Shogun Assassin (1980) starring Tomisaburô Wakayama, Kayo Matsuo, Minoru Ôki, Shôgen Nitta, Shin Kishida, Akihiro Tomikawa directed by Robert Houston Movie Review

Shogun Assassin (1980)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Shogun Assassin (1980)

A Nasty Shogun

For many years he has served the Shogun as the head executioner but that all changed when the paranoid leader sent 3 ninja's too assassinate him only to end up killing his wife. Now he becomes a man after revenge, accompanied by his young child with a push chair tricked out with weapons they travel the country killing any of the Shogun's ninjas who have been sent to kill him.

Five times I have now watched "Shogun Assassin", not because I particularly enjoyed it but more to see why others enjoyed it so much and I have come to a decision. I believe the reason people love "Shogun Assassin" so much is a sense of notoriety as for a while this was known as a video nasty in the UK due to the amount of violence. On the subject of which there is almost something comical about the violence as blood spurts through the air when anyone ends up falling to the man's sword and literally painting the movie red, or at least an orangey variant of red. Plus of course this is in fact a movie which is built from pieces of other movies and it is the combination of this which has lead to it being rated highly.

But in fairness "Shogun Assassin" is certainly entertaining in a comically depraved sort of way as we have this father and young child in a pushchair loaded with hidden weapons travelling the country on a killing spree. There is something about it when combined with all the over the top action which sees one person after another being killed and ending up either soaked in blood or spurting it out in an over the top manner which just keeps you watching. But that is really it because this movie has no depth, just lots of action.

What this all boils down to is that "Shogun Assassin" is entertaining but for me not a classic and frequently borders on one of those movies which ends up entertaining for being bad rather than right.


LATEST REVIEWS