Best movies like A Touch of Zen
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Ming dynasty noblewoman Yang must escape from the evil eunuch Hsu. She seeks refuge at a decrepit town where she gets assistance from a naive scholar & a group of mysterious yet powerful monks.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Country: Taiwan, Hong Kong
Duration: 200 min
Plot tags: art house, psychedelic, captivating, cult classic, mind blowing, exciting, serious, contemplative, stylized, epic
Best tv shows and movies like A Touch of Zen (1971):
Similar in 86%
Dragon Inn (1967)
Plot Summary:
General Yu is executed after having been accused of treason by the powerful eunuchs, and his children will be deported. Eunuchs plotting to kill even the children, and prepare an ambush on Dragon's shelter in the middle of the desert. There are other guests, who are also interested in the deal.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Adventure
Country: Taiwan, Hong Kong
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: bloody
Similar in 85%
Raining in the Mountain (1979)
Plot Summary:
An esquire and a General eyes a priceless handwritten scroll by Tripitaka, held in a Temple library. The Abbot of the Temple selects his successor.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: Taiwan, Hong Kong
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
The Angry River (1971)
Plot Summary:
The plot has to do with a reign of terror conducted by a mysterious killer dubbed "Poison Dart," who is hitting all kinds of prominent people with poison darts.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 148
Genere: Action, Adventure
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
Come Drink with Me (1966)
Plot Summary:
Cheng Pei-pei plays Golden Swallow, a fighter-for-hire who has been contracted by the local government to retrieve the governor's kidnapped son. Holding him is a group of rebels who are demanding that their leader be released from prison in return for the captured son. After a brief encounter with the gang at a local restaurant, Golden Swallow is joined by an inebriated wanderer Drunken Cat (Yueh Hua) who aids her in her mission.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Crime
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, exciting, serious, stylized, spaghetti western
Similar in 85%
To Kill with Intrigue (1977)
Plot Summary:
Young master Cao Le chases his pregnant girlfriend away from the family castle. He does it in order to save her from vicious bandits who are going to murder his family.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong, South Korea
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, surreal
Similar in 76%
One-Armed Swordsman (1967)
Plot Summary:
An evil gang attacks the Chi school of Golden Sword Kung Fu. One student sacrifices his life to save his teacher and his school, his dying wish is that his son be taken in as a student. Young Fang Kang grows up in the school and treasures his father's broken sword and the memory of his father's sacrifice. The other students (including the teacher's daughter) resent him and try to drive him away. The teacher's daughter challenges him to a fight and when he refuses she becomes enraged and recklessly chops off his arm! He retreats, broken and bloody, and is found by a young poor girl living alone who nurses him back to health. Meanwhile, the evil gang who originally attacked the Golden Sword school develops a weapon that renders the Golden Sword useless and starts killing off all of the schools students. Fang Kang eventually recovers with the girl's help but must now face a life with only one arm. Will he be able to recover and live to defend the school as his father did?.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, offbeat, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, stylized, spaghetti western
Similar in 75%
Martial Arts of Shaolin (1986)
Plot Summary:
Jet Li weasels out of the north Shaolin temple to assassinate a despotic ruler at the ruler's extravagant public birthday celebration. Two other men from the south Shaolin temple also set out to assassinate the ruler, but all three fail and are chased all over by soldiers. Meanwhile, one of the southerners turns out to be a cross-dressed woman, who is also discovered to wear a footbell to match Jet Li's, meaning they are somehow slated for an arranged marriage.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Drama
Country: Hong Kong, China
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, cult classic, cult film
Similar in 79%
Hapkido (1972)
Plot Summary:
Korea, 1934. During the Japanese occupation, there is open warfare between rival martial arts schools. There is a fight in the marketplace, and three Chinese students can't stand the unfair way of students that side up with the invasors, when they gang assault one of the fighting men. Between the three, they send the aggressors away. Retaliation is heavy: their school is destroyed, and they are banished. They return to China, and start their own school, and set out on good-will visits to the other martial arts schools, only to find that everybody in their neighbourhood is already dominated by the Japanese. They have many kung fu fights to win, before they eventually manage to establish peace.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 976
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong, South Korea
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: cult classic, serious, realistic, stylized
Similar in 79%
Tai-Chi Master (1993)
Plot Summary:
Falsely accused for cheating in a martial arts competition, two boyhood friends are banished from their Shaolin Temple and go their separate ways. As adults, they join opposing sides in a civil war. When one betrays the other, they settle their differences mano-a-mano.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Drama, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: cult classic, exciting, serious, stylized, fast
Similar in 89%
Wing Chun (1994)
Plot Summary:
Martial arts expert Wing Chun battles bandits in this magical film that provides as many laughs as it does wallops. Besides horse thieves, Wing Chun must deal with the men around her who simply can't handle a strong, independent woman. Ultimately, she must dish out "lessons" again and again and again until the respect for her remarkable skills is finally won.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: cult classic, exciting, humorous, stylized, semi serious, campy, cult film
Similar in 90%
Snake-Crane Secret (1976)
Plot Summary:
Snake and Crane Secret is a fast paced martial arts action film about a familys battle for survival. A family tries to uphold their honor while keeping their Sacred Kung Fu book from getting into the wrong hands. A tale of deceit mistrust and traditional values unfolds along with spectacular fight sequences necessary to keep the Snake Crane Secret.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 201
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong, Taiwan
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, fast, campy, cult film
Similar in 80%
The Tale of Zatoichi (1962)
Plot Summary:
The adventures of a blind, gambling masseur and master swordsman. Zatoichi targets a yakuza-controlled village, because war with a neighbouring town's smaller gang is brewing.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: art house, grindhouse, cult classic, atmospheric, serious, captivating, realistic, vintage, period drama, cult film
Similar in 85%
Duel to Death (1983)
Plot Summary:
One of the last of the Old School Hong Kong martial arts flicks, this one deals with a legendary competition in swordplay and fighting that ends up being fought between two great warriors, a Chinese man and a Japanese man, who, over the course of the film, have become friends.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: manga, perverse, cult classic, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized, cult film
Similar in 85%
Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman (1971)
Plot Summary:
Zatoichi is a blind massage therapist and swordsman who finds out that something troubling is taking place on the outskirts of town. After discovering who the guilty parties are -- an accomplished Chinese martial artist named Wang Kang and his youthful attendant -- Zatoichi finds them and discovers that the pair's mixed up with a dangerous bunch of terrorist samurai who murdered the boy's parents. Now, Zatoichi must step in to save the day.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: Japan, Hong Kong
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, cult classic, serious, cult film
Similar in 90%
Fury of the Shaolin Master (1978)
Plot Summary:
A government law officer is dispatched to bring his brother's killers to justice. On his bloody mission, untold assassins are thrown at him, but to no avail. One by one they are done away with in a most militant style.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 152
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Taiwan, Hong Kong
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 81%
In Eagle Dragon Fist (1979)
Plot Summary:
A dishonored student of the Dragon Fist Sect seeks revenge for the death of his teacher.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong, Taiwan
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: cult classic, action adventure, exciting, serious, realistic, stylized, fast
Similar in 84%
Once Upon a Time in China III (1992)
Plot Summary:
Master Wong and his disciples enroll in the 'Dancing Lion Competition' to stop an assassination plot and to battle an arrogant, deceitful opponent.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Biography, Drama, History
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: stylized, serious, cult classic, harsh, anamorphic, exciting, epic, silent, light, thought provoking
Similar in 88%
Executioners from Shaolin (1977)
Plot Summary:
A couple unite - she is fluent in the crane style of kung fu, he in tiger style. They have a son, but the boy's father is killed by the evil eunuch Pai Mei. Disguised as a girl, his mom trains him in crane style while he secretly learns tiger style from his father's training manual.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, rough, serious, realistic, grindhouse
Similar in 84%
Dragon Inn (1992)
Plot Summary:
During the Ming Dynasty, Tsao Sui Yan, the power-hungry and ruthless eunuch leader of East Chamber, craves his own kingdom. He intends on destroying the rebelling clans by using a traitorous secretary's children as bait. Ultimately, the two warring factions - the rebels led by Chow Wai-on and Mo-yan Yau, the East Chamber led by Tsao - end up in the rundown Dragon Inn right in the middle of the desert. Jade King, the beautiful owner and proprietor of Dragon Inn, hopes to cash in on the incident. But problems arise when Wai-on, desperate for the quickest route of escape, attempts to marry Jade in hopes of prying her for information; and the two clans go head-to-head in a no-holds barred finale battle.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, stylized, epic, cult classic
Similar in 87%
The Chinese Connection (1972)
Plot Summary:
Chen Zhen returns to the international compound of China only to learn of his beloved teacher's death. This is compounded by the continual racist harassment by the Japanese population in the area. Unlike his friends, he confronts it head on with his mastery of martial arts while investigating his teacher's murder.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Action, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful, grindhouse, cult classic, stylized, harsh, psychological, retro
Similar in 80%
The Shaolin Temple (1982)
Plot Summary:
The Tang emperor is betrayed by one of his generals, who installs himself as emperor in the East Capital. The son of one of his slave workers escapes to the Shaolin Temple, learns kung fu, and sets out to kill the traitor who killed his father. Based on a true story from Shaolin folklore, but highly fictionalized.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Drama
Country: China, Hong Kong
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, stylized, captivating, tense, touching, cult classic, cult film
Similar in 81%
Fist of Legend (1994)
Plot Summary:
Chen Zhen, a Chinese engineering student in Kyoto, who braves the insults and abuse of his Japanse fellow students for his local love Mitsuko Yamada, daughter of the director, returns in 1937 to his native Shangai, under Japanse protectorate -in fact military occupation- after reading about the death of his kung-fu master Hou Ting-An in a fight against the Japanese champion Ryuichi Akutagawa.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: harsh, intense, tense, rough, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, serious, cult classic, brutal
Similar in 83%
Reign of Assassins (2010)
Plot Summary:
Set in ancient China, Zeng Jing is a skilled assassin who finds herself in possession of a mystical Buddhist monk's remains. She begins a quest to return the remains to its rightful resting place, and thus places herself in mortal danger because a team of assassins is in a deadly pursuit to possess the remains which holds an ancient power-wielding secret.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Action, Adventure
Country: China, Taiwan, Hong Kong
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, suspenseful, exciting, serious, captivating, stylized, fast
Similar in 78%
Shaolin (2011)
Plot Summary:
China is plunged into strife as feuding warlords try to expand their power by warring over neighboring lands. Fuelled by his success on the battlefield, young and arrogant Hao Jie sneers at Shaolin's masters when he beats one of them in a duel. But the pride comes before a fall. When his own family is wiped out by a rival warlord, Hao is forced to take refuge with the monks. As the civil unrest spreads and the people suffer, Hao and the Shaolin masters are forced to take a fiery stand against the evil warlords. They launch a daring plan or rescue and escape.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Hong Kong, China
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: serious, stylized, exciting, bleak, captivating, realistic, epic, heroic, cult classic, action thriller
Similar in 84%
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978)
Plot Summary:
The anti-Ching patriots, under the guidance of Ho Kuang-han, have secretly set up their base in Canton, disguised as school masters. During a brutal Manchu attack, Lui manages to escape, and devotes himself to learning the martial arts in order to seek revenge.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, stylized, inspirational, fast paced, exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, light
Similar in 75%
Dragon (2011)
Plot Summary:
A sinful martial arts expert wants to start a new tranquil life, only to be hunted by a determined detective and his former master.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong, China
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: stylized, enigmatic, melancholic, atmospheric, surreal, serious, suspense, cult classic, thought provoking, detective
Similar in 80%
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (2016)
Plot Summary:
A story of lost love, young love, a legendary sword and one last opportunity at redemption.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Country: China, USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: stylized, light, exciting, atmospheric, serious, captivating, emotional, cult classic, saga, scenic
Similar in 80%
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx (1972)
Plot Summary:
In the second film of the Lone Wolf and Cub series, Ogami Itto battles a group of female ninja in the employ of the Yagyu clan and must assassinate a traitor who plans to sell his clan's secrets to the Shogunate.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: bloody, grindhouse, atmospheric, stylized, splatter, manga, perverse, exciting, rough, serious
Similar in 90%
Warriors of Heaven and Earth (2003)
Plot Summary:
A Chinese emissary is sent to the Gobi desert to execute a renegade soldier. When a caravan transporting a Buddhist monk and a valuable treasure is threatened by thieves, however, the two warriors might unite to protect the travelers.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: China, Hong Kong
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: epic, breathtaking, exciting, serious, lyrical, historical drama, atmospheric, realistic, contemplative, road movie
Similar in 77%
Hero (2002)
Plot Summary:
One man defeated three assassins who sought to murder the most powerful warlord in pre-unified China.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 186000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: Hong Kong, China
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: breathtaking, atmospheric, visually stunning, philosophical, epic, serious, visual, stylized, exciting, colorful