I was given the chance to sit down to watch the 1986 Japanese movie "Death Shadows" (aka "Jittemai") in 2021. And I hadn't even heard about the movie prior to now as I sat down to watch it. So I didn't know what I was in for, nor did I have any expectations to the movie. So in a sense, you might say that writers Motomu Furuta and Hideo Gosha had every chance to impress me.
And while "Death Shadows" definitely was a watchable movie, it just failed to present itself as an outstanding movie. I doubt that this is a movie that I will ever pick up and watch again. The storyline was just a bit too generic and mundane here.
For a movie set in this particular period of feudal Japan, then "Death Shadows" just felt like a dime a dozen movie; you know, a movie just like every other movie set in the same era. Good news is that if you enjoy those type of movies, then you will definitely enjoy "Death Shadows", but if you don't then this 1986 movie offers nothing grand.
The movie is filmed nicely enough, though the props and sets were a bit on the cheaper end of the scale. And as for the fight scenes, well, let's just say that you can definitely tell that they are staged and choreographed.
"Death Shadows" was not a movie that bedazzled me in any way. And my rating of director Hideo Gosha's 1986 movie lands on a mediocre five out of ten stars.
