European (and other French-language market) lobby cards for Sho Kosugi‘s 9 Deaths of the Ninja, known abroad as American Ninja (where American Ninja was known as American Warrior). The 1984-85 span was a trying one for the ninja craze. Sho … Continued
Cannon’s 1981 press kit for Enter the Ninja featured newspaper-ready B&W ad mats and a 30-page document heralding, and I quote: …the first Western film to deal solely with the mysterious and elusive art of Ninjutsu. It will set the … Continued
(REVISED) There’s almost 30 years spanning the two home video releases of the movie you see above. THREE DECADES! Just as we’re facing the death of DVD and brick-and-mortar video retail in general, we finally have Enter the Ninja commercially … Continued
Slammed as I’ve been, I just now got around to watching the MGM DVD-On-Demand of Enter the Ninja. Full review and some other ETN bonuses going up later this week, but in the meantime let’s just take a moment to … Continued
Been thinking about this. Spaghetti Westerns – films made by Italian directors, shot in Spain, released by studios in Rome and imported into the US. In the 60s they turned the tried and true American Western on its ass. Gone were … 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?
This is a press still from the climax of Enter the Ninja, which shows some great detail all but missed is the actual film. I guess if you paused the DVD or Blu-Ray of Enter at the right instant, you … Continued
When 1985’s Pray for Death was released, we were none the wiser that Sho Kosugi and Cannon Films had parted ways, and that this began his struggles to get a decent budget and good distribution for his shinobi-centric vehicles. To … Continued
At the apex of the 80’s ninja boom, I was in my early teens, had disposable income from odd jobs and a dad willing to put his name as an adult on a mail-in order to a martial arts supply … Continued
The Revenge of the Ninja OST is one of the finest pieces of action movie synth released in the 80s, if not the best. Nothing will inspire your fog-shrouded weapons chest power-up montage like the soaring Asian-y keyboards of prolific … Continued