Ninja Demon’s Massacre (1988)

How amazing is it that when Godfrey Ho rips something off, he goes harder at ripping a movie off than anyone else? Like Bruno Mattei probably looked at him with some level of admiration. This one goes so far that the Spanish VHS box even steals the art from the stolen so many times movie Hands of Steel.

When there aren’t ninjas in this — there are no demons — you get a hero who shoots someone in every limb while two women cheer him on and a bad guy who wants to talk about politics even on his wedding night.

Robinson Collins (Stuart Smith) is only here because of Godfrey Ho’s new footage. He’s hunting Willy, a Thai gangster who is so bad that he sells American secrets to the Russians. Hopefully Robinson’s agent Max — who exists in a totally different movie — can solve it all. He’s played by Sorapong Chatri, who was one of the biggest movie stars in Thailand.

There are a lot of ninja fights here that have swords being used with no blood which is a bit disconcerting.

This time around, the music is taken from some different sources, like the Lalo Schifrin soundtracks to Sudden Impact and Cool Hand Luke, as well as Alan Silvestri’s soundtrack to Cat’s Eye.

When you look at either poster for this movie, you may think that you’re getting something amazing. You are and you aren’t. You must open your mind to Godfrey Ho’s films in the same way that you need to vibe with Jess Franco. You get to know the worlds that they create, how they keep going back to the same ideas, how the same shots will appear — this one is very Franco with the shots of planes that last forever and cameras gazing into the skyline for even longer — and then it all starts to become very comfortable and welcoming. You see the same faces as welcome sights that bring you sheer joy.

You can watch this on Tubi.

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