Robotrix: Deluxe Collector's Edition – 88 Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Hong Kong, 1991
Director: Jamie Luk
Writers: Jamie Luk, Man Sing So
Cast: Amy Yip, Chikako Aoyama, David Wu, Billy Chow, Siu-dan Hui, Chung Lam

Release Date: September 20th, 2021
Approximate running time: 98 Minutes 12 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: 18 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono Cantonese, LPCM Mono English
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Region Coding: Region B
Retail Price: £24.99 (UK)

"When evil inventor Ryuichi Sakamato (Chung Lin) transfers his mind into that of a powerful cyborg, he becomes a murderer and rapist. But when one of his victims, Police officer Selena Lin (Chikako Aoyama) becomes super robot Eve-27, she teams up with android sidekick Ann (Amy Yip) and together they seek to bring the criminally insane scientist to justice." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Here’s the information given about the transfer, "UNCUT HD restoration in original 1:85:1 aspect ratio."

Robotrix comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 31.3 GB

Feature: 27.9 GB

Having only watched Robotrix on DVD, this new transfer from 88 Films is a noticeable improvement that is vastly superior to this film's previous home video releases. Colors are nicely saturated, flesh tones are healthy looking, image clarity, black levels, and compression are solid, and there does not appear to be any digital tinkering with the source.

Audio: 3.75/5 (LPCM Mono Cantonese), 4/5 (LPCM Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, a LPCM mono mix in Cantonese and a LPCM mono mix in English. Both tracks sound balanced and clean. Range-wise, the English language track sounds more robust. Also, both tracks exhibit some more sibilance issues. Included with this release are three subtitle options: removable English subtitles for the Cantonese opening credits when watching with the English language track; removable English subtitles for the Cantonese language track; and removable English SDH subtitles for the Cantonese language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a English language theatrical trailer (1 minute 51 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a Hong Kong theatrical trailer (4 minutes 4 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Cantonese with removable English subtitles), English language opening titles (1 minute 14 seconds, Dolby Digital mono), scenes from the alternative version (8 minutes 52 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Mandarin with removable English subtitles), an introduction with director Jamie Luk (36 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), six replica Lobby Cards, reversible cover art, a double-sided foldout poster, and a eighty-page perfect bound book with an interview with Jamie Lu, an interview with Robotrix actor Vincent Lyn, an essay titled Robotrix versus censorship written by Matthew Edwards, and an essay titled VHS Cat III Cinema boom of the 90s written by Tim Murray. 

Summary:

While on the surface, Robotrix may appear to be a Robocop clone, it is so much more. The only real connection is that both films feature a police officer who is wounded severely and they are left in a comatose state. Here is where any similarities end. In Robotrix, the part of Selena Lin, the female officer whose body is useless after being shot, so her mind, the only part of her fully operational, is transported into a robot body that is also given her exact features. In order to track down the evil scientist named Ryuichi Sakamoto, who has also transferred his mind into a robot’s body, the police decided that their best chance of catching him was to do the same thing; this is why Selena’s mind was chosen for the task. The police receive their first significant lead when the body of a prostitute thrown out a window after a marathon sex session is linked to Ryuichi Sakamoto. Dr. Sara, the scientist who transferred Selena’s brain into a robot’s body, is assisted by Ann, another robot she created.

To say that many things in the narrative are far-fetched would be a dramatic understatement. To this film's credit, it never tries to take itself seriously, and everything in the film is most definitely done in a tongue-in-cheek manner. It is clear very early on that this film has only two goals: to keep things simple and to arouse the viewer. All three of the leading ladies, Chikako Aoyama, Amy Yip (Erotic Ghost Story) and Siu-dan Hui, are each given a rousing sex scene. The action sequences are surprisingly good for a film that is heavy on T&A. Ultimately, Robotrix is a delirious and sleazy category III film that never strays too far away from its three biggest assets: Amy Yip, Chikao Aoyama, and Siu-dan Hui.

Robotrix gets a solid release from 88 Films that comes with a strong audio/video presentation and an informative perfect-bound book, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer