在一个风雨交加的晚上，一伙神秘的人策马狂奔向下田村的方向，之后这个村子就爆发了一场瘟疫，所有的村民都死了。在望月番番主的首肯下，甲贺组众忍者前往该村调查，不料路上遇到一个刀枪不入的彪形大汉的袭击，只有忍女阳炎（筱原惠美配音）在一个男子的帮助下虎口逃生。帮助阳炎的这个人就是牙神兽兵卫（山寺宏一配音），不久之后他中了那个大汉的埋伏，两人一场血斗，最后兽兵卫险胜。这时一个自称是将军手下公义的小老头浊庵（青野武配音）出现在兽兵卫面前，原来被杀死的大汉是鬼门八人众之一，将军对头的手下，浊庵等公义一直在跟踪他们，但其他公义都被杀了，只有浊庵一直跟踪到这里。浊庵的连哄带骗加诡计，以一百两雇兽兵卫协助他掉查此事，而且据他说鬼门八人众的头是已经被兽兵卫亲手杀死的冰室弦马（乡里大辅配音），难道死人还能复活？在与鬼门八人众的交手中，阳炎再次出现并且救了兽兵卫，但她说这只是为了报恩。真的是这样吗……A pilots pregnant wife is killed by a band of thugs who break into their home. The gang is caught and sent off to prison. Wanting to see that"justice" is done the pilot stages his own death and then gets himself arrested so he can hunt the killers in the prisons into which they have been sent. To be honest the story is a bit clichéd with the plot taking some obvious paths once things are set in motion. Normally that would be a bad thing but here the film works largely thanks to a very good cast of mostly unknown actors. The stand out is Andy Serkis, best known for playing Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies. Here he's the head of the nasty band and his vileness seems to drip off the screen. If you want to know why Peter Jackson chose him to play the tortured creature in the big budgeted epic look no further. Serkis isn't on screen much until the final portion of the film, but his evilness in the early part of the film hangs over everything like a dark cloud. Definitely worth a look for those who want an undemanding thriller, and those who want to see what Andy Serkis is capable of when he isn't doing just a computer generated character. 6.5 out of 10.
