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Whether you’ve heard the term or not, chances are you’ve seen an exploitation film somewhere in the wild. From sharksploitation megahits like Sharknado, to culture-defining classics like ozploitation’s original Mad Max, or carsploitation’s Death Race 2000, the quality of these carefully marketed mockbusters – built entirely around audience trends with huge, eye-catchingly stupid titles – has always been up for debate. But it’s rare there’s a moral dimension too; after all, no one owns the copyright on cars or sharks or post-apocalyptic bikers. It’s a little different when the genre being exploited though, is an actual person.

Bruce Lee is arguably the most famous and accomplished martial arts performer that’s ever lived. Despite a tragically truncated filmography, cut short at just four features, by his sudden death in 1973, he had co-birthed the entire kung-fu genre, which continues to live and thrive half a century on.

This article contains Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins spoilers.

It’s been a long time since we’ve been to the movies and an even longer time since we’ve seen a ninja flick on the big screen. Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins is a dazzling return to the underrated ninja genre – a breakout premiere in the shadow of the pandemic.

Ninja films rarely earn a theatrical showing anymore. They are pigeon-holed as B-grade movie fodder, and justifiably so. Back in the 1980, ninja films proliferated when second and third-run movie theaters ruled. Campy, low budget ninja pictures were popular fare there back then, right alongside slasher films and teen sex comedies. But with the advent of home entertainment, those cheap flea-ridden theater seats atop soda-sticky floors are long gone. Nowadays, most new ninja films go straight to streaming so to see one on the big screen is quite a treat for fans of the genre.

The Octagon

Stars: Chuck Norris, Tadashi Yamashita, Karen Carlson, Lee Van Cleef, Art Hindle, Carol Bagdasarian | Written by Paul Aaron, Leigh Chapman | Directed by Eric Karson

Chuck Norris, the man and the legend, he’s made movies that can truly make you cringe; for all the wrong reasons. The Octagon in some respects is one of these cringe-worthy films with its truly strange script and its use of the “ninja”, but we can’t blame Norris of course or he’ll give us that intense stare and probably whisper to himself some philosophical thought that would warp our tiny little minds. Yes, if The Octagon is to be believed Chuck Norris has an internal monologue and it’s a whisper, which sounds very much like a serial killer planning your death. Chuck Norris is Scott James a man haunted by his past. Trained as a martial artist with his friend...

Cannon Films, like any other studio yesterday or today, wanted to keep a good thing going, and for them in the 1980s it was the ninja movie. After two early successes for the studio in Enter the Ninja and Revenge of the Ninja (recall this film’s flashback here), success wasn’t guaranteed a third time in their Ninja III: The Domination. The studio took a break, as did director Sam Firstenberg, but in 1984 the studio wanted to revisit the genre, but with a twist. The deadliest art of the Orient is now in the hands of an American.

Killer Film catches back up with director Sam Firstenberg for an Action Packed Flashback for 1985′s American Ninja.

After the lukewarm reception to Ninja III: The Domination both critically and financially, Sam took a break from the genre with Breakin’ 2. “It was the company’s decision to keep the Ninja series alive,...

Call them "cult classics." "Guilty pleasures." "Comfort movies." We all have a mental rolodex of flicks that may not be terribly popular but, for one reason or another, they resonate in a very special way. Maybe you saw it at the right moment. Maybe you just see gold where everyone else sees feces. Whatever the case, these are the special favorites that you keep stashed away for sick days. Here are some of ours.

With "Ninja Assassin" hitting theaters this week, it seemed the perfect time to put the spotlight on one my favorite masterpiece of sick-day cinema: 1985's "American Ninja."

Directed by Sam Firstenberg and starring Michael Dudikoff, Steve James ("I'm Gonna Git You Sucka") and veteran '80s ninja movie star Tadashi Yamashita, "American Ninja" was on such a heavy rotation during my childhood that I wore out several copies of the film on VHS. While it spawned at least three sequels,...