Film

Samurai Reincarnation

Name: Samurai Reincarnation
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Horror
Released: 1981
Cast: Sonny Chiba, Kenji Sawada, Akiko Kana, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ai Kanzaki

A 1981 Japanese action-horror film where a samurai-turned-sorcerer makes a Faustian bargain to resurrect the dead and wage war against God itself. Sonny Chiba commands the screen with supernatural samurai spectacle—wild, angry, visually audacious, and totally unconcerned with restraint. It's for people who want samurai cinema that goes completely unhinged.

TMDb rating

2.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want an overheated 1980s Japanese horror-samurai hybrid, where a grim historical massacre feeds a lurid supernatural revenge spree that you enjoy for its sheer strangeness.

Skip it if you need a tight, coherent plot or restrained tone, since this is loose, lurid and often muddled, with its dialogue and effects looking their age.

What it asks of you: It runs just over two hours at a deliberate pace, with long stretches of slow build before the violence erupts in bursts, so it asks for steady patience.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Sword of Doom1966

Tatsuya Nakadai as an amoral samurai whose cruelty and nihilism leave a trail of spiritual corruption. Existential dread wrapped in sword-work; morality isn't just absent, it's the point.

But Slower and more austere than you might expect. The violence matters precisely because it's set against long stretches of quiet psychological damage.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance1972

Operatic revenge with a samurai and his toddler son against a shogunate conspiracy. Ultraviolent, gorgeously composed, and utterly committed to its own insanity in ways that still feel fresh.

But The sequels are better, and watching just one means you won't get the full warped narrative arc. Also genuinely disturbing in places.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance poster

Shogun Assassin1980

Lone Wolf and Cub recut and dubbed for Western release, but the remix works—muscular action, grimy beauty, and a narration by the child that makes it stranger and more haunting.

But It's a reconfiguring of existing material, not a fresh entry. Purists will rightly suggest you start with the original series.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Samurai Reincarnation

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Belladonna of Sadness1973

Both are Japanese genre films from the early '80s that weaponize the supernatural as a response to spiritual abandonment and systemic cruelty. Both pit individuals against systems that have failed them utterly.

Eiichi Yamamoto's animated nightmare about a woman betrayed and broken, who summons a demon for vengeance. Surreal, sexually frank, and visually apocalyptic—a folk-horror fever dream rendered in rotoscope and watercolor.

But Extremely graphic sexual assault at the start sets the tone. The animation style is deliberately archaic and sometimes hard to follow; it's not a comfortable viewing.

Harakiri1962

Masaki Kobayashi's masterpiece about a samurai's ritual suicide, but transformed into an indictment of honor itself. Austere, devastating, formally perfect, and morally furious.

But The inverse of spectacle—it's slow, sparse, and designed to hurt intellectually. No sword-swinging catharsis here.

Lady Snowblood1973

A woman raised to be an instrument of revenge becomes a figure of terrible grace in Edo-period Japan. Stunning compositions, blood-red snow, and genuine mythic weight despite the exploitation premise.

But The sequel undercuts it. Also the sexual violence in the setup will alienate viewers who reasonably don't want to sit with that.

Ugetsu1953

Kenji Mizoguchi's ghost story set during civil war Japan—samurai, supernatural deception, and the collision between desire and duty. Visually hypnotic and morally complex.

But It's a period supernatural drama, not action. Moves at its own meditative pace; patience required.

Sword of the Beast1965

Hideo Gosha's lean, violent samurai noir about a man hunted across rural Japan. Cynical, gorgeously shot, and concerned with survival over honor.

But It's austere and doesn't explain much. You're dropped into a world and expected to move quickly.

Possession1981

Both films from 1981 collapse the boundary between internal psychological states and external supernatural violence. Both use horror grammar to express spiritual rage and betrayal.

Andrzej Żuławski's completely deranged Berlin-set horror about a couple disintegrating into madness while an unspeakable thing grows in the walls. Visceral, sexual, operatic, visually suffocating.

But It's incoherent by design and deliberately repulsive. If you hate incomprehensibility and body horror, this will be torture.

The Seventh Seal1957

Like Samurai Reincarnation, it stages a direct confrontation between human will and the divine—a gamble against cosmic forces. But where Reincarnation is rage and spectacle, Seal is questioning and still.

Bergman's knight returning from crusade plays chess with Death itself. Transcendent, funny, terrifying, and utterly concerned with whether faith survives contact with the infinite.

But It's glacially paced and deeply philosophical. The plot matters less than what it means; patience and willingness to sit with ambiguity essential.