Never come between a man and his american dream.
Definitely don't do it when that man is a ninja.
Definitely don't do it when that man is a ninja.
Released by: Arrow Video
Release Date: February 16, 2016
Production Year: 1985
Region Code: A
Running Time: 1:38:27 (Unrated) / 1:34:31 (R-Rated)
Audio: English LPCM Stereo
Video: 1080p (2.35:1 Aspect Ratio)
Subtitles: English SDH
In "Pray for Death," martial arts legend Sho Kosugi ("Enter the Ninja," "Ninja 3: The Domination," "Rage of Honor") stars as a family man driven to exact vigilante justice - ninja style! Japanese Restauranteur Akira (Kosugi) has taken his wife and two boys to the United States in search of a better life. But their slice of the American Dream is quickly soured when they fall foul of a group of vicious jewellery thieves. Unfortunately for the bad guys, they didn't count on Akira being a secret black ninja. The samurai sword of vengeance falls swift and hard in this classic slice of 80's ninja action from director Gordon Hessler ("Scream and Scream Again," "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad"), culminating in an action-packed showdown with a body count worthy of "Commando."
I had never seen "Pray for Death" prior to watching this Blu-ray. So let me say thank you Arrow Video for releasing this on Blu-ray and thank you MVD Entertainment Group for distributing it here in the U.S. because this was a fun treat to watch. No dull moments here. We have Akira (Sho Kosugi) who just wants to make his family happy and fulfill his wife's dream of coming to America, making a new life for themselves. Sadly that dream is short-lived as he and his family get mixed up with some bad people and those bad guys will come to find out that they messed with the wrong man.
What begins as a nice, pleasant story of hope and happiness turns to sadness and eventually revenge. Oh yeah, did I not mention the revenge aspect? I do love revenge films and when the moment comes for it to rear its head in "Pray for Death," I was fully psyched for it and I sure wasn't disappointed. Be sure to watch the Unrated version of the film for some extra bits of grue.
Not all of the acting is particularly good. But the acting isn't why you're going to watch this movie, it's for the entertaining fight scenes and thanks to the added bits in the Unrated version, there's more blood and even more entertaining fight scenes. There are some good actors in the film though like Michael Constantine, who happens to be from a city not too far from where I live and he's fairly well known here. Plus there is Parley Baer who some might remember him for playing a mayor on "The Andy Griffith Show." Some of the fight scenes are a bit humorous, which was probably not intentional. But that is okay and it is an 80's film. An 80's martial arts film at that, where things were sometimes a bit... silly. However, Akira is all about business in this film and once they cross him, look out cause there is nowhere for you to hide. Heck, you can hop in a truck and drive off and he can still catch you on foot. Yep. He is one hardcore ninja.
"Pray for Death" features an English LPCM Stereo track. The audio for this film sounded great. Dialogue was clean and easy to understand. The soundtrack and sound effects both sounded fine as well. I did not notice any real problems at all such as drop outs or hissing. Optional English SDH subtitles are also included although they only seemed to be for the Unrated version which will most likely be the only version most people watch anyhow. But I felt it was worth noting.
"Pray for Death" comes to Blu-ray thanks to Arrow Video. The film is presented in 1080p with a 2:35.1 Aspect Ratio. The film looks excellent overall. I do want to mention right away that in the Unrated version you will notice a drop in video quality for the bits that were added back in to make this version. Some will most likely complain about the change in quality but most will perfectly fine with it, which I was.
Below, you will be able to see two pictures, the first showing how the film looks for the majority of the run time and the second picture showing the quality of footage added in to that particular scene. That will give you an idea of what you can expect. As usual, screen shots don't quite do the film justice as it tends to look better in motion.
SPECIAL FEATURES - [ 3 / 5 ]:Unrated and R-Rated Versions of the film included
Sho and Tell Part 1: Birth of a Ninja (19:05) - In this interview which was filmed in Japan in October 2015, Kosugi discusses the early stages of his career, leading up to his starring role in "Pray for Death." Mr. Kosugi also talks about how he played baseball in Tokyo and was even scouted. He also speaks about borrowing money to come to the United States and how he earned enough money to open a martial arts studio and started entering tournaments and how he won over 600 trophies.
Sho Kosugii on Martial Art Forms (18:57) - An interview with Kosugi on the program Martial Art Forms, including footage of his ninja demonstration from the 1985 New York premiere of "Pray for Death." Mr. Kosugi talks about his career, martial arts and various shuriken. Several clips from "Pray for Death" are shown during the interview. It was interesting to hear him mention how for filming he had to slow down at times which reminded me of Jet Li when he was filming "Lethal Weapon 4" because he was told he had to slow down because he was just too fast.
Sho Kosugi Trailer Gallery
- Enter the Ninja (1981)
- Revenge of the Ninja (1983)
- Pray for Death (1985)
- Rage of Honor (1987)
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin
I'll keep this short and sweet. If you like martial art and/or ninja type films, I think you'd be pleased with this film and it's high quality presentation. Arrow Video put together a nice Blu-ray for this film and included a few good extras to boot.
OVERALL RATING - [ 3.5 / 5 ]