This Turbo Kid Trailer Is A Mad Max Throwback On A BMX Bike
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When you think of the Sundance Film Festival, the first thing that pops into your mind aren’t campy, bloody, post-apocalyptic throwbacks, but after watching this new trailer for Turbo Kid, you might just change your tune. (This is one of at least two post-apocalyptic joints at the fest this year, the other we know of being Z for Zachariah.) This is one that you’ll want definitely want to check out.
This has the look and feel of the cheap international Mad Max knock offs from the early 1980s down perfectly, from the story to the tone to those cobbled together post-apocalyptic costumes, improvised weapons like a contraption that shoots saw blades, and that sharp, Casio keyboard sounding score. Turbo Kid is even set in the far off future of 1997.
If you’re a fan of films like Manborg and its ilk, then Turbo Kid is going to be right up your alley. Sure, this trailer is only 39-seconds-long, but they make use of every last one, and as a result don’t need to take up any more of your day than that. Less than a minute and I’m already frothing at the mouth for this one. From the overall tone and appearance, it makes so damn much sense that this was produced by Jason Eisener, who directed the modern masterpiece Hobo With a Shotgun.
Here’s the official synopsis:
It’s 1997. In a ruined post-apocalyptic world, the orphaned Kid survives on his own through drought-ridden nuclear winter, traversing the Wasteland on his BMX, scavenging for scraps to trade for a scant supply of water. When his perpetually chipper, pink-haired new best friend Apple is kidnapped by a minion of evil overlord Zeus, the Kid summons the courage of his comic book hero and prepares to deliver turbocharged justice to Zeus, his buzzsaw-handed sidekick Skeletron, and their vicious masked army.
While Turbo Kid is populated primarily by unknown actors, you have to love that Zeus, the main villain, is played by none other than genre legend Michael Ironside. Granted, he’s been in some serious dogs over the years, but he also ups the awesome factor of any film he appears in.
If you’re still not entirely sold, just check out this clip. Not only does it give you a healthy dose of an eye patch-wearing Ironside, it shows off the most high stakes arm wrestling contest you’ve ever seen, and that includes any and all of the bouts from Over the Top.
We don’t know when Turbo Kid will be available to the masses, but it premieres at Sundance this week. If it’s even half as insane and incredible as it looks, hopefully someone will snatch it up and distribute it across the land in short order.
