the leading man is my tpye

Very well executed

One of the best films i have seen

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Ridiculous fight scenes? Check. Katanas? Check. Shuriken? Check. Cheesy Pop Ballad? Check. A fundamental misunderstanding of what a ninja actually is? Check. And of course, Sho Kosugi? Check. Ladies and gentlemen, we have the ultimate eighties ninja movie. Made while the ninja craze was coming to a close, Pray for Death is arguably one of, if not the best entry in actor Sho Kosugi's long and illustrious filmography, one that contains, you guessed it, a lot of ninjas. When mild-mannered Yokohama salaryman Akira Saito (Kosugi) moves to Houston with his wife (The lovely Donna Kei Benz) and sons (Lead Kosugi's real-life sons Kane and Shane) in order to run a restaurant, he ends up in a one-man war against an army of ruthless mobsters searching for a priceless necklace. The sheer ridiculousness of the plot should tell you all you need to know about this movie. Veteran director Gordon Hessler shoots the elaborate and brutal fight scenes with style, and Kosugi's martial arts skills are on full display. The acting is pretty hit or miss, but James Boothe, also the writer, is decently menacing as the mob boss Willie. The recent Blu-Ray release restores the movie to its original length, making the action all the more visceral and exciting. Viewers expecting to find a fun, over-the-top, and undeniably eighties martial arts film need look no further.

HORRIBLE acting, bad cinematography, bad choreography, fake blood, awkward action, terrible uninspired directing and editing. The antagonist is SO BAD, lol OMG. He's like a grouchy old man at a country club that has an enlarged prostate, not a crime boss. There are ultra wide shots with Akira sneaking around all by himself, followed by close ups of henchman drawing pistols, followed by a shot with the pistols right in Akira's face, like they moved faster than light to magically surround the hero. Akira then kicks the enemy one by one, while none of them shoot, with these close ups of the enemy awkwardly and passively waiting to be kicked. Once again, the editing is HORRENDOUS. One example of why the action looks so ridiculous and the directing is so bad: there is a scene where Akira mysteriously escapes right in front of his enemies (terribly done, completely unbelievable). The crime boss and his cronies proceed to look for him, in the same poorly composed shot, and they begin to fire their weapons randomly in front of them as they run, no idea where the guy is. The old fart boss even points up some stairs to where they think Akira has gone, pointing with his GUN and FIRING it nonchalantly in that directing like he's using it as a signal. In so many of the action sequences, you can tell they rushed shots just to get the "gist" across (particularly the scene where these characters get hit by a car, HAHAHA). The child actors are SO bad, you can tell they're just trying not to smile, or that their bored or...something. There are SO many awkward smiles by the protagonist lol, these weird confused smiles you get from anxious tourists or something. It reminds me of so many rushed, cheap and ill-crafted scenes and cheesy acting in the movies my buddy and I made as a kid. Thankfully we got all that crap out of us after a few years of practicing. I think this filmmaker and his crew liked the Hollywood parties more than actually learning the craft of cinema, and once they had sniffed enough asses to get a movie deal, they just kicked back and haphazardly put stuff in front of the camera. HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE DIRECTING. Gordon Hessler sucked.

I must admit it, I'm a sucker for the ninja films. They're bloody entertaining as well as unintentionally funny. This one is the top of the pics. A very well made flick, featuring Sho Kosugi and his real life sons, who even as an adult, I don't think you'd want to get into a fight with. At the nagging request of his beautiful wife, Sho and his sons move to America and set up shop. Kosugi too, is still on a guilt trip, when involved in a sword fight with a mate, a good guy who went bad, so America should do him good. Right? Wrong. They should of stayed where they were. They become caught in the middle of feud between some crooked cops, and some really other bad guys, one in particular, merciless in his methods. These two crooked cops steal this necklace worth millions from the bad guys, planning to keep it for themselves. They stash it in this shop that so happens to be the new business, run by Sho and his wife. The old owner who's sold it to him, is mistaken for the thief, an obvious culprit in the sense of his departure. The crooked cops can't get to it, as a new lock has been replaced. The bad guys kill the owner, as what can he tell him. And that leaves Sho and his family as the suspects, so you know what's to ensue. The action keeps coming at you in this movie, my favorite pick out out of the so called four. There is some disturbing violence, some of it sexual. The title is fantastic. So is Booth as the bad guy. Another of my 1986 favorites, this flick only ran a week. Apart from Booth, and only a couple of others, Pray For Death doesn't have the greatest acting in the world, but when you've go explosive action like this, acting takes a back seat. and his family

The song isn't called back from the shadows it is called back to the shadows and it is sung by Peggy Abernathy. It clearly states that in the credits of the movie if you watch them. I thought the movie was good. Then again I am a ninja fanatic. Anyway has good fight scenes and I thought it had a good summary. I would recommend that if you are a Sho Kosugi fan that you watch this movie. I would also like to see this released on DVD along with enter the ninja and ninja 3. I would like to know where I can find the song back to the shadows. Sho Kosugi is an awesome actor and I can't wait for the new ninja movie Return of the Ninja to come out. Only a ninja can stop ninja.