Super Inframan Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

Super Inframan Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 18, 2025

Note: This version of this film is available on Blu-ray as part of the Shawscope Volume Four collection from Arrow Video.

Things seem to have calmed down a little from the gauntlet I experienced toward the end of 2024 where it seemed I was getting a Shaw Brothers title (or several) in my review queue virtually daily. Arrow has been curating its immense Shawscope collections for a few years now, and they're helping to alleviate any perceived deficit in high definition presentations of the venerable studio's output with this fourth volume which aggregates sixteen more films from the Shaw Brothers canon (some of them previously released in other territories, though Arrow advertises new 2025 restorations for all of the films in the set). Arrow has packaged all of these volumes consistently, and this latest volume shares the same basic dimensions as its shelf mates (if you even have shelf space for such large boxes), and it also includes the wealth of bonus material that the previous releases from Arrow have offered.

For "rabid completists" who may want to peruse the immense prior volumes in this series from Arrow, please click on the following links:

Shawscope Volume One Blu-ray review

Shawscope Volume Two Blu-ray review

Shawscope Volume Three Blu-ray review

The video essay by Steven Sloss on this disc provides some informative background on the glut of (mostly Japanese) influences that inform Super Infra-Man, including the kind of unapologetic "borrowing" (?) this film did with regard to the Kamen Rider franchise. Younger eyes may see this film as kind of (singular) Mighty Morphin Power Ranger outing, with a "genetically altered" superhero fighting outlandish oversized kaiju adjacent monsters. This was a kind of "late breaking" attempt by Shaw Brothers to cash in on a craze, and if it's unavoidably derivative and often incredibly goofy, it's also a lot of fun in somewhat the same way that old time Saturday serials like the Flash Gordon entries were to an earlier generation.

Note: Super Inframan had a 1080 release in Region B several years ago courtesy of 88 Films' UK branch, and Svet Atanasov's The Super Inframan Blu-ray review provides more plot information, a list of supplements on that release, and Svet's reaction to the technical presentation. Svet's review also includes screenshots that may be of interest to those who like to "compare and contrast".

Super Inframan Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Super Infra-Man is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's almost overwhelming insert booklet lumps all the films together on its informational page about the transfers, as follows:

All sixteen films in this boxset are presented in their original aspect ratios (all 2.35:1 except for Bewitched, Hex After Hex and Seeding of a Ghost in 1.85:1) with their original Mandarin and/or Cantonese and/or English monaural soundtracks. Every effort has been made to present these films in their original and complete versions using the best materials available.

All sixteen films have been newly restored by Arrow Films in 2025, in collaboration with L'Immagine Ritrovata, Hong Kong Film Archive and Celestial Pictures. The original 35mm negatives for these films were scanned at L'Immagine Ritrovata Asia and restored in 2K resolution at L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna. Super Inframan, Oily Maniac, Battle Wizard, Black Magic, Black Magic Part 2, Hex, Hex Vs. Witchcraft, Hex After Hex and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star were graded at R3store Studios, London. Bewitched, Bat Without Wings, Bloody Parrot, The Fake Ghost Catchers, Demon of the Lute, Seeding of a Ghost and Portrait in Crystal were restored at Dragon DI, Wales. These restorations have used the entire film negative without resorting to the practice of "frame-cutting" resulting in the loss of film frames at each negative splice point.

The mono mixes were remastered from the original sound negatives at L'Immagine Ritrovata. Additional sound remastering was completed by Þorsteinn Gíslason. The audio synch will often seem loose against the picture, due to the fact that the dialogue and sound effects were recorded entirely during post-production, as per the production standards of the period.

All film materials supplied for these restorations were made available from the Hong Kong Film Archive via Celestial Pictures.

The American cut of Super Inframan, titled Infra-Man, is remastered using a composite of the newly restored Hong Kong version and selected excerpts from a 35mm US exhibition print. This print also featured a rare quadrophonic sound mix ("Stereo-Infra-Sound") that is featured here, for the first time on home video. The print, as well as 16mm TV spots and a 7" record with two radio spots, was scanned by Film-Tech Cinema Systems in Richardson, Texas. Special thanks to Lee Demarbre for granting us access to the 35mm print, and to Jarrod Varney for supplying the TV and radio spots.

The original camera negative for Bewitched is conformed to a censored version missing select scenes in the first two reels. When the film was originally remastered in high-definition by Celestial Pictures in 2007, these additional scenes were scanned from a lower-quality element as the negatives for them could not be located. When preparing for this new restoration, this element could not be located anymore either, so the scenes have been incorporated from the earlier HD master instead.

The original trailers were restored by Arrow Films from the original 35mm materials held at the Hong Kong Film Archive. Special thanks to King-Wei Chu and Denis-Carl Robidaux for donating and scanning additional trailers for Bat Without Wings and Bloody Parrot.

There are some noticeable differences between this release and the older 88 Films Region B release even when doing a side by side screenshot comparison. Look, for example, at the screenshots in position 4 in both reviews, and the improvement in color timing and saturation in this new version can be pretty easily seen. All important reds are much more vibrant and less orange looking here, and across the board the palette really pops quite impressively. Detail levels are appealing, and fine detail on some of the crazy monsters is surprisingly strong. There are no major signs of age related wear and tear, and grain resolves appealingly throughout the presentation.

Super Inframan Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Super Infra-Man features LPCM Mono tracks in Mandarin, Cantonese and English. The English track is sui generis, with different music (obviously modeled on Lalo Schifrin's iconic work on Mission: Impossible) and even what to me sound like altered effects, and so comparing it to the Cantonese and Mandarin tracks is probably a fool's errand. The English language track ends rather abruptly, though at what sounds like an actual accurate cue wrap up, around 20 seconds before the freeze frame at the end of the film fades out. Between the two Chinese tracks, the Mandarin is slightly fuller bodied, especially in the high end, which is noticeably thinner on the Cantonese track. All three tracks can show a bit of brightness on the high end, mostly audible during the hyperbolic scoring moments or outrageous sound effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Super Inframan Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng & Erik Ko


• US Theatrical Version (HD; 1:29:55) has the following information imparted on the submenu:

  For the American release (titled Infra-Man) in 1976, distributor Joseph Brenner commissioned a new opening credits sequence and a new soundtrack, with some minor edits made to the transformation sequences. This version is presented here via seamless branching with the revised credits and "Stereo-Infra-Sound" four track surround mix sourced from an archive print.

  (This comes with a warning for epileptics. The audio track is DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 on this version. Optional English subtitles are available.)


• Interview with Bruce Le (HD; 24:36) is a new interview with Le.


• Super Ultra Infra Action (HD; 13:13) is a newly procuded video essay by Steven Sloss discussing the Shaw Brothers' "brief flirtation with the tokusatsu genre".


• Trailer Gallery

HK Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin) (HD; 3:56)




HK Theatrical Trailer (Cantonese) (HD; 3:56)




German Theatrical Trailer (HD; 3:30)




US Theatrical Trailer 1 (HD; 3:15)




US Theatrical Trailer 2 (HD; 3:10) also comes with a warning for epileptics.




US TV Spots (HD; 2:40)




US Radio Spots (HD; 00:57) play to key art.

Super Inframan Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A kind of comically bug eyed red suited hero by any other name would probably still be as goofy as whatever you end up calling both the focal character and the film, but Super Infra-Man is quite a bit of fun when taken on its own absurdist merits. Technical merits are generally solid (video more so than audio), and as usual Arrow has assembled some great supplements. Recommended.