My brother went through a phase when he was obsessed with kung fu and ninja movies. He watched some of his favorites constantly and that pretty much meant that I ended up watching them quite regularly as well. There is a series of films from the 80s that we were just laughing about because of how bad they were and how often he watched them. The first in the series was from 1981 and called Enter the Ninja. Here is the original trailer for Enter the Ninja...

There were two more films in the "Ninjas" series and, as you probably noticed, none of them are considered to be cinema masterpieces by any stretch of the imagination. Each film starred Sho Kosugi though he did not play the same character in any of them and none of them related to one another in terms of storyline. The second film in the series was from 1983 and called Revenge of the Ninja. This film also starred Sho Kosugi's son Kane Kosugi. Here is the original trailer for Revenge of the Ninja...

As you would expect, the ninja movies are very violent and the acting was poor at best. There is a third movie from 1984 called Ninja III: The Domination which also starred Lucinda Dickey who you might know from her role as "Kelly" in Breakin' (1984) and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (1985). I could not find the original trailer for this movie at this time, but I will keep looking.

It was funny remembering these movies as I was talking to my brother. I can't believe how many times he watched these horrible movies (or how many times I did for that matter). Though they were ninja movies, they still had some clear 80s stamps on them including some fashions and also the drug dealing storyline in the second movie. This was really the beginning in the 80s of martial arts movies coming into the mainstream, though I really don't recommend watching them to anyone.

That's all for this issue of Kickin' it Old School. Hope you enjoy the "Preview Review" issues and please let me know if there are any particular 80s movies that you want to see me cover. Thanks as always for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column to find any other issues you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. You can also now follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: I recently came across a video that recreates the entire Michael Jackson "Thriller" video shot for shot with LEGOs. Not sure why anybody would spend who knows how much time doing this, but the result is at least worth watching once. Hope you enjoy...

Quote of the day: "Be true to your work, your word, and your friend." -Henry David Thoreau