Crew
Director/Screenplay/Producer/Music – J.R. Bookwalter, Photography – Michael Tolochko Jr., Robot Ninja Created by David Lange, Makeup Effects Consultant – David P. Barton, Makeup Effects – Subtempco EFX (Joe Contracier, David Lange & Bill Morrison), Production Design – Jon Killough. Production Company – The Suburban Tempe Company.
Cast
Michael Todd (Leonard Miller/Robot Ninja), Bogdan ‘Don’ Pecic (Dr Hubert Goodknight), Maria Markovic (Gody Sanchez), Floyd Ewing Jr. (Officer Hickox), Bill Morrison (Buddy Revelle), James L. Edwards (Sculley), Michael Kemper (Officer Cameron), Burt Ward (Stanley Kane), Scott Spiegel (Marty Coleslaw), Linnea Quigley (Miss Barbeau), Mike Shea (Rip Himhoff), David Lange (Greg Lange), Mike Render (Joey McHeister), Lori Kozar (Susan), Steve Rossiter (Jon), Jennifer Mullen (Christine), J.R. Bookwalter (Spinell), Joe Killough (DePalma), Rodney Shields (O’Bannon), Michael ‘D.O.C.’ Porter (Nash)
Plot
Leonard Miller is creator of the Robot Ninja comic-book but is not happy with the way that it has been adapted into a tv series. In his hometown of Ridgway, Ohio, gangs have been attacking people. Leonard goes to Dr Hubert Goodknight and asks him to build a Robot Ninja costume for him, replete with a visor and steel-clawed glove. In costume, he goes out and starts eliminating the gang members with a good deal of bloody enthusiasm. However, this brings reprisals from gang leader Gody Sanchez.
J.R. Bookwalter is an Ohio-based filmmaker who gained a name making independent films throughout the 1990s. He first appeared with the zombie film The Dead Next Door (1989) after being given funding by Sam Raimi. His films as director include the likes of Kingdom of the Vampire (1991), Zombie Cop (1991), Ozone (1995) and The Sandman (1995), while he has also produced a number of other genre films. (See below for J.R. Bookwalter’s other films).
It is a scratch of the head trying to get a handle on Robot Ninja. At first glance, the title makes you think you are in for a cheesy variant on one of the numerous killer android or cyborg films that came out in the late 1980s/mid-1990s following the successes of The Terminator (1984) and RoboCop (1987). However, this does not prove to be the case and Robot Ninja is simply the name given to a comic-book character created by Michael Todd. Todd does subsequently take on the guise of Robot Ninja and becomes a costumed vigilante and that is about the sum of the film.
Bookwalter also made Robot Ninja six months after the release of the Tim Burton Batman (1989), which was a massive success that revolutionised film superheroes and brought the dark, brooding look to screens. You get the impression that Robot Ninja was created as an ultra-low-budget attempt to copy that same fad, featuring a superhero with no powers – simply a visor and a Freddy Krueger-like clawed glove. (Although we do see in quite a gory scene Todd inserting tubes and pieces of metal into a wound in his arm in some DIY surgery, which is something that would probably not have the intended effect the film seems to think it does). The upshot seems like a bizarre combination of Disney’s Condorman (1981) – comic-book artist gets to bring his own creations to life – combined with the urban vigilantism of Death Wish (1974) and the addition of plentiful 80s styled gore effects. All of which adds up to a really odd mix.
Robot Ninja is cheaply made – so cheap that the action is often represented by poorly drawn comic-book panels. The superhero costume seems as though it were no more than people cobbling together 80s wraparound sunglasses and New Wave fashions. The acting is frequently amateurish with those on screen trying to camp it up. The one thing that does come across quite well is the gore effects, which are up to a reasonably accomplished level for this era.
span>Robot Ninja also comes executive produced and presented by low-budget director David DeCoteau. While the principal cast are all unknowns, Bookwalter includes cameos from Burt Ward, Robin to the 1960s tv Batman (1966-8); Scream Queen Linnea Quigley as Ward’s secretary; and Scott Spiegel, a Sam Raimi associate who made his directorial debut with the supermarket slasher Intruder (1989) around this same time, in an appearance as a rival comic-book artist. In addition, there are various characters named after genre directors such as (Brian) De Palma, (Dan) O’Bannon, (Joe) Spinell and actress Adrienne Barbeau.
J.R. Bookwalter has also directed The Dead Next Door (1989), Kingdom of the Vampire (1991), Zombie Cop (1991), Humanoids from Atlantis (1992), Ozone (1995), The Sandman (1995), Polymorph (1996), Witchouse II: Blood Coven (2000), Witchouse 3: Demon Fire (2001) and Deadly Stingers (2003). He has produced a great many other films, usually through his Suburban Tempe production company, with the likes of Skinned Alive (1990), Dominion (1992), Galaxy of the Dinosaurs (1992), Maximum Impact (1992), Midnight 2 (1993), Bloodletting (1997), The Vault (2000), Final Stab (2001), Horrorvision (2001), Stitches (2001), Bleed (2002), Dead and Rotting (2002), Groom Lake (2002), Hell Asylum (2002), Jigsaw (2002), Killjoy 2: Deliverance from Evil (2002), Deadly Stingers (2003), October Moon (2005), Possessed (2005), Poisoned Sweethearts (2008) and Platoon of the Dead (2009).
Trailer here