Pray For Death (1985)

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.

- Read the full review at UnRatedFilm.com