IT CAME FROM THE THRIFT STORE: CYBER ZONE (1995) **
Trailer Round-Up: First we get a trailer for the feature Cyber Zone, then there are previews for Midnight Tease 2 (an erotic thriller starring Ross Hagan and Julie Smith) and Captain Nuke and the Bomber Boys (a kids comedy starring Joe Piscopo, Martin Sheen, Joe Mantegna, and Rod Steiger as the president).
Marc Singer stars as a “Droid Gunner”, a bounty hunter who specializes in tracking down androids in the year 2077. He gets a mission to go to Phoenix to find four “Pleasure Droids” (android hookers) and some sniveling (but sexy) scientist sidekick (Rochelle Swanson) is forced to tag along. After the customary bickering, they eventually partner up with Matthias Hues to get the fem-bots back.
Cyber Zone is a so-so sci-fi actioner from Roger Corman’s New Concorde company. It was directed by Fred Olen Ray and the film basically plays like his version of Blade Runner. Because of that, it looks pretty cheap and features a lot of footage stolen from other Corman produced movies. Like most of Ray’s flicks, it DOES feature a lot of tits, so it’s got that going for it.
Marc Singer was pretty good in this. His wisecracking performance was easily the best thing about the movie (aside from the rampant tits that is). And I enjoyed Matthias Hues’ performance. If you like Hues, you’ll probably dig the movie. Then again it takes forever for him and Singer to join forces and his use of Kung Fu is minimal at best, so you may not. I did like the scene where he dressed the Robo-Whores up as nuns though.
You know, these kinds of android/robot sci-fi actioners were a dime a dozen back in the day, especially after T2 came out. If you’re a die-hard Fred Olen Ray fan, you might get a kick out of it. It features a lot of his regular players like Brinke Stevens (doing a vampire/catwoman striptease), Robert Quarry (as an evil sultan), and Ross Hagan (as a one-eyed bartender). It’s also got the late Lorissa McComas from Lapdancing (a personal favorite), so it’s not a complete waste of time or anything.
Cyber Zone is at least notable for being the third Thrift Store movie produced by Roger Corman (and along with Cybercity, it’s his second film with the word “Cyber” in the title), the second Thrift Store flick directed by Fred Olen Ray (after Armed Response), and the second Thrift Store film starring Matthias Hues (after Mission of Justice).
AKA: Droid Gunner. AKA: Phoenix 2.
Next week’s Thrift Store movie is… Excalibur! (The Hell?!? Is this column getting respectable or something?)