The story of how New York Ninja was made is better than the film. In 1984, John Liu directed and starred in New York Ninja but the film was never finished. The reels ultimately wound up with Vinegar Syndrome, an independent label that does a great job of reissuing old films on discs. The reels didn’t have audio, there were no credits or cast list. They tried to contact iu but he wasn’t interested in doing anything with it.
Vinegar Syndrome edited the film into a coherent story and got actors to record the new script. It sounds like the dubbed movies from the old days. The film was released in theaters and on Blu-ray in 2021. The disc package is excellent.
The film is an entertaining revenge story and it’s great to see New York. Here’s a screenshot of the Ninja roller skating! I grew up in Manhattan and we did lots of roller skating.
