We finally have the original Cannon Films Sho Kosugi ‘ninja trilogy’ on good home video formats! Sure, its a couple decades later than it should have happened, and at a time when the public is giving up physical media in droves, … Continued
A review of Samurai Reincarnation (Makai Tensho — 1981) by guest columnist Tenebrous Kate __________________________________________ EDITOR’S NOTE: While Kinji Fukasaku’s version of this surreal epic, starring Sonny Chiba, Kenji Sawada, Akiko Kana, and Hiroyuki Sanada isn’t an outright ninja movie, between Chiba’s shinobi-pedigreed … Continued
Let’s all help some readers ID some great old newspaper and magazine clippings: Ryan Jones runs a great tumblr called Oldtype/Newtype — archiving old issues of Newtype magazine, and ran across this article from September of 1987. Neither of us … Continued
Sonny Chiba made his American convention debut the last weekend in March at a show called Monsterpalooza in Burbank, CA. This once intimate, now massive, gathering of visual effects artists and Monster Kids is known for making history with guests … Continued
SEVENTEEN NINJA (JUSHICHININ NO NINJA, 1963) is the typical 60’s Japanese boom film in that: 1.) It’s GREAT. 2.) It’s noir-as-hell — painted in gorgeous chiaroscuro cinematography. 3.) It’s also noir-as-hell because (from the gospel of James Ellroy) pretty much everybody in it is fucked. And… … Continued
Scored this odd publicity still, which is not in the usual press kits I’ve found from Enter the Ninja. It’s kind of a dingy, soft pic that may have been left on the cutting room floor somewhere. But while the quality is … Continued
Dateline: Hollywood, CA — 9-14-2014 It’s not often I talk ninja cartoons with college educators, but today was the exception. Jonathan M. Hall, a Japanese film scholar from Pomona College screened three episodes of Shirato Sanpei shinobi TV treasures at the … Continued
In the face of the death of physical media, DVD and Bluray packaging continues to be, let’s say… inventive… in its methods of persuasion. Hey, deception was a legit ninja skill, right? As ninja movie fans we’ve all been duped … Continued
If you’re a dinosaur like me, then you still dig physical media and package art when it comes to your video library. To that end, I’m a regular customer of the Warner Archive DVD-On Demand service. Tons of great titles, … Continued
…we take a look back at AMERICAN NINJA! There’s no better way to celebrate the birth of the USA than by looking back at a low-budget exploitation flick based on a Japanese martial art, produced by Israelis, shot in the … Continued