A few years ago, director J.R. Bookwalter assembled an awesome Ultimate Edition Blu-ray release for his cult classic, Sam Raimi-funded feature debut, the 1989 zombie film THE DEAD NEXT DOOR. Now he's working on a Blu-ray release of his notorious sophomore effort, the comic book vigilante thriller ROBOT NINJA.
Out of print since the early '90s in the U.S., where it was never released on any format other than VHS, ROBOT NINJA is a film that Bookwalter made after being handed the title by Cinema Home Video. The "dark, splatter-drenched" story he crafted from that title:
Leonard Miller (Michael Todd) is a frustrated artist. His publisher (Burt Ward) and his agent (Mike Shea) are out to capitalize on the blooming success of "Robot Ninja", the greatest costumed superhero since Batman!
One night, Miller witnesses a brutal rape/murder of a young couple at the hands of ruthless thugs. He cries out for revenge! With the help of an inventor friend, Dr. Goodknight (Bogdan Pecic), Miller becomes the Robot Ninja, stalking the dark streets of Ridgway, intent on spilling some blood! The only thing stopping him is a remorseful Goodknight and a frustratred local cop (Floyd Ewing Jr.) that's always just one step behind him.
Robot Ninja slashes, stabs, guts, pokes, and jabs his way through body after body until his final confrontation with head baddie Sanchez (Maria Markovic). You'll never see comic books the same way again!
In addition to the actors mentioned in that synopsis, legendary scream queen Linnea Quigley also shows up in a small role.
ROBOT NINJA was shot on 16mm, and executive producer David DeCoteau has provided the original 16mm A/B roll cut negative that Bookwalter is using to do a proper 2K film scan and restore the film so it can look better than it ever has before. If you've ever watched a copy of this movie, it was probably very dark and murky. That won't be an issue on the Blu-ray. 2K restoration comparison images can be seen below.
If you would like to pre-order the Blu-ray, which is expected to start shipping in late 2018, you can do so through Bookwalter's company Tempe Video, or (for just a few more hours as of this writing) this Indiegogo page.
Bookwalter notes that this will be the last physical media release for Tempe before the company goes streaming only, so get this disc while you can!
