Reviewed by: STSH Date: 08/22/2000 Summary: Surreal revenge actioner The lead character is Japanese. Most of the cast wear incredible outfits which are changed often. For instance, one of the male villains appears in clown-like makeup (white foundation and red lipstick) with an elaborate tattoo on his bald head, and changes clothes more often than Elizabeth Taylor. I formed the strong impression that the story was either lifted from manga or comics, or at the very least, heavily influenced by the style. There's enough comic-style action to hold one's interest, but trying to follow the story is pretty difficult. The large number of characters and frequent costume changes make it hard to tell who is who, particularly the female chars. For instance, it was 2/3 of the way through the film before I could work out whether the grieving white-dress woman at the start was the same char as the Red Lady Ninja (she is), and I'm still trying to work out whether there are three, four, or five other main female characters. There were several severe cuts to the print I saw. For instance, a bitch fight between the Red Lady Ninja and one of the fem villains occurs in a boxing ring. The action jumps suddenly from both women fully clothed to both women stripped down to wet body-stockings, one of which has a design of three black hands (one of each breast, and the other ...) Hmmmmm. Overall, not too bad. A note about the year of production. 1983 is my best guess. I'm pretty sure it was made early to mid 80s. Reviewer Score: 6