Mad Max set the international box office on fire with its mix of high octane engines and society crumblin. Indie-filmmakers slapped together futuristic cars and drove into the wasteland to create hits. Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn 3-D didn’t merely to let audience watch the action like others in the genre. It brought the action right off the screen into the viewers’ eyeballs with 3-D. The film also turned into an indie-filmmaker dream as it received a major studio release from Universal Pictures. Metalstorm brings the audience into the futuristic world.
Who is Jared-Syn and why must he be destroyed? Turns out Jared-Syn (The Road Warrior‘s Mike Preston) is a bad guy causing troubles in a wasteland. He’s put together an evil group that includes family members and outlaws who remove an eye to be like cyclops. This is rather ironic seeing how they are starring in a 3-D film and thus will never get to enjoy the full effect. Dogen (Star Trek‘s Jeffrey Byron) is zipping around in search of the outlaw only to find himself under fire from a flying motorcycle. Nearby Syn’s men have come across a prospector and his daughter (Battlefield Earth‘s Kelly Preston). He won’t cooperate so they kill him while the daughter hides in the mine. When Dogen arrives, he discovers the daughter. She lets him know that Jared-Syn’s men are looking for special crystals for a serious plan. Dogen must stop it and he needs the help of a local warrior chief (Richard Moll) or the universe will fall.
Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn 3-D pulls out all stops as far as cramming a lot of action into barely 80 minutes. The film refuses to get bogged down in plot. The huge amount of stunts and the minimal amount of dialogue has this film aimed right to international markets. These are the markets where an post-apocalyptic action flick with science fiction and fantasy elements got plenty of play. The 3-D effects are very good since director Charles Band wasn’t subtle. There’s plenty of characters reaching out to the camera and objects thrown at the camera. This is almost an SCTV sketch as goo gets squirted at your face. This makes the film so much to watch if you have a 3D HDTV.
The film’s ultimate contribution to culture is that it allowed Richard Moll to shave his head and embrace the look. Without Metalstorm, he would probably have not gotten the role of Bull on Night Court. That would have been a tragedy bigger than the destruction of Jared-Syn.
The video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The transfer looks great. The 3-D effects come through nicely on a 4K 3D Sony set. The audio is Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD MA 2.0 subtitled in English
High Noon at the End of the Universe – the Making of Metalstorm (42:13) touches about how Charles Band relaunched 3-D in the early ’80s. The film was created based on the screen writer seeing the imagine of a hot rod. Universal bought the film because they had equipped 2,000 screen for the release of Jaws 3-D.
Still & Promotional Gallery (10:26) is dozens of elements from the film including the rough designs for the poster and the treatment. This is a fun place to get educated if you dream of making your own 3-D epic.
Theatrical Trailer (1:23) reminds us that the future is growing closer. This will be an epic non-stop action film in 3-D.
Radio Spot (0:30) makes us know that Universal Studio put out this science fiction film.
Scream Factory presents Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn 3-D. Directed by: Charles Band. Screenplay by: Alan J. Adler. Starring: Jeffrey Byron, Mike Preston, Tim Thomerson, Kelly Preston & Richard Moll. Running Time: 84 minutes. Rated: Unrated. Released: September 13, 2016.
