Customer Reviews

Samurai Reincarnation [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I thought at first this was filmed for the asian TV market because of the obvious set design and film quality at the beginning(reminiscent of Dark Shadows). However, the film slowly builds in pace and scope until it's climax: a duel in an inferno, the burning remains of the mansion of the shogun. It is easily up to the par of the low budget asian action movies of the period. The mythology of the film is quite interesting, both in the time period it is placed and the characters that are included. The samurai that Toshiro Mifune brought to western audiences, Musashi Miyamoto, plays a key part. The only significant flaw to this film is the previously mentioned dub. Not only are the voices not timed properly but almost all the voice actors are VERY poorly chosen and seemingly refuse to emote with their characters. There are some moments with dramatic overacting but anyone seeking information on a film titled Samurai Reincarnation shouldn't be seeking subtlety. Also of note, many of the key players of this film including Sonny Chiba and the Director himself were involved in the film The Legend of the Eight Samurai, a film much like this one with similar qualities and flaws(including the dub).

This film is an essential purchase for all Chiba fans. Most of the cast of this film also starred in 'Ninja Wars'....the English overdubs were highly amusing(they just changed the voices around!!) Story: a homosexual samurai is brought back from the dead, rejects Christianity, worships Satan, gets a possé of suicidal sword-masters, goes on the rampage.....its the same as all the others, however, it a cross between Ninja Wars and that [terrible] Gunslinger flick with Sharon Stone in it. Sonny Chiba is Jubei and the son of a minor noble who succumbs to the [samurai's] magick. Chiba kills all of the possé exept the monk-alcoholic who has fantisies of killing women. The film must have been cut. Only buy this on DVD 'cos the American VHS version had the picture quality of a thrice-pirated '70's porno!!!! ...

Going into this movie, I thought it was going to be an over the top, ridicuously violent samurai fantasy movie. It was actually a lot different than I expected. The story and costumes were at some times over the top, but the director intentially made this movie caring about things like plot/character developement, cinematography, and well done sets. It seems like they put a lot of time and effort into the production of this film. It's pretty interesting and entertaining to watch, but their wasn't as much fighting as I expected. It's a samurai movie with a fairly good pace (although not particularly gory/violent)...until the end, which the entire movie is spent building up and then it just kind of...ends, fairly abrubtly. An enjoyable samurai/fantasy movie (I heard it was a main influence
on the old video game series Samurai Showdown), but I'd suggest renting it and not buying it.

Shiro, the leader of the christian uprising came back to life as a devil and is in a mission to recruite lost souls and bring them back to life as devils so he can get his revenge against the tokogawa shogunate. Jubie Yagyu is the only one who can destroy the devil and put the recruited lost souls to rest in peace.

The scenery of the story is outstanding including the fight between the ghost musashi and jubie that is located at an ocean view with vast huge rocks on the background. The action scenes r great as what u can always expect to chibas' samurai movies. There are also great cast involved in the film including the young sanada (twilight samurai) and the great Tomisaburo Wakayama (lone wolf and cub) as Jubies ghost father.

The performace by the cast r sincere that make this samurai film a great drama with action. Be sure to watch this movie with subtitles and avoid the english dub because it will only ruin the feeling of the movie.

The picture is great brought to you by Tokyo Shock and the sound is outstanding. I highly recommend this film for people who likes a good storyline with great action. I also recommend the legend of eight samurai for another great samurai fantasy film by Sonny Chiba.

This movie has the great Sonny Chiba reprising his role from "Shogun's Samurai" but the tone of this movie is totally different. The focus is on horror and the supernatural. It takes awhile for the movie to warm up and a western viewer to figure out the plot, but after the first 30 minutes things really move. The ending in the burning building is AWESOME!

Not as good as "Shogun's Samurai" but better than "Legend of the Eight Saumrai". And watch it in Japanese with subtitles, for God's sake!

This dvd does have english subtitles throughout all the spoken language but you have to select it from the dvd setup title menu rather than change it using the dvd remote during the film

OMG this thing was horrible. If you have seen Shogun's Samurai and are expecting something on the level of that, you are in for a big surprise. Legend of the Eight Samurai is better than this and that was horible!

The movie starts off like it is going to be high class with all of these weird things going on. But the movie just drags on for about an hour and a half and manages to put in a couple of fight scenes that were almost good. Even Sanada blew in this movie and that NEVER happens.

But not to worry, this movie does come to an end.

I got this as part of the sonny chiba 5 pack. If it was in original language and widescreened, there is still no way I would have given this a 3.

I had a hard time making it through the whole movie. I actually fast forwarded lot of the scenes, because it just dragged on. This is a good film to watch if your cable goes out and it is pouring rain outside. You may want to just rent this film first before buying it.

Very good plot. Very good action . Very entertaining. I saw this film in a theatre.I am buying it now in video.Unfortunately i dont know if this version have english subtitles.However there is a version dubbed in English The hero is not of the family Yagiu and Chiba is Jubei.It is difficult to tell if his Tsuba(gard) is an Yagiu tsuba.In any case as you know he never used the Tsuba.Very good swordsman