Infra-Man (1975) – Episode 85 – Decades of Horror 1970s

"Greetings to you, Earthlings. I am Princess Dragon Mom. I have taken over this planet. Now I own the Earth and you'll be my slaves for all eternity." Oh no! What will we ever do? Never fear fellow Earthlings! Infra-Man to the rescue! Join your faithful Grue Crew - Doc Rotten, Chad Hunt, Bill Mulligan, and Jeff Mohr - as they try to describe the indescribable.  Of course, the topic for this episode is the Shaw Brothers 1975 classic, Infra-Man, the man beyond bionics!

Decades of Horror 1970s
Episode 85 – Infra-Man (1975)

What could be more fun than a band of ten-million-year-old mutant monsters and thirty henchmen bent on owning Earth and enslaving all Earthlings? What if their fearless leader’s curiously translated title is Princess Dragon Mom? And what if the Earthlings just happen to have, at the ready, a complete set of plans for a being to battle Princess Dragon Mom and her minions? A sort of Chinese Superman, if you will? With another curious translation - and there are plenty of them - this Chinese Superman, aka Zhong guo chao ren, became known in the U.S. as Infra-Man!

Under the category of more curious translations, in the original Chinese dub, the monsters of Infra-Man are named Demon Princess Elzebub, Witch Eye, Fire Dragon, Spider Monster, Plant Monster, Drill Arm, Long-Haired Monster, and Iron Armor Monsters.  However, they are renamed in the English dub as Princess Dragon Mom, She-Demon, Emperor of Doom, Giant Beetle Monster, Octopus Mutant, Driller Beast, Laser Horn Monster, and Iron Fist Robots.

Danny Lee plays Infra-Man and because this is the third of his films covered by the Grue Crew in 2018, Doc has proclaimed Lee their actor of the year. The Oily Maniac (1976) and The Mighty Peking Man (1977) are the other two of Lee’s Shaw Brothers releases they’ve covered. Chad saw this film at the time of its U.S. theatrical release. He loved it then and he loves, loves, loves it now! He also points out some pant-splitting moments in the film that Bill and Jeff missed; they’ll have to watch it again! Though he wasn’t ga-ga over Infra-Man the first time he viewed it, Bill has gained an appreciation of the film over the years. He jokingly wonders how Infra-Man decides when to use his powers and when not to use his powers. They all agree it’s a bit of a mystery that only adds to the film’s appeal. Only Jeff had not seen Infra-Man before preparing for this podcast and he is forever grateful to Chad, Doc, and Bill for introducing him to its wonders and thinks it is one of the funniest movies he’s seen in a long while. In fact, he’s so enamored of the film, he promises his next step is to introduce it to his grand-munchkins and to search out the pant-splitting.

The members of the Grue Crew all agree Infra-Man is not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination. However, watching it is more fun than a movie should be allowed to be. It’s time to make it a family viewing tradition! The Black Saint and Chad had often trumpeted their love of Infra-Man and Princess Dragon Mom in the past and the Decades of Horror 1970s Grue Crew decided now was the time. This one’s for you, Santos.

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