Japan Synopsis
十手舞
“Punish the wicked, but stay in the dark.”
Three men sentenced to death are spared and changed into “shadows executioners”, a group of ruthless ninja working for mysterious high ranking officials. During their investigation on some illegal business, one of them, called “Yazuke the Viper”, finds his abandoned daughter, Ocho, who has now become a mistress of Denzo, a smuggler. After Yazuke’s death, Ocho is also recruited as a “shadows executioner”, with the task of completing her father’s mission.
The 1985–1987 Japan Window
100 Japan films released in this three-year window, ranked here by audience rating. Death Shadows sits at position #78.
The 1980s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year in the 1980s. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Death Shadows premiered. 280 total titles in this decade from Japan.
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #3,872 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (15th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is -0.9 points below the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Action productions specifically: #1,495 of 1,714 (top 87%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Production Companies | Gosha Productions, Eizo Kyoto Film Co. |
| Runtime | 1h 55m |
| Release Date | September 20, 1986 |
| IMDb | tt0165339 |