American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt is a 1989 American martial arts action film directed by Cedric Sundstrom and starring David Bradley. It is based on a story by Gary Conway. A sequel to American Ninja 2: The Confrontation (1987), it is the third installment in the American Ninja franchise, followed by American Ninja 4: The Annihilation (1991). The film depicts a cobra-themed terrorist who is experimenting on using viral infections as a method of bioterrorism. When an infected ninja and his allies try to fight against him, they are confronted with a private army consisting of clones.

Plot

A powerful terrorist known as "The Cobra", has infected Sean Davidson, the American Ninja, with a deadly virus. He uses Sean as a test subject in his biological warfare experiments. Sean and his partners Curtis Jackson and Dexter have no choice but to fight The Cobra and his army of genetically-engineered ninja clones led by the female ninja Chan Lee.

Cast

Production

Filming

The film, shot in South Africa (not mentioned on the credits), was the first in the American Ninja series to feature a lead actor other than Michael Dudikoff (playing Joe Armstrong in the first two American Ninja movies as well as in American Ninja 4: The Annihilation together with David Bradley's character Sean Davidson); Bradley was cast after Kurt McKinney turned down the offer.

Release

Home media

American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt was released on home video in the United Kingdom by Pathé in September 1989.

Reception

Critical response

It was received poorly by critics. "Cart." of Variety described the film as a "cheap-looking pic" and "Even for this level of by-the-numbers action filmmaking, Cedric Sundtrom script is incredibly lame and his staging of chop-socky violence is little better."