five element ninjas (1982)

growing up in north york, ontario during the mid-to-late 80's i was lucky to catch imported late-night TV from buffalo, new york on WGRZ-TV, an NBC affiliate. one program that caught my young mind was the cat's pajamas, which often screened fantastical movies from hong kong-based shaw brothers film studios. supplemented by regular trips to the local video store and screening flicks like master killer (aka the 36th chamber of shaolin) (1978), i was hooked for life... at the last waldorf history of dance event, i brought a DVD of five element ninjas (aka super ninjas, chinese super ninja) to screen as visuals while dancing bear and i dropped vinyl tracks. behind the projection scrim was a pile of unused rattan chairs. they definitely added an extra dimension to the trademark sound stage sets favoured by the shaws and prolific director chang cheh. here's a few quick snaps i took from the memorable opening sequence...