Zombie Vs. Ninja
They say that money can't buy happiness, but it certainly can buy a position of influence... Those are the words that are spoken very early in the Godfrey Ho film Zombie Vs. Ninja. Unfortunately for you, you won't have any idea what that has to do with anything else that you'll see in the next hour and a half.
The Machine Girl
The Machine Girl (aka Katuaude mashin gâru) is written and directed by Japanese director Noboru Iguchi, and stars Minase Yashiro as Ami Hyuga - the main and titular character. Ami Hyuga is like any other young college girl. She loves her younger brother and she can shoot some mean hoops. After her parents commit suicide due to her father being set up on murder charges, she's left in charge to take care of her younger brother Yu. Yu is generally a good kid, he doesn't usually get into too much trouble, but lately that's changed. Yu and his friend Takashi have recently gotten involved with the son of a yakuza, Sho. They've gotten into a situation where they owe money to Sho, who would rather punish them then take the 20,000 yen they were able to raise. Sho gives them a day extension to raise 200,000 yen - an impossible task for a couple of high school students. When Yu and Takashi can't come up with the money, Sho and his gang of bullies drop them off a parking structure onto their heads.
Shogun Assassin
The tale of Shogun Assassin is a confusing one. While Robert Houston is the credited director, this is actually the first two movies of the Lone Wolf and Cub aka "babycart" (Kozure Ôkami: Sanzu no kawa no ubaguruma aka "Babycart at the River Styx, and Kozure Ôkami: Kowokashi udekashi tsukamatsuru aka "Sword of Vengeance") series of films from Japan. Because this is basically two movies recut into one, the story can be somewhat consusing at times, but what results is an all out action martial arts movie with blood spraying like geysers from every enemy slain by the main character Ogami Itto (played by Tomisaburo Wakayama).
Duel to the Death
I first heard about Xian si jue (aka Duel to the Death) when I was watching a video montage of martial arts battles. Seeing the over the top supernatural battles on that video - I knew I had to find this movie and watch the whole thing. The story is quite simple. You have two warriors - one from China, Ching Wan a master of some Shaolin martial arts style, and Kada Hashimot a master swordsman from Japan. For centuries China and Japan would have their best warriors fight in a "Duel to the Death" every ten years. Ching Wan begins to have second thoughts about the duel. While he's contemplating going through with the battle, Japan sends in a ninja regiment to steal Chinese secrets and to throw the battle. In the end Ching and Kada duel in a literarly earth shattering battle.



