cult film freak: CANNON BLASTS LUCINDA DICKEY IN 'NINJA III: THE DOMINATION'

Blu Ray of Ninja III Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2

NINJA III: THE DOMINATION, despite being number three after The Cannon Group's previous NINJA flicks — that needn't watching to jump on board here — stands, flips, jumps, tumbles and kicks on its very own merit...

With buried lead and legit karate expert Shô Kosugi, whose eye-patched Yomada eventually travels to America to avenge the past (unseen) death of his father by the notorious Black Ninja who, after killing a golf-course playing scientist, his wife, several bodyguards and more cops than RAMBO in a bombastic/awesome land fight turned car chase introduction, telephone pole-climbing government worker Lucinda Dickey as Christie, an aerobics instructor on the side who listens to gloriously dated synth music ala Linda Hamilton in TERMINATOR, gets taken-over or dominated but particularly possessed given one scene that rips off THE EXORCIST full throttle...

Having taken the bullet-splattered dead Ninja's soul, receiving his powerful sword along with vengeful memories, Lucinda's Christie is surprisingly subdued during blackouts as she becomes a sneaky Ninja assassin targeting obnoxious cops while having an affair with a friendly helpful one: Leading to something sinister and mysterious combining the horror genre with karate with the help of Yomada, always there on the sidelines during fight scenes involving Dickey's masked Ninja: like all the complicated numbers in Cannon's BREAKIN' the same year wherein SHE ALSO headlined despite not being a titular professional, she's also noticeably stunt-doubled and yet, even despite a sporadically robotic delivery, her 1980's dream girl hotness a and physical prowess helps carry this truly entertaining, action-packed wallop that deserves more genuine cult over maligned camp status.