My Cultural Diet

A mild-mannered Japanese salaryman (Sho Kosugi) moves his family to America in search of better opportunities, and they open a Japanese restaurant in the Houston ghetto. Unbeknownst to them, however, their new domicile is used by criminals, and soon enough, they’re caught between crooked cops and violent gangsters. Unfortunately for those cops and gangsters, our salaryman just so happens to be a ninja, and when his family is threatened, he must use his deadly skills to protect and avenge them. Kosugi’s first collaboration with director Gordon Hessler is pretty standard ’80s ninja fare, though it falls short of The Octagon and Enter the Ninja — bad-ass title notwithstanding — and I personally prefer Rage of Honor as far as Kosugi/Hessler films go. Though it’s ridiculous that a film about shadow warriors finds our hero donning a shiny metal ninja suit, the film does give him numerous opportunities to dispatch bad guys with all manner of ninja weapons as well as Kosugi’s patented flips — which probably looked super cool and exotic to your average ’80s American moviegoer. Pray for Death also stars Kosugi’s real-life sons, and in one scene, the oldest fights the bad guys himself with the aid of his tricked out bicycle, a perfect example of the film’s uneven tone. One minute, it’s filled with gritty and disturbing violence, and the next, attempts at jokes and cute, family-friendly humor.

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