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!