Pray For Death (1985)
Studio: MGM
Theatrical Release: November 1985
DVD-R Release: March 13, 2012
Director: Gordon Hessler
R
Review by James Klein
In 1981, the low budget martial arts film Enter the Ninja was a surprise hit and helped spawn a huge ninja craze in not just movies but also video games, magazines and even cartoons. I still remember thinking this one kid in our grammar school was cool because he dressed up like a ninja for Halloween. Ninjas were everywhere! While most ninja movies were not very good, we didn't care as long as there was plenty of action and stunts. The king of the ninja films was actor Sho Kosugi. Kosugi was in every ninja movie out there and while his acting made Schwarzenegger and Norris look like Pacino and DeNiro, it didn't matter. Kosugi kicked ass and he didn't need a stunt man to do most of his action scenes. While Kosugi broke away from acting in the early 90's, he had numerous ninja films under his (black) belt, all of which I had to see.
Which leads me to Pray For Death. I never saw this as a kid as it was kind of hard to find at our video stores. My review may be a bit biased as I still really enjoy 80's action films, no matter how lousy. And Pray For Death is pretty lousy.
Kosagi plays a retired ninja named Saito who lives with his wife and two sons inJapan. His wife is half American and wants to go back toAmericawhere she grew up and take her family with her. Saito agrees and he and his wife decide to start a life inAmericaand run a small restaurant business. Unbeknownst to them, their basement was being used by some local gangsters and crooked cops by keeping a stolen necklace worth thousands. When the cops take the necklace and the gangsters come back for it, they believe Saito and his family took it for themselves. When Saito's wife is killed, it's revenge time as he arms himself with swords, shooting stars, you name it.
The screenplay is pretty hokey and just lame. It takes awhile for any action to start up and the movie's first act just drags. There is some subplot about Saito's brother turning against him and getting killed that never goes anywhere nor makes much sense.
While Kosagi is no actor, James Booth makes up for it as the main villain, Limehouse Willie (great name!). He looks just strange in general but he is so mean and over the top that this gangster seems like he came out of a comic book. He punches kids, blows up old people, shoots innocent bystanders, beats up doctors, he even attacks Saito with a chainsaw in the bloody finale. While the rest of the cast is dull, Booth is fun to watch.
Director Gordon Hessler has done some decent films in the past. He's done plenty of Vincent Price movies, one of my all-time favorite TV movies Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park and has even done Rage of Honor, a much better and more action packed Sho Kosugi ninja film. Here he just seems a bit bored. Pray For Death almost has a Made For TV feel which gives the movie a bland and generic look.
The MGM DVD-R looks beautiful and at times it felt like I was watching a blu ray. Also it is great to get the original 2:35 aspect ratio so we can see all of the high flying stunts and fights. But there is one big complaint; this is an edited version of the movie. A lot of the violent scenes are obviously cut and are edited rather strangely. When Limehouse Willie cuts his own arm to get into the hospital to kill Saito's wife, the scene quickly jumps from a close up of his arm about to be cut to him already at the hospital! There are many scenes like this actually and at first I thought maybe it was the production value but I was wrong. If you even look on YouTube you will see some of the uncut violent scenes which are not on this DVD. Why did MGM go through the trouble of releasing Pray For Death widescreen and premastered to only give fans an edited version? If anything was going to be edited, couldn't it be that awful 80's pop song that plays over the opening and closing credits?
Theatrical Release: November 1985
DVD-R Release: March 13, 2012
Director: Gordon Hessler
R
Review by James Klein
In 1981, the low budget martial arts film Enter the Ninja was a surprise hit and helped spawn a huge ninja craze in not just movies but also video games, magazines and even cartoons. I still remember thinking this one kid in our grammar school was cool because he dressed up like a ninja for Halloween. Ninjas were everywhere! While most ninja movies were not very good, we didn't care as long as there was plenty of action and stunts. The king of the ninja films was actor Sho Kosugi. Kosugi was in every ninja movie out there and while his acting made Schwarzenegger and Norris look like Pacino and DeNiro, it didn't matter. Kosugi kicked ass and he didn't need a stunt man to do most of his action scenes. While Kosugi broke away from acting in the early 90's, he had numerous ninja films under his (black) belt, all of which I had to see.
Which leads me to Pray For Death. I never saw this as a kid as it was kind of hard to find at our video stores. My review may be a bit biased as I still really enjoy 80's action films, no matter how lousy. And Pray For Death is pretty lousy.
Kosagi plays a retired ninja named Saito who lives with his wife and two sons inJapan. His wife is half American and wants to go back toAmericawhere she grew up and take her family with her. Saito agrees and he and his wife decide to start a life inAmericaand run a small restaurant business. Unbeknownst to them, their basement was being used by some local gangsters and crooked cops by keeping a stolen necklace worth thousands. When the cops take the necklace and the gangsters come back for it, they believe Saito and his family took it for themselves. When Saito's wife is killed, it's revenge time as he arms himself with swords, shooting stars, you name it.
The screenplay is pretty hokey and just lame. It takes awhile for any action to start up and the movie's first act just drags. There is some subplot about Saito's brother turning against him and getting killed that never goes anywhere nor makes much sense.
While Kosagi is no actor, James Booth makes up for it as the main villain, Limehouse Willie (great name!). He looks just strange in general but he is so mean and over the top that this gangster seems like he came out of a comic book. He punches kids, blows up old people, shoots innocent bystanders, beats up doctors, he even attacks Saito with a chainsaw in the bloody finale. While the rest of the cast is dull, Booth is fun to watch.
Director Gordon Hessler has done some decent films in the past. He's done plenty of Vincent Price movies, one of my all-time favorite TV movies Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park and has even done Rage of Honor, a much better and more action packed Sho Kosugi ninja film. Here he just seems a bit bored. Pray For Death almost has a Made For TV feel which gives the movie a bland and generic look.
The MGM DVD-R looks beautiful and at times it felt like I was watching a blu ray. Also it is great to get the original 2:35 aspect ratio so we can see all of the high flying stunts and fights. But there is one big complaint; this is an edited version of the movie. A lot of the violent scenes are obviously cut and are edited rather strangely. When Limehouse Willie cuts his own arm to get into the hospital to kill Saito's wife, the scene quickly jumps from a close up of his arm about to be cut to him already at the hospital! There are many scenes like this actually and at first I thought maybe it was the production value but I was wrong. If you even look on YouTube you will see some of the uncut violent scenes which are not on this DVD. Why did MGM go through the trouble of releasing Pray For Death widescreen and premastered to only give fans an edited version? If anything was going to be edited, couldn't it be that awful 80's pop song that plays over the opening and closing credits?
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