Five Element Ninjas

Five Element Ninjas follows two rival Chinese martial arts schools whose feud plays out through a tournament. When one school is soundly beaten, its leader brings in a band of Japanese ninjas whose fighting methods are built around the five Chinese elements: metal, wood, water, fire and earth. These warriors wipe out the opposing school, killing its master and students. One young fighter survives the massacre and sets out to learn how to counter the ninjas' techniques, training under a new teacher alongside a small group of fellow students before returning to confront the enemy and their leader.

The film was directed by Chang Cheh, who also wrote the screenplay with Ni Kuang, and was produced by Mona Fong for Shaw Brothers. It came after a run of films that includes The Five Venoms and Heaven and Hell, and it shares that period's focus on martial arts brotherhood and stylized combat. Ricky Cheng Tien-Chi leads the cast as the survivor Xiao Tian Hao, with Lung Tien-hsiang, Lo Meng, Michael Chan Wai-Man, Chan Pui-Sai and Wong Lik among the credited performers.

Released in April 1982 and running just under two hours, the film holds a 7.2 rating on IMDb from roughly 3,600 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.8 from a much smaller base of about 96 ratings. Both point to a durable following among martial arts fans, with the larger IMDb sample suggesting the film's reputation has held up over the decades.