In 1986, two movie productions took place in Dallas that revolved around robotic police. RoboCop became a hit in summer 1987, turned into a classic and influenced the sci-fi and action for years to come.

On the other hand, ROTOR received no US theatrical distribution and just saw the light of day on VHS and cable. Did it deserve obscurity versus the fame of RoboCop?

Heck yeah. While RoboCop helped redefine its genre, ROTOR offers an embarrassingly awful project.

Scientist/police captain Dr. Barrett C. Coldyron (Richard Gesswein) develops an automated crime fighter he dubs “Robotic Officer Tactical Operations Research/Reserve” – or “ROTOR” for short. However, his superior Division Commander Earl Buglar (Michael Hunter) pressures Coldyron to rush the job and cut corners to get ROTOR on the job ASAP to benefit the presidential campaign of project sponsor Senator Donald Douglas.

When Coldyron refuses these orders, incompetent underlings finish the task. This backfires, as ROTOR (Carroll Brandon Baker) malfunctions and becomes a violent threat to public safety.

Given release dates, it becomes easy to see ROTOR as a knockoff of RoboCop. However, since the two shot virtually simultaneously, this doesn’t prove correct.

That said, ROTOR does borrow liberally from 1984’s Terminator and Judge Dredd. It even stole its poster art from 1979’s Mad Max.

Actually, I will admit that ROTOR doesn’t share much with RoboCop beyond the concept of the robotic law enforcement officer. As implied, ROTOR acts more like a mix of Terminator and Judge Dredd, so he doesn’t turn into a literal Robo-copy.

All that said, the film’s liberal use of outside influences becomes the least of its problems. I could enjoy a “wannabe” movie if it worked.

Which ROTOR doesn’t. Not only does it lack even the most basic entertainment value, but also it turns into one of the worst-made flicks I’ve ever seen.

I figured I’d encounter trouble early via a scene that involves a corpse who blinked and moved her head. Matters don’t improve from there across this intensely amateurish effort.

Elsewhere on this disc, we get an audio commentary wherein a good chunk of the track revolves around what critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain view as the superficial and “snark-heavy” nature of online movie reviews, and I can’t argue with them there. Too much discussion just devolves into sarcastic barbs and not much more.

However, in this case, methinks they protest too much, as ROTOR genuinely doesn’t deserve much more than snotty putdowns. Incompetent to an extreme, the movie can’t even achieve “so bad it’s good status”.

Indeed, so much goes wrong with this disaster that it becomes difficult to know where to start. I suppose that pacing arguably turns into the movie’s biggest problem, though.

No scene that should last 30 seconds runs under two minutes. Segments ramble interminably for no discernible narrative purpose.

For instance, early in the tale, we spend an extended span with Coldyron as he eats breakfast, roams his ranch, drives to work and then goes to lunch with his girlfriend. Does one second of this serve the story?

Nope. Literally this entire sequence could’ve gotten cut and it wouldn’t have been missed at all.

I suppose one could theoretically view this as a “getting to know you” bit of exposition. It fails in that regard but I guess one could see it that way.

If that pointless experience say in isolation, it’d be one thing. However, ROTOR comes packed with scenes of this sort, and others come at much more inopportune times.

This means that in the third act – just when the story needs to move ahead with real momentum – we watch Coldyrion and Steele as they check into a hotel and then wander around the place. Admittedly, the movie didn’t enjoy a real forward push anyway, but the decision to waste time with an utterly superfluous sequence makes the progression even less interesting.

ROTOR boasts maybe a half an hour of actual narrative stretched painfully to 90 minutes. Even when the movie indulges in action, it remains tedious and fails to kick into gear.

It doesn’t help that the filmmakers love to indulge in lousy stabs at self-aware comedy. In one scene, a character utters “what do you think this is, some low-budget sci-fi flick?”

Ha ha? Nah nah.

Even more painful, one extended sequence crams in as many Beach Boys references as possible. This doesn’t seem clever, as instead, it comes across as annoyingly self-indulgent.

The acting veers from utterly wooden to relentlessly over the top. Nothing in between ever becomes part of the production.

Honestly, I could go on forever about all the flaws of ROTOR - like the unstoppable weapon who freaks out if someone honks a car horn. Suffice it to say that ROTOR becomes a thoroughly terrible movie that offers not one moment of entertainment.

ROTOR appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. For the most part, this became a pretty good presentation.

Most of the movie brought positive delineation. A few shots leaned a bit soft but most of the flick looked fairly accurate.

I saw no jaggies or moiré effects, and edge haloes remained absent. Grain felt appropriate and print flaws remained absent.

ROTOR went with a mostly natural palette that came across well. While the colors didn’t dazzle, they seemed suitable for the movie’s look.

Blacks seemed reasonably deep and dense, while low-light shots became largely accessible. Though this didn’t become a visual showcase, it still appeared more than satisfactory for a cheap 1987 sci-fi/horror flick.

Given its roots, the movie’s LPCM monaural soundtrack seemed adequate. As noted in the body of the review, the film suffered from a lot of dodgy looping.

Those lines came across as clumsy but the rest fared better. Dialogue could seem a little edgy but remained acceptable.

Music and effects lacked much range and could lean a bit rough. Still, those elements also felt decent for the movie’s age and budget, so I didn’t encounter any significant issues with the mix, mediocre as it became.

As we shift to extras, we launch with an audio commentary from film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain. Both sit together for a running, screen-specific look at “schlock” movies, the state of film criticism, genre domains and influences, some production notes and their thoughts about the movie.

As mentioned in the body of my review, I agree with Budrewicz and Wain’s disdain for much of online criticism, though I think they spend too much time with that domain. I also find their attempts to argue that ROTOR doesn’t deserve its status as an incompetent piece of crap flawed because… well, it is an incompetent piece of crap.

These issues aside, Budrewicz and Wain offer a moderately engaging chat. As much as I disagree, I appreciate their alternate views on ROTOR. I wish we got more about the movie’s actual production, but this nonetheless turns into a fairly likable track.

Two featurettes follow, and A Matter of Character goes for nine minutes, 55 seconds. Actor Bill Blair becomes the subject of this one.

Blair talks about his career and time on ROTOR. He brings a decent overview, though it seems odd he describes it as a predecessor to RoboCop since they shot at the same time - and he worked on both!

Machine Head spans 39 minutes, 40 seconds and brings back Budrewicz and Wain to discuss the "Robo-Schlock" genre. At times this feels more like an appreciation but the pair manage to cover the topic reasonably well.

Along with the film's trailer, we get a Stills Gallery with a whopping four - four! - shots from the movie. It seems pointless.

Even for a low-budget genre flick, ROTOR becomes a completely atrocious production. Absolutely nothing about it works. The Blu-ray provides solid visuals, mediocre audio and a decent array of bonus features. Expect a thoroughly incompetent film.

Note that this Blu-ray of ROTOR appears only as part of a five-movie collection called "Enter the Video Store: Video Vengeance". The package also includes Ministry of Vengeance, The Final Alliance, Hang Fire and Joshua Tree.