Robot Wars/Crash and Burn – DVD Review

The Films:

Shout! Factory is back with another double-bill release, and this time it’s from Full Moon Entertainment.

Crash and Burn isn’t the giant robot movie as the DVD cover promises. Instead however, it’s a fairly entertaining futuristic slasher movie, that happens to feature a huge robot once or twice. Charles Band might be recognizable for the crap he does now, but 20 years ago, I’ll defend him as a filmmaker who knew how to work with little and make the most out of it. It certainly shows here. Set in 2030, the film has this “Big Brother” government conspiracy subplot, solid acting from Jack McGee and Bill Moseley, and some cool atmosphere.

Too bad it’s billed as a giant robot movie, because that sets itself up for people to be disappointed in the outcome, which the film plays more like a campy version of The Terminator. Bill Moseley, in his stereotypical villain role, is a lot of fun here, especially in the climax. When the film does give us our giant robot, the added bonus of nudity throughout the film, along with this ensures B-movie fans that it isn’t as forgettable as it should be. In fact, Crash and Burn is a decent film for fans who have watched one too many Roger Corman movies.

Robot Wars from 1993 is way more fun than Crash and Burn, and that’s because it delivers on the simplest of concepts: giant robots fighting. Okay, Robot Jox comes to mind a lot, but that doesn’t interfere in liking the movie. Once a supposed business partner hijacks the last mega-robot, the only way to stop him is a smart-ass pilot and a busted up robot they unearth to force one corporate smackdown. Robot Wars is only 65 minutes long, but it’s funky fun, especially in the actual robot fighting scenes, wonderfully animated in stop-motion. The plot is simple, as I’ve described, and that only gets us faster to some metallic ass-kickery. Fans will dig seeing Barbara Crampton from Re-Animator fame, and the short running time of the feature should signal instant gratification. I mean, it’s giant f’ing robots crushing each other!

The DVD:

Audio/Video: Shout! Factory always deliver the best possible presentation for these cult films, and while the video and audio of both of these movies aren’t anything special, they’re decent enough for fans who probably have them on worn-out VHS tapes. Crash and Burn looks the best, probably because it’s of high production quality, but it’s still soft and not as crisp as one would expect. Robot Wars is hampered whenever our stop-motion robots fight, as some unnecessary banding issues come up. Overall, they’re decent but far from Shout!’s best. On the audio side of things, it’s clear and mixed well.

Sadly, there’s no extras here.

The Films: Rating:

The DVD: Rating: