Samurai Cop (1991)

Samurai Cop: Directed by Amir Shervan. With Robert Z’Dar, Mathew Karedas, Janis Farley, Mark Frazer. Joe Marshall and Frank Washington are two tenacious police detectives who seek at all costs to stop the Katana, a renegade Yakuza gang composed of violent and sadistic killers who want to lead the drug trade in Los Angeles.

“SAMURAI COP is another hilariously inept action B-movie from the guy who brought us Killing American Style. I think Amir Shervanu0026#39;s earlier film has the edge in terms of out-and-out cheese and comedy, but SAMURAI COP comes a close second. The titleu0026#39;s a misnomer, brought about because there are a couple of samurai swords in the film; otherwise this is the usual cops and robbers stuff as upstanding heroes battle gun-toting criminal gang members.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis film is so much like Killing American Style it feels like they were shot back to back: the movies share cast members and look and feel exactly the same in terms of staging, fight scenes, etc. The staging is staggeringly inept, with most scenes shot in single takes, and the acting is quite horrible. The main actor, Mathew Karedas, has a long hair style that swaps from being real to a womanu0026#39;s wig and back again as the story goes on (the story is that he had his hair cut short halfway through the production so had to wear a wig for the rest of the filming).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSAMURAI COP is a film that nobody can take seriously, so the best thing to do is to sit back and laugh at it. In this respect it becomes something of a gem, an example of so-bad-itu0026#39;s-good entertainment. As with Killing American Style, Robert Zu0026#39;Dar plays in support as the chief villain. Others must have enjoyed this movie, because a sequel followed in 2014 (!).”