Genre; Ninjasploitation.
Schoolgirl Shinobu Shindo is proclaimed head of her Yakuza family and as such, receives a family heirloom: A little bell on a necklace that summons three mysterious ninja sworn to protect her clan.
Meanwhile a pair of ruthless killers are knocking off Yakuza bigwigs in brutal and messy fashion.
Gee, I wonder if those Ninja Defenders are going to be needed anytime soon.
Last night I watched 1917, which is a superb piece of film making on almost every level and I absolutely loved it.
"Legend... " is not a superb piece of film-making, or even a particularly good film but I still enjoyed it, albeit for vastly different reasons.
The acting is variable in the sense that everybody either emotes with all the intensity of damp cardboard or mugs ferociously to camera. At one point I became worried that one guy was going to be injured by his own flailing eyebrows.
The special effects are distinctly low budget but as seems to be common with this sort of Asian film, are definitely memorable. I couldn't help being impressed - sort of - by the guy getting his face peeled off like a bit of chicken skin on a drumstick. Then there's the monster at the end.
Yes that's right. A film about warring Yakuza that already has mystic ninja in it, then ramps things up even more with rubber monsters. If I just say that this whole thing was created by Go "I am the Stan Lee of exploitation manga" Nagai then it might make more sense.
Really, this is a live action anime right down to the OTT, hot-blooded speechifying. Accept that and everything makes more sense.
The big bonus for me was having a pair of Joshi Puroresu superstars in supporting roles. You get Mayumi Ozaki being chillingly effective as "Female Killer" while Cutey Suzuki is on the side of good as a Ninja Defender. Naturally they square off in an epic martial-arts battle...um... a surprisingly technical wrestling match that goes on for quite a while. It's a strange interlude in a movie that isn't short of strange moments anyway.
Despite the low-budget, the shonky effects, dodgy acting and a story that they might have made up as they went along, I found myself enjoying "Legend of the Shadowy Ninja." because it's so entertainingly daft that you just end up going along with it. If you like the schlockier end of Asian cinema, this might be for you.
WARNING: Do not confuse this film with the 1986 Godfrey Ho cut n' shut effort "Ninja Dragon" which is an unwatchable trainwreck and doesn't have any lady wrestlers in it.
Screenshot time.
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