I’m going to lose my favored nation status over at Golden Ninja Warrior Chronicles by admitting this, but I have never seen the Hong Kong [see UPDATE below] ninja-sploitation flick the Yugoslavians called Ninja Ratnici. Mmm… more nasty quality press stills from … Continued
An oddity among the tokusatsu status quo is the 1973 12-episode series Majin Hunter Mitsurugi, mainly for its use of stop-motion animation instead of stuntmen in rubber suits. It has its other quirks too, though, such as the heroes: Sure, … Continued
These stills from a Turkish/Yugoslav/Romanian market press kit are pretty low in quality, but some are variants from the usual lot seen in American kits. People don’t give Ninja III: The Domination enough credit. It’s a smart as hell release, … Continued
Found this crazy image on tumblr and was immediately struck by similarities to one of my favorite pieces of movie marketing ever: This publicity still from The Abominable Dr. Phibes – and if you’ve never seen this 1971 Vincent Price … Continued
It was one of the few Japanese ninja movies that actually made it to U.S. shores in the 80s, and what a weird choice. Full of fantasy special effects, bizarre super powered evil monks, sadism and rape and decapitated girls … Continued
From the art book companion to the 1969 animated Kamui theatrical compilation film and 26 episode TV series. Some great designs here by Shuichi Seki, faithful to the Shirato Sanpei manga originals but with that rough, sketchy look popular in … Continued
These are from a set of POORLY repro’d press/publicity photos from Enter the Ninja‘s Yugoslavian theatrical release. Wonder if that amazing Kosugi credit sequence had the same craze-launching lighting bolt effect on European audiences that it did for us?
2001s Red Shadow (aka Akakage) is the sort of remake/adaptation that watches fine if you are TOTALLY unfamiliar with the source property. That way, you’re not aware of the squandered opportunity for a modern digital-age superhero ninja vs. monster romp. … Continued
Gotta wonder about the mentality of the ‘monster-of-the-week’ in these tokusatasu properties… I can see the first boss baddie being all gung-ho, the second and third obsessed with revenge and whatnot, but after a year or two of the mystically-invulnerable … Continued
Sci-Fi Japan is reporting Nukenin – retitled Rogue Ninja – is coming to Euro-regioned DVD. So where’s OURS!?!? This movie’s been out for years, ‘Merikins love our sword gals, too, and Alien vs. Ninja was a festival circuit hit. No … Continued