Ninja III: The Domination!!!

NINJA III: THE DOMINATION (1984)

The third and somewhat disappointing final chapter of the “ninja trilogy” opens with an unbelievable sequence where an evil ninja goes on a killing rampage on a golf course in broad daylight. The cops are quickly called in and the ninja dispatches of several of them too before being fatally wounded during a massive shoot out. Before dying the paid assassin manages to briefly escape the police and possess a sexy young female telephone worker (Lucinda Dickey of “Cheerleader Camp” infamy!) who discovers him nearby.

Once possessed by the ninjas spirit, Christie gains his deadly powers and his desire for revenge against the crooked cops who killed him. Christie then spends her nights killing off the cops and their assorted bimbo girlfriends and her days having sticky V8 covered sex with her hairy shouldered junior detective love interest. (BARF!)

The film is ruthlessly padded with scenes of Christie working out, leading an aerobics class, and dancing in her apartment until Sho Kusugi finally shows up as “Yamada” - a ninja from Japan who comes to America to investigate the death of the evil ninja. It turns out that Yamada and this evil ninja were long time rivals, and that the bastard had taken one of Yamada’s eyes out with a Shuriken in a previous battle. Not fully convinced of his enemy’s death, and knowing the great powers he possessed in life, Yamada discovers that Christie is the one containing the evil spirit and attempts to exorcise the foul demon from her hard body. Once the ninjas demonic spirit is free from Christie it attacks Yamada and a spectacularly stupid special effects filled battle of mystical wonders is unleashed.

Director Sam Firstenberg (who also directed “Revenge Of The Ninja”) was at the helm of this cheaply and quickly put together follow up film. Sadly he couldn’t save this one from sucking. Most of the score is recycled from “Revenge Of The Ninja” and the songs used throughout are all incredibly lame and annoying 80’s pop music. There’s also a ton of continuity errors indicating rush job editing. Lucinda Dickey is easy on the eyes but a rather shitty leading actress. The scenes where she attempts to fight, dance around, or look possessed are all ridiculous, but so is pretty much every other scene in the movie so it doesn’t really matter.

There are lots of unintentional laughs in this one including the sight of a police officer smoking a cigar while shooting at the evil ninja, a “levitating” sword clearly attached to strings, and the luscious mane of back hair on the leading man. Sadly, Sho Kusugi’s talents are almost completely wasted here. He doesn’t get nearly enough screen time in this entry, although he does his best to salvage the last twenty or so minutes of the film. The final battle between the two ninjas is easily the best part of the film, and it’s too bad the rest of the film couldn’t have been more in that vein instead of wasting so much time with the girl.

Despite my criticisms, I also think is a highly entertaining little piece of 80’s trash. This one is definitely a cult classic that is very popular with fans of “so bad they’re good” flicks. Sadly, this one has never had a dvd release either. Hopefully the rumors of “ The Return Of The Ninja” (2008) will come to pass and all three of these flicks will get a re-release or perhaps a box set!