Blood of the Samurai

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Blood of the Samurai
Blood of the Samurai 2001.jpg
Directed byAaron Yamasato
Written byAaron Yamasato.
Produced byPaul Booth
Starring
  • Bryan Yamasaki
  • Michael Ng
  • Shawn Forsythe
  • Colleen Fujioka
  • Stephanie Sanchez
  • Rick Lum
Production
company
Hellcat Productions
Distributed by Cinema Epoch
Release date
  • November 3, 2001 (2001-11-03)(HIFF)
Running time
75 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2000 [1]

Blood of the Samurai is a 2001 American action film directed by Aaron Yamasato. It stars Bryan Yamasaki and Michael Ng as two friends who are possessed by a pair of ancient katanas. A mysterious man hunts them down to recover the swords. It premiered at the Hawaii International Film Festival in November 2001.

Contents

Plot

Trent and Rob are plunged into a world of darkness and chaos when they find a bundle of stolen ancient samurai swords. Suddenly Trent knows how to wield a katana, Rob is writing death threats in Japanese, and a villain named The Hunter, armed with two crossbows, is stalking them. When he does not get what he wants, he abducts Trent's girlfriend Brooke. Trent realizes that life will never be the same as he stalks the night in search of Brooke.

Cast

Production

Yamasato was inspired by the Japanese tokusatsu franchise Kikaider and subconsciously included homage to it that he only recognized later after others pointed it out. [2] Screaming Mad George did special effects for the film. [3]

Release

Blood of the Samurai premiered at the Hawaii International Film Festival on November 3, 2001. [4] Cinema Epoch released it on DVD in the US on June 4, 2013. [5]

Reception

Reviewing a rough cut of the film, Gary C. W. Chun of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin wrote that although the film start off well, the acting and writing are sub-par. [3] Chun later labeled his review as an attempt to humorously critique the film. [6] Albert Lanier of Ain't It Cool News called it "a cheesy, low budgeted, over-the-top b-movie that works like a charm". [1] Stina Chyn of Film Threat rated it 4/5 stars and wrote that the action sequences make up for the occasional technical errors. [7] Jeremy Blitz of DVD Talk rated it 2/5 stars and wrote, "While there are elements that are impressive in isolation, the whole doesn't work." [5]

It received the Hawaii Film & Videomaker Award at the HIFF and a Telly Award. [6]

Television series

A six-episode TV series for Oc 16 aired in October 2003. [8]

References

  1. 1 2 Lanier, Albert (2003-01-23). "Asia-AICN: Khushi; Our Hearts Were Touched With Fire; Flesh; Blood of the Samurai; Bhoot; Swades; Mughal-E-Azam". Ain't It Cool News . Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  2. ↑ Choo, Dave (2012-07-12). "Kikaida: Hawaii's Favorite Superhero". Honolulu . Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  3. 1 2 Chun, Gary C. W. (2001-11-02). "'Blood of the Samurai' has sweet action, sour script". Honolulu Star-Bulletin . Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  4. ↑ "'Blood of the Samurai' Premieres at HIFF". Film Threat . 2001-11-01. Archived from the original on 2015-01-20. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  5. 1 2 Blitz, Jeremy (2013-10-17). "Blood of the Samurai". DVD Talk . Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  6. 1 2 Chun, Gary C. W. (2002-11-08). "Bombastic!". Honolulu Star-Bulletin . Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  7. ↑ Chyn, Stina (2004-05-26). "Blood of the Samurai (DVD)". Film Threat . Archived from the original on 2015-02-21. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  8. ↑ Harada, Wayne (2003-08-21). "Optimism runs high for locally produced TV series". Honolulu Advertiser . Retrieved 2016-03-09.
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