There are some films which cannot be reviewed completely, without explaining the film with reams and reams of text. Then there are films which only require short paragraphs and little in the way of explanation.

Makai Tensho: Samurai Reincarnation is the latter of the two forms. Based on the story Makai Tensho, Samurai Reincarnation tells the story of when the Shogunate murdered 37, 000 Christian worshipers in Japan. From my understanding, this is something that actually happened. There was also a Yagyu Jubei who existed who was involved in this whole thing. The one survivor of the massacre is Shiro.

This is where things get a little odd, as the film is quite old (1983) and the editing I believe has been done by an American company, therefore everything is a little stop, chop then start. You see Shiro playing in a Japanese opera for the Shogunate soldiers just outside of the corpses of the killed Christians. The play goes on, and then there is a shit load of lightning, a head that opens its eyes and then spins into the camera.

There’s a big bloody flash, smoke everywhere, and as you try to get your sight back, the next thing you know every one is dead, and Shiro is in the graveyard of his massacred colleagues. Shiro then renounces God and asks the devil to give him power to destroy Japan. Queue the fantastic multitude of colours that spin around, backed by terrible 80s music, and one devil spawn is formed.

Shiro goes around collecting people who are about to die, and making them regret and desiring to live, so that they can be brought to life as his subordinates. Included in the group are well known, historic Japanese warriors that existed during the Edo period. The aim of course is to destroy Japan, but enter Jubei who learns of the plan and is intent on stopping the bitches.

Sonny Chiba is pretty much accustomed to do any film where he gets a starring role, and it’s often in films like this

There’s lots of conspiracy, shit loads of dead corpses, bizarre homosexual innuendo and a gay kiss, a few rapes and deaths and some more deaths. At two hours long, they managed to fit a surprising lot of shit in to those 120 minutes. Thinking of it now, there wasn’t really a period where nothing happened. The film is essentially exploitative pulp I guess. It’s a throwaway movie, where you really can’t take anything seriously. Some of the scenes are downright ludicrous and laughable. Although I watched with the Japanese dialogue, I think most people should watch it with the English dialogue as it would fit the whole ideal of the movie. Cheap, schlock violence with a hint of history.

The acting is, well, very much over acted. Having said that, you have to wonder how much people put of themselves in some of the roles. Their fixed scowls and grimaces seem to show a dedication to take the film seriously. It’s sort of scary to watch at times, looking at the screen and shouting, “Cheer the fuck up man! The movie sucks!”.

Samurai Reincarnation doesn’t actually suck. It’s not bad, but it’s not great. It’s entertaining, and keeps you watching to see the next bad acting scene. The production values are pretty decent I guess for an early 80s flick, but then Lone Wolf & Cub managed more with less. This film is obviously an ambitious, over exerted effort to retell a historic Japanese story, with a touch of fantasy.

Ironically, this is one of the early works of Kinji Fukasaku (who passed away in 2003), he of Battle Royale and Battle Royale 2 fame. Some of it shows, in the direction, the camera work, the long extended shots, and Wayne’s World-esque extreme close-ups. The film and book was later made into an Anime in the late 90s as Ninja Resurrection, which had little to do with Ninja Scroll, which was also loosely based on the same story funnily enough. So essentially the story has been told, and retold many, many times but with many variations.

Queue the fantastic multitude of colours that spin around, backed by terrible 80s music, and one devil spawn is formed

Some of the fights are pretty well done, and you can see where the money actually went! Of particular note is the final battle between Jubei and his father in the towering inferno. The fight on the beach was also well done, and I grinned as I saw the fighters scuttle across the water as if playing out a scene from a comic or a cartoon. Sonny Chiba is pretty much accustomed to do any film where he gets a starring role, and it’s often in films like this. He also starred as Yagyu Jubei in the Yagyu Conspiracy which was more historically accurate and grounded in reality. Samurai Reincarnation is firmly grounded in fantasy and magic. The character of Jubei was reprised several times more, in both related and unrelated films.

It’s very much an ambitious project that didn’t quite work. I do like it, but perhaps for all the wrong reasons, and perhaps because it has a novelty value. Also, I do like bad films as well as good films. That is bad films, where actors take their roles so seriously, to them it’s not a film, it’s reality. That’s the sort of thing that makes me laugh, but also enjoy bad films, and the Japanese are fantastic at doing it. The over extravagant costumes, the excessive violence and debauchery only adds to the comic value of the film.

Verdict: Mindless yet fun, fantastical farce. Great for fans of serious acting in bad films.