Rarescope Ninja Collection
OK, I got this yesterday in the mail.
First off, I am a big fan of the Filmark and IFD Ninja movies, so any release is good to me. The four movies in this set are all Filmark Tomas Tang productions. I haven't fully watched them all here yet, but I did do a sample of the discs.
Bionic Ninja is really good, but this has the weakest transfer... like an slp speed VHS mode, which may have been their source. This movie was also released on DVD on the dollar label EastWest retitled as Ninja Assassins in fullscreen. And I'm not sure, and didn't do a compare, but I wonder if BCI's Rarescope Bionic Ninja is a horizontally cropped fullscreen, not sure but it looked like it to me. Also, no Ninjas in this are bionic.
Ninja In the Killing Fields is also a great Ninja classic, and I'm glad to say this is an upgrade from the other DVD with this title in fullscreen, from that Canadian label Kung Fu Classics, as well as BCI's own fullscreen retitle of this as Ninja Connection. While not great, the transfer looks rather decent, clear and fairly strong, as do the other 2 remaining titles as well, which is good.
Death Code Ninja is the title here that I had not seen before. While I am glad this set does make these titles more available and they are upgrades in quality, I also was wishing it had more titles that I don't have, or haven't seen, and would like to see on DVD, like Ninja The Magnificence... but maybe BCI can do an IFD Ninja set as well, I just hope if they do, they will get titles that have not been yet released.
Ninja American Warrior ends the set, and it's a great one too. I like the war related Ninja movies. This here is a big upgrade from the other DVD out of this, I can't recall the company's name, but it's Canadian, and they all say Kung Fu Classics on the top of the case. Their DVD is out of synch, just enough to be annoying, and glad to say this one is not, and also has a better picture.
Overall, this set gets a good thumbs up. It's not perfect, and I wish, but I doubt, anyone will track down and make high quality transfers of these types of films, as I suspect their fanbase is limited, so I have to be grateful for what I can get.
As a side note, it's way past time for a quality US DVD release of Franco Nero's Enter the Ninja in uncut form.
Chosen One