Manborg
Manborg is a 2011 Canadian science-fiction action film, directed by Steven Kostanski, and released by Astron-6. Plot. Count Draculon (Adam Brooks) and his Nazi vampire forces seek to take over Earth during the Hell Wars. A soldier (Matthew Kennedy) is killed attempting to fight the Count, then transformed into Manborg after his body is fitted with robotics. After Manborg becomes active in Mega-Death City, he meets with resistance fighters against Count Draculon. Justice (Conor Sweeney) is a gunfighter who resembles Billy Idol with an "Australian" accent who is joined by his sister Mina (Meredith Sweeney) and martial  arts expert #1 Man (Ludwig Lee, voice-dubbed by Kyle Hebert). Production. Production began in 2009 (with most of it shot in the garage of the director Steven Kostanski), with approximately one year of filming followed by two years of post-production. Chroma key backdrops were used for most filmed scenes. Production costs were approximately $1,000 (CAD). In an interview with Monsterpictures.com Steve Kostanski said a lot of the movie was shot in his parent's garage. The costumes for the film were made of garbage and oftentimes he would glue them back together during production. Most of the  set pieces were built with scraps the team found in dumpsters. Steve was also quoted saying a lot of their props are "cannibalized" and reused in other scenes. Release. The first public screening of "Manborg" was on 22 September 2011 at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. It was then released on DVD on 11 Feb 2013. Reception. Rick Groen of "The Globe and Mail" took a favorable view of "Manborg", declaring it "cheap and cheesy, no doubt, but with some real tang and, occasionally, a strong bite". The "Toronto Star"'s Peter Howell deemed the film "a marvel of DIY  makeup, costuming and special effects" although he believed the production "would have been a much better movie without the cheese".