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(tense synth music)

(energetic synth rock music)

(sword whipping)

(man groaning and screaming)

(fighters grunting)

(blade clanging)

(fighters groaning)

-Where'd he come from?

- Where did he go?

(dramatic music)

(gong crashing)

(people chattering)

(people laughing)

(traffic rumbling)

- Here we are on East Broadway
in Chinatown, New York.

Right behind me is the former site

of the Sun Sing Movie Theater.

This is where a lot of classic
martial arts movies premiered

in the late '60s and early '70s.

This was one of many theaters

that were in Chinatown at one time.

Further down on East Broadway
used to be the Pagoda Theater,

Canal Street was the Canal Cinema,

then on Bowery, we had
the Music Palace Theater,

which is now a Wyndham Garden Hotel.

Then right around the
corner from that used to be

the Rosemary Theater, which
is now a Buddhist temple.

All of these theaters are
where John Liu's movies used

to play when they came to New York.

And when John Liu came to New
York, he made New York Ninja,

and this is the story of that movie.

-Wah!

- Ugh!

(thudding)

- Kicking is a really big
deal in Hong Kong movies.

And it's a big deal
because there's a saying

in Chinese martial arts,
"Northern leg, Southern fist,"

which means the Northern
style martial arts have

a lot more kicking in
them, it's a lot flashier.

The Southern styles, the
kicking is low to the ground,

it's very close, and it's
mostly focused on punching.

So, in Hong Kong, which
is in Southern China,

a lot of the people who are
trained in martial arts,

who wound up being action choreographers

and doing martial arts in
movies, were Southern trained,

so they were mostly
concentrated on fist styles.

(fists thudding)

(fighters groaning)

So, kicking was not super flashy.

So when you saw people
pulling off super kicks

and these amazing high
kicks and all this stuff,

it looked really, really good.

(kicks thudding)

(fighters groaning)

So, a lot of these super
kickers from Korea,

these Korean Taekwondo guys,

came to Hong Kong to appear in movies.

You had people like Hwang Jang-lee,

who wound up being in two of
Jackie Chan's early classics,

Snake in the Eagle's Shadow

and Drunken Master as the final boss.

Hwang In-shik, who was in two other

early classic Jackie Chan
movies as the final boss,

Young Master and Dragon Lord.

Now, John Liu was Taiwanese.

He learned a bunch of
different martial arts styles

from his grandfather, but he
wanted to learn Taekwondo.

And he learned it from Tan Tao-liang,

this Korean Taekwondo guy who was actually

a really, really big deal
in the world of Taekwondo.

The problem was, John Liu
wasn't flexible enough

to pull off these kicks
that Taekwondo required,

so essentially, Tan
Tao-liang tortured him.

He made him stretch his
legs and his groin muscles

for two years, basically, of
sheer, unrelenting crotch hell.

(whooshing)

(eggshell cracking)

- Ahhh!

(whooshing)

(egg crunching)

- Ah!

- All kinds of really

sick, perverted, awful ways
to stretch out his groin

so John Liu could do these
really high, really intricate,

flat kicks with a lot of leg flexibility.

He could grab his leg
and bring it right up

to his face so that he could
kick people behind him.

And he always worked something interesting

into the films, like in
Snuff Bottle Connection,

somebody is coming at him with a sword,

he pulls the sword away
from the guy with his foot,

slashes him, and when
he comes back around,

Liu stabs him right through
the midsection with his foot.

- He made a few movies, but
then he had this fateful meeting

with Ng See-yuen.

Ng See-yuen had a great eye for talent.

He was a producer and behind the scenes

for the most part, and he's the guy

who saw Jackie Chan being
a Bruce Lee knockoff,

doing all these Bruce Lee knockoff movies

and all these really
crummy, low budget films.

And Ng See-yuen teamed
him up with Yuen Woo-ping,

another one of his
discoveries, who was basically

a sort of standard issue
action choreographer

with his brother.

We know Yuen Woo-ping now for
the guy who did The Matrix

and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,

and he spotted John Liu.

And he teamed up John
Liu with Hwang Jang-lee,

this Korean Taekwondo guy
and another super kicker,

and put them in a movie with Don Wong Tao

called Secret Rivals.

- Ah ha!

(feet shuffling)

(feet thudding)

(fighters grunting)

- Oh, oh, ugh.

(kicks thudding)

It was a really surprise hit.

Then, Don Wong Tao went
on to do other movies,

The Hot, The Cool, and the Vicious,

he went away and did his thing.

But Hwang Jang-lee and
John Liu stuck together

for Secret Rivals 2.

(dramatic music)

(fists thudding)

(fighters groaning)

(fist thudding)

- It's a more complicated story

than the first movie, but...

it really pays off in the fighting.

But I think a lot of
people were disappointed

with Secret Rivals 2 because
Don Wong wasn't in it,

so they brought him back
for Death Duel of Kung Fu.

- Ayah!

(kicks thudding)

(whooshing)

- Yah!

- Ah!

(kicks thudding)

They made Invincible
Armor, action choreographed

by Yuen Woo-ping.

(metallic grating)

(blade whooshing)

- Ah!

- Oh!

(chain clinking)

(bodies thudding)

And then, John Liu kept working,

but never again was he really,
after he left Ng See-yuen,

making quite stuff at that same caliber,

with that same caliber of talent.

- There was a Hong Kong
company called L&T Corporation,

and when the Kung Fu craze
kicked in, in 1973, '74,

they started buying up
martial arts movies.

They set up two companies
in the United States,

one in Jacksonville
called Ark Films in 1976,

and then they started another one

in California in 1981,
called Unifilm International.

Sometimes, Ark would
put the movie out first

and under a different
title, and then a couple

of years later, Unifilm
would re-release it

under a different title.

So, 2 Great Cavaliers,
when that reached the US,

it was called Blade of Fury.

And then a couple of years
later, when Unifilm had it,

The Sword and the
Sorcerer had just come out

and it had been a surprise hit.

So, what's better than the
Sword and the Sorcerer?

Two Swords and Two Sorcerers.

So, that was the re-release title.

- I think John Liu had to see
less talented martial artists

in himself, people like Leo Fong,

stuff like that, making
these headline movies

in the States, and I think
he certainly saw a chance

to expand his market
the way Jackie Chan was,

the way he'd seen Bruce Lee do it.

And he'd struck out on his own,

and he seems to have really
valued total control,

because he was developing
the movies themselves.

He was directing them.

I mean, Ninja in the Claws of the CIA,

he's playing two roles in it.

He had this vision of control,

but his movies weren't -- they don't seem

to have had the same
backing, they don't seem

to have had the same
budgets, and they don't seem

to have had the same
behind the camera talent

as a lot of these other key people did.

- [Narrator] There's a man teaching

that technique right here
in the United States.

His name is John Liu.

- Ninja in the Claws
of the CIA makes a lot

of sense inside John Liu's head.

It's a movie where you can
see the exploitable elements:

ninjas, CIA, you've got some footage

from a Danny Lee movie at
the very, very beginning

that is unrelated from everything else.

You had a bunch of prop army costumes,

and then you had this sexploitation angle.

The movie is about the
CIA recruiting John Liu

by pressuring his wheelchair-bound,

army veteran brother, played by John Liu,

who only talks to John Liu
from the other side of a pool.

- I thought about what
you told me last night.

You know how I feel about war.

I think you're going to have

to be the patriotic member of the family.

- John Liu gets recruited by the CIA

and then they study his techniques.

They have this kind of mind
control thing going on.

- Please, you've got to stop it.

I can't stand this torture.

(man groaning)

- And then there's something to do

with NASA in there, I believe.

It's a little confusing.

(feet slapping)

(man groaning)

(kicks thudding)

(car horn honking)

And a lot of these guys
had their own systems.

His teacher, Tan Tao-liang,
had a system called "gecko."

- Hello!

- And "gecko" was not quite
a martial arts system,

it was more like a way

to climb walls really fast
using mostly your legs,

which Tan Tao-liang was good at,

because he had a lot of leg
strength and flexibility.

Bruce Lee had Jeet Kune Do, and
so John Liu had Zen Kwun Do.

I'm not sure exactly
what Zen Kwun Do does,

but Zen Kwun Do Strikes in
Paris is a movie filmed in Paris

and this is the one
where he's got a relative

who's an astrophysicist
who he has to rescue.

And again, he fights people
in international locations.

(kicks thudding)

(fighters grunting)

(kicks thudding)

- Ahh!

-In 1976, there was an exhibition bout

in France, this was two years

after Chuck Norris had retired,

so it's not on his official record,

and it wasn't a competitive fight.

It wasn't judged; my understanding is

that they had the fight
and then they left it up

to the crowd who the winner was,

and the loudest applause -
or the louder applause was

for John Liu, so that worked its way

into the advertising of some of the movies

when L&T put out Zen
Kwun Do Strikes in Paris,

this blew him up as a
world karate champion,

as well as defeated Chuck Norris.

You're still reading about
this today on the internet,

about John Liu beating Chuck Norris,

and it's based on, probably, these ads

or this press release
that came out in 1979,

- Ha!

(kicks thudding)

- Oy!

- Ah!

(fighter groaning)

He did the one movie in Paris,

he made a movie in Mexico,
and this was the time, now,

to come to New York and
make a movie in New York.

(dramatic electronic music)

21st Century started
out with foreign films

that they picked up for distribution.

One of their first releases
was Three Fantastic Supermen,

which was an Italian action movie

that they kind of sold as a kids film.

They had a comic book artist do the poster

to appeal to kids who read comic books,

but it was mostly Kung Fu movies.

And so, in the early '80s,

when they started branching out

into more of the horror films,

New York Ninja was kind of a return

to the martial arts roots.

Also, Ninja was a big
keyword at that time,

after the Cannon movies,

after the bestselling novel, The Ninja,

there was a real interest.

In 1984, it was kind of

the height of the ninja fever in the US.

There hadn't been any ninja
movies filmed in New York,

and 21st Century was located in New York,

so it seemed like a good thing.

- New York Ninja?

- New York Ninja was a film that I created

with the idea in mind that
we were doing extremely well

with martial arts films, and
that we were also looking

for films that had a little
bit of fantasy in it.

And New York Ninja was kind of a cross

between a comic book
hero with a super ability

and a straightforward martial arts film.

We did have a very good actor
in the name of John Liu,

who was credible to the martial arts fans.

- John Liu came in my office, I met him.

He was a good martial artist
and he had a good look to him.

And he was a...

one of his favorites was Bruce Lee.

And he more or less had
a Bruce Lee swagger.

- Our intentions all along
were to give a very fine,

not quite the Hong Kong production,

but really, keeping within the reality

of what martial arts fans would want.

(thudding)

- Ah!

(whooshing)

(dramatic music)

-Who is that?

- I knew about John Liu
because I was always

a big martial arts and Kung Fu movie fan,

but I didn't really know who he was

until -- and I think it was
on TV -- Kung Fu Commandos,

and I loved that movie, I'm like,

this guy is amazing, they were kicking

and I was going crazy for
a hon-Bruce Lee movie.

- Huh!

(kicks thudding)

- Ah!

(feet slapping)

(whooshing)

(kicks thudding)

I'd just come off the
movie Silent Madness,

and it was really soon
after that I got a call.

And it's like, oh, you
worked on the Silent Madness,

the effects team, and I was like, yeah.

I mean, those guys were from LA.

They'd already left, they're
back in LA, you know.

And they go, well, can you do this movie?

It's a low budget martial arts movie,

you probably never heard
of the guy, John Liu.

And I was like, John Liu from Hong Kong?

And he was like, yeah,
yeah, oh yeah, yeah.

So, I mean, I would have
worked on that film,

I would have paid to work
on it just to meet John Liu.

- I had just finished a magazine
show called Two on the Town

that I co-anchored, and
it was the end of the run.

And my agent at the time
started sending me out

on feature films, since
I'm also an actress,

for reporter parts, not a long stretch.

- We were told that
Rudy Ray Moore was going

to be in the movie, and I had, probably

at that time, I hadn't
seen a Dolomite movie,

but I knew who Rudy Ray Moore
was and had heard his records.

And that was a big deal.
Wow, Rudy Ray Moore.

And it wasn't -- I think
it was the first day

of the shoot they said, no,
Rudy Ray Moore is not in it.

- Oh fuck, I ain't done nothing.

- I wasn't confident
doing it as a solo gig

as an effects artist, so I called

in my friend John Bisson,
who had helped me on my

NYU student films, and John Bisson was,

really, working and always experimenting,

wanted to be a makeup effects artist.

Years later, he would
go to LA and join K&B

and work on some pretty big pictures.

So, I said, can you do this
with me, should we do it?

And he was like, yeah,
let's go check it out.

We went into a meeting,
we met John Liu that night

and I was already a fan,
and that was a big deal.

And half, I would say the majority

of the meeting, was just
talking about Kung Fu movies.

We weren't charging anything,
basically materials.

And it was still too much money.

And we were like, ah, how do we do this?

We couldn't have spent more than

a little over a hundred dollars,

I think, on the entire effects budget.

It's not like it was
an effects heavy film.

They were doing a little bit

of blood effects here and there,

but they needed us mainly
for this face peel.

(man screaming)

We were having a lot of
difficulty understanding

what's this supposed to be,
because they kept saying

it was like Mission Impossible,
taking off the mask.

And we go, but yeah, they're
never mutated underneath.

So, he wanted all this gooey,
weird stuff under the mask.

We weren't clear about that, I didn't know

if the mask was supposed to be human skin

or a synthetic mask.

We pulled an all-nighter
for that baking foam

and did all these different faces,

and they weren't coming out right.

And the next morning, we
went to shoot the scene.

- I have to say that the
villains were brilliantly cast,

because that Plutonium Killer,
whatever special effects

they did with his face and him melting,

and his acting was really good.

- We did a scene where he mutates,

and his hands are like hot,
and he brought his girlfriend

for that scene, and I remember,

she was pretty naked in a car,

and he puts his hands on her back.

(woman moaning)

(man groaning)

(woman panting and moaning)

And it leaves the burns on her back.

And we did that, gelatin
burns on her back.

- Originally, I was a little
concerned as a reporter,

because I thought there
may have been nudity

or someone that did not
have their clothes on,

and quite frankly, I didn't want

to be a part of that, you know?

And when they redid it, there
was one scene with the girl,

but it was done very delicately
and it wasn't salacious.

(woman groaning)

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- I only worked maybe four
or five days, scattered.

It was really cold
weather, I remember that.

The crew was tiny, it was like six

or seven people on the shoot.

The first day I showed
up, the cameraman was

someone I knew, his name was Steve Ning.

He ran a lot of the logistical stuff

like the equipment sign in and sign out,

the checkout for equipment
at NYU graduate program,

that's how I knew him, and I'm like,

Steve, you're on this movie, oh my God.

That's crazy, do you know,

are you a fan of John Liu?

And he was like, yeah.

I don't think he'd ever heard of him,

but that was weird.

And then, the other shoot
days, he wasn't there.

And tragically, Steve
Ning died really young

soon after.

-I don't believe I
even got a full script.

So, I got pages for my scene,

and it was abduction after abduction.

(woman groaning)

(thugs taunting)

- Stop it, get away from me.

- Ha!

- No.

- Where you going?

- Oh!

- And I'm like, John, can't
I just be a news reporter?

But you know, it was funny, I mean,

that was the through line of the film.

- Hey sweetheart, you waiting for someone?

- A friend, I suppose.

- A friend, that's real nice.

- Brad, we're here.

- I also remember I took
along a friend of mine,

my roommate, I was living
in Hoboken at the time,

and he brought his still camera.

I go, come on, now you
got to take pictures

of the effects I'm doing.

And they were like, oh, you have a camera?

We don't have a still photographer.

So he was taking all the
pictures that day on the set.

And we actually did a
couple of posed action shots

with John Liu and we were like, oh,

maybe we can use this for the poster.

There was nobody taking photos,

it was really super-guerrilla
style film making.

- The biggest issue for me
was the platinum blonde wig.

So, of course, I auditioned without a wig

and my agent didn't say
anything about the wig.

And all of a sudden, the
first day on the shoot,

John presents the wig, and I'm like, what?

And he said, no, no, no,
for the European market,

you've got light eyes, they're
very big on platinum blondes.

And 50, you're going to wear the wig.

I thought, oh, okay, and
then the wig became my life.

- I always kept telling her, talk to him,

tell him to get rid of the wig,

because she had perfectly
nice, dark, black hair.

Every time I saw her, I
was just like, oh my God.

I felt so sorry for her
having to wear that wig.

- John was an interesting guy,

and he was kind of hard to read at times.

And in hindsight, I think it's
because he wore so many hats.

He was director, producer,
the choreographer

of the all the martial arts.

And so, he kind of warmed
up as the process went on.

- He knew exactly what he was doing.

He was probably the only person
that knew what was going on.

And I was surprised at how
laid back and how nice he was.

Anyone could talk to him
and he would just stop,

and you could talk about
anything and ask him questions.

I mean -- it was weird,

because I would never do that today,

but I was so young and so in awe of him,

we talked about everything.

- His kicks were big, I mean,
they were pretty awesome.

And he had not one inch of body fat.

There is a scene where he's in the water

and he looks like a child,
he's so fit and thin.

And he was great, actually,
working with the kids.

There were some kids in the movie

and that's where I saw
his empathy and his warmth

and the heart of John come through.

- Will you be my friend?

- I think it was John Liu

and his girlfriend,
basically, ran the production

out of their hotel room.

We never went through permits like

New York City mayor's office
or anything like that.

They just found a few places to shoot,

they got permission to shoot there.

I remember once we were in a warehouse,

I think sometimes we
were in Staten island,

just fields, empty lots,
that nobody bothered us.

My big hope was, oh, I want to see

how they choreograph a
Kung Fu film in Hong Kong.

I thought it would be

a textbook example of how they shoot.

I never really saw any
extended fight scenes.

I remember he did a crazy stunt

where he was being dragged by a car,

and he just put a piece of cardboard down.

I was like, oh my God, you're gonna die.

(dramatic music)

(man panting)

(man groaning)

(car roaring)

- I think when he started
his martial arts scenes,

it was like he was in his element.

So, he just was happy and excited,

and I marveled at some of these scenes,

they were incredible.

- I can't believe it.

- Keep filming.

(dramatic music)

(whooshing)

(fighter grunting)

(kicks thudding)

- Then it was just over, it was like,

we never got called back,
I never knew what happened.

This was maybe...could
have been weeks later,

going with my friend, my roommate.

And we go to a club in New York and we run

into John Liu and the whole cast

and crew, and they were like, oh,

we're having the wrap party, come on up.

And they had a room up there
and we hung out that night.

And John Liu, I think it was the next day,

he was leaving for Paris.

- We'll see his face soon enough.

- 21st Century asked me, would you like

to see some of the dailies on it?

And also, you're going to help us

with the trailer and the ad campaign.

So, Joe Zwick worked for me,

and Joe Zwick and Fran were the
producers on New York Ninja.

So, they ran up bills with it

and 21st Century wasn't
covering the expenses

towards the end of the
shooting production.

- Okay, okay, I'll get you money soon.

- So, I think they backed out of it.

- Unfortunately, New York Ninja suffered

from terrible timing.

I was leaving the
company and I don't think

that once I left, the
company, anybody, continued

to fund or complete the film.

- I did a promotional moment for the movie

on Regis's show, I used
to produce his show

in California, and I taught
him how to be a ninja.

And he came out, wrapped in the garb

that John wore, and I was in all black.

And Regis had a good time.

- I did not see the film again

for another eight or nine years,

when it was an asset in the
bankruptcy of 21st Century.

So, I did at one time
possess the unfinished film,

but never, never knew what we had,

and never invested further
in the contents of the film.

- I was working in distribution
at Troma in Hell's Kitchen,

and we got a package of stuff in from --

it was 21st Century, but
it was the new 21st Century

with Ami Artzi from Cannon Group,

and they had New York Ninja playing

on the monitor in the office.

So, I walk into Lloyd Kaufman's office

and I'm like, what is this?

Oh, it's an unfinished movie.

They want us to finish it.

I'm like, I worked on this
film, this is New York Ninja.

We were watching this video,

and I guess they talked to
them, and even Troma felt like

there just wasn't enough there
to make a complete movie.

(eerie synth music)

- New York Ninja was acquired as a part

of a larger collection of the
21st Century distribution.

- When we were putting
together the contracts

to acquire the library,
obviously a big part

of putting together the
contract is the film list.

What's included in all
the films and film assets.

So, we had a pretty extensive list.

So, when we went to pick
up the film materials

from IWC, along comes
this pallet that was --

all these boxes are
labeled New York Ninja.

So, Arthur was there,

so I said, Arthur, what
is this New York Ninja?

That's not on the list.

He's like, oh, you
don't have to take that.

No, you can just -- I'll
have them throw it away.

So I said, no, no, no.

- We're preservationists at
heart, film preservationists.

And for those reasons we could never,

never throw away a film,
even if it was unfinished.

There's always value to it.

(reel grinding)

(door creaking)

(eerie music)

- My introduction to New
York Ninja actually came

with my first day working
at Vinegar Syndrome.

And on my very first day at work,

I was getting a tour of the archive

by our film scanner, Brandon Up son,

and he was showing me the movies

and showing me what the
film archive was like,

and there was a ton of movies in there.

There was a cardboard box
labeled New York Ninja.

And he pointed that out to me and said,

to his knowledge, it
was an unfinished movie

that was shot at some point in the '80s,

and they never edited it
together and never finished it.

And so, I said, well, I would
be interested in doing that,

putting the film back
together at some point.

- And over the years,
when we went to go try

and look it up, there was no
information about it at all.

- At that point, he told me that

all the sound elements
had been lost over time.

So, I knew no matter what, that
would be a big undertaking.

- There was no script,

there's no credits,
there's no call sheets.

There's nothing, we just had picture.

- So, once Ryan and Ralph agreed

to let me work on this project,

the very first thing we had
to do was scan the film.

Because at this point, we
had all gotten very excited

about the idea of putting
this movie back together,

but nobody had seen a
single frame of footage.

We had no idea what kind of movie it was.

- When we started scanning it

and actually seeing the
footage for the first time,

that's when we, we all kind
of had a smile on our faces.

- It was like we struck
gold at that point.

- This was something
that...it's exactly the kind of,

material we go after.

The action.

(dramatic music)

(kicks thudding)

(men groaning)

- It had a little bit of campiness.

- Why?!

Why?!

- The 42nd Street footage of the '80s,

just New York in the '80s, back then.

And from that moment forward,

it was all-in on the project.

- We had many hours of footage, so it was

a process to scan it all in.

And in fact, because of our busy schedule

at Vinegar Syndrome, we
had to kind of work it

into the schedule of when this
was all going to be scanned.

- These things take time, Mr. Liu.

We're doing everything we can, okay?

Just be patient.

- One of my first, I guess, jobs

for the film, was trying to find John Liu.

- Good luck.

- And eventually, going
through numerous cast members,

I found this one younger gentleman

who kept appearing in credits,

or extras, or anything like that.

And he was still around, he was in the UK.

- That gives us all hope.

- I messaged him and I said,

my name's Brad, I work for
this company Vinegar Syndrome.

We're trying to find out what happened

with John Liu.

John Liu was still alive,
he lived in Vietnam

and he basically lived
or lives in a shack,

a boat shack on the water,
with no electricity,

let alone a phone or a computer.

And eventually, he knew
of a friend of John's

that would visit from time to time,

I think he said every
three months or whatever.

That he would go and ask him for me

to see what he has to say.

And after waiting for, I forget how long,

maybe a month, two months,
we finally heard back.

John obviously did not want to be involved

with the project whatsoever,

and kind of gave us a good luck blessing.

-You know, he had a
reputation for being difficult,

and I think maybe the people

that were financially supporting
the film had a conflict

with John, and I don't know
the issues or the details,

but I hope he's well. I
hope he's enjoying his life.

- For some reason, it seems like

I'm the only living person dared talk

about the making of his movies,

so many people don't want to be involved.

- Now you focus on your job, okay?

- Absolutely.

- There was a lot of times where it seemed

like they had started scenes
that weren't finished.

So, I had to go through this footage

and determine what scenes were finished,

which ones weren't, and then hope

that we just had everything
that they had done.

And once I had all the scenes laid out,

I laid them out in a rough cut,

so in the order of which
they were on the slate.

And when I did that, honestly,
the movie made no sense.

- With New York Ninja, we had the ability

to make some creative choices

that we never would make otherwise.

- So, once we had made the decision

to create our own movie out of it,

the hard part really
came to keeping the tone

of the original, while sort
of creating a new movie.

- I know Kurtis and I were very much

on the same page of like,
let's just play it straight.

Let's be incredibly respectful
to the source material.

Let's pretend we're
making this movie in 1984,

-What had made easier for me is

now I could edit the film
any way I wanted, okay?

The hard part was I was going to have

to write a script for the movie,

because, now I'm moving
scenes out of order,

who knows what they're saying?

And if we even bring
somebody in to read the lips,

now it's going to be a mess, you know?

So, basically, the idea came that,

because this was basically a Kung Fu

or martial arts film, it
would kind of make sense

to just dub the voices
anyway we wanted, you know?

So, it didn't matter if
the mouths matched up

with what was being said,
because it would just kind of add

to the charm of films from that era.

- You're one of the best damned reporters

and this city needs you, it's important.

-We knew in January
of 2020, we were going

to have to start with casting.

We knew it would be a big process,

to not only dub all these voices,

but there's all the small characters,

plus all the sound design.

- We went through many, many
names, who would be best?

- As we kept progressing
in our conversations,

we thought, really, the
most fun would probably be

to cast actors from other films

that Vinegar Syndrome had
already put out, so it's kind of

what we called the
Vinegar Syndrome Universe.

- And I think it was Justin La Liberty

who mentioned Don "The Dragon" Wilson.

And we were very, very excited about that.

- Prior to that, we had not
released one of his movies.

Luckily for us, at the
time, we were starting

to get into early '90s action films,

and we ended up acquiring
a Don "The Dragon" film.

And at that point, we were like,

okay, well, he's gotta be our guy.

He was in a lot of movies

with Cynthia Rothrock back in the day,

so, we thought he would
be a great for the part.

- I remember my agent called me and said,

what you guys were asking me to do,

and I said, gosh, I've never
done anything like that.

ADR an entire film of a performance

that was not my performance?

- We're doing what we can.

- That's it, that's all you can tell me?

My wife is dead and
you're telling me to wait?

These men murdered her
because of what she saw.

- That added another level
of difficulty for me,

because, instead of just
having to match my lips,

I have to match the
performance of the other actor.

You know, the inflections
and where his emphasis was

and things, because I'm trying

to match his physical
body and his expressions.

You know, I want to give
his same performance.

And it was very difficult,
and I hope I did him --

- Justice.

- It's not the way I would've played it.

It's not the way I would've played it.

Now, and I know, it's called over-the-top.

I believe he was going,

what I would consider,
beyond the call of duty

in his expressions and in his emphasis.

- Why? Why is this happening?

And why won't anyone do anything?

I don't understand.

(dramatic music)

Why?

(John panting)

Why?

Why?!

- Really?

Not this.

- What's the problem?

Are you jealous?

- Cynthia Rothrock, I think we're all fans

of Cynthia Rothrock, she's super bad ass,

and if you're going to
have a martial arts film

with any female characters,
we had to get her.

- I've known Cynthia
Rothrock since the mid

to early '80s, because we know each other

through martial arts.

Actually, she's got her
black belt in Kung Fu

in the same style I
studied, Pai Lum Kung Fu,

which is really a coincidence,

because it's a small style of Kung Fu.

- Don is a really good friend of mine.

One of my best friends,
and we've done probably

about seven or eight movies together.

And usually, if I'm involved in a project,

then Don will say, they say,
oh yeah, Cynthia is doing it.

Then he'll go, okay, I'll do it.

Or someone will say, hey,
Don is going to do it.

Okay, I'll do it, like, for this one

when I heard, oh yeah, Don
is going to be the voice.

I'm like, okay, great, yeah,
we'll have a lot of fun.

(blade whooshing)

(metallic clanking)

- Ah, thank you.

- Detective, get the
other girls out of here.

I'm gonna go for your partner.

- Some people find
doing voice over is hard,

but I actually find it pretty easy.

And usually they'll say, oh yeah,

we're going to use you for three hours

and I'll be done in 45 minutes.

And I think it's just a different art.

It's looking at what you're doing

and just trying to match the
lips to what you're saying.

New York Ninja was a little different,

because we really didn't
know what they were saying.

- So, what do you want from me?

- Call me with the autopsy report.

- You know what it's going to be.

- My very first time I did a voice over was

for a movie I did in Indonesia.

And the sound was horrible
throughout the whole thing.

And then they come about a year later

to LA and they say, we
want you to do some ADR.

Well, I've never done it
before, so I'm like, okay.

And they were like,

well, you just hear the three
beeps and then you talk.

So we get there, and I'm standing there,

and they start playing it
and I'm looking around.

Well, what do you want me to do?

And he goes, well, say the lines.

I said, but where are they, I
don't know what the lines are.

He goes, well, we lost the script,

you don't know what you said?

This is like a year later, and I'm like,

no, I don't know what I said.

So, we had to guess what
that could have been,

what we could have been saying.

It was almost kind of like
New York Ninja. (laughs)

- Is everyone okay?

- Yeah, we're good.

- Let's go.

(girls moaning)

- Everyone in the van, let's move it.

- Leon Isaac Kennedy, that was a big one.

He hadn't done a lot of acting recently.

So, that was fun to go
back and get an actor

who maybe hasn't really
done a lot in a long time.

- I've got a problem.

Well, remember when you first came to me?

I wanted to tell you that I found the guys

that killed your wife.

- I have something to tell
you and it can't wait.

- Well, what is it?

- I'm pregnant.

- We knew we wanted to get in

the adult industries, since obviously,

we've released some adult films.

Ginger Lynn came up first and, you know,

she was a blessing to work with.

(melancholy synth music)

- John, I'm here for you.

I just heard what happened to you.

Please, John, you have to try
and pull yourself together.

- Linnea was always a part of it.

It was just automatic,

let's get Linnea, we love Linnea.

- What amazed me, when I saw
the final product, was --

the actress they hired to do my voice,

I was convinced it was me.

I said, oh, you found
the sound for my parts.

And she was absolute perfection.

I mean, it sounded like my voice.

- Thank you for coming with me.

I really do appreciate that.

- At your service.

- Oh, wow, just look at you.

- Listen, I got to run.

- Okay.

- I'll see you back at the office.

Unless you want to take a shower together.

- One of the big things
was Jack the cameraman.

We really weren't sure what direction

to go with, as far as a voice.

-Vince Murdocco, who was
also in a lot of movies

with Cynthia Rothrock
and Don "The Dragon,”

he was just in a movie that
we released called LA Wars,

and it did really well for us,

and people really seem to like that movie.

We were like, okay, we got to
get Vince Murdocco in here.

- Shit, who does he think I am, huh?

I bust ass my all over
this whole fucking city.

- Matt Mitler, that was a really fun one.

That was actually more of
a personal choice for me.

I'm a big fan of the
movie that we put out,

Battle for the Lost Planet,
and its sequel, Mutant Wars.

And actually, Ryan and I were talking

about who we would cast

for the character called Freddy Cufflinks.

And we had kind of joked around

about the idea of casting Matt Mitler,

but we found out that he
actually did voice work,

which was awesome, so we contacted him

and he did a really great job.

He's actually one of
the few that really did

what I would say is "a voice,"

he gave the character an actual voice.

- I'll have things ready.

- Also, that reporter is
starting to get too close.

You and your men have been sloppy.

Bring her to me.

- The toughest one was
the Plutonium Killer,

just because we knew it
would be vocally demanding.

- We needed a heavy that
could really carry the film.

And the Plutonium Killer
has a sort of a unique look

and a unique personality, I mean,

he's very much over-the-top.

But we needed an actor

that could handle going over-the-top,

but could also not make
it too much of a joke.

- And eventually, I said,
what about Michael Berry man?

And no one was against it, it was just,

it wasn't one of those lights came on

and everybody jumped, it was more or less,

I think people took a step back.

- I was a little hesitant at the time,

because I think, when you
think of Michael Berry man,

you have a very specific image of him.

We all know him as Pluto
in The Hills Have Eyes

and in all these monstrous
roles that he plays.

- So, I actually went and
watched some of his interviews

and actually tried to just watch him

and see how he was as a
person, and remove him

from his characters, and honestly,

I just closed my eyes and listened to him

and imagined him as the Plutonium Killer.

And after that, I think I
called Brad, and I was like,

yeah, I think Michael Berry man's our guy.

Let's give him a shot.

- I need some time.

It's not that simple to arrange.

- I understand, but my
clientele is very hungry now.

(wine slurping)

- Trust me when I say

that your clientele will be so pleased.

- I saw my character as shrewd,

untrustworthy, selfish, arrogant,

and he thought he was
really, really clever.

- He had just the right amount of humor

to play the part, as well as to have

that voice that is intimidating.

-To do an entire film and go through

the roller coaster of
emotions of the character,

and the arcs of the character,

he seems to be in control,

and then later on, he's frustrated.

He's trying to please the overlords.

It was challenging.

It was imaginative and I
had a lot of fun with it.

(ominous music)

- Oh.

Oh.

(Plutonium Killer groaning)

- It was just me doing the
performance in my office.

So, as an obstacle, it was
-- I saw the obstacles more

as a challenge, it was a very limited set.

(Michael laughing)

So to speak, we didn't
even have craft service.

(Michael laughing)

I did take a break for lunch, though.

(eerie music)

- (Plutonium Killer breathing heavily)

Oh.

- The score for this movie is amazing,

and I have to give all the
credit to VOYAG3R for that.

The way we ended up coming across them is,

we were trying to find a band

that we knew would work
for this type of movie.

We wanted to find -- there's
a lot of bands these days

that are doing kind of this

synth, '80s kind of music.

They're almost making soundtracks

for movies that don't exist.

How many of them actually
get to do a score

for a real '80s movie?

Steve got super excited about
this, he did some research.

He watched some John Liu films and tried

to grab little sounds or music cues

from some other John Liu
movies, and I just remember,

I was super excited to hear the score.

- Ah!

(intense electronic rock music)

(boots clunking)

- There was no temp tracks,
there was no nothing.

They just had silent
picture to work off of.

And I gave them my script, so
that they could kind of tell

what tone we were going for.

But they just nailed it.

(children cheering)

(upbeat music)

- Well, that's it.

- I am just super excited to see

where the movie goes from here.

Like any movie, you hope

that the fans enjoy it and recognize it

for what it is, but this one is unique.

I really can't think of any other movie

that's been done like this before.

- It was like a movie being
born in front of our eyes.

- It's pretty mind blowing when
you see the finished product

to what we had to start with,

because the one that
we had the start with,

we were like, oh, well this,

who knows what can come out of this?

But it really worked out together.

- So, it's a missing piece in the puzzle

of John Liu's career and probably one

he doesn't want filled in,

but I think we need to know about it.

The world needs to know
about New York Ninja.

- Actually hope he watches it.

I think it will be a tribute to his work,

to his effort, to his commitment,

to doing something and
wearing so many hats.

-When I first started looking

at the footage of New York
Ninja, I thought instantly,

this has to be screened theatrically.

It's such a great,

group film.

- I would go see that movie, an old movie,

just for the voices of martial art people

or other actors that were in on this.

- Like any film from that time,

the '80s genre,

there's parts of it that are hilarious.

It's a wonderful film.

- I think people will enjoy
it for being a throwback,

for the humor, and have fun.

- I would be delighted
if someone watched this,

that didn't see this documentary,

didn't know the back story,
and watched it, and be like,

hey, I've discovered this
crazy movie from the '80s.

- I'm so glad that it's finally coming out

for an audience to see.

I couldn't be happier to be the one

who kind of facilitated this whole thing.

I really hope that people enjoy it,

and I hope everybody out there
loves it as much as I do.

(John chuckling)

(upbeat synth rock music)

X Out in the streets X

X The fire's burning X

X Burning burning X

X How can a righteous
man expect to survive X

X They pushed him too far X

X Now the tables are turning X

X He's not going to stand and watch X

X And let the darkness thrive X

X It's almost too late X

X His vengeance won't wait X

X This town needs a hero X

X Calling out for something more X

X A hero X

X Standing tall to win
the war for justice X

X Justice justice X

- Go out there, New York Ninja!

(crew laughing)

Be free!

(funky music)