NINJAS VERSUS MONSTERS

The final instalment of a trilogy that was started by NINJAS VERSUS ZOMBIES and continued with NINJAS VERSUS VAMPIRES.

It begins with the ninja team of the first two films, a geek collective who their skills to combat supernatural forces, divided into two. Kyle (Daniel Ross) and his crew busy themselves fighting evil clowns, for example. Meanwhile, magically gifted siblings Eric (P J Megaw) and Randall (Dan Guy) have retired to a remote house where they hope to live a quieter life.

No chance.

Before long, the two groups are forced to gather together and put any differences they may have aside. The reason? They're all being attacked by mysterious new monstrous mobs. It doesn't take too long before they deduce who's behind these assaults: none other than Dracula (Sam Lukowksi)! He's summoned his favourite monster pals - The Mummy (Daniel Mascarello), The Wolfman (Lyon Beckwith) etc - in a bid to rid the world of the do-gooding ninjas once and for all. And then, of course, monsters will rule the world!

But not if Kyle, newcomer Step (Jasmine Guillermo) and co have any say in the matter...

The action is frequent, I'll give this film that. You rarely have to wait longer than a couple of minutes before some bout of one-on-one (or one-on-many) combat breaks out. It's all fast-paced, kinetically shot and peppered with an equal amount of cheesy one-liners and unrealistic gore. It's also surprisingly well-choreographed, brightly lit and shot with panache.

In-between, the script is gleefully silly and the performances just as broad. There's nary a quiet moment (even the music is a pounding mix of blasting metal and pulsating electronic rhythms). It's certainly a busy film in these regards, and may wear some viewers out as a result.

The comedy is undoubtedly the most grinding part of this movie, despite the fact that the cast are all likeable characters and the energy concerned throughout can never be questioned. But you get the sense that everyone concerned thinks the film is funnier than it is (there's a difference between funny and daft), and that the endless fanboy references - everything from BATMAN, to ALIENS, SUPERMAN and beyond - are endearing. They're not; if anything, the reek of someone's who's trying far too hard for 'cool'.

Still, the filming is undeniably accomplished and director Justin Timpane achieves a lot of style on a $500,000.00 budget. The action comes in spades and is always competently staged; the whole thing gives off an aura of naive charm which helps save it from being smug or oppressive. And, guess what? The story even approaches something close to being moving as it progresses. Now, that's something I definitely wasn't expecting...

I've not been aware of much activity from Left Films of late, so it's good to see them back in the game here.

The screener DVD provided presented NINJAS VERSUS MONSTERS uncut and in 16x9 widescreen. Shot on HD, the film looks very good here: sharp, bright and detailed. Vivid colours and deep blacks further help its cause, to an extent where there's precious little to justifiably complain about.

Likewise, the English 2.0 track is problem-free. Unless I'm allowed to moan about the second-rate death metal on the film's soundtrack.

A static main menu page leads into an animated scene selection menu allowing access to the film via 8 chapters.

A wealth of bonus features kick off with two audio commentary tracks. The first is from Timpane and co-producer Michael Dougherty. Although light enough, it's also a good source of trivia and makes for a fluid, agreeable listen. The second comes from Timpane again, flanked by a female whose voice I didn't catch despite two rewind attempts. It's a lot more jokey and, in truth, gets annoying rather quickly. Want to hear a woman laugh gratingly while discussing the delights of marshmallows in hot chocolate? Go for it.

Next up are 10 minutes of audition footage which stems back to 2012. It's interesting, sometimes amusing and often cringe-inducing stuff.

22 minutes of deleted scenes follow. Unlike most footage of this type, this is stuff the filmmakers really, really wanted to leave in their movie but decided to cut in order to trim the film down to a more palatable 95-minute running time. So it's not just extraneous stuff: we get plenty more fighting, gore and FX footage - all met with brief explanatory text putting it into context.

"Funny Alternative Ending" is an optimistic title for 2 minutes in which a plethora of optional filmed endings race by.

A 2-minute video tribute to executive producer Brian Anderson, who died in 2014, is more worthy. It comes as a montage of clips from each NINJAS film, and is met by spirited commentary from the man himself.

Trailers for each of the NINJAS films are here too, of course, as is a trailer for the trilogy as a whole and a preview for the same team's irreverent show, TREKOFF.

"Until We Drop Down Dead" is a 3- minute promo video for the lead rock song on the main feature's soundtrack. It's performed by a band called Solarice, sounds pretty pedestrian and comes as a mash-up of band footage interspersed with clips from the film.

We also get trailers for a host of other titles available from Left Films: BLOOD CAR, DEVIL'S CROSSING, BONG OF THE DEAD and ZOMBIE RESURRECTION. The disc is also defaulted to open with the latter trailer.

NINJAS VERSUS MONSTERS does what it says on the tin. It's well-made, albeit with obvious limited resources. It's fast-paced, action-packed, gory and unapologetically silly. And yet, there's an emotional core to it that suggests these characters really mean something to Timpane and co.

Also available on a blu-ray which pairs this film with its aforementioned predecessor.

Review by Stuart Willis