(US - 1985)
A top-notch Sho Kosugi ninja film that's not from Cannon but sure feels like it, PRAY FOR DEATH is just out on Blu-ray from Arrow in its uncut version that originally got it slapped with an X rating in 1985 (the R-rated theatrical cut is also included). There's a few nasty bits, but by today's standards, it's not that extreme. Following his success with Cannon's NINJA trilogy (ENTER THE NINJA, REVENGE OF THE NINJA, NINJA III: THE DOMINATION), Kosugi moved to TV with THE MASTER and starred in 1985's 9 DEATHS OF THE NINJA. Probably his best film away from Cannon, PRAY FOR DEATH is a similar revenge saga along the lines of the genre-best REVENGE OF THE NINJA, with Kosugi and his half-American/half-Japanese wife (Donna Kei Benz) and sons (his own sons Kane and Shane Kosugi) leaving Japan to pursue a life in America, specifically the mean streets of Houston, TX. Buying a dilapidated bar from an old man (Parley Baer) and turning it into a Japanese restaurant, Kosugi is unaware that the backroom is being used as a drug and stolen merch drop-off for corrupt cops and flunkies of the city's chief asshole criminal businessman (Michael Constantine). When a priceless necklace called the Van Atta (humbly named after producer Don Van Atta) turns up missing from the drop-off, Constantine and his chief enforcer (screenwriter James Booth as "Limehouse Willie," giving himself a ludicrously over-the-top character to play) think Kosugi took it and start coming after him and his family. Needless to say, Kosugi, a quiet man who has buried his lethal ninja past after a horrific family tragedy, gets pretty pissed off.
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