A Sombra da Forca

Godfrey Ho is amongst my most watched directors, so there must be something that keeps drawing me back; perhaps it's to see just how awful his films can get.

Shadow Killers Tiger Force is certainly pretty bad, another one of the director's clumsy cut and shut jobs, but like many of his films, there are moments of sheer lunacy that just about make it worthwhile for fans of grade-Z trash. Most of the film comprises of scenes taken from Taiwanese women-in-prison movie Prisoner 407 (1976), which are far from the best that that particular genre has to offer; instead of super sleazy, they're simply tedious. The remainder consists of hilariously bad ninja footage, in which Deborah Grant, as Jenny the ninja, jumps around a lot while battling bad ninjas.

The story that Ho weaves around this Frankenstein's monster of a movie goes something like this: nasty ninjas are abducting women and taking them to a work-camp where they are forced to dig rocks and dirt, and sew mail-bags (for what purpose is never revealed). Jenny the ninja is hired by a millionaire to find his missing daughter Sylvia (Dorothy Yip), who has been taken captive by the nasty ninjas and is scheduled to be sold into slavery in the Middle East. Allowing herself to be captured and incarcerated, Jenny tries to help Sylvia to escape.

Amongst the dumbest moments are a ninja launching a torpedo at a rowboat, the female prisoners receiving mail even though no-one is supposed to know where they are, the camp commandant declaring that he will halve the prisoners sentences if they co-operate (sentences? according to this film's plot, they've been kidnapped!), and a couple of instances of the distinctly average-looking Jenny luring guards from their duties by acting sexy. For the most part, though, it's strictly dullsville, at least until the final act, which needs to be seen to be believed...

Jenny the ninja battles the main bad ninja, both warriors walking through a solid brick wall. Jenny does some sexy dancing in a sheer outfit before cutting off the bad ninja's head, only for it to reattach itself. Then both ninjas teleport to a forest, where the fight continues. Jenny looks as though she is going to lose when Sylvia's father and his men turn up and pump the bad ninja full of lead. But bad ninja doesn't die so easy: he kills several of the gun-men and turns his attention to Jenny, but finally meets his match when a ninja-seeking missile finds its target, blowing him to pieces. These final ten minutes or so are a lot of fun, and leave the film on a high, but getting there isn't always easy.

4.5/10. rounded up to 5 for IMDb.

Seemingly shot/ created / pasted/ spirited into deranged celluloid sentience without an iota of care for continuity, the marvellously maniacal martial arts polymath, and all-round action-movie alchemist, Godfrey Ho is boisterously back in B-Movie business with his bellicose, deliriously disjointed beauty 'Shadow Killers Tiger Force', and after his deadly K. O blow 'Commando Fury'; the restless, relentlessly opportunist, inventively insane impresario Ho is still swinging like a storm-lashed weathercock, dutifully dazzling his many avid, Ninjitsu-raddled, cheap-socky craving fans with this hyperbolic display of kaleidoscopically kooky Ninjutsu action!

Identikit Ninja action movies were ubiquitous DTV fodder in the mid-to-late 80s, and yet, only ONE truly extraordinarily luminous iconoclast, only ONE bafflingly prolific, foreword-thinking film visionary knew the lasting entertainment value of composite, schizoid action; and that future-writing polymath still walks among us mere mortals! And, happily, said future is HERE and NOW, and that sublime future is,'Shadow Killers Tiger Force'!!!! The words 'Rip' and 'Roaring' were only recently minted to perfectly describe this maniacal diorama of martial arts madness! Godfrey Ho, wherever thou art, thine magnificent movie (F)artistry remains greatly appreciated, especially by this sleep-deprived, B-Movie-boiled, permanently Ninjoid noggin of mine! - 'Godfrey Ho's hyperbolic display of kaleidoscopically kooky Ninjutsu action knocked me right out of my silky PJs!!!'

A series of abductions conducted by a team of nefarious ninjas has resulted in a nearby female prison/white slavery operation to acquire a new set of inhabitants. One of these newly arrived prisoners is the daughter of someone important (do the details really matter?) and hires a good ninja, Jenny (Deborah Grant) to break his daughter out. This may sound like the a fun setup for some classic Godfrey Ho shenanigans but it sadly suffers the same issues that many of his lesser films do.

The ninja parts are admittedly really fun; ranging from trash 80's action to psychotronic ninja fights. Goofy weapons and even goofier fight choreography is on full display here. While perhaps not as consistently ridiculous as other works from Ho (NINJA SILENT ASSASSIN (1987), NINJA TERMINATOR (1986)) they are enjoyable.

Sadly the WIP portions are not only tame but almost entirely unmemorable. Despite all of the showers and baths that the prisoners have to take there isn't a single bit of nudity. The women all effectively cover themselves anytime the camera is on them. A few women are brutalized but none of it is gory or bloody. None of the characters (prisoners or staff) are terribly memorable. There's some initial posturing among the prisoners but this does not last long and results in very few of fights. The escape attempts do not result in the typical level of violence that many WIP showcase. Really the only interesting bits here is spotting the signs of the copy and paste film making.

I wouldn't suggest to anyone who isn't a die hard WIP and Godfrey Ho fan.