ROBOT NINJA
Dir. J.R. Bookwalter, 1989
United States. 82 min.
In English.

SATURDAY, JULY 6 – MIDNIGHT
FRIDAY, JULY 12 – 10 PM
MONDAY, JULY 15 – 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, JULY 26 – 10 PM

Leonard Miller (Michael Todd) is an aspiring comic book artist, resentful of his publisher for capitalizing on the runaway success of his Robot Ninja series. After witnessing the brutal rape and murder of a young couple at the hands of a ruthless gang, he turns to his friendly neighborhood mad scientist, Dr. Goodknight (Bogdan Pecic) to help bring his titular comic book creation to life, becoming the Robot Ninja on the hunt for bloody revenge.

This David Decoteau-produced feature by homespun horror legend J.R. Bookwalter (THE DEAD NEXT DOOR, OZONE) is a “comic book movie” in the truest sense of the term: A DIY splatterfest ripped from the pages of the brooding, hyperviolent brand of vigilantism popular in Reagan-era superhero comics. Supposedly made for just $15,000, the film oozes micro-budget charm, filled with lo-fi gore, flashy camera work, splashy neons, and scores of smoke machines that elevate this to a level of surreality beyond your average bargain bin video store fodder.

“ROBOT NINJA is the real deal: A charmingly lowbrow cult actioner that sits perfectly in that delicious liminal space between postmodernism and excessive 80s earnestness that all those turbo kids and hobos with shotguns are trying so hard to emulate.”
– Rocco Thompson, Rue Morgue