Death Messenger (1991)

[AlbertV]

I picked this title up at a Book-Off store when I lived in New York. Book-Off is a small Japanese outlet bookstore that had stores in NYC and in Hartsdale, which was near my hometown. I only paid $5.00 for the original VHS of this film. No subtitles, but it wasn't that hard to follow.

It starred Ryo Ishibashi (The Grudge, American Yakuza) as a mysterious assassin who makes himself a target when he rescues a young woman from a crime syndicate. The crime syndicate are into extortion as well as try to get their hands on some sort of bio weapon. Yasuaki Kurata played the lead henchman of the syndicate and when the goons kidnap Ryo's girlfriend (the young woman he rescued), Ryo becomes enraged and goes after the syndicate himself in an all out gun battle. Sadly, a Kurata-Ishibashi martial arts fight isn't there, but for me it is still a guilty pleasure now and again.