View Full Version : Good ninja films
Hi all
Can anyone name me some good nija films
preferably cheap ones :D
cheers all
there are very few good ninja films in existence... the few that exist are generally not available on DVD... i recommend waiting a few months for the Hong Kong Legends release of "Ninja in the Dragons Den"...
the best Ninja films are listed here:
http://www.illuminatedlantern.com/ninja/ninjaindex.html
Beverly Hills Ninja?? ;) :D
Jimi_Hendrix2001
16-01-2002, 19:10
American Ninja 1 2 & 3 :D I love them!!!
Bapapapa
16-01-2002, 19:24
The Master - with Lee van Cleef
:nuts:
I recommend Duel to the Death, also you can get it cheap from dddhouse.com.
Here is a review by Michael Brooke (http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/index.cgi?html=y&id=reviews/other/dueltothedeath.html)
How about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.....
Tyler Durden
16-01-2002, 21:18
HKL Iron Monkey
Try looking out for the Babycart series. Although they're more about a Ronin, there's plenty of ninja action along the way, and all the films are superb IMHO.
HOWEVER!!!!! The R2 releases feature picture quality that leaves a little to be desired. I have heard that they're being remastered and polished for a R1 release soon, which will be fantastic. So far as I know, only one episode got cut, and that was a trim to a rape scene. The films are all frequently very violent and extremely bloody. The combat is mostly handled in a traditional way, with long tense pauses before sudden death. Some feel that the Babycart gains a few too many items of heavy artillery in some of the later films, but I still like them none the less. If you've seen Big Trouble In Little China, you'll realise that John Carpenter is a BIG fan of the movies.
Ninja III - The Domination.:)
Just got this the other week from Blackstar for 6.99 (using a £3 off voucher). To be honest its a pretty poor transfer and not much better then my VHS copy but its still a great film IMO.
is shogun assassin part of the babycart series?
Arch Stanton
17-01-2002, 12:45
Originally posted by arkham
is shogun assassin part of the babycart series?
Shogan Assasin was a film made up of bits of 3 ( i think ) baby cart films by some opertunist western film company.
Michael Brooke
17-01-2002, 12:56
By far the best ninja film I’ve ever seen is Chang Cheh’s legendary <I>Five Element Ninjas</I> (aka <I>Super Ninjas</I>) from 1981, a gloriously OTT supernatural romp in which the ninjas of the title have fighting skills based on the five Chinese elements – gold, wood, water, fire and earth – which leads to some mind-bogglingly inventive confrontations.
Chang Cheh has been sorely underrated by HK film fans, largely because he mostly worked in the 1960s and 1970s (as opposed to the far more fashionable 1980s and 1990s) and most of his films aren’t even available on video, never mind DVD. But he’s the artistic great-grandfather of the likes of Tsui Hark, Ching Siu-Tung and John Woo (who was Chang’s former assistant), and the few films of his that I’ve managed to see have been genuinely jaw-dropping.
I’ve heard rumours that there’s a DVD available, but apparently it’s pan-and-scan (from 2.35:1!) and dubbed into English. If I can’t at least match what I saw at the Scala Cinema in the mid-1980s (where the audience broke into applause at several points during the film), I’m not interested.
As for stuff that is available in half-decent versions, I second the recommendation for <I>Duel to the Death</I> - but I also agree that the number of good ninja films is outnumbered by atrocious ones by about a thousand to one!
Originally posted by Arch Stanton
Shogan Assasin was a film made up of bits of 3 ( i think ) baby cart films by some opertunist western film company.
It's actually from the first two - Mainly from part two, from what I remember. It's very good in it's own right, and features a well done dub. The voice of the kid is none other than.... Sandra Bernhard!!!!
charlie angel
17-01-2002, 13:40
All this ninja talk has got me excited - gonna check out Duel To The Death :)
Michael Brooke
17-01-2002, 13:45
Here's my <A HREF="http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/reviews/other/dueltothedeath.html">review</A>!
i recommend:
Duel to the Death (review in sig link) (dddhouse very cheap)
Brotherhood of the ninja (harder to find)
ninja in the dragon's den (due from HKL)
Iron Monkey has some nice ninja costumes and is a superb film - but no real ninja in it.
and of course:
American Ninja :D
I'm a huge Chang Cheh fan as well, since getting hooked on his 'Venoms' flicks back in the '95 with MIHK widescreen VHS releases of...
<I>Five Venoms</i>
<I>Invincible Shaolin</i>
Lately I've been trying to purchase his stuff on DVD but the only 'real' versions one can get are pseudo bootlegs on r1 DVD.
Most are reviewed here (http://www.dvdcult.com/KFDVDReviews.htm)
I've had varied success...
I managed to get <I>Crippled Avengers</i> (http://www.dvdcult.com/rev_Return5DV.htm) (dubiously renamed <i>Return of the Five Deadly Venoms</I>) from ********* (http://www.*********.com/) £9.99 late last year (decent 2.20:1 transfer with english dub) but I've have no luck acquiring <I>Chinese Super Ninjas</I> (http://www.dvdcult.com/rev_SuperNinjas.htm) and truly dreadful luck with <I>Kid With The Golden Arm</I> (http://www.dvdcult.com/rev_KidGoldArm.htm) (apparentely - I discovered after ordering it - they are two versions out there...
1) a WS transfer from a video master
2) a P&S version matted to 1.66:1 taken from a 4th/5th generation VHS copy with awful sound!
Guess which one I got?! :mad:
So the DVD's are out there - there's just a lot of perils and pitfalls involved!
Good news is that a company has finally gotten hold of the Shaw Brothers back catalogue and is hoping to get them officially released in the near future. See here (http://hk.bcmagazine.net/cgi-bin/output.cgi?issue=106&&id=19).
Anyone interested in 'Venoms' films, and <I>Chinese Super Ninjas</I> sometimes get called one (as it has a lot of the same people involved mainly behind the scenes, I think only one Venom (Toad) actually stars) should go here (http://206.27.124.125/fdv/)
I don't need to see Ninja films, for all I need do is don a suitable, home-made outfit and stalk the skyscrapers at night.
I've had a little training, I can 'mumbo' with the best of them. I taught Sonny Chiba all he knows. I tell ya, he knows better than to f@kc with me.
Once, a small boy tugged at my blackened garment and asked me what the secret way of the ninja was, exactly. I merely replied that the ninjas are not interested in secret lifestyles, they're here to do good, for the memory of the master. I then hacked his head off, placed it on a silver platter and delivered it to his family in the dead of night, for his insolence.
You will never learn the way of the ninja fom a movie. The true path to tred is to go to a Bruce Lee convention and call everyone you meet a poof. It may sound harsh but to achieve perfection one must strive for the golden egg of opportunity. Or was that lucky charms?
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