I do this marathon every year because I like to watch movies and sometimes write about them. The bigger reason though, is because at least one movie that year is a surprise that is worth the rest of the garbage out there. This is Turbo Kid.
The apocalypse is not kind to anyone, especially kids. In the year 1997 the world is barley holding together. Billions dead, millions are sick or have long since lost their sanity. Water is the worlds most needed commodity. If you need water you go to one man, and one man only, Zeus. No one really likes Zeus, but when you control the water, you control the people. The few people that have challenged Zeus end up missing, or dead, or worse. Where Zeus gets his water from has always been a mystery though.
The Kid, orphaned at a very young age, does everything he can to stay low and survive in a world that is quite literally out to get him. He scavenges for parts and pieces of things that he then sells off to get a bit of food and water. Mostly he gets trinkets of a world he never knew and comic books. Not just any comic book though. He collects Turbo Rider comics. The Kid wishes for a life where he could be the hero and save humanity. One day he runs into Apple. Apple seems like a strange girl, but who isn’t at this point? Kid and Apple have a strained relationship at first, but Kid soon realizes that she is all he has, and vice versa. Things seem like they are looking up a bit for both until Apple is kidnapped. The kid is run off by the kidnapper and falls into a strange craft where he finds himself, and a new purpose in the wasteland.
Now, I will first concede that this isn’t technically a “horror” movie, but it is FULL of blood and guts, so I’m letting it slide on a technicality. Turbo Kid is a fantastic film through and through. Friend of the site Paul directed me to this one with the insistence that I would love it, and he wasn’t wrong. Turbo Kid is like a weird marriage of Six String Samurai and Cherry 2000. There is a HELL of a lot of style that has gone into this film and quite a bit of synthwave too. Which didn’t do anything but make it more appealing to me, personally. There’s also a dash of Hobo with a Shotgun in there too.
Anyway, do I think this movie will appeal to everyone? No. However, that doesn’t mean you should stay away from it. Quite the contrary, in fact. Personally I think this movie has a lot of heart and isn’t afraid to share it with the rest of the world. It’s got some cheesy parts, and there’s some clunky dialog, but on the whole it is the sum of it’s parts and is well worth seeing. Just don’t stare too long at weirdly bloated and bald Michael Ironside.
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