Ninja: American Warrior (1987)

Yes indeed, it's yet another of those hilariously unfathomable cut & splice ninja outings from the 1980's!

I must admit, that this is a particularly confusing entry in this all too little appreciated genre to say the least, for just when you think that you have been introduced to a main protagonist, they are invariably suddenly killed off in some violent manner!

In relation to the aforementioned deaths - they are noticeably rather more 'politically incorrect' (perhaps somewhat of a misnomer in this context I admit) than is generally allowed to be shown here in the west….here we witness such atrocities as a child being strangled to death and in another scene, a pregnant woman brutally stabbed to death in front of her husband!

Even the ninja hero in this is not exactly above a bit of sadism it seems in fact as demonstrated when in one rather bizarre scene he hurls a shuriken into a woman who trades her husbands life in exchange for some jewellery (!!!) and then proceeds to call her and I quote 'You ungrateful bitch!' and a 'Sh*t!' He then slices off her ring finger (with the ill begotten ring still on it!) with another star!

As expected, acting and voice over work is hilariously god awful in this (a factor that always adds to the charm!)

For me though, there is one scene near the end of this that pretty much sums up the joyously carefree ineptitude prevalent throughout the entire film.....

Our hero manages to restrain his nemesis with some fighting hoops...however still not entirely ready to admit defeat the bad guy suddenly launches a sneaky kick, knocking our hero down before attempting to make a break for it......as he turns you can clearly see that he is in fact holding a cigarette in his hand at the time!!!! What the hell?!!! Where did it come from?! Well presumably the actor playing the part was having a puff between takes and in true Ed Wood style film making, the director being too lazy to do another take hoped that no one would notice!!! Incredible!!! Still such complete incompetence only serves to elevate the fun factor here as with other films of it's ilk and so I must wholeheartedly recommend this to all bad movie lovers everywhere! Rejoice my friends.....this is indeed truly craptacular!