South-of-the-Border Shinobi
¡Holá Amigos! The ninja craze may have been a fusion of Japanese martial and cinematic traditions filtered through American 1980s pop culture, but it spread to every civilized corner of the globe and no geographic or linguistic market was spared … Continued
Looking forward to lucky 13…
We launched this site 13 years ago today, and despite the fact I’m constantly prodded with that “no one reads websites anymore” notion, I don’t care, this right here is where the new e-content is always going to manifest. Whenever … Continued
Great ways to spend those ninja dollars…
There are some nifty new ninja and ninja-adjacent opportunities at hand to lighten your wallet folks: I was delighted with the positive and supportive tone of Austin Trunick‘s first volume of The Cannon Film Guide (as reviewed here) and this … Continued
A 1960 Ninja Version of ‘Man in the Iron Mask’ Has Surfaced!
Once in a (sadly, increasingly seldom) while, an old ninja movie never before available will surface out of Japan, and man do we have a shiny new toy to play with this month!!! Daiei’s Koga no Misshi — coined “Wrath … Continued
THESE FISTS… KILL TREES!
I have great appreciation for a new worthy cause to wipe out some trees, and as an author, book designer and marketing pro myself, These Fists Break Bricks hits me in all three of my hearts! For starters, this 330+ … Continued
Finders of the Lost Ninja
So here you are, thinking you’ve seen and collected it all, and between decades of official releases, budget box sets, bootlegs and streaming rips, you’ve nigh-completed the finite genre that is the 80’s ninja film. Then labels like AGFA and … Continued
VN’s Japanese Ninja Movie & TV Guide is HERE!
At over 50 pages and even more titles (with more to come on the to-be-entered stack), loaded with visuals and recommendations, here’s your singular resource on Japanese ninja movies and TV from the silent era to the booms of the … Continued
MIKE STONE: ‘THE FIRST NINJA’
“Aloha friends, another beautiful day in paradise.” It’s how Mike Stone begins every post on Facebook from his home in the Philippines, where he’s currently working with a writer on an extensive biography of his storied life and career(s). He’s … Continued
Hey, we’re 12!
Today marks the 12th anniversary of VN‘s first ever post, and coincidentally I was 12 when the 1980s ninja craze more or less ‘officially’ kicked off with the release of Enter the Ninja in 1981. I bring up Enter because … Continued
Everything old is new, but old, but newly old, again, again…
It is the summer of 1984, and I am baffled. Hiroyuki ‘Henry’ Sanada has been with me through every phase of my ninja fandom. Desperately hungry for ANYTHING ninja in the mid-80s and as pasted to HBO as any other … Continued