New York Ninja

• John Liu as Liu, an employee of a New York City television news station[4]
  • Don "The Dragon" Wilson as the voice of Liu[5]
• Ginger Lynn as the voice of Nita, Liu's wife[5]
• Michael Berryman as the voice of the Plutonium Killer[5]
• Linnea Quigley as the voice of Randi Rydell[3]

Filming for New York Ninja began in late 1984 in New York City.[3] According to the film's special effects artist, Carl Morano, "They had zero resources. Different people showed up on different days. We'd meet every morning at the Howard Johnson's where John [Liu] was staying and then take a van to the location."[3] The film's special effects budget is estimated to have been $100, most of which Morano reportedly spent on creating the Plutonium Killer's melting face.[3]

Despite advertisements for the film appearing in trade magazines in 1984, the footage shot for New York Ninja was shelved after the film's original distribution company, 21st Century, went bankrupt and sold its assets.[3]

The footage shot for New York Ninja—which was stored in film reels, ran about six to eight hours in length in total, and included no actor credits—was eventually acquired by Vinegar Syndrome, a film preservation and home video distribution company.[3] With no recorded audio, storyboards, or scripts for the film in Vinegar Syndrome's possession, Kurtis M. Spieler (credited as the film's "re-director" and editor), was tasked with reconstructing the film from the footage alone.[3] The only script known to still exist is Morano's shooting script, which alluded to a character named "Detective Dolemite"; the original filmmakers may have intended for the character to have been played by Rudy Ray Moore.[3]

Spieler suspects that Liu may have been unable to complete filming before the production shut down, stating that, "The ending doesn't feel like it was ever finished."[3] Vinegar Syndrome considered filming new scenes to supplant such material that may have been missing, but Spieler decided to work only with the original footage.[3] In an interview with The New York Times, Spieler said, "I asked myself, 'If my job was to have been an editor in the 1980s, what would I have done?'".[3] Speaking to Paste, he stated:

I was very aware of trying to maintain what I thought was the intended spirit or tone of the original production. I knew there was a fair amount of both intentional and unintentional humor to the movie, but I tried to take the project seriously and be respectful to the original source material as well as other movies from the same time period.[4]

Spieler commissioned the Detroit band Voyag3r to create a score for the film, and hired such actors as Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Michael Berryman, Cynthia Rothrock, Linnea Quigley, Vince Murdocco, Matt Mitler, Leon Isaac Kennedy, and Ginger Lynn to record new dialogue, which was then dubbed over the original footage.[2][3]

The reconstructed version of New York Ninja premiered at Beyond Fest in California in October 2021.[6] It was released on Blu-ray by Vinegar Syndrome in November 2021.[2][3][7]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 100% based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10.[8]

Josiah Teal of Film Threat called the film "rewatchable, quotable, and perfect for a Samurai Cop or Bruceploitation double-feature", and wrote that "Vinegar Syndrome has found/created a fantastic cult classic."[9] J. Hurtado of Screen Anarchy called the film "the kind of gem that demands viewing with a crowd", writing: "As downright goofy as New York Ninja is, it's the genuine heart of the original production that really makes the whole thing work. Liu may not have been a high-minded artiste, but he knew what he wanted, and what he wanted was to bring the high-octane, high-camp action of late '70s Hong Kong to the streets of New York".[6]

• List of ninja films
• "So bad it's good"

• New York Ninja at IMDb
• New York Ninja at Rotten Tomatoes