For fans who have been waiting to get a chance to see one of the most beautifully penned love letters to the video store action sleaze of the 1980’s ever written – MANBORG is finally here! In Canada, at least.

The Steven Kostanski helmed film was a festival hit and generated buzz at Fantasia, Fantastic Fest and 30 other top genre gatherings. Now Raven Banner Entertainment in concert with Ultra 8 Pictures are bringing MANBORG on a tour of the true North, strong and free, before releasing a DVD/Blu-ray package sure to blow minds.

That’s not where the awesome retro-cheese good news ends though! To mark the occasion Raven Banner have commissioned the immensely talented pop illustrator Jason Edmiston to create a new poster for MANBORG and, well I’ll let you judge the results for yourselves right now, but to me it’s a match made in dingy late night video store heaven.

Audiences are also going to be treated to an all new, never-before-seen Kostanski short called BIO-COP, which Raven Banner describes as an “epic emulation of ‘80s-era cop movie trailers.” Some might take issue with calling it emulation and pass it off as nothing more than dull pastiche, but they probably haven’t seen Kostanski in action. Check out some of his prior work with fellow film troublemakers Astron-6 and recognize that these guys are masters of the throwback and they do it in a way that slips into your brain and then hits you with a wave of nostalgia you can’t always place – a comforting wave of nights spent huddled before a giant console TV watching lurid tapes from the video store down the street. Experts at sampling and remixing your misspent youth, Kostanski and company are like the Mad Cow Disease of pop entertainment: you don’t know you are infected until the little prions have already eaten your brain.

MANBORG was one of my favorite films of the year, along with the equally impressive FATHER’S DAY, again from Astron-6. The following dates have been confirmed across Canada and I expect there will be more to come:

Oct 26 - Nov 1: Winnipeg Cinematheque, Director Steve Kostanski, and actors/Astron 6 members Matthew Kennedy, Adam Brooks, Conor Sweeney & Meredith Sweeney in attendance Oct 26 & 27.

Nov 2 - 8: Toronto Royal Theatre, Director Steve Kostanski & poster artist Jason Edmiston in attendance Nov 2. Actor/Writer Jeremy Gillespie in attendance Nov 3.

Nov 3: Ottawa Mayfair Theatre - Director Steve Kostanski in attendance.

Nov 4: Vancouver Rio Grand (as part of Rio Grind Film Fest) - Skype Q&A with director Steve Kostanski.

Nov 10: Halifax Arclight – Featuring an introduction by HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN director Jason Eisener!

Nov 16: Hamilton Staircase – I will be hosting Steve Kostanski at this FANGORIA-sponsored screening!

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