Pray for Death (1985)

She Kosugi was awesome, with an intensity and believability that was light years beyond most of his contemporaries. The only problem was he couldn't speak English worth a lick. As long as he's kicking butt, he's great, but the second he opens his mouth, he sounds like a stereotype. But who cares when the action is so great. Here he wears a Shredder style helmet and takes out mobsters with ninja skills. Don't let the awful acting of his kids or the odd overdubbing of noises during the fight scenes distract you, this is top notch ninja schlock!

Though it has a simple, time-tested plot and a surprisingly effective cast, 'Pray for Death' comes up a bit short in the execution department. The action scenes are effective in that 80s ninja movie style, but they lack the intensity and brutality of Kosugi's 'Revenge of the Ninja'. They and the film also lack the latter's emotional power as well.The cast is certainly up to the task. Kosugi has an amazing ability to go from friendly, mild-mannered businessman to vengeful human weapon with a snap of the fingers. James Booth (who also wrote the screenplay) is quite good as the sadistic lead henchman Limehouse, and veteran character actors Parley Baer and Norman Burton help round out a cast that's much better than we've come to expect from films of this genre.With a few tweaks this could've been on the level with Kosugi classics such as 'Revenge of the Ninja' and 'Ninja III: The Domination'. As it is, it's a second rate shrug of a chop-socky revenge flick.

At the insistence of his American-born wife, Aiko (Donna Benz), Akira Saito (Sho Kosugi) decides to immigrate from Japan to the country of her birth to raise their two sons Takeshi (Kane Kosugi) and Tomoya (Shane Kosugi) and start their own business. Unbeknownst to his family, Akira is in fact a highly skilled ninja, who had faithfully protected the secrets of the temple minded by his adoptive father and sensei, Kaga. Years before, Akira's brother, Shoji - also raised and trained by Kaga - sought to steal from the temple in disguise, forcing Akira to engage him in battle and kill him. Akira's meditation on this matter is disrupted by an attack from Kaga to encourage him to wipe the guilt from his mind before it kills him. Akira announces his intentions to move to America to start a new life, and to put the shadows of the ninja behind him. Kaga makes him swear never to reveal the secrets of their sect, and gives him a ninja helmet as a parting gift, but reminds him he can never leave his shadows behind.The Saitos land in Los Angeles and meet with Sam Green, the widowed owner of a closed restaurant and apartment that Akira and Aiko planned to buy. After the sale is completed and the family visits the local mall, the cigar store area of the building is broken into by police Sgt. Trumble (Charles Greuber), a corrupt cop along with his partner Sgt. Joe Daly (Matthew Faison) working for local mobster Mr. Newman (Michael Constantine). Daly removes loose floor boards and puts a large white box underneath, containing the Van Adda necklace. However, he reconsiders and double-crosses the mob by taking tne necklace for himself. The next day Newman's enforcer, Limehouse Willie (James Booth), waits until the building is again deserted before entering himself only to discover the necklace is missing. Seeing Sam Green's packed luggage in his car, Willie incorrectly dedeuces that he's skipping town with the jewels and kills him even though he doesn't find them. Suspicion now fails on the Saitos.The next day, as Akira and Aiko enjoy the first day of business - "Aiko's Japanese Restaurant" - Tomoya and Takeshi go out to the local store and are confronted by local bullies eyeing Takeshi's bike. Tomoya - who has a red belt in karate - defends his younger brother and bests the bullies. But during the fight, Willie abducts Tomoya and leaves Takeshi with a broken nose when he tries to stop him. awesome if you can see it in it's entirely but unless you have it on a old Australian VHS tape forget about it i first saw this at a drive in just before I turned 18 and I loved it that real evil bastard really gets his ass handed to him in the end but I think Sho Kosugi was actually hurt in at least one seen a seen that gets edited in so called DVD releases be warned I still love it hay! its not Science fiction and it's no ET but what It has is intensity it shows if a person gets pushed enough that person can and will push back this is not a girls flick at all

I must admit it, I'm a sucker for the ninja films. They're bloody entertaining as well as unintentionally funny. This one is the top of the pics. A very well made flick, featuring Sho Kosugi and his real life sons, who even as an adult, I don't think you'd want to get into a fight with. At the nagging request of his beautiful wife, Sho and his sons move to America and set up shop. Kosugi too, is still on a guilt trip, when involved in a sword fight with a mate, a good guy who went bad, so America should do him good. Right? Wrong. They should of stayed where they were. They become caught in the middle of feud between some crooked cops, and some really other bad guys, one in particular, merciless in his methods. These two crooked cops steal this necklace worth millions from the bad guys, planning to keep it for themselves. They stash it in this shop that so happens to be the new business, run by Sho and his wife. The old owner who's sold it to him, is mistaken for the thief, an obvious culprit in the sense of his departure. The crooked cops can't get to it, as a new lock has been replaced. The bad guys kill the owner, as what can he tell him. And that leaves Sho and his family as the suspects, so you know what's to ensue. The action keeps coming at you in this movie, my favorite pick out out of the so called four. There is some disturbing violence, some of it sexual. The title is fantastic. So is Booth as the bad guy. Another of my 1986 favorites, this flick only ran a week. Apart from Booth, and only a couple of others, Pray For Death doesn't have the greatest acting in the world, but when you've go explosive action like this, acting takes a back seat. and his family