Sure Death!

Sure Death! is a gem of a film. Released in 1984, this was a refreshingly funny and entertaining take on the Jidi Geki genre, especially those that flourished in the 60's and 70's. It is about a group of assassins who uses unusual techniques to eliminate their targets. The members include: a married couple who does roofing by day and uses ultra sharp shingles as killing tools by night; an elder woman who uses her kyoto to disguise the death sounds of a victim, while her son uses the strings as a killing device; a man who uses ultra sharp tools; a woman who finds the clients; and their leader, a man who is an officer who bumbles his official assignments, but is actually a lethal assassin. It is mid 19th century Japan, in Edo, where a young woman is searching for the assassins in order to avenge the death of her cat. She is a prostitute at a local brothel, and while she is able to make contact with our heroes, once they find out about why they are doing this assignment, they return the money. Meanwhile, bodies are mysteriously piling up throughout the city, and the leader discerns that they must also be assassins, as their families are not claiming injustice. The victims all have 6 ryu coins in their mouths, which leads him to belive that this is the work by one man or a group. And he's right -- there is a rival assassin group in town, aiming to eliminate the competition. The prostitute is killed. A woman in a colorful spinning parasol confronts the leader and tells him that he and his group are marked for death as well. The others spend a lot of time in hiding, until an annual festival occurs, and the husband of the roofing couple goes outside to participate in the festivities. He is almost killed, and the recruiting woman is killed. The parasol woman pits both sides against each other until they do fight, in a stylized and intense fight scene near the docks. The rival group is eliminated, and the others resume their "secret identity" duties.

Stylish in sight and in sound, Sure Death! makes for enjoyable viewing. It was originally a television series that lasted for 30 years and several movies, and this along with one the immediately followed were picked by the US company Animeigo for distribution, with hopes for releasing the entire series. That did not happen, with the change from vhs to dvd, requiring new licensing agreements. However, if you can find this at your local video store, or on ebay, it is well worth viewing.