Anyone who knows me knows about my affinity for action films. Especially the ones from the late 1960’s through the early 2000’s, when they weren’t about massive budgets and a plethora of CGI effects. The era I’m referring to is when the action star ruled the world. The cinema was flooded with films from the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Dolph Lundgren, and Sylvester Stallone. While these guys were doing big studio pictures, there was a whole other group of performers aspiring to that same level, working strictly in low budget films for smaller studios or production companies like Cannon Films, PM Entertainment, Imperial Entertainment, and Roger Corman’s New Horizons. There you would find the likes of performers such as Cynthia Rothrock, Gary Daniels, Richard Norton, and Don “The Dragon” Wilson. Then, there was another level below those personalities who struggled to get their films made, instead producing them independently with the hopes of landing distribution. Here you would find people like Ivan Rogers, Ron Marchini, or Leo Fong. In that group, had the film been released during that time period, you would have found John Liu and New York Ninja.

John Liu (Secret Rivals) plays a man whose wife is murdered by a mysterious gang responsible for a slew of missing women in New York City. After witnessing firsthand the rise in violent crime, John pulls out his ninja garb and decides to take the law into his own hands. A mild-mannered sound recorder for a local reporter during the day, but when there’s trouble in the streets, he becomes the New York Ninja. With the Plutonium Killer on the streets, the city feels under siege but the ninja is ready to do whatever it takes to not only get revenge but to make the city streets safe again.

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New York Ninja is a film that has an incredibly interesting back story. To make a long story short, it’s a lost film shot around 1984 written, directed, and starring John Liu. For one reason or another, mostly budgetary, the production was shut down and the film never finished. Fast-forward thirty plus years, and Vinegar Syndrome acquires the original, unedited footage. The sound elements are long lost and in steps in filmmaker Kurtis Spieler, who takes on the task of piecing together the elements, hiring actors to do the voice work, and turning this mess into a cohesive film.

What Spieler and his team accomplished is nothing short of amazing. New York Ninja is everything it should be and more. For fans of cult hits like Miami Connection or Action U.S.A., N.Y.N. is every bit as deserving as those titles for the attention. A film like this is very difficult to review because, really, it’s a bad movie. For whatever reason, it remained unfinished — money, time, or just because it was bad — the attention to detail to re-create a film from that time period is un-paralleled. Without any other elements to work with other than the footage, a script was created and actors like Don Wilson, Cynthia Rothrock, Ginger Lynn Allen, Michael Berryman, Leon Isaac Kennedy, and Linnea Quigley were brought in to voice the various characters. Everyone did a fantastic job, especially Quigley whose voice matches so closely to the actress she dubbed, Adrienne Meltzer.

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Spieler tries his best to stay true to the original vision, but never shies away from the opportunity to have a few laughs. There’s plenty of martial arts action, ninjas on roller skates, a radioactive killer — it’s just pure fun from start to finish. Another aspect of the film, which aids in its success, is the soundtrack. Back in May of this year, I published a list of artists I felt deserved to be heard and on that list is VOYAG3R. They were brought in to write the score and created something that feels 100% authentic to the time period and really helps to drive the film forward. I’ve been listening to the soundtrack CD for days, and it works not only to accompany the film but as a stand-alone piece. So if New York Ninja isn’t your thing, the score works on its own.

Movies like this are one in a million. Opportunities like this are completely rare, and I’m not so sure anything like this has ever been done before. New York Ninja shows what modern passion and technology can do for something lost and forgotten. It takes you back to a classic time period so many people have an affinity for and gives you a glimpse at New York City in 1984, a New York City that no longer exists. Bravo to the entire Vinegar Syndrome team who made this a reality, giving fans of an era long gone something new to discover and share with friends, and preserving the past in a way no one really has. I LOVE New York Ninja!

New York Ninja is available now from Vinegar Syndrome in a loaded Limited Edition 2-disc Blu-ray box. VOYAG3R’s soundtrack as well as their previous releases (and other Merch) can be found at their Official Site.

new york ninja


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