''Royal Kill'' (also released under the title ''Ninja's Creed'') is a 2009 American psychological action thriller film directed by Babar Ahmed and starring

Eric Roberts Eric Anthony Roberts (born April 18, 1956) is an American actor. His career began with a leading role in ''King of the Gypsies'' (1978) for which he received his first Golden Globe Award nomination. He was nominated again at the Golden Globes fo ...

and

Pat Morita Noriyuki "Pat" Morita (June 28, 1932 – November 24, 2005) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his roles as Matsuo "Arnold" Takahashi on ''Happy Days'', Mr. Miyagi in ''The Karate Kid'' film series, Captain Sam Pak on the sitco ...

, along with

Lalaine Lalaine Vergara-Paras (born June 3, 1987) is an American actress, singer-songwriter, and bassist. She is known for playing Miranda Sanchez in ''Lizzie McGuire'', Abby Ramirez in '' You Wish!'', and Kate in the 1999 remake of ''Annie''. After app ...

and

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

Gail Kim Gail Kim-Irvine (born February 20, 1977) is a Canadian-American retired professional wrestler, currently signed to Impact Wrestling, where she serves as a producer. In Impact Wrestling she was the inaugural and record setting seven-time Knockou ...

. The film was released April 10, 2009 in theaters. The DVD release went by the name ''Ninja's Creed'' and went on sale July 20, 2010.

Plot

Jan (

) is a teenage girl living in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Unbeknownst to her, the Skanji regime murdered the Kingdom of Samarza's royal family, therefore making her the remaining heir to the throne. A Samarzan warrior journeys to D.C. to bring Jan back to lead the Samarzan people and protect her from the Skanji assassin sent to eliminate her.

Cast

as Dad *

as Nadia *

as Jan *Alexander Wraith as Adam Arthavan *Jeannie Crist as Royal Maid *Nicole Brown as Andrea *Darren Kendrick as Neighbor *

James Yun James Carson Yun (born May 13, 1981) is an American professional wrestler and actor of Korean and German descent. He is also best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Ente ...

as Cop #2 *Darren Paul Kendrick as Chess Buddy *Bobby Routh *

as Exhibition Manager

Notes

*This is

's last recorded role; he died in 2005 shortly after the completion of the film. *Professional wrestlers Gail Kim and James Yun, who both worked for

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

at the time, made their movie debuts with this film.

Production

The film was shot in Washington, D.C. in 2005.

Viral video

On April 7, 2009, the producers of ''Royal Kill'' held an informal press conference with the film's director, lead actress, and composer. In addition, two supposed "experts" were present to discuss the

Nepalese royal massacre The Nepalese royal massacre occurred on 1 June 2001 at the Narayanhiti Palace, the then-residence of the Nepalese monarchy. Nine members of the royal family, including King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya, were killed in a mass shooting during a ga ...

as the basis for the story. When the topic was brought up, a woman in the audience started to berate one of the experts before approaching her and slamming her head into a table. A brief fight ensued before the attacker was pulled away. She then hopped into a waiting car. Video of the incident was posted to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

and other internet video sites, eventually being viewed millions of times. Some suspected that it was staged. In fact, both women involved were professional wrestlers hired to do a stunt in hopes of attracting attention to the low-budget film. The attacker was noted wrestler

Shelly Martinez Shelly Leonor Martinez (born February 9, 1980) is an American model, actress, retired professional wrestler and valet. She is known for her work with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on its ECW brand under the ring name Ariel and for Total ...

. A video later appeared showing the participants rehearsing and discussing the incident.

Release

''Royal Kill'' had a limited release in some

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (d/b/a AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC and known in some countries as AMC Cinemas or AMC Multi-Cinemas) is an American movie theater chain fou ...

in Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C. on April 10, 2009. It was one of the lowest-budgeted movies ever to play at AMC. After a successful first week in theaters, ''Royal Kills theatrical run was extended to a second and then a third week.

Reception

The film received primarily poor reviews. James Lasome of Horror Freak News called the movie "Fun, imaginative, and complex". However, most critics were not so enamored. Dan Zak, writing for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', called the film "essentially storyless" with "deliriously bad filmmaking" and wrote that the special effects "look like they were created in

Microsoft Paint Microsoft Paint is a simple raster graphics editor that has been included with all versions of Microsoft Windows. The program opens and saves files in Windows bitmap (BMP), JPEG, GIF, PNG, and single-page TIFF formats. The program can be in ...

References

An in-depth look at Royal Kill

External links

* * *{{mojo title, id=royalkill, title=Royal Kill 2009 films 2009 action films Films shot in Washington (state) Ninja films 2000s English-language films American psychological thriller films American action thriller films 2000s American films