Film

Manborg

Manborg is a delirious, deliberately cheap sci-fi horror film that plays like a lost 1980s B-movie crossed with a fever dream. Shot on a shoestring with cardboard sets and gleeful practical effects, it's committed nonsense—a cyborg soldier fighting a vampire demon overlord in a post-apocalyptic Earth. Made for people who love things precisely because they are gloriously, unapologetically ridiculous.

TMDb rating2.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you get a kick out of deliberately gory, hand-built B-movie excess, where the cardboard sets, creaky effects and earnest hero are the point and every scene feels like a dare.

Skip it if you need slick effects or a story with real tension, since the budget shows in nearly every frame and the plot runs on shouting and momentum.

What it asks of you: Seventy minutes of your time, and it moves briskly, lurches between gore and goofy set pieces, and asks you to meet it on its own jokey terms.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Evil Dead II1987

A masterclass in horror-comedy tone: grotesque, kinetic, absurd, and genuinely affecting. Bruce Campbell's commitment to the chaos mirrors Manborg's earnest embrace of its own ridiculousness. This is the film's spiritual ancestor.

But It's gruesome in ways that don't always land as funny, and the tonal whiplash between horror and comedy can feel jarring if you're not prepared for it.

Evil Dead II poster

Attack the Block2011

Alien-invasion film made on a tiny budget with real affection for its premise, chaotic action, and a crew of misfits saving the world. The same energy: scrappy, inventive, refusing to apologize for itself.

But South London accents are thick; the humor is irreverent in ways that can feel mean-spirited if you're not on its wavelength.

Attack the Block poster

Hellboy2004

Guillermo del Toro turns pulp into art without losing the fun. Big Red fighting practical creatures, absurd villains, and genuine emotional stakes underneath the mayhem. Pure genre joy with craft behind it.

But At 122 minutes, it's long and occasionally self-serious in ways Manborg isn't. The tone can feel uneven if you wanted pure camp.

Hellboy poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Manborg

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Birdemic: Shock and Terror2010

Both are micro-budget films that embrace their limitations as a strength rather than apologizing for them. Both have become cult films because they refuse to be anything other than what they are.

A so-bad-it's-transcendent film about a programmer and a model fighting CGI birds. It's incompetent in every measurable way but radiates absolute sincerity. Manborg knows what it's doing; Birdemic doesn't—and that's its strange gift.

But It's genuinely unwatchable for long stretches; the acting, dialogue, and effects are painful. It requires a very specific tolerance for earnest failure.

Birdemic: Shock and Terror poster
More like this (6)

Re-Animator1985

A horror-comedy that commits entirely to its premise: a mad scientist reanimates the dead with visceral, darkly funny results. The practical effects are incredible, and the energy is infectious and unhinged.

But It's genuinely gross in ways that overshadow the comedy for some viewers; the violence isn't as playful as Manborg's.

Re-Animator poster

Turbo Kid2015

Post-apocalyptic action film with genuine heart, made on a tiny budget with boundless enthusiasm. It finds sweetness in the carnage and never winks at the audience—that commitment is everything.

But The synth-heavy score and neon aesthetic might feel dated; some will find the earnestness cloying rather than endearing.

Turbo Kid poster

Big Trouble in Little China1986

John Carpenter's masterpiece of genre chaos: a B-movie sensibility executed with A-movie craft. It's having enormous fun with martial arts, demons, and nonsense logic. The blueprint for loving something unpretentiously.

But It's slow in stretches and the cultural context is complicated; the humor won't land if you're not into '80s action-movie rhythms.

Big Trouble in Little China poster

Kung Fu Hustle2004

Stephen Chow's wild genre pastiche: kung fu, slapstick, horror, and melodrama all in one film, all treated with equal seriousness and joy. The action is inventive and the spirit is fearless.

But The tonal shifts are extreme; CGI has aged poorly in places, and the humor is sometimes broad to the point of exhaustion.

Kung Fu Hustle poster

The Machine Girl2008

Japanese exploitation film where a girl gets a machine gun for an arm and wages war on the yakuza. Pure unfiltered genre insanity with real stunt work and a protagonist you root for unconditionally.

But It's aggressively gory and the plot barely exists; if you need narrative coherence or have low tolerance for violence, it will alienate you quickly.

The Machine Girl poster

Videodrome1983

Both treat their outlandish visuals as sincere rather than ironic. Both blur the line between puppet, prop, and performance. Both are films you feel rather than merely watch.

Cronenberg's nightmarish body-horror film where reality and media collapse. It has Manborg's commitment to practical grotesquerie and that same sense of watching something that shouldn't exist become reality before your eyes.

But It's genuinely bleak and disturbing; body horror turns people away. There's no joy here, only dread—the opposite of Manborg's cheeky tone.

Videodrome poster

People

Cast

Directing

Writing

Production

Recommended by

Turbo Kid