Unearthed Films
4K UHD Release: July 2, 2024
Video: 1.85:1/2160p (HDR10)/Color
Audio: English LPCM 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH
Run Time: 92:36
Director: Screaming Mad George (Joji Tani) and Steve Wang
Sean Barker (Jack Armstrong) is a college student who discovers an alien mechanical device that merges with his own body, turning him into a super-powerful cyborg fighting machine. The device belongs to Chronos, an evil corporation run by human mutants that metamorphize into monstrous soldiers called 'Zoanoids.' Chronos wants the Guyver back and sends a gang of Zoanoids to kidnap Sean's girlfriend, Mizuki (Vivian Wu). Sean rescues Mizuki with the help of Max Reed (Mark Hamill), a CIA agent determined to keep the device from falling into the hands of Chronos. (From Unearthed Films’ official synopsis)
I’m not an expert on the subject, but it seems to me that 1990 was the year that manga and anime finally ‘broke’ in America. Hayao Miyazaki’s Totoro (Japanese: Tonari no Totoro) and Katsuhiro Ôtomo’s Akira, both originally produced in 1988, had their stateside releases blow-up, proving both the critical and financial viability of the format, and Viz Media had a big print and video hit in Rumiko Takahashi’s Ranma ½ (originally published in 1987). Within the next few years, Blockbuster Video stores began establishing ‘Japanimation’ sections and anime clubs began cropping up in high schools across the country. Among the successfully localized franchises was Yoshiki Takaya’s Bio-Booster Armor Guyver (Japanese: Kyōshoku Sōkō Gaibā, 1985-2016), its subsequent OVA short (Guyver: Out of Control, 1986), and animated series (The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor, 1989).
Rightsholder Bandai saw potential in adapting Guyver into live-action – a semi-regular practice in Japan since the 1970s – and approached Screaming Mad George (aka: Joji Tani) to design special effects. The Japanese-born George had been working on franchise horror in the Hollywood effects industry for some time* and had developed a strong working relationship with producer/director Brian Yuzna, beginning with Society (1989), and asked to bring Yuzna on as producer, as well as frequent collaborator Steve Wang, who would join him toco-direct the film. Bandai agreed, leading to the first-ever English language, live-action manga/anime adaptation, The Guyver, in 1991.
It’s not surprising that, as the first of its kind, The Guyver is a particularly Americanized manga/anime adaptation. The core concepts are taken from the comic, but its reference points are things like Paul Verhoven’s Robocop (1987), Tim Burton’s Batman (1989), and Steve Barron’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) – all recent box office smashes with comic book origins and state of the art costume effects. Moreover, there are a number of specific allusions to other Brian Yuzna movies, highlighted by Jeffery Combs cameoing as a character named Dr. East, as opposed to Dr. West and Re-Animator villain David Gale playing a very similar antagonist. The manga’s emphasis on action and violence is downplayed in favor of George & Wang’s creative strengths, i.e. elaborate transformations, complicated mechanical effects, and slimy make-up designs. In the end, for better or worse, The Guyver was made to appeal to the Yuzna’s established fanbase, the Cinefantastique magazine crowd, and the kids that made Ninja Turtles a phenomenon, not to Japanese fans or American teenagers that had recently discovered the manga or OVA.
The cast includes the aforementioned Re-Animator refugees, scream queen Linnea Quigley (playing a character dubbed ‘Scream Queen’), the always reliable Michael Barryman, future Joy Luck Club (1993) actress Vivian Wu, and, of course, Mark Hamill. The original American poster and video cover heavily implied that Hamill was the title character, not the hardboiled detective/secondary lead, who could arguably be deleted from the movie without affecting the plot. Following his triumphant return to Star Wars and social media omnipresence, it’s easy to forget that Hamill’s post-Return of the Jedi movie career was sparse at best, outside of voice work, so stunt casting him here was a good call (it certainly piqued my interest in 1991). Unfortunately, actual lead Jack Armstrong is completely unprepared to compete with this veritable wall of giant personalities.
Wang returned to direct the sequel, Guyver: Dark Hero, solo in 1994. That film was made with an R-rating in mind and is more action-packed, sort of like a comedically violent Super Sentai/Power Rangers episode. It presents the manga’s outlandish ideas with a straight face, so it tends to be preferred by fans. It’s overlong, but has one major advantage in David Hayter (future voice of Solid Snake), who replaced Armstrong. George didn’t take on any other lead director roles, but continued designing special effects, often for Yuzna, including the hyper-violent comic book adaptation and spiritual follow-up to the Guyver films, Faust: Love of the Damned (2000). Wang went on to create, produce, and occasionally direct an American revamp of Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight (2008-2010), but his masterwork as director is the must-see Mark Dacascos/Kadeem Hardison action-comedy Drive (1997).
English language live-action manga adaptations never really caught on. There were two more mostly straight-to-video examples in 1995 – Tony Randel’s Fist of the North Star (based on Yoshiyuki Okamura’s manga) and Christophe Gans’ Crying Freeman (based on Kazuo Koike & Ryoichi Ikegami’s manga). The former became late-nite cable television fodder and the latter, which was also produced by Brian Yuzna, didn’t see an official stateside premiere until 2018. The Wachowskis’ Speed Racer (2004), James Wong’s Dragonball Evolution (2005), and Rupert Sanders’ Ghost in the Shell (2017) all either failed to turn a profit or outright flopped. It wasn’t until Robert Rodriguez’ Alita: Battle Angel (based on Yukito Kishiro's Gunnm) was released in 2019 that any of these films were a certifiable box office success**.
Most Bio-Booster Armor fans were likely disappointed by the prospect of a PG-13 Guyver adaptation (I know I was), given the emphasis on gloriously graphic violence. According to a 1992 Cinefantastique interview with George, the idea to aim for a family-friendly tone and rating came early in development and wasn’t a studio mandate. The original US release was cut for pacing by distributor New Line by almost 10 minutes. New Line’s longer DVD version, dubbed the ‘director’s cut,’ still featured a number of trims. Japanese and (I believe) German discs featured the longest versions, including instances of missing gore (for comparison, check out movie-censorship.com’s breakdown here). Unearthed Films is calling this the R-rated cut, though I’m not sure anyone ever officially submitted it to the MPAA (even with the violence reinstated, it’s probably still PG-13 by modern standards).
* George had also supervised effects work for Takashige Ichise’s Tokyo: The Last War (Japanese: Teito Taisen, 1989), the second film in a series based Hiroshi Aramata’s Teito Monogatari novels (pub. 1985-’89), which were also adapted into manga and, later, after the live-action films, a popular OVA entitled Doomed Megalopolis (1991).
** Unless we’re counting Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow (2017), which was based on Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s light novel All You Need is Kill (pub. 2004).
Video
The Guyver was released straight-to-video movie in the US, so it was easy enough to find the New Line cut on VHS. As mentioned above, the first DVD was still cut, though was at least anamorphically enhanced. The first Blu-rays utilized the DVD edit, while the first uncut option hit in 2015 from German company Digi-Dreams. Unearthed Films’ new three-disc limited edition set represents the first US HD and extended cut availability of the film, as well as the film’s worldwide 4K UHD debut. The specs state that this is a brand new 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative, meaning that the footage deleted from the PG-13 VHS and DVD has been restored from the same source, so there aren’t any sudden dips in quality.
I’ve included screencaps from the included 1080p Blu-ray copy, which illustrate the color timing and general clarity of the new transfer, minus the extra detail and dynamic range found on the 2160p, HDR-enhanced UHD. Levie Isaacks’ cinematography mixes super dark environments with vivid, comic book-like gels and lighting rigs, so the HDR makes a significant difference. At the same time, given the extensive physical effects work, natural texture is probably the most important element of the entire transfer, so I’m happy to report that the scan is tight with no obvious DNR or oversharpening have been applied (there’s some haloing on the BD screencaps that I didn’t really notice while watching the UD). Print damage is limited mostly to the occasional white spot and film grain, though a bit aggressive during shots with lots of diffused light, also appears accurate.
Audio
The Guyver is presented with original stereo and 5.1 remix options, in uncompressed LPCM and DTS-HD Master Audio respectively. I believe that the 5.1 mix was created specifically for the New Line DVD release, so I stuck with the older stereo track for the bulk of my viewing. There’s a sort of specific inconsistency to pre-digital B-movies of this era that I believe was an attempt to level out the sound for tube televisions. In this case, sound effects connected to the monsters, including their distorted voices, tend to overwhelm all other noises, human dialogue fluctuates, depending on location, and composer Matthew Morse’s synth score has a thin, floaty quality. I don’t believe any of this is Unearthed Films’ doing and will note that the 5.1 track has all of the same issues – this is just the way it is. The lack of compression definitely helps, especially during the louder, more musically intensive action scenes.
Extras
Disc 1 (4K UHD)
Commentary with Screaming Mad George & Steve Wang – This brand new directors’ commentary is moderated by Dom O’Brien, the author of Budget Biomorphs: The Making of The Guyver Films (BearManor Media, 2023), who George and Wang admit probably knows more about the film than they do. O’Brien helps keep the giggly directors on track and there’s plenty of good information, such as casting stories, effects how-tos, the division of labor between the directors, stunt choreography, and trying to stay under budget. Wang also admits that the popularity of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was what made them change gears to appeal to younger audiences.
Commentary with ‘Evil’ Ted Smith and Wyatt Weed – The second Unearthed-exclusive track features more amusing anecdotes from the point-of-views of Smith, who did double-duty as FX artist and actor (he plays Ronnie the thug) and Wyatt, who was a creature shop lab tech/miniature supervisor. As expected, they focus a bit more on specific effects sequences.
Disc 2 (Blu-ray)
Commentary with Screaming Mad George & Steve Wang
Commentary with Ted Smith & Wyatt Weed
Interview with Brian Yuzna (35:39, HD) – The producer looks back on his larger career in the lead-up to The Guyver, being approached by George, his lack of familiarity with the manga/anime, and New Line’s weak marketing and lack of theatrical support (I hadn’t considered that TMNT was a New Line release).
Interview with Screaming Mad George (56:48, HD) – George also talks about his earlier career in art and special effects (film-by-film), influences, collaborators, being offered the Guyver project, designing the creatures and effects for the film, casting cult icons, basing the film’s fight scenes on Aikido (which he studied himself), bringing Wang on specifically for his strengths in directing action, and the lack of executive oversight.
Suit tests (7:06, HD) – Including commentary with George & Wang
Outtakes (14:31, HD) – Including commentary with George & Wang
Gag reel (10:55, HD) – Including commentary with George & Wang
Promotional and production galleries
Alternate title sequence (6:10, HD)
English, German, Spanish, and French trailers, all with the alternate Mutronics title
Disc 3 (CD)
Original motion picture soundtrack
The images on this page are taken from the included BD copy – NOT the 4K UHD – and sized for the page. Larger versions can be viewed by clicking the images. Note that there will be some JPG compression.