The Neon Renaissance: An '80s & '90s Cultural Revival
With every new decade comes a new generation of musicians, filmmakers and video game developers that was heavily influenced by the stuff they watched, played and rocked out to as youngsters. Now, with today's release of Astron-6's new film Manborg on DVD, and the upcoming release of Ubisoft Montreal's downloadable video game Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon on May 1st, it's us, the '80s kids, that hold the power(glove).
While there have been superficial attempts to capture the essence of the decade in the past, they were mostly surface level. Films like The Wedding Singer would throw out the most mainstream '80s references imaginable (Remember WHAM!? Remember leg-warmers?) without realising that you can't generalise an entire decade. The real trick to capturing a time and place, is in the specifics and the movements.
For those of us that grew up in the VHS era, watching straight-to-video movies with 'Cyborg' in the title, Saturday morning cartoons like COPS and Dino Riders, and playing games like Double Dragon 2 and Contra III: The Alien Wars (a.k.a. Super Probotector), this era is burned deep into our psyche. The mere sight of a video cassette presents us with a rush of nostalgia. It was only a matter of time before we grew up and started makin' shit. The neon renaissance has arrived, and in many ways, it seems that the Canadians are leading the way.
'THESE '70s KIDS WERE THE PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR ENTERTAINMENT, AND NOW IT'S US, THE '80s KIDS, THAT HOLD THE POWER(GLOVE).'
Filmmakers like Astron-6, the Winnipeg collective that brought us the mind blowing grindhouse throwback Father's Day, have been at it for years, creating note-perfect short films and trailers that glorify the era, while also maintaining a tongue-in-cheek sensibility. The company's early short film Lazer Ghosts 2: Return to Laser Cove (they skipped straight to the sequel) is a glorious homage to the laser-happy days of video store-bound sci-fi action movies that plays like the end result of a Terminator/Ghostbusters orgy.
Featuring era-appropriate lo-fi special effects, stylish camerawork and lighting, and hilariously on-the-nose dialogue, the team behind Lazer Ghosts 2 understands exactly why these kinds of films are remembered so fondly. Below is an example of the typical exchange that can be found in the short:
"I was sent here to protect you."
"From what?"
"Einstein! He's back!"
"But I thought we killed him!"
"You can't kill what's already a dead Einstein's ghost!"
So much greatness stuffed into ten minutes. Watch Lazer Ghosts 2: Return to Laser Cove in its entirety below, courtesy of director Steven Kostanski's YouTube account.
While the team has made many other short films inspired by ‘80s and ‘90s video fodder, it has returned to the action/sci-fi genre with its most recent feature film, Manborg. It’s the story of a soldier (Matt Kennedy) who was killed in a post-apocalyptic war against a Gestapo-like race of demons led by Count Draculon, and then reanimated as a cyborg by an eccentric scientist (Adam Brooks) to fight back alongside a rebellion made up of people that wouldn’t look out of place on a Streets of Rage or Mortal Kombat character select screen.
The film was reportedly shot for around $2000 and almost entirely in front of a green screen, which is impressive considering how ambitious the scale is and how many visual effects (both stop motion and computer generated) were implemented. Manborg is just one of many examples of how Astron-6 is able to recreate the feeling of this neon-tinted era in a completely authentic way, while still being able to lovingly take the piss out of it.
Also from Canada, Nova Scotia filmmaker Jason Eisener is also synonymous with the fluoro-hued scene. His debut feature film, Hobo With a Shotgun, is a graffiti-splattered, grimy exploitation flick with a vibe that’s equal parts Robocop 2, Street Trash and the arcade game NARC.
It’s a return to a cinematic time when relentlessly evil street punks roamed the streets, causing mayhem in their neighbourhoods, leaving an ordinary citizen no other option than to retaliate with lethal force. The citizen in question is the titular shotgun-wielding hobo (Rutger Hauer).
'ASTRON-6 IS ABLE TO RECREATE THE FEELING OF THIS NEON-TINTED VHS ERA IN A LOVING AND COMPLETELY AUTHENTIC WAY, WHILE STILL BRINGING SOMETHING NEW AND ORIGINAL TO THE TABLE.'
The influence of films like these has also kicked off a revival of '80s synth/electro music known as 'New Retro Wave'. A few years ago, these kinds of tunes would've been considered a novelty, but with the mainstream success of '80s-inspired films like Drive, with its ultra-cool electro-pop soundtrack, this style of music has spawned an entire subculture. You can now find dozens and dozens of artists that have produced countless albums worth of dark, pulsing electro beats that sound as good, or even better, than the music that inspired it.
The aforementioned Drive soundtrack was a breakthrough for artist Kavinsky, having recently released his first album, OutRun, to much critical acclaim. The album is not only a nod to Sega's classic arcade racer, but also an homage to the cult Charlie Sheen flick The Wraith, with its story of a man in 1986 who is resurrected by his car, and then stalks the night looking for vengeance.
Kavinsky might be the most well known artist of this sonic revival, but a visit to NewRetroWave's website will point you in the direction of artists like Perturbator, Jasper Byrne, ActRazer, Futurecop!, Australia’s own Power Glove, Lazerhawk, NeonFlashDrive and many, many more.
This music has now spilled over into the video game scene, with the soundtrack to the recent downloadable title Hotline Miami, a violent, top-down '80s shooter throwback, being almost entirely comprised of music by artists from the ‘new retro wave’.
Which brings us to Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, the upcoming downloadable companion to last year's spectacular first-person shooter Far Cry 3, from developer Ubisoft Montreal (I told you those Canadians were all up in this bitch). Combining elements of '80s and '90s sci-fi video games, cartoons, straight-to-video movies and a soundtrack featuring the aforementioned Power Glove (whose music was first noticed by game director Dean Evans after hearing its contribution to the soundtrack of his mate Jason Eisener’s film Hobo With a Shotgun), Blood Dragon feels like the culmination of the entire scene.
More importantly, with its big studio resources and Michael Biehn voiceover, it marks a big step into the mainstream for a scene that has until now been a cult movement of in-the-know people who never stopped being fans in the first place.
'YOU CAN NOW FIND DOZENS AND DOZENS OF ARTISTS THAT HAVE PRODUCED COUNTLESS ALBUMS WORTH OF DARK, PULSING ELECTRO BEATS THAT SOUND AS GOOD, OR EVEN BETTER, THAN THE MUSIC THAT INSPIRED IT.'
Whether this will end up being a good thing or not, is too early to tell. The resurgence of zombie-fandom seemed great at first, yet now we’re likely one step away from Kellogg’s releasing a range of ‘Zombie Corn Flakes’ or some shit. Fan film tributes to Blood Dragon have already started to surface, with the team at Corridor Digital using its apparently immense resources to produce Blood Dragon: The Cyber War (along with many other video game tribute films). It looks like a million bucks, though personally I’d love to see the guys take those skills and create an original web series or something in that vein. See the fan film below.
Check out a sample of what you can expect from the Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon soundtrack, which will apparently come free with any pre-order of the game on Steam.
Regardless, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon looks fantastic and has nailed the tone of its source material. The only thing that seems to be missing is a ‘Winners Don’t Use Drugs’ screen during boot up, but we can forgive ‘em for that. Its saturday morning cartoon-style trailer (“the apocalypse has had an apocalypse!”), complete with “action figures sold separately” end card, is absolutely spot-on. We’ll be sure to post an in-depth review when the game drops early next month.
Unsurprisingly, the team at Neon Maniacs is thrilled to see more films, games and songs of this style get made. We’re welcoming the neon renaissance with open arms. How long will it last? Hopefully until the apocalypse. For now, we’ll continue cruising around at night, pumping mad synth tunes, not givin’ a fuck.
See ya lazer.
Manborg is available on DVD now through Monster Pictures. It would be worth the price of purchase for the inclusion of Astron-6's latest short 'Bio Cop' as a special feature alone.
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon will be available for download on May 1st, 2013 via Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and Steam.
Posted by Stephen Lambrechts - 18/4/2013
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