Post by Zone Fighter on Feb 8, 2008 20:00:50 GMT -8
![](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/hof/gw.jpg)
Been awhile since I reviewed a film. This one is on VHS:
Ghost Warrior (1984)
IMdb lists it as 1986 but the VHS box has 1984 as the copyright date.
Hiroshi Fujioka - Yoshimitsu
Janet Julian - Chris Welles
John Calvin - Doctor Alan Richards
Charles Lampkin - Willie Walsh
Larry Cedar - Helicopter Pilot
Joan Foley - Ellie West
Melvin Jones - Gang Member
Robert Kino - Professor Takagi
Mike Kobayashi - Chidori
Anthony Leonards - Gang Member
Peter Liapis - Johnny Tooth
Bill Morey - Doctor Carl Anderson
Charles Ringa - Gang Member
Frank Schuller - Detective Berger
Tony Travis - Gang Member
Rock A. Walker - Gang Member
Andy Wood - Doctor Pete Denza
Fujioka, Hiroshi (Hongo, Takeshi/Kamen Rider 1) stars as a samurai warrior who during a winter battle with his dishonorable enemies falls into a lake. Four hundred years later hikers find his frozen body which is sent to California for an autopsy, but instead of slicing him up the doctors decided to attempt to revive him. They succeed but after an assistant learns that the samurai's swords are valuable the samurai is forced to kill in self-defense and escapes from the lab. The samurai wanders the city, in culture shock, until he encounters something he understands, the strong praying on the weak. He comes to the aid of an old man being mugged. The muggers don't survive the encounter. Now the police are on the lookout for a "nut dressed like a samurai". And the scientists who revived him afraid of what may happen if the truth is discovered turn against him. The only person he can count on is a young historian, Chris Welles who's knowledge of his language is limited.
The plot is impossible, and very predictable, but Fujioka, Hiroshi is good as the samurai warrior who finds himself in a strange time and place. The samurai of course only speaks Japanese, and not modern Japanese at that. There are no subtitles.
The film ends where it began, with the samurai and his woman surrounded by enemies. I don't think it will be spoiling anything to quote the last line of the film, since the outcome is so very predictable. When Detective Berger asks what Yoshimitsu said, Chris Welles translates, "There are no second chances. The way of the samurai is death."
I would like to thank sensei maskmaker for posting about this film over at www.generationkikaida.com.
Ghost Warrior is not currently available on DVD, only on VHS.
Cheap used tape: astore.amazon.com/chanbara-20/detail/6300262995/105-1459777-7483653
New tape: astore.amazon.com/chanbara-20/detail/B000059ZWR/105-1459777-7483653