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There was a time, maybe fifteen years ago, when a title like “Ninja vs. Shark” would have been enough to whip up some early-viral excitement. In those days, the tongue-in-cheek grindhouse homage was still a novel idea, and upstart filmmakers were in a rush to combine b-movie tropes into self-consciously “epic” packages. Now, after more than a decade of lazy faux-exploitation productions dropped on streaming, the freshness factor has worn off. Still, not all filmmakers are created equally, and it’s important to note that “Ninja vs. Shark” is directed by stunt legend Koichi Sakamoto, who has made a career crafting dizzying fight choreography and directing live action anime and Tokusatsu features. His reputation made the idea of yet another “[B-Movie Creature] vs. [“B-Movie Creature]” title a little more exciting, and the good news is that he’s created a legitimately entertaining and refreshingly brief movie that, for better or worse, plays a little...

Here on Bloody Disgusting we’ve covered several movies featuring ninjas and countless movies centered on sharks, but today brings something else entirely: Ninja Vs. Shark!

Directed by Koichi Sakamoto, Ninja vs. Shark is a real movie, and the trailer suggests it’s going to make good on the promise of its title. There’s a ninja. And a shark. And they fight.

In the film, which releases in Japanese theaters on April 14…

“In the Edo period, at the remote village of Okitsu, the evil cult leader Koushirou uses ninjutsu to control sharks and forces them to attack local pearl divers so the cult can steal the pearls from their mangled corpses. Desperate for help, the village chief hires Kotaro Shiozaki, a guard at a nearby temple, but Kotaro soon finds his path blocked by lady ninja Kikuma, and a gigantic shark that doesn’t seem like something from this world.