Ninja III: The Domination

A relentless no-holds-barred comic strip of a film, Ninja III: The Domination marks the ne plus ultra culmination of Cannon’s Ninja martial-arts obsession. An action-packed but cut-price cult classic, it features arguably one of the Go-Go Boys’ most ludicrous plots, with Breakin’ lead Lucinda Dickey (who was being groomed to be a Cannon star) as an aerobics instructor and telephone repair woman who is intermittently possessed by the spirit of a Black Ninja who uses her to exact bloody revenge on the cops who killed him, using all his formidable Ninja powers and the sword he handily passed on to her before dying. (As the tagline goes: “He’s the Ultimate Killer. She’s the perfect weapon.”) But as silly as it sounds, the fight choreography is actually top-notch, and the fusion of martial arts and horror/fantasy results in some striking setpieces.