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It can’t be denied that as far as martial arts movies go, the best ones come from Asia, particularly Hong Kong during their action heyday, which was arguably the 70s, 80s and first half of the ’90s. It’s tough to compete with the likes of the Shaw Brothers and the drunken master known as Jackie Chan. That said, martial arts movies were also making a foothold in the States decades ago, thanks mainly to Bruce Lee-mania following the release of Enter the Dragon. Before that movie, very few actors in Hollywood seemed like they were credible martial artists, except maybe James Coburn, a student of Lee’s, who pulled off some pretty good-looking moves in the otherwise silly Our Man Flint movies. Steve McQueen also had training but didn’t use martial arts on screen. Up to then, though, the most notable uses of martial arts in movies usually revolved around Judo,...

In our Reel Action series on the JoBlo Originals channel on YouTube, we’ve covered the Ninja trilogy from Cannon Films — Enter the Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja and Ninja III: The Domination. All three featured Japanese action star, Shô Kasugi. Now, Blu-ray.com reveals that Kino Lorber will be bringing two of his classics to Blu-ray. Pray for Death and Rage of Honor are both scheduled to hit retailers on December 10.

The description for Pray for Death reads,

“They Shattered His American Dream. The Ninja Master himself, Shô Kosugi, stars as Akira, a Japanese immigrant who starts a new life with his family in America, only to stumble onto the headquarters of a bloodthirsty gang of criminals. When the gangsters begin a rampage of murder that takes the lives of his two sons, Akira must step out of his quiet, peace-loving life and reveal his hidden identity, that of a perfectly skilled Ninja,...

Since Van Damme and Seagal hit big in the late 80s and early 90s, martial artists started to come out of the woodwork with their own unique brand. As we’ve covered recently on Reel Action, Van Damme collaborator Sheldon Lettich attempted to introduce audiences to both the style of Capoeira and the star power of Mark Dacascos in Only the Strong. Another martial artist that tried his hand at the action title and came away with a cult following was Jeff Speakman as he demonstrated his Kenpo skills in the 1991 film The Perfect Weapon.

Blu-ray.com has the details on a new special edition Blu-ray of The Perfect Weapon. The release will come from Kino Lorber, who will also release Cannon’s Revenge of the Ninja. This upcoming Blu-ray will have an all-new 4K remaster of the film and is set to hit the market on May 21.

The plot description reads,...

Only a ninja can stop a ninja. And only cool boutique companies like Kino Lorber can take a movie like Revenge of the Ninja and give it its own special edition Blu-ray release. Recently, it was reported that director Sam Firstenberg is on a journey to restore his martial arts film American Samurai, but one of the director’s more popular works is now getting a special physical media release with a bevy of special features. We’ve touched on the “Ninja Trilogy” from Cannon Films on our YouTube channel series, Reel Action, and Revenge of the Ninja is one of the films from the 80s that took the ninja craze and elevated it for the masses. Blu-ray.com reports that Kino Lorber is set to have the disc hit the market on May 21.

The plot description reads, “The Ninja are back! Brandishing swords and fists, leaping and kicking, wielding blow darts and explosives,...

As the Hollywood blockbuster machine continues to dust itself off and release some early winter hits, Hulu is going in a bit of a different direction with its list of new releases for November 2021.

There are no big Hulu original films of note this month. Instead there’s a whole host of original series. The TV parade starts on Nov. 5 with the release of Animaniacs season 2. Also getting a second season this month is monarchal comedy The Great on Nov. 19. The most intriguing series, however, is animated Marvel comedy Marvel’s Hit Monkey. As its name so graciously implies, this is a show about a hit monkey…as in monkey assassin. Naturally the hit monkey is haunted by the ghost of Jason Sudeikis because it’s important that everything make sense.

Though Hulu doesn’t have any original movies in November, its list of library movie titles is quite vast.

Banshee co-creator and Warrior creator Jonathan Tropper discusses Bruce Lee and some of his favorite action movies with podcast hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante!

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Devils (1971)

Star Wars (1977)

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Return of the Jedi (1983)

Gremlins (1984)

Innerspace (1987)

The Adam Project (Tbd)

A History of Violence (2005)

Rocky (1976)

Rocky II (1979)

Rocky III (1982)

Rocky IV (1985)

Jerry Maguire (1996)

Terms of Endearment (1983)

Blue Thunder (1983)

Lone Wolf McQuade (1983)

Missing In Action (1984)

Missing In Action 2: The Beginning (1985)

Enter The Ninja (1981)

Revenge Of The Ninja (1983)

Ninja 3: The Domination (1984)

American Ninja (1985)

Masters of the Universe (1987)

I Come In Peace a.k.a. Dark Angel (1990)

Showdown In Little Tokyo (1991)

Men of War (1994)

Enter The Dragon (1973)

Way of the Dragon a.k.a. Return of the Dragon (1972)

The Big Boss (1971)

Braveheart (1995)

First Blood (1982)

Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

Conan The Barbarian (1982)

Commando (1985)

The Terminator (1984)

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Highlander (1986)

Bloodsport...

In his latest interview/podcast, host and screenwriter Stuart Wright talks with writer/director Ross Boyask about his new film I Am Vengeance: Retaliation and a celebration of 5 Great Action Movies – which include:

Project A (1983) Dir. Jackie Chan & Sammo Kam-Bo Hung; written by Jackie Chan & Edward Tang; Jack Maeby (English adaptation) Revenge Of The Ninja (1983) Dir. Sam Fisterberg; written by James R Silke Commando (1985) Dir. Mark L Lester; written by Steven de Souza Roadhouse (1989) Dir. Rowdy Herrington; written by R Lance Hill and Hilary Henkin Double Impact (1991) Dir. Sheldon Lettich; written by Sheldon Lettich & Jean-Claude Van Damme

I Am Vengeance: Retaliation, starring Stu Bennett and Vinnie Jones, is available to rent on most VOD platforms and available to stream for free on Netflix UK.

“You fool! You can not stop me! I am the ninja! No one, nothing can stop me!.”

BearManor Media has published The Cannon Film Guide, a Trilogy of Books About the Movies Released By the Legendary 1980s B-Movie Studio, Cannon Films. Order The Cannon Film Guide Here

Volume One Available Now: Over 500 Pages Covering the Company’s First Five Years under the Leadership of B-Movie Icons Golan and Globus

From 1980 until 1994, The Cannon Group was responsible for the production of more than 200 films. Quantity, rather than quality, was the key to Cannon’s game: their output included many of the 1980s’ most beloved (and notorious) b-movies. Along the way they dipped their toes into every imaginable genre of movies, made stars out of Chuck Norris and Michael Dudikoff, kicked off the ninja and breakdancing crazes, and kept Charles Bronson working into the twilight of his career. While it’s rare...

If you watched an action, sci-fi, or horror movie in the 1980s, there was a good chance it was produced by Cannon Films. The studio — perhaps the last great home of B-movie and exploitation classics — was founded in 1967 but hit its apex between 1979 and 1987, releasing scores of films that (mostly) no one would call high cinema but which delivered thrills, chills and plenty of blood, action, and fire on a budget.

Tapping into the massive market for both high and low concept fare — the 1980s equivalent of drive-in double bill fillers — Cannon, under the leadership of Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, were perhaps best known for churning out chintzy crowdpleasers like the Chuck Norris-starring Missing in Action and The Delta Force along with a slew of Death Wish sequels.

But the company also produced titillating titles like Lady Chatterley’s Lover, slasher fare such as Schizoid and New Year’s Evil,...

The heyday of Cannon Films, that is when the company was led by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus back in the eighties, has been subject of fairly recent documentaries: Mark Hartley’s Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films and Hilla Medalia’s The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films. And now, for those fans of crazy cinema that would like to dig even deeper into the world of Cannon, there’s a new book out that tackles one specific filmmaker from those glorious days. Stories From The Trenches: Adventures In Making High Octane Hollywood Movies With Cannon Veteran Sam Firstenberg is a mammoth collection of interviews with the director behind such Cannon flicks as Revenge of the Ninja and Ninja III: The Domination...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Hulu’s slate of new titles arriving on the platform in November is here.

“Wonder,” starring Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson and Jacob Tremblay, will arrive on Hulu Nov. 2. The movie, based on the novel of the same name, tells the story of August Pullman, a boy with facial differences who enters the fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time.

The complete series of “Married with Children” will arrive on the platform on Nov. 9, and the Season 1 premiere of “The Bisexual” will drop on Nov. 16. The “Oceans” trilogy will also become available, beginning Nov. 1.

Also Read: Hulu in Talks to Create a Smaller, More Affordable TV Bundle

Here’s the complete list of titles coming to and leaving Hulu below.

Available Nov. 1

K: Complete Season 2 (Dubbed) (Viz)

Sailor Moon: Complete Season 3 (Dubbed) (Viz)

Six: Complete Season 2 (History)

10 to Midnight (1983)

28 Days Later (2002)

2001 Maniacs (2005)

The Accused (1988)

The Adventures of Priscilla,...

A master of martial arts continues to deal out creepy kung-fu from beyond the grave in 1984's Ninja III: The Domination, and to celebrate the cult movie's Collector's Edition Blu-ray release from Scream Factory, we've been provided with three high-def copies to give away to lucky Daily Dead readers!

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Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Collector's Edition Blu-ray copy of Ninja III: The Domination.

How to Enter: We're giving Daily Dead readers multiple chances to enter and win:

1. Instagram: Following us on Instagram during the contest period will give you an automatic contest entry. Make sure to follow us at:

https://www.instagram.com/dailydead/

2. Email: For a chance to win via email, send an email to contest@dailydead.com with the subject “Ninja III Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.

Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on June 19th. This...

Stars: Lucinda Dickey, Sho Kosugi, Jordan Bennett, David Chung, Dale Ishimoto, James Hong | Written by James R. Silke | Directed by Sam Firstenberg

After the body of a sexy bouffant-haired telephone maintenance engineer – who is also an aerobics instructor on the side – is possessed by the spirit of an evil ninja, she begins systematically killing (using her new-found ninja skills of course) the officers responsible for the ninja’s death and can only be stopped by another ninja!

One of the campest, yet coolest, of the 80s ninja movies, Ninja III mixes the becoming played-out at the time Ninja genre with something akin to The Exorcist in a film that epitomises all that is great about 80s B-movie cinema and all that was great about Golan-Globus and Cannon Films, whose demise, in my opinion, has left a huge blot of the movie landscape. Like many movies of the 80s, Ninja III...

It’s that time again, dear reader! We have a new batch of home media releases coming our way that horror and sci-fi fans are going to want to check out. This Tuesday, Johannes Roberts’ The Strangers: Prey at Night hacks its way onto multiple formats courtesy of Universal Studios Home Entertainment, and the new Tomb Raider film starring Alicia Vikander arrives in 4K Ultra HD as well as on standard Blu-ray and DVD releases.

Cult film fans are going to want to pick up the Collector’s Editions of Ninja III: The Domination and Ryan Schifrin’s Abominable, and for those of you who watched it regularly last year, Channel Zero: Butcher Block is being released on DVD, too.

Other notable releases for June 12th include The Mimic, The Jurassic Dead, all three Purge films in 4K, a Stephen King collection of TV and theatrical movies, and the re-releases...

In the Ninja III, Christie is possessed by the vengeful spirit of an evil ninja. A 4K restoration, as well as new interviews from the cast and the film's producer, are just a few of the features included in the Ninja III: The Domination collector's edition Blu-ray from Scream Factory.

Ninja III Collector's Edition Blu-ray: "Aerobic instructor Christie Ryder becomes possessed by the spirit of an evil ninja when she comes to his aid after he was shot down. Dominated by the killer's vicious and relentless rage, she sets out to brutally attack his enemies. Her boyfriend, confused by Christie's changing personality and afraid that he might be her next victim, enlists the help of Yamada. In a life-threatening exorcism and ultimate fight to the death, Yamada proves that he is Christie's only chance for survival.

New 4K Scan From The Original Film Elements New Interview With Actress Lucinda Dickey...

Revenge is a dish best served cold. Ninja III: The Domination [Collector’s Edition] gets the Blu-ray treatment courtesy of Scream Factory on June 12th. Bonus features include but are not limited to a 4K restoration of the original, interviews with Lucinda Dickey and Jordan Bennett, and audio commentary. Keep reading for a look at the box art and so much more:

Press Release: The wild 80s cult classic Ninja III: The Domination [Collector’s Edition] is coming to Blu-ray from Scream Factory on June 12, 2018, loaded with exciting new special features. Customers ordering directly from will receive an exclusive poster, while supplies last.

Aerobic instructor Christie Ryder becomes possessed by the spirit of an evil ninja when she comes to his aid after he was shot down. Dominated by the killer’s vicious and relentless rage, she sets out to brutally attack his enemies. Her boyfriend, confused by Christie’s changing personality and afraid that he might be her next victim,...

Keith Vitali is an American Martial Artist, Martial Arts Instructor, Actor, Producer and Author who made his name over the last few decades as one of the baddest men on the planet, competing in over 1,000 competition fights since the 1970’s.

In 1981, Keith was honored into the Black Belt Magazine’s “Black Belt Hall of Fame” along with being ranked the “#1 Karate Fighter in the USA” at the time. Keith also appeared in movies over the years such as the classic “Wheels On Meals“, “No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers“, “American Kickboxer” “BloodMoon” and “Revenge of the Ninja“.

Keith also made the national headlines over the years with his company “K.V. Video Productions“. His video “Self Defense For Kids” was a huge hit across America and the world with newspapers like The New York Post, The USA Today, The Atlanta Journal and many more covering the video in a positive way.

Author Marco Sidelmann (The Untold, In-Depth, Outrageously True Story of Shapiro Glickenhaus Entertainment) is about to release a new book chronicling thirty years of filmmaking from filmmaker Sam Firstenberg, who is mostly recognized as one of the important in-house directors during the flamboyantly successful heyday of Cannon Group. The book itself is a collection of fresh, never-before-read interviews that begin before Firstenberg made box office hits like Revenge of the Ninja, Ninja III: The Domination, Breakin’ II: Electric Boogaloo, American Ninja, just to name a few. The interviews reveal the famed director’s origins and influences, including memories from his childhood growing up in Israel, his experiences as a film student in Los Angeles, and his early work as an assistant director and technician for...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Filmmaker Sam Firstenberg is mostly recognized as one of the important in-house directors during the outrageously successful heyday of the legendary Cannon Group. The journey of this interview collection starts even before he made his way to direct box office hits just like Revenge Of The Ninja, Ninja III: The Domination, Breakin‘ II: Electric Boogaloo, American Ninja, and several others. The conversations Siedelmann recorded with Sam are very thorough, and they shed light on his origins and influences, including childhood memories, private biographical chapters, his years as a film student in Los Angeles, the atmosphere he grew up around in Israel, and his early work as an assistant director and technician for people like Menahem Golan, Charles Band, Ephraim Kishon, Boaz Davidson, and many...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

The many faces of Vault Boy from Fallout are coming soon as a part of Funko's Dorbz line. See how many you can collect this spring! Also in today's Highlights: a 16-Bit trailer for Mass Effect Andromeda by YouTuber Balazs Kalocsai, details on Danny Lacy and Mike Levine's new book, At Least You're Not These Monsters, and info on the world premiere of Syndicate Smasher.

Fallout Vault Boy Dorbz: From Funko: "Dorbz: Fallout Vault Boy

Perk up your Dorbz collection with Fallout’s Vault Boy!

This series features Vault Boy as a variety of perks from Fallout: Mysterious Stranger, Grim Reaper, and Rooted! Look for Rooted Vault Boy’s chase variant, Sneak – a 1 in 6 rarity!

Collect them all this spring!

Coming in April!"

Images via Funko:

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Watch the Mass Effect Andromeda 16-Bit Trailer: "Like the rest of the video game industry, Machinima is celebrating the launch of Mass...

Presented by Cynthia Rothrock | Written by Leroy Patterson | Directed by Charles Band

Trailer compilations have, in recent year, become big business, they have also become increasingly important in terms of keeping trailers alive. In this time of streaming and digital downloads, where films come sans trailers and extras, there’s no real way – beyond these types of compilations – of seeing interesting trailers for obscure films you may not be aware of.

Titles such as Trailer War, Trailers from Hell, the UK’s very own Grindhouse Trailer Classics, Drive-In Delirium, Attack of the 80s, and 42nd Street Forever have not only kept the trailers alive in a physical format, but also allowed new audiences to discover new (old) films. Keeping up this tradition is Full Moon, who have released a number of trailer compilations already as part of the Grindhouse line – mainly focussing on the sleazier end of genre cinema like...

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Was there ever a better 80s' tagline that 'Crime is a disease. Meet the cure'? Join us in celebrating the 30th birthday of Cobra...

This article contains spoilers for Cobra. We suspect we're the only website to have written those words in recent times....

Had Sylvester Stallone had his way, the now cult classic Beverly Hills Cop would have been a much different film. Before Eddie Murphy was cast in the role that would define his acting career, the part of Axel Foley was offered to Sly. Yet the Italian Stallion had other ideas in mind for what he wanted the film to be, so he took it upon himself to rewrite the script, moulding it to suit his strengths as a white-knuckled mortal terminator. As screenwriter Daniel Petrie Jr told us last year, whilst it was "considered a coup to have written a script to attract...

Cannon Films was a giant in the 1970s and 80s. Anyone who grew up in that era has Cannon Films running through their DNA with such cult classics as Masters of the Universe, Cyborg, Revenge of the Ninja, American Ninja, Death Wish II, Bloodsport and so much more.

In 2012, Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films documented the rise and fall of Cannon Films (which you can see on Netflix right now). Towards the end of the documentary, the filmmakers alluded to the fact that the studio was working on a comeback, and we're as happy as anyone to report that today, Cannon Films is back, and a new slate of movies is on the horizon including America Ninja Apprentice, Return of The Delta Force, U.S. Sniper and more.

Back in the 1980's, The Cannon Group Inc., was one of the World's biggest independent motion picture studios,...

Stars: Shô Kosugi, James Booth, Donna Kei Benz, Norman Burton, Kane Kosugi, Shane Kosugi, Matthew Faison, Parley Baer, Robert Ito, Michael Constantine, Alan Amiel, Woody Watson | Written by James Booth | Directed by Gordon Hessler

Pray For Death was the second film – outside of the Ninja Trilogy – to feature Sho Kosugi in a lead role and is easily one of, if not the, best film Kosugi has ever made. The film sees Shô Kosugi star as Akira, a Japanese businessman who, jaded by his job and looking for a better life for his family, moves to America. He opens a restaurant with his wife and kids but his world is shattered when he stumbles upon the headquarters of a sinister gang, led by crime lord Limehouse Willie. Wrongfully accused of stealing a precious necklace, the gangsters begin a rampage of murder that takes the life of Akira’s wife and threatens...

Enter the Ninja

The film that heralded the start of the ninja craze in the West, Enter the Ninja was one of many martial arts action films made by the uber-prolific producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus after they purchased Cannon Films in the late 70s.

Directed by Golan, Enter the Ninja tells the story of Cole (Franco Nero), a Westerner who is trained in the art of ninjitsu in Japan. Finishing his training he heads the Philippines to visit his war buddy Frank Landers (Alex Courtney) and his newlywed wife Mary Ann (Susan George), who are the owners of farm which is under attack from unscrupulous businessman Charles Venarius (Christopher George) because – unbeknownst to the Landers – there’s a huge oil deposit under their land! Of course having Franco Nero’s ninja on their side means that the Landers can easily see off Venarius’ henchmen. That is until he...

Stars: Sho Kosugi, Lewis Van Bergen, Robin Evans, Gerry Gibson, Charles Lucia, Richard Wiley, Carlos Estrada, Ulises Dumont, Theodore McNabney, Alan Amiel, Armando Capo | Written by Robert Short, Wallace C. Bennett | Directed by Gordon Hessler

As a kid who grew up in the video store there were a few staples in my cinematic diet – none more so than the VHS releases from Imperial and Trans World Entertainment. From chop-socky flicks featuring an incredibly young Jackie Chan, to the ninja films of Sho Kosugi, I could not get enough of the Far East fight action. However the death of VHS also saw the death of those types of films being freely available here in the UK. Sure you can go down the import route (which I did for a number of those dear-to-my-heart action movies of the early 80s) but there’s nothing quite like walking into a store and picking...

Eureka Entertainment have announced they are to release The Ninja Trilogy, a trio of crazed martial-arts classics from the 80s starring Sho Kosugi, in a Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) edition in the UK on 18th January 2016.

The wild world of Cannon Films rarely became more delirious or influential than this trio of rollocking, crazed action classics. Beginning with Enter the Ninja, they spearheaded a craze for the titular martial-arts assassin that spiralled throughout the decade and beyond, but this eccentric trilogy still stands alone.

Enter the Ninja (featuring Franco Nero and Susan George) deals with a couple on oil-rich land in the Philippines under siege from a ruthless industrialist. Revenge of the Ninja moves to Salt Lake City, Utah, where Cho and his son Kane begin a new life after their family is killed in Japan. After opening a doll shop, a criminal betrayal leads to an almighty showdown. Ninja III: The Domination...

Many films tried to capitalise on the popularity of the late, great Bruce Lee. Here are our ten favourites...

1973 was the year that kung fu broke in America. The release of the popular Five Fingers Of Death (aka King Boxer) in March set the fuse and when Enter The Dragon (the first Hong Kong martial arts film co-produced by a major Us studio) followed in August, it exploded.

Although Bruce Lee was billed as a co-star in Enter The Dragon alongside John Saxon because casting an Asian actor in the lead role of an American film was unheard of at the time (and would remain so until 1982 when Sho Kosugi topped the bill for Revenge Of The Ninja), it was Bruce who captured the public's imagination. His amazing look and style, his astonishing talent for acting, writing and directing, and his unparalleled martial arts ability made him an icon for...

This week on Off The Shelf, Ryan is joined by Brian Saur to take a look at the new DVD and Blu-ray releases for the week of May 26th, 2015, and chat about some follow-up and home video news.

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Episode Links & Notes

News

Masters Of Cinema & Eureka in August: Cruel Story Of Youth, Medium Cool, the Town That Dreaded Sundown

Screen Archives Entertainment have some new and exclusive Code Red Blu-ray titles, available now. Guy Magar’s Retribution, Tobe Hooper’s Spontaneous Combustion and Shakma.

Twilight Time new releases for June will go live for pre-order Wednesday, May 27the st 4 Pm Eastern: Absolute Beginners (1986), State Of Grace (1990) , Mississippi Mermaid (1969), The Young Lions (1958) , The Night Of The Generals (1967) the approximate street date is June 9th.

New Releases

Ballet 422 Cannibal Ferox The Confession Da Sweet Blood of Jesus Double Indemnity Empire Of The Ants / Jaws Of Satan...

The Old School Kung Fu Fest, set to run from April 16-19 in New York, has announced its 14-film line-up including American Ninja 1 & 2 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Currently in its fifth year, the four-day event showcases the best martial arts and action films from 1960s through the 1980s.

This year’s special focus is ninja films. Other titles include black-and-white Shinobi No Mono Parts 1 & 2 and Cannon Films’ ninja trilogy of Enter The Ninja, Revenge Of The Ninja and Ninja III: The Domination.

Nonprofit Subway Cinema presents the festival and its programming team including Samuel Jamier, Rufus de Rham and Goran Topalovic curate the event.

You better watch Titanic, Top Gun and Braveheart while you can, because come 2014, Netflix will remove 80 films and a handful of TV shows from their streaming site.

According to Reddit, on New Year's Day, nearly 40 million streaming Netflix subscribers will no longer be able to watch some of the classic films and TV shows that have been so readily available in the past. Instead, they will have to join the seven million DVD subscribers and order their films to come in the mail.

Related Pics: Hollywood's Hottest Movie Posters

The heads-up came from an anonymous post on Reddit, in which the user listed every film that is to be removed from instant streaming as of Wednesday, January 1. A Netflix spokesperson told CNN that the company often changes what films will be available for streaming based on licensing contracts made with the studios and filmmakers.

The silver lining in all of this is that a few new films...

Life is ephemeral. Nothing lasts forever, least of all your favorite streaming movies and TV shows on Netflix. It used to be you could go to third-party websites to find out when movies would be expiring from Netflix’s streaming service, but no more. Now the only place to find that information is on individual listings within Netflix’s own website or apps. How are we to know which films we never got around to watching that we’ll be missing in a few days?

Well, where there’s a will there’s a way. In this case, that way is through the seedy back alley of the Internet known as Reddit, where one user was kind enough to list all the various films and TV shows that will no longer be on Netflix after the first of the year. Here is that very list:

TV shows expiring January 1st:...

A major downside of VOD services compared with having a vast Blu-ray or DVD library is timing. Services like Netflix, Hulu, etc. have contracts with content providers - contracts that expire usually around the end of a calendar year unless otherwise renewed.

Thus from January 1st, certain films will no longer be available on that service to watch when you want. Today, a Reddit post has listed the films that are about to drop off Netflix due to contract with various rights providers running out. When (or even if) they will return is anyone's guess. The list is as follows:

1492 Conquest Of Paradise

As Good As It Gets

Brick

Being John Malkovich

Back To School

Battle Of Britain

Best Of Times

Born On the Fourth Of July

Braveheart

Body Of Evidence

Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo

Biloxi Blues

Can't Hardly Wait

Capote

Dressed To Kill

Do The Right Thing

Desperado

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind...

A major downside of VOD services compared with having a vast Blu-ray or DVD library is timing. Services like Netflix, Hulu, etc. have contracts with content providers - contracts that expire usually around the end of a calendar year unless otherwise renewed.

Thus from January 1st, certain films will no longer be available on that service to watch when you want. Today, a Reddit post has listed the films that are about to drop off Netflix due to contract with various rights providers running out. When (or even if) they will return is anyone's guess. The list is as follows:

1492 Conquest Of Paradise

As Good As It Gets

Brick

Being John Malkovich

Back To School

Battle Of Britain

Best Of Times

Born On the Fourth Of July

Braveheart

Body Of Evidence

Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo

Biloxi Blues

Can't Hardly Wait

Capote

Dressed To Kill

Do The Right Thing

Desperado

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind...

There is a spot in my heart reserved for American Ninja. I'm not sure exactly when I first saw the 1985 movie that dared to cast Michael Dudikoff as an American ninja, but it was sometime during the late '80s, amid what can only be described as my “ninja phase” that involved the consumption of every movie, book, television series, comic book and action figure with the word “ninja” in its title. Nine Deaths of the Ninja? Saw it. Revenge of the Ninja? Saw it in theaters. (Twice.) Ninja Magazine? Bought it, ripped out the pages, and pasted them all over my bedroom walls. Even so, I don't harbor any misconceptions about the quality of American Ninja nor its prospects for inclusion in the National Film Registry. It is -- to put it kindly...

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As a kid growing up in the ‘80s, the Cannon Group was an important part of my becoming a movie geek. Thanks to the advent of the Vcr, I spent countless weekends and summer vacations inside a house, in front of a television set, watching movies like Revenge of the Ninja and Missing in Action. Hell, if it weren’t for Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, the world might have missed out on a ton of Chuck Norris and Sho Kosugi movies in general. Those guys were like stalwarts in the Cannon stable. The little company that could raked in big bucks during the Reagan era, and looked like it was going to be a force in the industry for years to come – until it made two fatal miscalculations: the Israeli cousins dumped money into Superman IV: The Quest for Peace...

Read More...

Home Invasion is a weekly post every Tuesday which shows you what is being released on Blu-Ray & DVD today! We scoured through Amazon to bring you everything you might be interested in. Our Picks of the Week are releases that we are looking forward to checking out, have reviewed and/or were are Picks of the Week on the Dtb Podcast. All descriptions are courtesy of Amazon.com unless noted otherwise. If you are thinking about purchasing any of these items, by clicking via the links provided, you are supporting Dtb. Thank you!

This week on Blu-Ray & DVD we get new product from Severin Films, Shout! Factory, Drafthouse Films as well as some great TV Series.

Price: $14.98

Click Here to buy the Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy + UltraViolet Combo

Click Here to buy the Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy + UltraViolet Combo

Click Here to buy the DVD

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Stars: Lucinda Dickey, Sho Kosugi, Jordan Bennett, David Chung, Dale Ishimoto, James Hong | Written by James R. Silke | Directed by Sam Firstenberg

After the body of a sexy bouffant-haired telephone maintenance engineer – who is also and aerobics instructor on the side – is possessed by the spirit of an evil ninja, she begins systematically killing (using her new-found ninja skills of course) the officers responsible for the ninja’s death and can only be stopped by another ninja!

One of the campest, yet coolest, of the 80s ninja movies, Ninja lll mixes the becoming played-out at the time Ninja genre with something akin to The Exorcist in a film that epitomises all that is great about 80s B-movie cinema and all that was great about Golan-Globus and Cannon Films, whose demise, in my opinion, has left a huge blot of the movie landscape.

Like many movies of the 80s, Ninja lll...

We don't know about you cats but we are proud to live in a world in which Ninja III: The Domination can see the light of day in a high quality extras loaded Blu-ray release. Oh, Scream Factory... how we love you!

From the Press Release

It’s time to unleash the beast within and join the pack as Scream Factory™ is proud to present the ferocious 1981 classic The Howling Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray™ and DVD June 18, 2013. Directed by legendary filmmaker Joe Dante (Gremlins) and written by John Sayles and Terence H. Winkless, this massive cult hit is based on the popular novel by Gary Brandner. The all-star cast includes Dee Wallace (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Cujo), Patrick MacNee (The Avengers, A View to a Kill), Dennis Dugan (Happy Gilmore), Christopher Stone (Cujo), Belinda Balaski (Piranha), Kevin McCarthy (Innerspace), John Carradine (The Twilight Zone), Slim Pickens (Dr. Strangelove), Elisabeth Brooks...

Scream Factory announced the release date and bonus features for their upcoming Blu-ray/DVD Collector’s Edition of The Howling. We also have details on two other upcoming Scream Factory titles, Dead Souls and Ninja III: The Domination.

“It’s time to unleash the beast within and join the pack as Scream Factory™ is proud to present the ferocious 1981 classic The Howling Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray™ and DVD June 18, 2013. Directed by legendary filmmaker Joe Dante (Gremlins) and written by John Sayles and Terence H. Winkless, this massive cult hit is based on the popular novel by Gary Brandner. The all-star cast includes Dee Wallace (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Cujo), Patrick MacNee (The Avengers, A View to a Kill), Dennis Dugan (Happy Gilmore), Christopher Stone (Cujo), Belinda Balaski (Piranha), Kevin McCarthy (Innerspace), John Carradine (The Twilight Zone), Slim Pickens (Dr. Strangelove), Elisabeth Brooks (Deep Space) and Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager...

Directed by: Menahem Golan

Written by: Dick Desmond, Mike Stone

Cast: Franco Nero, Susan George, Sho Kosugi, Alex Courtney, Christopher George

The Cannon Group struck gold with its first martial arts film, 1981's Enter the Ninja. Though Western audiences had seen ninjas before, most notably in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice, this movie changed how these shadow warriors were portrayed on the screen.

Transplanting martial arts mayhem into a gunslinger plotline, the ninja gained near-superhuman abilities and a more heroic disposition. The resulting film was successful enough for Cannon to launch two franchises (Enter the Ninja and American Ninja) and embedded the art of Ninjutsu into American pop culture.

The film opens as Westerner Cole (Franco Nero) is completing his final test in Ninjutsu, thus earning the right to practice and teach the art. But Hasegawa (Sho Kosugi), a high-ranking ninja in the dojo, isn't happy with...

Grindhouse Trailer Classics Vol. 3

Introduced by Kim Newman | Produced by Marc Morris, Jake West

Nucleus Films follow up the critically acclaimed first two volumes in the Grindhouse Trailer Classics series with this all-new third volume, featuring even more outrageous and crazy trailers for movies from the heady days of cult and exploitation cinema, the likes of which have sadly been lost in this day and age of Hollywood blockbusters and high definition entertainment.

Throwing politically correctness out the window, the trailers in this third epic volume run the gamut from sexploitation movies (which seem to have an obsession with swinging Sweden and the activities which apparently go on there), biker movies, blackploitation classics – who doesn’t want to watch The Spook Who Sat By the Door?, martial arts masterpieces such as Deadly China Doll and Revenge of the Ninja, good old nazispolitation (Nazi Love Camp 27 I’m looking at you...

Cannon Films, like any other studio yesterday or today, wanted to keep a good thing going, and for them in the 1980s it was the ninja movie. After two early successes for the studio in Enter the Ninja and Revenge of the Ninja (recall this film’s flashback here), success wasn’t guaranteed a third time in their Ninja III: The Domination. The studio took a break, as did director Sam Firstenberg, but in 1984 the studio wanted to revisit the genre, but with a twist. The deadliest art of the Orient is now in the hands of an American.

Killer Film catches back up with director Sam Firstenberg for an Action Packed Flashback for 1985′s American Ninja.

After the lukewarm reception to Ninja III: The Domination both critically and financially, Sam took a break from the genre with Breakin’ 2. “It was the company’s decision to keep the Ninja series alive,...

Coming this week is the home video release of The Warrior’s Way and 20th Century Home Entertainment thought it might be a good time to examine the ninja film genre and determine which are the ten best. Their hope is that audiences will want to add the film starring Geoffrey Rush (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns), Danny Huston (Clash of the Titans) and introducing to American fans international sensation Jang Dong Gun. Our review will appear soon and you can always judge for yourself.

Meantime, here are 20th’s Top 10. Did they get it right or miss one?

Shogun Assasin

A story of honor, disgrace, vengeance, massacre and “the greatest team in the history of mass slaughter,” Shogun Assasin is by far a ninja movie classic. The swords swing and slice into action when a shogun’s wife is murdered and is forced into exile after being framed.

The ninja film isn’t widely loved like the samurai genre, and that’s mostly due to the lack of any significant ninja movies, especially compared to what Akira Kurosawa delivered in his career. This is a tad unfair, but let’s change that.

After directing Enter the Ninja in 1981, Menahem Golan wanted to follow this hit for his Golan-Globus Films (Cannon Films) with a sequel. In what has become widely recognized as one of the best ninja movies ever made, 1983′s Revenge of the Ninja features some of the coolest ninja action and violence, as well as sharp direction by the newcomer Sam Firstenberg, who would go on to direct some of the more popular films for Cannon Films, including American Ninja and Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogalo.

Director Sam Firstenberg chats with Killer Film about his breakout hit Revenge of the Ninja in another dose of Action Packed Flashback.

Ninja III: The Domination

Stars: Lucinda Dickey, Sho Kosugi, Jordan Bennett, David Chung, Dale Ishimoto, James Hong | Written by James R. Silke | Directed by Sam Firstenberg

After the body of a sexy bouffant-haired telephone maintenance engineer – who is also and aerobics instructor on the side – is possessed by the spirit of an evil ninja, she begins systematically killing (using her new-found ninja skills of course) the officers responsible for the ninja’s death and can only be stopped by another ninja!

When I found out the Ninja lll: The Domination was available to stream via LOVEFiLM’s Playstation 3 service I knew I was on to a winner, what I didn’t bargain on was the Psn network going down mid-viewing, so thank god it came back on yesterday and I could finish my Ninja lll fix! One of the campest, yet coolest, of the 80s ninja movies, Ninja lll mixes...

And the parade of Roger Corman Cult Classics keeps marching on in with the official releases of three more lovable obscurities courtesy of Shout! Factory!

From the Press Release

This November 2, 2010, get ready for a trio of science-fiction terror palooza when Shout! Factory, in association with New Horizons Picture Corporation will unleash Not of This Earth (1988) Special Edition DVD and The Terror Within/ Dead Space Double-Feature DVD from the popular Roger Corman’s Cult Classics home entertainment series.

Cult filmmaker Jim Wynorski (Big Bad Mama II, Chopping Mall) offers his rendition of Roger Corman’s 1957 cult classic Not of This Earth in the 1988 version, boasting campy performance of fan favorite Traci Lords (Blade, Cry-Baby). The double-feature DVD release of The Terror Within and Dead Space offers fearful futuristic thrills on Earth and in outer space. A must-have for horror fans and collectors, aggregate your Roger Corman movie collection with these...

Tony Rayns says Kamui: The Last Ninja is “probably the best ninja movie ever made.” Now I haven’t seen this flick yet, and I absolutely abhor such blatant hyperbole, but I find it hard to believe it’s better than Sho Kosugi’s Revenge Of the Ninja. I’ll reserve judgment until I see it of course, and while I don’t know who Mr. Rayns is a quick Google search has informed me that he knows a little bit about Asian cinema. That said, the trailer makes a strong case for it being the best of something. Check it out right after the jump. … [visit site to read more]...

When it comes to your horror needs t-shirt-wise, it's hard to find anyone who holds a candle to the sickos over at Rotten Cotton. The boys in black have just unveiled a bunch of new designs to help you make "the normal" folks around you walk on the other side of the street, and we've got a couple of choice ones for you to dig on as well as directions for you to see the whole damned line!

Dig on the samples below, and head on over to the official Rotten Cotton Facebook page to see the rest, which include new designs for Critters, Troll 2, Revenge of the Ninja, X-tro, Forbidden World, Piranha, George A. Romero's The Crazies, Westworld and more!

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- Uncle Creepy

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We have added a new restricted trailer for upcoming “Ninja Assassin“

The martial arts extravaganza follows Raizo (Rain), one of the deadliest assassins in the world. Taken from the streets as a child, he was transformed into a trained killer by the Ozunu Clan, a secret society whose very existence is considered a myth. But haunted by the merciless execution of his friend by the Clan, Raizo breaks free from them and vanishes. Now he waits, preparing to exact his revenge.

The film stars Naomie Harris, Ben Miles, Rick Yune, legendary Sho Kosugi (Enter the Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja), a Japanese martial artist with training in ninjutsu, as the ruthless leader of the Ozunu Clan.

“Ninja Assassin” is produced by the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix, Speed Racer) and directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta). It is scheduled to hit theaters November 25, 2009.

For more movie info, trailers, photos and...