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      Pray for Death

      R 1985 1h 34m Adventure List
      Reviews 53% 500+ Ratings Audience Score Hoping for a simple life, Japanese family man Akira Saito (Shô Kosugi) moves his wife and two sons from Tokyo to Houston to open a restaurant. But beneath Akira's innocent exterior lies his secret identity as a masterfully trained ninja. When crime leader Limehouse Willie (James Booth) wrongfully accuses Akira of stealing a precious necklace, Willie's gang murders Akira's wife. With his mask and deadly weapons, Akira vows to destroy the syndicate responsible for his wife's death. Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

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      Audience Member Words cannot express how important ninjas were in 1985. Every single day, American kids drew pictures of them during class, beat on one another with their weapons and watched their movies, which could nearly have an entire shelf of your local video store all to themselves. Pray for Death is Sho Kosugi's vehicle and he makes the most of it. You may remember him as the villainous Hasegawa who fought Franco Nero in Enter the Ninja, but here he's graduated to become the hero. He plays salaryman Akira Saito, who has decides to follow his wife's dream and immigrate from Japan to the United States along with their two sons Takeshi and Tomoya (Sho's sons Kane and Shane). What his family does not know is that Akira is a ninja and has kept the temple's secrets, even killing his own brother Shoji as he tried to steal from their adopted father Koga (Robert Ito, Sam Fujiyama on Quincy, M.D.). His master tells him to leave Japan behind and erase the guilt he's felt over what happened. Purchasing an old store from a kindly man named Sam Green (Parley Baer, the mayor of Mayberry!) that will become Aiko's Japanese Restaurant. But before they can see any success, two crooked cops hide a necklace inside the floorboards, leading to Akira's children being attacked, Green being murdered and eventually, our hero's wife being injured and then killed inside the hospital while she recovers. This all means that Akira must return to the ways of the ninja and literally force a man to pray for death before impaling his hands and sawing him in half. Yes, this form of ninjitsu is not quiet in any way. Director Gordon Hessler has the kind of IMDB list that makes me excited about movies. It has it all, from Scream, Pretty Peggy and The Oblong Box to The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park. He makes the kind of movies people like me want to watch. Predictably, critics hated this movie. Please show me the ninja movie that they have enjoyed. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member bad, but the song is good and there are a coupe memorable lines. but not really worth watching unless you've exhausted better ninja movie options. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member Sho gives it a good go in this one; as a peace-loving (always a big mistake in an action movie) Japanese businessman trying to live the American dream. Things go wrong. Fortunately for us, he is also a ninja. I liked this movie as a youth and don't feel too ashamed. The version I saw recently on the MGM HD channel was immaculately rendered but clearly some kind of American cut which was so ineptly edited I couldn't tell what the motherf**k was going on at times. I also didn't like the end scrap too much. I feel a trained ninja could beat the living crap out of an old-fart gangster baddie (who'd killed his wife, dammit!) without too much trouble at all. But that's just me. I don't know about narrative tension and stuff. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Audience Member The best ninja movie out in 1985! Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member It's classic 80's Ninja flick.. Pure Nostalgia... It's not a great film but certainly entertaining.. Minus the horrible 80's soundtrack that pops up now and then. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member Excellent, so bad it is incredible. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Pray for Death

      Pray for Death (1985) Pray for Death (1985) View more photos

      Critics Reviews

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      Ed Travis Cinapse [Sho] Kosugi's Akira Saito is a successful business man, husband and father, who also happens to be a secret modern day ninja. It's marvelous. Jan 27, 2019 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews The story is trite, but the action scenes are impressive. Rated: B- Mar 1, 2016 Full Review Michael H. Price Fort Worth Business Press Depends upon which cut you've seen, whether the movie is any good or night. The pre-ratings original is pure ferocity, where the butchered American version comes off more like refried Jackie Chan. Rated: 3/5 Jan 31, 2005 Full Review Spence D. IGN Movies Rated: 2/5 Jan 29, 2004 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Hoping for a simple life, Japanese family man Akira Saito (Shô Kosugi) moves his wife and two sons from Tokyo to Houston to open a restaurant. But beneath Akira's innocent exterior lies his secret identity as a masterfully trained ninja. When crime leader Limehouse Willie (James Booth) wrongfully accuses Akira of stealing a precious necklace, Willie's gang murders Akira's wife. With his mask and deadly weapons, Akira vows to destroy the syndicate responsible for his wife's death.
      Director
      Gordon Hessler
      Producer
      Moshe Barkat, Moshe Diamant, Sunil R. Shah
      Screenwriter
      James Booth
      Rating
      R
      Genre
      Adventure
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Apr 30, 2017
      Runtime
      1h 34m
      Sound Mix
      Surround