Also known as Ninja Turf, this was directed by Woo-sang Park, who, as we all know, directed Miami Connection. It’s about new kid at school Tony (Phillip Rhee, who created and starred in the Best of the Best series of movies) and how he instantly vibes with a gang leader named Young (Jun Chong, whose company Action Brothers Productions made this movie happen; he’s a celebrity martial arts trainer who taught Sam J. Jones, Lorenzo Lamas and Phillip Rhee). Their friendship is enough to get him threatened by another gangster, Chan (James Lew). In the middle of Young saving Tony, they get offered a job as security guards. Yes, that can happen.

In between their security gigs, they rumble with the Blades and Spike’s Gang, which has Biff Tannen as a member. It is genuinely jarring to see Thomas F. Wilson (credited as Tom Wilson) playing a member of Spike’s Gang. Released the same year as Back to the Future, this film shows a version of Wilson that is arguably meaner than Biff. In Ninja Turf, he isn’t a cartoonish bully getting hit with manure; he’s part of a legitimate urban threat. Seeing him in a world where people actually get stabbed creates a strange cinematic cognitive dissonance.

But when they’re not fighting, Tony hooks up with Chan’s sister Lily. This enrages his enemy and his friend, too, as all Young can think about is feeling alone. And oh yeah, his mom, who lives to drink and sleep with men.

Young has some issues. He also screws up when those issues get to him, as he and Tony do security for a mob boss, and he steals a briefcase filled with money from a drug deal. That boss sends a swordsman named Yoshida (Ken Nagayama) and a fighter called Kruger (Bill “Superfoot” Wallace). They meet up with Chan, who eagerly tells them where to find his enemies, and they even torture a whole bunch of Tony and Young’s school buddies. They catch up with Young, who kills Yoshida and breaks Kruger’s knee, all while Tony is studying.

On the way to the hospital with his injured friends, Young is stopped by Chan and his entire gang. His mother comes out into the street and tells him that she’s sorry for everything she’s ever done, and, wow, Chan beats her into oblivion while her son watches. Then, the gang brutalizes him, and Tony gets there too late. Grabbing his friend’s wooden sword, he chases away the gang and probably kills Chan. 

The death of Young is one of the meanest pivots in 80s action. Usually, the best friend dies to give the hero a reason to win a tournament. Here, Young dies because of a series of desperate, human mistakes—stealing money to escape a life that was already suffocating him. When Tony holds him at the end, it’s not just a friendship moment. Instead, this is the immigrant promise croaking out a death rattle. They came for a better life and found James Lew and a briefcase of death instead.

Jaime Mendoza-Nava, who wrote this movie with Ji-woon Hong, was mostly known for composing music for films and TV shows. Some of the 300 works he contributed to include music for The Witchmaker, The Stewardesses, Dream No Evil, Grave of the Vampire, The Town That Dreaded Sundown, Mausoleum and Death Wish Club, which is really “The Case of Gretta Connors” from Night Train to Terror.

This isn’t as amazing as Miami Connection, but it’s the dark, opposite-coast version of friendship amid street fights. It’s a lot of fun, even if the ending is nihilistic pain.

You can watch this on Tubi.