A frustrating part of going to film school in the late ’90s was that instructors would show us $100 million budget flicks with 100s of people on cast and crew that had nearly a year for production. They’d show us the most cutting edge of cinematography. And then they handed us a S-VHS camcorder and a few hours on the soundstage to replicate Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon. The instructors never gave us real inspirations. What could we do with no budget and a S-VHS tape. Was there even a point to S-VHS? The never showed us “movies” that were directly shot on video (this was before digital video revolution hit). If we’d seen the Ninja Double Feature of Born A Ninja / Commando the Ninja, we would have learned a lot about the capabilities of making a major motion picture on a simple camcorder and limited lighting.
This ninja double feature can’t be explained until you get a sense of IFD Films and Arts Ltd. The Hong Kong studio released nearly a hundred films in the mid-’80s without actually producing a complete feature film. What’s their secret? Director Godfrey Ho and producers Joseph Lai and Betty Chan would get the rights to action films shot around Asia. They often didn’t re-issue the movies unadulterated or with a slight edit. Ho would shoot about 10 minutes of “new” footage. A lot of their “films” were released when the Ninja craze struck the world. The new footage starred ninja fights so that they could slap “Ninja” on the new title and not be lying. He often had actor Richard Harrison (Dig Your Grave Friend… Sabata’s Coming) play a ninja – out of his ninja garb. You’ve seen him as the guy with the Garfield the cat phone. That image comes for IFD’s Ninja Terminator. A stuntman would be Harrison in ninja garb. Ho would also redub the entire movie so it was a totally different plot. This filmmaking technique was extremely successful for IFD as they moved a lot of VHS cassettes around the world. People wanted to rent anything with “ninja” on the box. Godfrey Ho was ready to bring all the ninja passion. How big was the ninja craze? During this time, I drew Stick Ninja for N.C. State’s Technician newspaper. Ninjas were everywhere.
What went brought IFD’s successful formula to an end? They basically ran out of action films to slice and dice. Was this was just a scarcity issue? Or were producers catching on that Godfrey Ho would claim director credit of their films and decided it wasn’t worth the money being offered. Born A Ninja / Commando the Ninja supposedly represents the end of IFD’s successful run. Instead of being a movie shot on film, they got the rights to a Tawain TV show shot directly on video that featured ninjas. There was enough footage for Godfrey Ho to create two feature films and make sure “Ninja” appeared on the box. He might have shot more footage. I can’t be certain if the scenes with Patrick Largent and Daniel Garfield aren’t in the source material. One of Ho’s tricks was to insert American looking people into the films beyond Harrison. Although nothing seems more “‘Murican” then the woman fighting with a pair of shorts sporting the rebel flag. Had she seen the wrestling Freebirds touring Asia? Where those shorts came from is as confusing as the plot.
Born A Ninja (1988 – 90 minutes) appears to be the second film, but it seems right to watch first since it has “born” in the title. I’m not sure if it matters which order you take. Ninja Master David (Patrick Largent) and Hokus Pokus Master Larry (Daniel Garfield) must track down Tanaka. He has a dangerous bacteria bioweapon from World War II that everyone wants. This includes a lot of ninjas coming out of the shadow. Tanka has an ancient relic that is the key to this whole mystery. Can anyone stop him?
Commando The Ninja (1988 – 87 minutes) sounds like a dumb title. You have to remember that this was the ’80s when we went to videostores looking for cool tapes to rent. You’d browse the shelves seeing what captured your eye. This title meant Commando The Ninja was stuck on a shelf in the action section next to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Commando. Although it was also released as American Commando Ninja which means it showed up before Arnold’s hit. I wonder if any Videorama had both versions on either side of Arnold’s tape. The film itself has Ninja Master David (Patrick Largent) and Hokus Pokus Master Larry (Daniel Garfield) meeting and dealing with ninja menaces and the KGB. Tanka and his bioweapon are at the heart of the pursuit. This is the film with the lady in the rebel flag shorts kicking butt.
Born A Ninja/Commando The Ninja: Collector’s Edition is a fun double feature if you’re into Lo-Fi action. The movies are a bit weird, but they don’t get listless on the screen. There’s a lot of ninja action over the two films. Pairing them up is perfect. What’s impressive is how the cast gives cinematic martial arts fights even if it’s being recorded on a family camcorder. They turned this TV series into an action-packed double feature. It doesn’t have to make sense but keep things in motion. Perhaps that was the key editing instruction from Godfrey Ho as they spliced away the dull bits from the Taiwan TV show. Lo Gio is given the director’s credit while Godfrey Ho only claims a story developed by credit. Supposedly Lo Gio is really Godfrey Ho. I guess at the end, he stole a credit from himself.
Kudos to those at Visual Vengeance who made the menus on the disc look like a late ’80s video arcade game. I want to play this ninja game.
The video is 1.33:1 full frame. Video Vengeance has done a fine job upgrading the standard definition video looks fine on a Blu-ray. The Audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo for both movies. Both films sound extremely dubbed. The movies are subtitled in English.
Actor Kwan Chung Interview (8:00) has him talk about getting into the industry in 1971 through the TVB actor training group. This was a program run with Shaw Brothers. He used to hang out with Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung in their early days. He mostly did TV dramas in his first decade. He has stepped back from acting and run an art shop in Taiwan that imports from Mainland China.
Image Gallery (0:46) has press photos.
Original Trailer (2:22) make sure you know Joseph Lai was behind Born A Ninja. There’s so much ninja action on the screen.
Visual Vengeance Trailer (1:52) recuts Born A Ninja so there’s more dialogue from the movie.
Audio Commentary with Justin Decloux on Born A Ninja. He explains that there’s so little known about the original “tv series” so he focuses on the career of Godfrey Ho. He points out how Richard Harrison worked with Godfrey Ho at Shaw Brothers because he starred in numerous Chang Cheh films. Ho directed quite a bit at this time since Cheh mainly handled the big action scenes. John Woo also worked with Cheh at that time.
Audio Commentary with Justin Decloux and Will Sloane on Commando The Ninja. The two get into the insanity of the film. They talk about IFD’s history.
The Essential Godfrey Ho (11:11) has Justin Decloux describe the director as more of an idea than a person. He does his best to explain how Godfrey Ho’s career features him adding scenes to existing martial arts films to make them “Ninja” movies. Godfrey Ho would take sole directing credit. They did this to films that weren’t reedited with new footage. He recommends a few titles that he thinks Ho made.
The Law Chi Touch: Director Overview (11:45) has Justin Decloux of The Important Cinema Club making a case for the filmmaker. Law Chi worked in numerous genres over the decades that sounded like blockbuster titles. He started in the ’60. Most of his films are not subtitled or dubbed in English. His trashy genre films got imported. Law Chi directed The Crippled Masters (which aired on TCM). John Waters loves this film.
Original Trailer (1:58) has a John Williams like intro score to Commando the Ninja. Josephi Lai’s name is all over this.
Visual Vengeance Combo Trailer (0:57) has all the action and the English dub fun. They’re right that is a double feature worth fighting for.
Trailers included for Furious, Ninja Operation Night And Warrior and Ninja The Protector. The last two are classic Godfrey Ho grafted flicks starring Richard Harrison (Ninja Terminator). I’m pumped up for these to arrive on disc.
Stickers that let you decorate the box like it was borrowed from a rental store. I wonder if Dave’s Videodrome had these film.
Booklet has information on IFD.
Mini Posters for both films.
Visual Vengeance presents Born A Ninja/Commando The Ninja: Collector’s Edition. Directed by Godfrey Ho and Law Chi. Starring Patrick Largent, Daniel Garfield, Man Fei and Hung Kuan. Boxset Contents: 2 movies on 1 Blu-ray disc. Rated: Unrated. Release Date: May 12, 2026.
