A college coed possessed by a hit man battles psychotic killers to regain her psyche in Ghost Killer, a thriller that wildly exceeds its pulp origins. Directed by Kensuke Sonomura (also the action director), this delivers exactly what action fans want.
Ghost Killer draws from the Baby Assassins franchise. Sonomura and screenwriter Yugo Sakamoto worked on that series along with star Akari Takaishi. They bring a darker aesthetic but a similarly droll humor to this project. Ghost Killer looks hard-edged and violent, but at its core, it's a sentimental story of acceptance and redemption. With a high body count.
No one in film today stages action like Sonomura. The opening scene unfolds in an abandoned food market as three killers with knives battle the unarmed Kodu (grizzled Masanori Mimoto, another Baby Assassins veteran). The stunts are paced furiously, close to the ground, the camera circling around the performers. It's a bravura sequence that sets a high bar for the rest of the film.
Kudo wins the fight but is then shot and killed by a gunman. When college student Fumika (Takaishi) picks up the bullet casing later, she summons Kudo's ghost. First scared, then skeptical, Fumika discovers she can channel Kudo's fighting abilities when she encounters a pimp abusing her friend Maho.
Why Kudo haunts Fumika is a problem they have to solve together before she falls prey to killers from an "anti-social organization." Like Kill Boksoon and The Old Woman with the Knife, Ghost Killer operates in a world where assassins have guilds with codes of honor, but turn against each other anyway.
Before he was murdered, Kudo worked closely with Kagehara (Mario Kuroba), a "cleaner" with Shungo Honda's gang. Kagehara eventually allies himself with Fumika in an assault on Honda's killers—but not before betrayals and double-crosses that leave a slew of corpses.
The final battle takes place over several floors of a vast warehouse before focusing in on a fight between Kudo and Katsura (Naohiro Kawamoto) that shows just how accomplished Sonomura is as an action director.
Sonomura's mix of humor and violence might turn some viewers off, but there's less blood here than a John Wick outing. The action is intense, fast-moving, and beautifully choreographed.
The comic bits range from overdone to fascinating. Takaishi and Mimoto make a great odd couple, forced to work in unfamiliar bodies while debating the morals of killing. Takaishi's body language is a delight as she veers from afraid to intoxicated to flat-out vicious. She never loses sight of her character, grounding Ghost Killer just when it needs it most.
After touring the festival circuit, Ghost Killer is available on streaming platforms before its home media release September 23 from Well Go USA Entertainment. One of the producing partners on the project, Well Go continues its outstanding work in the action genre.