As B-movies go, this movie is hilarious and absolutely entertaining. If renegade macho posturing, over-the-top costuming and sound effects and the genuinely comic manners of “flawless kills” can easily coalesce into something transcendent for you; this camp martial arts flick will not be a waste of time.
After this movie, I got the sudden urge to slap on some “Brut” cologne, do squats and hold my breath until laughter prompted release…This is THE Ninja movie. All of the classic elements are here: smoke bombs, climbing claws, shurikens, villainy… you name it, it’s in there.
The movie opens with an excellent trial, where Cole must defeat legions of opposing ninjas (fellow students), then make it back to base and calmly recite the Nine Levels of Power in front of Master Komori. To this day I have a .wav file of the Nine Levels of Power… it is a cool scene.
The bulk of the movie is setting up the rivalry between Hasegawa and Cole. Hasegawa, being the evil, black-clad Ninja that he is, causes as much mayhem as possible, culminating in the killing of Cole’s buddy Frank. Cole, being the good white-clad Ninja, must now (of course) avenge his buddy’s death and face Hasegawa one-on-one.
I won’t tell you the outcome of the final battle, but I will say that it is a classic Ninja battle. You won’t be disappointed. Sure it is a silly movie, but you aren’t watching it for its screenplay, are you? You may never want to see it more than once, but Enter the Ninja is definitely worth seeing. Check it out!
Martial Arts Movies
Yuen Biao plays the pampered son of a wealthy businessman who discovers his Kung Fu training has been a sham. He struggles to learn real Wing Chun Kung Fu from a Chinese opera performer (Lam Ching Ying) and his oddball brother (Sammo Hung). This film is simply one of the best and most [...]
Martial Arts Movies
This Video Starts Out with a Blank Screen. Please hit PLAY. The Great Gordon Liu stars in this Shaw Brothers classic! Not as polished as later films by Chia-Liang Liu, “Challenge of the Masters” is still a pretty slick accomplishment when gauged against other contemporary Hong Kong films. Shot in 1976, 2 [...]
Martial Arts Movies
Countdown of the 10 deadliest weapons in the Kung Fu combat arsenal. This video is slightly off topic, but contains some absolutely amazing footage of Martial Arts weaponry and techniques. If you love Kung Fu, then you will really appreciate this documentary. I found the footage extremely interesting and very informative. It contains [...]
Martial Arts Movies
“Bruce Lee Fights Back From The Grave” is a very misleading title from legendary grind-house distributor Aquarius. Run by the late Australian-born exploitation genius Terry Levene, Aquarius, renowned for their lowest-of-low budget Martial Arts Movies and Sonny Chiba re-edits, hobbled together this low budget gem with an extremely mild Bruce Lee impersonation for [...]
Martial Arts Movies
Japan is in serious turmoil: Demons have infested Edo, taking possession of earthly forms and bending them to their unholy will. On top of that, the rebirth of Ashura, Queen of the demons, is nigh. The only thing that stands against this grave threat are the Demon Wardens, a fearsome group of warriors, [...]
Martial Arts Movies
Season 1 Episode 2: Zatoichi befriends a young boy named Tarokichi, who is the son of a wealthy merchant. Zatoichi generously agrees to take the boy to his father after learning that that the boy’s mother has died. Zatoichi and the boy soon find themselves being pursued by greedy Yakuza who aim to [...]
Martial Arts Movies
Season 1, Episode 1: While traveling, Zatoichi meets a kindly stranger named Tatsuso. They travel together to Ashido Village, home to a copper mine, where corrupt government officials and a ruthless Yakuza boss named Yasaburo terrorize the locals and slowly run them out of their businesses. Zatoichi learns that his traveling companion was [...]
Martial Arts Movies
Eighteen Claws of Shaolin (also known as “18 Jade Pearls”) may not be up to the same standards as a classic Shaw Bros epic, but there’s an interesting blend of murder mystery and Martial Arts action that makes the movie worth watching. A white-maned powerhouse Lord goes off to duel with a swordsman [...]
Kung Fu Movies
This film is one of the great Samurai movies. Our story begins with two seemingly unconnected persons (a modern, western-style doctor and an aging samurai) who discover they are inexplicably linked to a third man: Kanichiro Yoshimura.
The plot thickens when we gradually find out that one of the men (the doctor) only knows [...]