bcrumpacker A perfect late night cable movie. SPOILER ALERT Fetching lady ninjas, assisted by master swordsman Jubei, son of Yagyu, fight a corrupt lord and his demonic warriors. Some ladies do get killed off, but they take the bad guys out with them. This is all tied into establishing the Tokugawa shogunate in 1600s Japan, in a very roundabout way. A striking, incoherent jumble of vivid color cinematography, lightning fast edits, gory ninja fights, and supernatural revenge story. The FX laden fights are intricately choreographed, lit and shot. When the lady ninjas' tops come off, AND THEY ALWAYS DO, they fight injustice with their "nipple power pulse", and the even naughtier "returning echo". Bottom line: for jaded samurai fans who want that extra pinch of wasabi. BC

Ky-D I have to tell ya, I really wanted to like this movie. Hot ninja chicks, revenge plot, spurts of blood, and Jubei Yagyu doing his thing. And yet, I was left wanting so much more.A mission is set upon by an evil clan and the mistress is murdered. Several of the young girls (called the 'Hori women', try to say that and not laugh) decide to seek revenge and enlist the help of swordsman Jubei of the Yagyu clan for aid and guidance. They also discover that they have magic powers that can only be released under extreme duress. Then the plot is off and running.Everything is in place for a great hack and slash fest. The heroins are, every one of them, cute as they come. The villains are wacky and eccentric. Plenty of blood, dismemberment and a considerable amount of bared female flesh. So why was I disappointed? For one the direction is not very good, even by the conventions of the genre. For another, the fight choreography is limp at it's best, and in a sword fighting movie that really hurts. And a movie that tries to use SFX should at least put a little money into how they look.What else? Well, the girls' magic powers are just plain ridiculous (one shoots lighting out of her nipples and another sucks things into her...you get the picture) and both the writing and acting flat out suck. Also, these girls are supposed a bunch of tough as nails assassins, yet they start dying early and at regular intervals. Oh, and don't get me started on the dubbing, which is so bad it's damn near good.So what's left? An OK genre piece that should hold over rabid fans (maybe), but won't win over any new ones.5/10

John Seal There's quite a lot to recommend in Kunoichi: Lady Ninja, but you have to be prepared for the bad that comes with the good. First, the good stuff: this film looks terrific. Media Blasters print is letterboxed and subtitled, and Shoji Ebara's cinematography is at times breathtaking, echoing the best of Japanese cinema. Action fans will also enjoy the copious amounts of bloodshed and endless fight scenes, some of them staged very imaginatively. Now the not so good: Kunoichi reflects the ambivalence toward women seen in popular Japanese culture. Our proto-feminist heroines shed their outfits with remarkable ease, use ridiculous special powers located in their nipples and nether regions (these animated sequences are particularly embarrassing), and are subjected to some rather grueling rape and torture sequences that had this viewer squirming with discomfort. There are moments of great beauty in this film, offset by the kind of childish misogyny that will set most western viewers teeth on edge. Just be prepared.

Andre Nagel This is trash but it's somewhat entertaining. Young Lady Ninjas on a revenge trip with lots of strange special effects and cuts that make you dizzy. You guess there is a fight but you can't see what's happening until the fight ends and a huge blood fountain gushes out of one of the fighters. I only saw this movie because I was too early for the film I really wanted to see and that was the only choice. It wasn't boring but I wouldn't recommend this film to anybody.(4/10)