Granted that having been a preteen in the 1980s, then the wave of ninja movies was definitely something that I was watching on VHS. And then I decided to watch the 1985 "Pray For Death" in 2019. Somewhat of a mistake. This was better left in the past with the fond memories.
Watching "Pray For Death" today was somewhat of a slap to the face with an ice cold dead fish. The movie was downright ludicrous. The storyline was as simple as it could get; a Japanese family moves to the USA to start a fresh new life, setting up a business in a fairly rundown and bad neighborhood. Yeah, what could or would possibly go wrong there? Then when the father's son is hospitalized and his wife murdered, everything falls apart and he brings out his ancient ninja heritage to wreck vengeance on the perpetrators.
Sure, this was entertaining back in the mid 1980s, but today, no, not so much. The storyline was so stupid that it was almost bordering on being insulting to the intelligence of the audience.
And as for ninja action, well then there wasn't really all that much of it. It was in the beginning and end of the movie, so you could essentially skip the middle part of the movie and still be up to speed with the storyline. And as for the ninja, well Shô Kosugi wearing an abysmal fake metal helmet on his ninja outfit and a nylon sheet covering his mouth was just a bit too tacky - even for a mid 1980s ninja movie.
Sure Shô Kosugi might have been a great martial artist back in the day and won a heap of competitions, but that doesn't really mean that he has talent on the screen. Let's just say that I wasn't particularly impressed with what I saw in "Pray For Death".
Was this an entertaining ninja movie? No, not really. I will actually say that the likes of Michael Dudikoff's "American Ninja" movies were better than this. Is this a movie that I will return to watch again? No, definitely not. Is it worth the time, effort or money? No.
Watching "Pray For Death" today was somewhat of a slap to the face with an ice cold dead fish. The movie was downright ludicrous. The storyline was as simple as it could get; a Japanese family moves to the USA to start a fresh new life, setting up a business in a fairly rundown and bad neighborhood. Yeah, what could or would possibly go wrong there? Then when the father's son is hospitalized and his wife murdered, everything falls apart and he brings out his ancient ninja heritage to wreck vengeance on the perpetrators.
Sure, this was entertaining back in the mid 1980s, but today, no, not so much. The storyline was so stupid that it was almost bordering on being insulting to the intelligence of the audience.
And as for ninja action, well then there wasn't really all that much of it. It was in the beginning and end of the movie, so you could essentially skip the middle part of the movie and still be up to speed with the storyline. And as for the ninja, well Shô Kosugi wearing an abysmal fake metal helmet on his ninja outfit and a nylon sheet covering his mouth was just a bit too tacky - even for a mid 1980s ninja movie.
Sure Shô Kosugi might have been a great martial artist back in the day and won a heap of competitions, but that doesn't really mean that he has talent on the screen. Let's just say that I wasn't particularly impressed with what I saw in "Pray For Death".
Was this an entertaining ninja movie? No, not really. I will actually say that the likes of Michael Dudikoff's "American Ninja" movies were better than this. Is this a movie that I will return to watch again? No, definitely not. Is it worth the time, effort or money? No.