"You fool! You can not stop me! I am the ninja! No one, nothing can stop me!" Christie (Lucinda Dickey) is possessed by a killer ninja spirit and is out for blood. But how will this affect her career as a telephone poll worker and part-time aerobics instructor? Ugh, it makes you just wanna doing jumping jacks with weights, amirite? As one can clearly see, Ninja III: The Domination is a pretty silly movie. A blend of Flashdance, The Exorcist and every ninja movie out there. Then again, what else would you expect from Cannon?
Decades of Horror 1980s
Episode 128 – Ninja III: The Domination (1984)
After an elaborate fight sequence at a golf course, Ninja III: The Domination continues the train of insanity tenfold by having the killing machine Black Ninja (David Chung) die after a police shootout and struggle with Christie. Christie is haunted by bizarre dreams and swords on strings, which hurts her budding relationship with cop/creepy hairy stalker Billy (Jordan Bennet). Now under the possessive influence of the Black Ninja's spirit, Christie proceeds to murder each of the officers who participated in the shootout, baffling the cop who is literally sleeping with her on a nightly basis. The only person with any kind of effectiveness is the mysterious Yamada (Sho Kosugi), who arrives from Japan to get his vengeance on The Black Ninja who killed his master and left him with one eye. Ninjitsu and 80s hair ensue from here.
To break down all the insanity of Ninja III: The Domination, Doc Rotten, Christopher G. Moore and Thomas Mariani look into this genre mashup to find a method to the madness. There's much love for the silly manic energy that made Cannon such a unique film production company. All the bad ADR, excessive use of explosions and physics-defying martial arts are dissected here. Doc Rotten is delighted that genre favorite James Hong has a cameo. Christopher makes a strong argument for this being the most 80s film ever covered on the show. Thomas brings to light the serious struggle Ninja III: The Domination highlights of PTSF (Post Traumatic Stock Footage) Syndrome. All of this and more can be shoved into your eardrums like a shuriken to the face.
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Special thanks to Neon Devils for their awesome song Bone Chillin!
Next EpisodeFrom Beyond (1986)
