After striking box office gold with Enter the Ninja (1981) and Revenge of the Ninja (1982), Cannon Films released Ninja III: The Domination (1984). Despite the fact that all three films feature the famed Japanese martial artist Sho Kosugi as the titular ninja, their narratives share nothing in common. While Cannon’s previous two ninja features were earnest action films, Ninja III doubled down on the franchise’s inanity, bestowing fans with one of the wilder entries in the studio’s illustrious catalog, which is saying something considering Revenge of the Ninja featured both toy dolls stuffed with heroin and child ninjas.
Ninja III was directed by Sam Firstenberg, who is perhaps best known for directing Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984) and American Ninja (1985). The film plays out like a greatest hits reel for Firstenberg, managing to fuse his uncanny knack for carefully staged, frenetic action and 1980s trademarks, such as aerobics and dance music. In the film, aerobics instructor Christie (Lucinda Dickey) is possessed by a ninja seeking revenge. As with her work in the Breakin’ franchise, Dickey’s performance is a spectacle of athleticism. Much of the film owes its success to her incredible physical talent before the camera, as well as her ability to play off Firstenberg’s deft combination of martial arts action and dance sequences.
Firstenberg’s film synthesizes exorcist horror, martial arts action, and hammy ‘80s comedy—a cocktail that shouldn’t work nearly as well as it does. The first third of Ninja III largely focuses on Christie experiencing new changes in her body. She experiences visions in which she sees policemen firing at her, pours V8 juice on herself during foreplay, and has further supernatural hallucinations about the arcade machine in her apartment (which is an interesting story unto itself in real life). The film’s mid-section concerns an attempt to exorcise the evil ninja out of Christie and the final third is pretty much wall-to-wall ninja action. Although Ninja III has yet to earn the cultural cachet of other Cannon titles, its unabashed embrace of ‘80s pop culture, awkward product placement, and ACAB politics have allowed it to age with grace.
Ninja III: The Domination screens tonight, April 24, at Nitehawk Prospect Park on 35mm as part of the series “Ridiculous Sublime.”
