Charles Band movies from the ’80s are pretty amazing. There’s something special about the films he directed and produced during that decade, something that is missing from his more modern offerings. The films aren’t perfect, mind you, but they’re almost all a ton of fun and very inventive. 1983’s Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn is a wonderful example of this.

Metalstorm is far from a great movie. It’s basically a rip off of Mad Max with a few Star Wars elements tossed in for good measure. The villain of this film, Jared-Syn, is even played by Michael Preston who played one of the main villains in The Road Warrior. So if you couldn’t tell on the surface this is a Mad Max rip off, they went ahead and brought in an actor from that universe to help remind you. Band isn’t exactly subtle.

Jeffrey Byron stars as Dogen, a finder set on seeking out and destroying Jared-Syn, a man with supernatural powers. His search has led him to Lemuria, a post-apocalyptic desert planet with a heavy mining population. The miners are humans and they seem to be at war with a group of mutants known as the “one-eyes.” Jared-Syn is largely instigating this war with hopes of taking over the planet. Dogen’s plan is to stop him.

Along the way, Dogen meets up with a young girl, Dhyana (Kelly Preston), whose father was killed by Baal (David Smith), Jared-Syn’s cyborg son. Wanting revenge for the death of her father, Dhyana forces Dogen to allow her to join him. Unfortunately, she’s quickly captured by Jared-Syn and now Dogen must quickly find Jared-Syn to not only prevent him from taking over the planet but to save Dogen. To assist him, Dogen seeks out a mercenary named Rhodes – Tim Thomerson doing his best Han Solo.

A better way to picture the plot of Metalstorm is to imagine what would happen if Donald Trump became President. The similarities between Trump and Jared-Syn are staggering. They both have dumb kids, they both pray on people in a time of despair, they both attempt to create a race war, and above all else, they only look out for themselves. As an added kicker, they’re both orange. Metalstorm could be viewed as a warning of what could happen.

On a more serious note, Metalstorm represents everything good Charles Band was about back in the day. It’s a low budget rip off of better movies, but it’s done with a lot of fun and heart. For what they lacked in the budget they made up for in creativity – the costume designs are wonderful. What prevents Metalstorm from becoming special is a subpar story. The characters are great but what they do isn’t all that interesting. Especially the way the movie ends. It’s sort of abrupt with no real conclusion. Still, the ride is fun even if the destination ends up being a bit unsatisfying.

The Scream Factory Blu-ray looks great. I was actually surprised at how well the movie looks. The film features some practical effects along with the costumes and everything is really brought to life in this presentation. The film also comes with the option of watching it in 2-D or 3-D. Thus far I’ve only watched it in 2-D but this is absolutely the type of movie that I find to be fun in 3-D. It’s a silly movie that uses 3-D as a gimmick to add to the silliness and that I enjoy. There are a ton of shots in the movie that are obviously there for the 3-D effect.

The special features include a making-of, gallery, trailer, and radio spot. The making-of is just over 40 minutes and is highly informative. It features a ton of interviews from Band, Byron, Thomerson, and a ton more providing interesting stories on the film. The best part though is about Richard Moll and how he was cast for his role.

Moll was offered his role on the condition that he shave his head. He turned the role down because pilot season was approaching and he didn’t want to audition bald. Band decided to offer Moll an extra $500 to shave his head and being the broke struggling actor he was, Moll accepted. About halfway through filming Metalstorm, he landed an audition and he had the makeup team create a wig for him. The makeup team told him the wig would work but that he looks great bald and should audition as such. Moll ended up doing so and was offered the role in a new series but on the condition that he would continue to shave his head for as long as the series would last. Moll readily agreed and the show ended up being Night Court. How amazing is it that Richard Moll was cast as a lead part in one of the most iconic television shows of all time in large part because he shaved his head for an extra $500 to appear in a low budget Charles Band movie?

Metalstorm is a ton of fun. It has its flaws but it gets the job done. If you like old school Charles Band or low budget sci-fi action you’ll enjoy this as well.

Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn is now available on Blu-ray from Scream Factory.