American Cyborg, Steel Warrior (1993)

Starring: Joe Lara, Nicole Hansen, John Saint Ryan

Directed by Boaz Davidson

Format: VHS

“After a devestating nuclear war, the last fertile woman on earth joins forces with a tough renegad to fight an advanced team of deadly cyborgs and save the human race from extinction in this action-packed futuristic thriller.

Joe Lara, best known as the latest in a long and impressive line of screen Tarzans, stars as Austin, a strong, yet compassionate street warrior who agrees to a to help a beautiful young woman, Mary (played by beautiful newcomer Nicole Hansen), escape a ravaged, war-torn America. Austin and Mary encounter danger at every turn as they find themselves on a death-defying race against not only time but a murderous cyborg (John Ryan) programmed to destroy Mary – the world’s last hope for humanity – before they can reach the boat that will take them to a safer Europe.”

I found American Cyborg, Steel Warrior at a “Buy, Sell, Trade, eBay” store in Salem, CT. I had just started collecting VHS and this seemed like one of those movies that wouldn’t be released on DVD, so I bought it. Now, I’m not a big sci-fi action fan, but the name was super intriguing. Like…what the hell is it? I think I’ve owned this movie for at least five years and hadn’t watched it until now.

This movie also marks the first Leftovers live-tweet on our new Twitter page: @LeftoverShelf. From now on, I will be livetweeting the “My Thoughts” portion of The Leftovers, and then recapping them here. By doing this, one of the stars of American Cyborg, Steel Warrior Nicole Hansen (Mary) was able to chime in and share some thoughts with us. In the tweets, the film is referred to as #ACSW.

You can check out all the tweets on Storify, or just read the text below.

Thoughts:

• I almost watched #ACSW once, but my old DVD/VCR combo almost ate it. It also tried to eat EXTREMELY GOOFY MOVIE. Nearly had a heart attack.
• Looking at Boaz Davidson’s credits and you may not know him as a director, but he’s a producer on The Expendables movies. There’s that.
• Joe Lara you’d know as Tarzan in TARZAN: THE EPIC ADVENTURES TV series and it’s various TV movies.
• Nicole Hansen (@nikkihans) has been in a few things, but she’s the only one from #ACSW I can find on Twitter. So there’s that, too!
• First trailer before the movie is HELLBOUND starring Chuck Norris.
• Oh yo, then it was Tobe Hooper’s NIGHT TERRORS. That’s kinda dope actually. Might need to get that.
• #ACSW supposedly takes place in a post-apocalyptic South Carolina.
• Huh? 
• I don’t know, it’s kinda like I, ROBOT.
• This environment is obviously supposed to look like some sort of BLADE RUNNER type setting. It actually kind of reads that way.
• There was some sort of exposition in the beginning, but even that made this a little more confusing.
• There’s a mission to deliver a human fetus to an artificial womb on some boat somewhere. South Carolina is a hot mess.
• I don’t know why this cyborg is tryna get that fetus, but his ways of finding out are pretty logical. Kill someone, take a map.
• I say “Cyborg” assuming that it’s the unstoppable powerhouse (John Ryan), and the Steel Warrior is someone else.
• The funny thing is, if the character Mary was naturally pregnant, she wouldn’t be able to climb all these heights and shit.
• But since she has a baby in a bag, it’s totally cool.
• She also is hauling a yoga mat. Which is cool I guess?
• “I wouldn’t be surprised if you were hiding something really yummy in there.” Uh, don’t say that?
• The gang leader that Steel Warrior just beat up was kinda like Beef from PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE
• What makes him a Steel Warrior?
• These sets are kind of impressive.
• The Cyborg has a grimy blonde mustache.
• That Cyborg killed those sewer rats for no reason.
• Also, there are supposedly mines planted in the sewers, but everyone is just recklessly running.
• In the post-apocalyptic future, there are fire-breathers on all street corners.
• From Nicole Hansen: Here’s the 1st writer of the screenplay @BFree63 (Brent Friedman)- His version got lost in translation going onto the bigscreen
• I have to admit, the setup for #ACSW would be kind of cool. But right now it’s just a lot of cat and mouse (mice).
• At least pretty cool for ’93.
• Quick insert of the fetus in that travel bottle shaking as Mary runs. Shaken baby syndrome?
• Radioactive cannibals are supposedly a thing in this movie. I’m totally on board.
• Wait, maybe the American Cyborg and the Steel Warrior aren’t two different people. I think it’s just one. And it’s the Cyborg
• The steel warrior who I was referring to is named Austin, played by Joe Lara.
• “The rest of us are just the broken leftovers.” HE GAVE US A SHOUTOUT!
• Brent Friedman did Hellbound, too. We were all shooting in Israel at same time. I went to Masada with Tobe Hooper on a day off.
• Had no idea this was shot in Israel. The sets look really cool, actually!
• We shot in a bombed out detergent factory from the first Gulf War… So most shots weren’t actually sets
• Whoa, Mary just got captured by what I assume are…yup, the radioactive cannibals.
• LOL, story of my life.
• The radioactive cannibals look a lot like mummified members of Pussy Riot.
• Someone told me once that they had an #ACSW screening and drank shots every time I screamed.
• New drinking game!
• The worst kind of radioactive cannibal is one that eats babies.
• This is the baby we’re talking about, by the way.
• That cyborg loves punching through walls.
• Austin just got wet willied by the Cyborg. And by wet willy, I mean sharp metal finger to the ear.
• Ohhhhh, Austin is a cyborg too? There are wires coming out of his now severed arm. That escalated quickly…
• Austin didn’t know he was a cyborg? This movie is just a web of lies.
• God, I hope no one wanted to know the twist in #ACSW because I definitely spoiled part of it.
• HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA that cyborg just won’t quit.
• This cyborg must’ve been a pro ultimate frisbee player
• The fetus in a bottle has fallen into the ocean. That’ll be a weird discovery 100 years from now.
• “Baby in a botttttlleeee” sung like Sting
• Yeah the baby’s “okay,” but who knows the toll the physical trauma took on it, you know?
• That’s all for #ACSW! Thanks to @nikkihans for chatting with us. Very cool to have you join us in our first live-tweet on The Leftovers!
• BTW- you didn’t mention my awesome RPG shooting technique – the crew bet I would fall over from the kickback, but no.