these chess pieces making moves against each other. Special moves are often announced by the chess piece right before execution. Presumably that's some kind of in-joke that I don't get because I am not familiar with the genre.
Maybe this movie is interesting if you are familiar with the boring genre that is probably parodied here. (Although for all I know this film might be intended as serious, just like the underlying genre basically seems to be.) But for me this just doesn't work. High points for me were the school bus scene at the beginning and the funny looking command center. Everything else was just the worst pointlessly and uninterestingly weird as in an uninspired school production.
I would rate this movie somewhere between 3 and 4. As it is so overrated, I am going with 3.
The film opens with a bus full of children singing a song about a bird falling from the sky. In the next turn, the bus starts shaking for no obvious reason and panic begins. In the next turn, a giant, artificiall looking bird falls from the sky right in front of the bus, and the driver stops. A cheap fade-out effect makes the bird disappear to transition the next turn, in which cracks appear and the road gradually disappears.
At this point I was fairly confident that I would like this film, because I generally like camp movies. Unfortunately, that was the best part.
Everything else basically consists in the two main actors either summoning or equiping their chess pieces (actors in cheap looking costumes), and these chess pieces making moves against each other. Special moves are often announced by the chess piece right before execution. Presumably that's some kind of in-joke that I don't get because I am not familiar with the genre.
Maybe this movie is interesting if you are familiar with the boring genre that is probably parodied here. (Although for all I know this film might be intended as serious, just like the underlying genre basically seems to be.) But for me this just doesn't work. High points for me were the school bus scene at the beginning and the funny looking command center. Everything else was just the worst pointlessly and uninterestingly weird as in an uninspired school production.
I would rate this movie somewhere between 3 and 4. As it is so overrated, I am going with 3.
THE ULTIMATE TRASHY MOVIE?
EL BUNCHO14 December 2001
Let's look at INFRA-MAN for what it is:a rollicking kung fu/biker/disaster/monster flick of the highest magnitude! If you love cheap chopsocky movies and guy-in-a-rubber suit films, this is a serious contender for the ultimate trashy movie. Out of it's 88 minute running time, there are maybe five minutes where nothing ludicrous/exciting happens. How many films can you honestly say that about?
The plot in a nutshell:all hell breaks loose all over the world (in the form of earthquakes, firestorms, etc.) when the incredibly evil Princess Dragon Mom (yes, you read that right) awakens from eons of sleep. A hot Asian super-villain/dominatrix in a blond wig with a dragon's head/bullwhip for a left hand,she intends to enslave the Earth with the sorriest-looking bunch of monsters since SIGMUND AND THE SEA MONSTERS, and there's nothing we can do about it! Fortunately, Professor Chang creates Infra-Man, an utterly invincible cyborg superhero who is such a badass that he can come up with powers when he happens to need them.Much craziness and ass-whuppin' ensues, and it may just leave you dizzy! You have to watch this with a group of nine-year-olds (or drunk/stoned buddies) to get the full effect that this has on a fun-loving crowd. And how can you not love a movie where you can see the monster's hightop basketball shoes (look at Plant Man's feet during closeups)?
Two classic moments: When Infra-Man first shows up,even though he has only just been created,and absolutely no one other than Professor Chang knows about him, people point at him and exclaim "That's Infra-Man there!" And the moment when Professor Chang gives Infra-Man his newest weapons: "These are Thunderball fists! They have the power to destroy everything!" Need I tell you to rent this?
The plot in a nutshell:all hell breaks loose all over the world (in the form of earthquakes, firestorms, etc.) when the incredibly evil Princess Dragon Mom (yes, you read that right) awakens from eons of sleep. A hot Asian super-villain/dominatrix in a blond wig with a dragon's head/bullwhip for a left hand,she intends to enslave the Earth with the sorriest-looking bunch of monsters since SIGMUND AND THE SEA MONSTERS, and there's nothing we can do about it! Fortunately, Professor Chang creates Infra-Man, an utterly invincible cyborg superhero who is such a badass that he can come up with powers when he happens to need them.Much craziness and ass-whuppin' ensues, and it may just leave you dizzy! You have to watch this with a group of nine-year-olds (or drunk/stoned buddies) to get the full effect that this has on a fun-loving crowd. And how can you not love a movie where you can see the monster's hightop basketball shoes (look at Plant Man's feet during closeups)?
Two classic moments: When Infra-Man first shows up,even though he has only just been created,and absolutely no one other than Professor Chang knows about him, people point at him and exclaim "That's Infra-Man there!" And the moment when Professor Chang gives Infra-Man his newest weapons: "These are Thunderball fists! They have the power to destroy everything!" Need I tell you to rent this?
Roger Ebert & I like this movie.
DallasDavid31 December 2011
For years, I never told ANYONE I had even SEEN that movie. And, I sure as HELL never told anyone that I had LIKED it! It was deserving of the title "cheesiest movie of the year" & could well have been nominated for the ALL-TIME award. Yet, I had enjoyed it. It became my secret shame.
Then, one day, months, perhaps years later, my favorite Movie Critic, (with whom I agreed about 90% of the time), did something that made my heart sing & my soul feel relieved; Roger Ebert listed it as a "guilty pleasure"!
Of all the THOUSANDS of movies he had seen in his career, one of only TEN listed, was INFRAMAN! This didn't prove my sanity, of course. But, it DID prove I was as sane as Roger Ebert & I'll take that any day.
Then, one day, months, perhaps years later, my favorite Movie Critic, (with whom I agreed about 90% of the time), did something that made my heart sing & my soul feel relieved; Roger Ebert listed it as a "guilty pleasure"!
Of all the THOUSANDS of movies he had seen in his career, one of only TEN listed, was INFRAMAN! This didn't prove my sanity, of course. But, it DID prove I was as sane as Roger Ebert & I'll take that any day.
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