DVD Review: 'Mikadroid: Robokill Beneath Disco Club Layla' R1

During World War II, the Japanese military established a secret underground laboratory in Tokyo. Three Olympic-level athletes were selected to undergo a process that would turn them into Jinra-go, superhuman armored soldiers. By March 1945, one of the soldiers had been completely transformed into the half man/half machine ultimate soldier called Mikadroid. But American B-29s firebomb the city and, while the two super soldiers manage to escape, Mikadroid and the lab are apparently destroyed.

Decades pass, Tokyo is rebuilt, and old secrets are forgotten. 45 years later, the site is now home to a complex that includes the Discoclub Layla. The disco’s patrons dance late into the night, unaware that a faulty basement generator has reactivated Mikadroid and the cyborg now prowls the basement levels, killing anyone in its path...

Part of Toho Studios’ attempt at the straight to video market in Japan Mikadroid was originally set to be a part of its Toho Cineback label as a zombie horror film. The day prior to filming beginning a child killer was arrested, exclaiming his passion for horror films [let this be a lesson for us all], resulting in all horror films being blacklisted at the time. The idea of a horror film was scrapped and Mikadroid was quickly reworked into a sci-fi/fantasy film and production began.

Oh, Mikadroid is pretty awful. What it really boils down to is that Mikadroid is a collection of probably really good ideas just poorly executed [ha ha, pun!]. It’s fully of unnecessary sequences and dialogue. The soundtrack makes Wes Craven sound like Mozart. The standard rule of thumb for female victims is run; turn around a corner, scream, and repeat. And if you want to mimic soiled clothes just change into a gray version of your outfit. That’s believable and saves you money on dirt. Mikadroid is straight to video bliss.

While it is clear that Mikadroid belongs in the ‘so bad it’s good’ group of filmmaking what isn’t clear until you get into the extra features is that Mikadroid was clearly a labor of love and was produced out of a passion of filmmaking, not necessarily out of any great skill, or budget. The director and special effects director lament for the days when you made a film and did the special effects there, in house, instead in post-production.

With films like this you don’t suspend your disbelief, you expel it. You give it $20 in quarters and tell it to kill a couple hours at the local arcade while you watch the movie. Only then can you appreciate the camp and laugh out loud implausibility. You will believe that a seemingly cumbersome mechanized soldier can wield a katana sword with such great skill as to slice the clothes off of a helpless young woman as she pirouettes in pain [which admittedly resulted in the most creative part of the film: her landing flat against a wall adding a blood-soaked silhouette to the mural of dancing figures on the wall of the parking lot]. You will also believe that when the two other soldiers return to stop their former colleague and his rampage that they can face off against each other in a ferocious gun battle, bullets whizzing of Mikadroid metallic body and hardly a bullet passes by the other two. Then, and only then, are you willing to accept the metallic arachnid arms that spring out from the back of the last unaltered soldier to hold him and Mikadroid in a death embrace. Only then will you truly appreciate Mikadroid.

So why do it? Why watch a film that is so seemingly bad it’s good? Two words. Kiysohi. Kurosawa. That’s right. The undisputed master of modern Japanese horror films has a cameo in Mikadroid. If all of these reasons are not enough to make you watch this film then there is nothing that we can do for you. Appreciate the low, low budget filmmaking. Appreciate the passion of making a film that you really want to make. Appreciate watching a great horror master prove his acting chops as well.

Region Coding: 1
Studio: Discotek
Languages: Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 with English subtitles
Aspect Ratio: 1.33 - fullscreen
Starring: Yoriko Doguchi, Yuki Yoshida, Hiroshi Atsumi, Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
Directed by: Tomoo Haraguchi
Special Features: Trailers. Artwork Gallery, Photo Gallery, Making of Special, About the Film

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