Ninja Vengeance

Now, when I sat down here in 2025 to watch the 1993 movie "Ninja Vengeance" for the first time ever, I have to admit that I harbored little expectations. Why? Well, the majority of the ninja movies that I remembered fondly from my childhood in the early 1980s weren't really as good as I remembered them to be, as I have revisited them over the years.

"Ninja Vengeance" was a ninja movie without any actual ninjas in it. That was a massive mistake from writers Karl Armstrong and Carrie Armstrong to do.

The storyline in the movie was pretty straightforward, and it was every bit as campy as you would expect a ninja movie to be, so that at least counted for something.

The dialogue in the movie was pretty wooden and terrible. And the acting performances weren't exactly stellar.

I was not familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list, but that was hardly a surprise.

There was surprisingly little fighting and martial arts in the movie. And I have to say that I didn't for moment believe that leading actor Craig Boyett was trained in the arts of Ninjitsu.

If you enjoy ninja movies, then "Ninja Vengeance" is not really worth spending 87 minutes on watching.

My rating of director Karl Armstrong's 1993 movie "Ninja Vengeance" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

Yes, this is a B movie, no question. But what the other reviewers don't get is that this movie features authentic ninjutsu. It features Stephen K. Hayes, the man who brought ninjutsu to the west. The techniques are actually ninjutsu, instead of some flashy movie-friendly dance steps like you would see in a Sho Kosugi movie of the same era. I can see why this wouldn't impress viewers used to seeing pretty-boy actors dangling from invisible wires and doing the splits and the cha-cha-cha, but this movie is a must-see for any student of Bujinkan ninpo taijutsu. It's great for us to see effective fighting techniques instead of Broadway dance steps. For authenticity alone I give this a 7 out of 10.

The plot, dialog and acting are horrible. Why can't a movie be made about the south without featuring the Ku Klux Klan? I guess that's what New York and Hollywood writers think about when they think about the South, but it's as tiresome now as it was tiresome in the late 80s when this movie was made.

Perhaps it is because I have seen so many truly bad movies but I just don't see this movie as a completely horrible one. It at least has some entertainment value in it, though the movie still remains an incredible badly done one.

The movie has a sort of amateur feel to it, which isn't that surprising, since it got made by a whole bunch of people who had never worked in the industry before. It's as if a bunch of friends said; 'hey, let's shoot a ninja movie!' and somehow managed to get all the resources and people together to pull it off. The directing, the writing, the editing, the music, the acting, it's all really below par and quite clumsily at times but the movie does manage to still bring some entertainment. It's not a boring movie, mostly since its one that's always on the move with its main characters.

Not that it's a spectacular movie to watch action-wise especially if you're expecting lots of ninja fights but there is still enough action in it. In a way this movie reminded me of a lot of '70's exploitation action flicks, set in a random Southern town, in which a stranger arrives in town and gets in trouble with the local rednecks. The movie even looks like an '70's movie, though I highly doubt this was intentional. It all has to do with its obvious very low budget they had to work with.

It's a very silly movie, mostly due to its simplistic script. The way things progress and get build up are all highly unlikely. It also doesn't really make the characters any strong ones but that doesn't really matter since the movie doesn't even really feature real actors in it. Craig Boyett and David Lord were probably only cast because they knew some moves and Janet Pawlak, who runs like a pregnant aging chimp, probably got cast because she was willing to take her shirt off.

The movie its premise might sounds promising to some (an American ninja fighting a bunch of KKK members) but the movie itself doesn't really know what to do with its own concept. Still I think if you're into the this ninja stuff and in particular the true philosophy behind it you will be able to appreciate this movie much better than most people are able to.

It's a bad movie but not one without its entertainment value luckily.

4/10

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This is an independent film with a lot of heart. First time director Karl Armstrong makes his debut with this Ninjitsu inspired story of a couple on the run from the KKK. The drama moves along at a disarmingly easy pace only to be interrupted by a blitzkrieg of fighting. A very non-Hollywood ending caps off this fine work from a maverick director who is working outside the system with limited funds.

Watched this on Netflix. Useless acting, terrible dialogue, stupid story - I would have rated it zero if that was allowed. It is also badly edited and very poor quality. The story isn't even original. I watched it in the hope there's would be some decent fight sequences but my local judo club could stage more realistic scenes.