The Film (5/5)

    Cannon Films never met a ninja they didn't like. Throughout the 80's the studio known for resurrecting the careers of Charles Bronson and Chuck Norris,  made 8 films with NINJA in the title including 5 American Ninja films, and 3 films in what has become known as the Ninja Trilogy. These 3 films, Enter the Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja, and this month's Scream Factory Blu-ray upgrade Ninja III: The Domination are not connected by a continuous story, but by a single actor, one of the most underrated of 80's action stars, Sho Kosugi, who portrayed a ninja in all 3 films.

    Ninja III: The Domination opens with a ninja assassin (David Chung) gathering his ninja weaponry and undergoing an assassination in broad daylight on a golf course (yes, a golf course).  He manages to kill his target, and everyone associated with the target. However, this sets off a police chase which kills a good number of the police, but ends in his death. In the moments before his death he stumbles on a telephone repair person/aerobics instructor Christie (Lucinda Dickey), and possesses her with his ninja spirit in order to see revenge on the cops that took him down. Unfortunately, she manages to fall in love with Billy Second (Jordan Bennett), one of the cops which killed the ninja. This complicates his plan. Billy doesn't like Christie's shifting behavior, and thinks the dead ninja might have something to do with it, and hires Yamada(Sho Kosugi), a rival ninja who has come from Japan to seek revenge to help her.

   If you were to ask me what my favorite Cannon Film was (and I wasn't listing off their more serious output like Cassavetes' Love Streams) Ninja III would easily be in top 3. It is packed with such off the wall absurdity, that I can't help but have fun every time I watch it. It's a film that blends the trademark over the top Cannon action with Exorcist-like horror sequences to create a film unlike any other.  This film has everything from V-8 drenched sex scenes, to Sho Kosugi versus an undead ninja. This is the sort of film that has something for every fan of bizarre cult cinema, and I just can't think of a negative against it.

Audio/Video (4/5)

    Scream's last Blu-ray of Ninja III: The Domination looked quite solid, but this is a definite improvement. This Blu-ray edition is presented 1:85:1 in a 1080p AVC encoded transfer it has strong detail, deep blacks, solid textures, including natural grain.

    Audio is handled by an English DTS-HD MA track in English. This track sounds quite solid with dialogue and score coming through clearly, and with no issues.

Extras (4/5)

    One area where the original Scream Factory release could have really seen improvement was the extras slate, and they have done so with this release. The Blu-ray here has a commentary track with director Sam Firstenberg, an isolated score with audio interviews with Misha Segal and Elliot Ellentuck.  There is also an 18 minute interivew with Lucinda Dickey, a 10 minute interview with Jordan Bennett, an 11 minute interview with producer Alan Amiel, there is a trailers from Hell with Josh Olsen 2 galleries, and the official theatrical trailer.

Overall

    Ninja 3 is one of the most fun films in the Cannon library. The Blu-ray from Scream looks and sounds fantastic, and has a great extras slate. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.