REVIEW: Pray for Death (1985)

After the highly successful trilogy of Ninja films with producer Menahem Golan, Japanese martial artist and actor Sho Kosugi delved into lower-budgeted fare. After the schlocky NINE DEATHS OF THE NINJA (1985)comes this action packed adventure that may be his best post-Cannon ninja film of the 1980′s.

Kosugi plays Akira Saito, a Japanese businessman who lives in Tokyo with his Japanese-American wife Aiko (Donna Kei Benz) and their children Takeshi (Kane Kosugi) and Tomoya (Shane Kosugi). When the family has a chance to move to the United States so that Aiko can teach the children about their American heritage, they pack up and head for Houston, Texas and run a restaurant. This is where the beginning of trouble begins.

A band of crooked cops loot stolen goods in the back room of the restaurant and unbeknownst to the Saitos, a priceless necklace, the Van Atta necklace, is wanted by a local syndicate. When one of the dirty cops decide to take the necklace for himself, the syndicate go after the previous owner of the restaurant then after the Saitos. When one of the boys is kidnapped by top thug Limehouse (James Booth), Akira quietly rescues him. However, when Aiko and Tomoya are run down by Limehouse in an effort to get the necklace, Akira has had enough.

For years, Akira has kept a dark secret. Since birth, Akira had been raised in a temple, where he studied the art of Ninja. When he battled his evil adopted brother, Akira killed him in self-defense. His “father” told Akira to hide the fact that he was a Ninja. With Aiko’s death and Tomoya hanging on by a thread, Akira finally decides to unleash his dark side and become the Ninja he was raised to become.

With a pretty schlocky B-movie with NINE DEATHS OF THE NINJA in 1985, Sho Kosugi needed a film to match the caliber of his films with Cannon. Enter writer James Booth and director Gordon Hessler, perhaps best known as the director of the ultra-campy KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK (1978). With Booth’s script and Hessler’s direction, combined with Kosugi’s action choreography comes a film that in retrospect is a rehashed version of REVENGE OF THE NINJA (1983) and surprisingly, the film is nearly up to par with the previous film.

While Kosugi had to demonstrate his skills with a bevy of women in the opening of NINE DEATHS OF THE NINJA, PRAY FOR DEATH’s title sequence has Kosugi doing a demonstration with his elder son Kane, who has a major role in the film as Akira’s son and martial artist Takeshi. Kane has definitely learned well from his father as he handled all of his own stunts in the film and getting in on two very well shot action scenes, one at a karate school against a bully in Japan and one taking on some of the thugs using nunchakus and wearing a ninja outfit of his own.

James Booth not only wrote the script for the film, but he also has taken the role of top thug Limehouse. While Booth is not exactly a martial artist himself, he has the look of a villain and the British actor performed it well. Booth, on the other hand, was a fan of martial arts, writing the screenplay for AMERICAN NINJA 2: THE CONFRONTATION in 1987 and played a villain in AMERICAN NINJA 4: THE ANNIHILATION in 1990. What many fans will not know is that the head of the crime syndicate, Newman, is played by Michael Constantine, who gained fame when he played Nia Vardalos’ father in the hit film MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING (2002). While Constantine gets limited screen time here, he gets his in quite a unique way.

Anyone who watches this movie will like Kosugi’s ninja costume. For his headgear, he has a samurai-looking metal helmet which has a detachable shuriken (throwing star) in the middle, plus his upper body has bulletproof armor covered with the ninja garb. The deaths in this film can be at times violent, but it’s all in good Ninja fun. Kosugi uses not only his trademark katana sword and shuriken, but some interesting looking weapons as well as unarmed combat.

There are some interesting references in the film that can definitely make a trivia fan’s day. For instance, the kids’ names, Takeshi and Tomoya, are actually the middle names of Kane and Shane Kosugi respectively. The Van Atta necklace, the piece the goons are looking for, is named after the film’s producer, Don Van Atta. And finally, in the beginning of the movie, the kids are watching a television series called “Black Ninja”. The “ninja” in the series is played by Sho Kosugi himself.

PRAY FOR DEATH is definitely a guilty pleasure to enjoy. This is perhaps Sho Kosugi’s best film after making the successful Cannon Ninja trilogy of films and it is even the more delight to see a young Kane Kosugi show what he can really do in terms of stunts and action.

REVIEW: Pray for Death (1985), 10.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating

by Albert Valentin

Related Topics:
immigration  •  Kane Kosugi  •  martial arts  •  ninja  •  Sho Kosugi  •  thugs