The Sleepy Eyes of Death 7 - The Mask of the Princess Film Review

In this the seventh film in the Sleepy Eyes of Death series, Nemuri Kyoshiro (Raizô Ichikawa) has his hands full with an army of ninjas out to kill him at the behest of a mad Princess. There is also a 15-year-old virgin to protect, a samurai who studies him to kill him, an attempt to frame him for a number of rapes and women who love him but also want to betray him. A full plate of promised death. But Nemuri as usual deals with it calmly and methodically leaving a long string of dead bodies behind him. This is a solid entry in the series but he is as enigmatic and closed mouth as ever - a villain or a hero. A bit of both.

In the fourth film, Sword of Seduction, Nemuri came across the mad Princess, Kiku, daughter of the Shogun, who hid behind a Noh mask to cover her disfigured face burnt in a fire. By Nemuri breaking the mask and allowing the Court to see her face, he has gained her bitter enmity and a sworn declaration to "tear him to shreds with pain and agony". It helps that she has an army of ninjas at her disposal and money to bribe others to betray him. The Princess (Michiko Ai) is an utterly corrupt woman - sleeping with men and then killing them - and is a source of embarrassment for the government that doesn't know how to deal with her. They hope to use Nemuri to solve their problem.

Through the film he is attacked and trapped by the Hayate of Bushu ninjas - in sneaky ways as is the ninjas customary method. But mind you, these are not the ninjas as portrayed in Hong Kong films like Ninja In the Dragon's Den or Life of a Ninja. They have some of their typical weapons like darts, stars but no running up trees or hiding underground - and they are basically fodder for the sword of Nemuri. Class B Ninjas. He shows an unusual side of humanity when he buys Haru, a young virgin who lost her father to a samurai and has no home.

He buys her, does not deflower her and sets her up with a friend who runs a small shop. She is later kidnapped by the ninjas and taken to the castle of the Princess. Nemuri is not pleased. He has also become infatuated with a prostitute (Yaeko Mizutani) but these films tend to be misogynistic. Unless you are a virgin, you are not to be trusted. He has come up against evil women in nearly every film. Much more duplicitous than the men. A lot of sword action and death and very well shot by director Akira Inoue who interestingly directed four TV films in the 1990s about Nemuri Kyoshiro.