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By Dan Leone

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HE'S INFAMOUS. None who cross Infra-man's path can seem to forget him, and not without reason. The adventures of Hong Kong's one and only motorcycle-riding, mutant-killing, thunderbolt fisting, transforming cyborg are remarkable even in the remarkable world of Asian cult-film. "The man beyond bionics!" screamed the previews in 1975, and that ain't the half of it. But we are talking about Wa Saan's Infra-man here – the first entry in the Four Star's mind-blowing "Saturday Midnites for Maniacs" series, which runs March 23 through May 9 – and thus we are also talking action and cinematic hyperactivity on a planetary scale. In it, things are so bad, they are the worst in human history: a blond wig-clad dominatrix calling herself Princess Dragon Mom is turning the cities of the world into hellish infernos, thanks to her army of monsters and skeletal kung fu minions. Patriarchal Professor Chang acts to counter this evil by creating Infra-man: a supercyborg "full of power and energy." Brave Danny Lee (Chow Yun-fat's costar in The Killer and the immortal star of Mighty Peking Man) volunteers for the job and undergoes the painful transformation from human to Infra-man. Up until this point, things have been a fairly convincing simulation of a Japanese superhero show like Kamen Rider, but the one thing that sets Infra-man a stratosphere apart from his inspiration is the unmistakable energy of a topflight Shaw Brothers karate movie. The many fights on display in Infra-man are frantic and delirious, stylistically similar to the skirmishes in S.B. classics like Duel of the Iron Fists and Super Ninjas. Action enough for anyone. But when you place brawlers in monster, super hero, or skeleton costumes, the already inflammatory combat outright explodes into a whole new realm of spectacle and silliness. Hysterical laughter accompanies every evil act: fire breathing, arm drilling, multiarmed kung fu fighting, and the unforgettable attack of the twin monsters whose heads extend on steel coils exactly like a Slinky. By the end of the film it's clear that Infra-man is undefeatable; he's practically omnipotent with his augmented senses. Clearly, there was nowhere for this Infra-god to go but into history and into our hearts. (Patrick Macias)