Best movies like Deadly Life of a Ninja
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A businessman and his sister-in-law are targeted for assassination by a band of evil ninjas and their vicious leader (Yasuaki Kurata). The ninjas are committing bizarre murders all over the city, and the police can't seem to pick up their trail -- so they call in ninja hunter and Kendo master Mr. Chow (Kuan Tai Chen). To take down the silent killers, Mr. Chow will have to fight against incredible odds in this campy ninja classic.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 132
Genere: Comedy, Action
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, exciting, humorous, suspenseful, stylized, semi serious
Best tv shows and movies like Deadly Life of a Ninja (1983):
Similar in 88%
Sakura Killers (1987)
Plot Summary:
Chuck Connors stars in this routine martial arts feature as the Colonel. He sends agents Sonny (Mike Kelly) and Dennis (George Nichols) to Taiwan in search of microfilm containing experiments on genetic engineering. The agents soon find themselves up against Japanese killers known as the Sakura who plan to sell United States secrets to the Soviet Union. Sonny and Dennis train with a martial arts master in order to fight the enemy and obtain the coveted microfilm.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 412
Genere: Action
Country: USA, Taiwan
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: independent film, rough, bleak, serious, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
Return of the Kung Fu Dragon (1976)
Plot Summary:
The complicated story involves the military conquest of a peaceful island-nation by an evil despot and his sorcerer ally. His victory leaves the island's three heroic protectors dead, but, their young children are hidden away to grow to adulthood with different identities, unaware of their heritage, in hope that, in time, they might challenge and defeat the evil ruler. The charming Polly Kuan stars as one of these children who has been adopted by the conquerer himself, initially as an insult to the defeated hero, later as his protégé.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 158
Genere: Action
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: exciting, humorous, serious, suspenseful, stylized, fable, cult film
Similar in 78%
Dreadnaught (1981)
Plot Summary:
A short-tempered, violent criminal named "White Tiger" is on the run from the police and joins a theater troupe for disguise, killing anyone who angers him or who suspects his identity. One person he unsuccessfully tries to kill several times is a cowardly laundry man named "Mousy" who manages to escape mostly by running and hiding. When a very close friend of Mousy's is killed by the White Tiger, Mousy overcomes his cowardliness enough to seek revenge. Spectacular martial arts and acrobatics highlight the film, including a well choreographed fight between two pairs of men in dragon costume.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 992
Genere: Action, Comedy, Horror
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: scary, exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful, stylized, slapstick comedy, slapstick
Similar in 77%
Last Tiger from Canton (1973)
Plot Summary:
Young Jackie was intrigued by Kung-Fu since an early age, but his father strictly forbade its practice. One day, he meets an old beggar who offers to teach Jackie how to fight. Jackie grows up to be quite good though he keeps his knowledge a secret until he is forced to fight by an extortion ring that's putting the squeeze on his uncle's restaurant. Later released in a re-cut version with the title Master with Cracked Fingers.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, exciting, humorous, realistic, semi serious, fast
Similar in 81%
Peking Opera Blues (1986)
Plot Summary:
The film is set in 1913 Beijing, during Yuan Shikai's presidency of the Republic of China. It depicts the adventures of a team of unlikely heroines: Tsao Wan, a patriotic rebel who dresses as a man; Sheung Hung, a woman in search of a missing box of jewels; and Pat Neil, the daughter of a Peking Opera impresario.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Action
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: independent film, exciting, feel good, humorous, realistic, stylized, semi serious
Similar in 76%
Samurai Fiction (1998)
Plot Summary:
Three centuries ago, a precious sword has been stolen by Kazamatsuri -- the sword, which historic and symbolic value is priceless for the clan (Shogun Tokugawa donated it to clan 80 years before that, at the same time that he established them as the local rulers). Lord's counselor's young son Heishiro goes to retrieve the sword himself to protect the clan from the shame or possible demise. He is accompanied with two friends, Shintaro and Tadasuke, and followed by the ninjas of the clan. After Kazamatsuri wounds Heishiro and kills one of his friends, the young aristocrat still wants revenge more than sword itself, but meanwhile have to recover from his wounds, in the small forest house of a lonely samurai and his daughter. At the same time, Kamazatsuri stays in nearby town in the entertainment center run by Okatsu and falls into her. The older samurai tries to dissuade Heishiro from fighting with Kamazatsuri, but is himself gradually drawn into the conflict.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Country: Japan
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: stylized, psychological, exciting, offbeat, humorous, semi serious, spoof, parody, light, atmospheric
Similar in 90%
Iron Fingers of Death (1982)
Plot Summary:
Two princes are seperated by birth. One is raised by the Prime Minister. The other is raised by three mad Shaolin Monks. They both learn kung-fu. When they are 23, they meet and combine there forces to defeat the evil 9th Prince.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 418
Genere: Action, Comedy
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, rough, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 85%
The Master (1980)
Plot Summary:
Gao Jian is a lazy and arrogant student of the martial arts school ran by vain Si Fu Shi Chen-chung. One night after his punishment in his school a wounded man reaches his house. He is Jin Tien-yun, a legendary warrior fleeing from a fight in which he was stabbed in a sneak attack and now has to hide from his pursuers, the Three Devils. Gao helps him and in return, Jin decides to teach him some serious kicks. Gao has to live alone for a year after Shi believes that he is traitor of his school. Then he tries to kill him but Jin interferes in order to save Gao and as his wounds are not fixed yet, he gets into a final battle with the three Devils. So it is Gao's turn to seek for revenge.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 454
Genere: Action, Comedy
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: serious, slapstick comedy, slapstick, grindhouse
Similar in 81%
Top Squad (1988)
Plot Summary:
The film revolves around a crack squad of female police officers who have to deal with harassment and a lack of respect from their male colleagues, personal issues as well as some serious criminals.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 656
Genere: Action, Comedy
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: exciting, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, semi serious, slapstick
Similar in 87%
Legendary Weapons of China (1982)
Plot Summary:
Legendary Weapons of China is a martial arts fantasy film taking place during the late Qing Dynasty when Empress Dowager Cixi dispatches her agents to various factions of the Boxer Rebellion in order find supernatural martial artists that are invulnerable to western bullets. When one of the leaders of these groups disbands his forces, assassins from the remaining factions are sent out to kill him.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspenseful, semi serious
Similar in 75%
Samurai (2002)
Plot Summary:
An ageless Demon Warrior is magically impregnated into the womb of a Parisian Kung-Fu Master's girlfriend. But what is the Demon's relationship with a new-release blockbuster fighting game?.
IMDB Rating: 3.4
IMDB Votes: 746
Genere: Action
Country: Spain, France, Germany
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: scary, exciting, serious, suspenseful, stylized, atmospheric
Similar in 87%
The Vanquisher (2009)
Plot Summary:
After completing a covert mission in southern Thailand, CIA agent Gunja finds herself forced to fight off operatives who've been ordered to take her out at all costs. She survives and after two years of laying low, re-emerges in Bangkok to face her old foes and foil a plot to detonate a bomb in the city.
IMDB Rating: 2.8
IMDB Votes: 278
Genere: Action
Country: Thailand
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, exciting, serious
Similar in 80%
Shaolin Challenges Ninja (1978)
Plot Summary:
Gordon Liu stars as a Chinese martial arts student struggling to relate to his new Japanese wife. When a series of martial misunderstandings spirals into an international incident, he's forced to take on seven of Japan's most powerful martial arts masters, each an expert in a different discipline, ranging from karate to samurai to ninjitsu.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Comedy
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, stylized
Similar in 89%
Twins Mission (2007)
Plot Summary:
Twins Mission is a 2007 Hong Kong martial arts-action-comedy film directed by action choreographer Kong Tao-Hoi and staring Gillian Chung, Charlene Choi and Sammo Hung among others. The film is a bit of a spoof of the popularity and success of the Twins and leaves the audience with a cliffhanger ending.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 738
Genere: Action, Comedy, Crime
Country: Hong Kong, China
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspenseful, rough, humorous, realistic, semi serious, fast
Similar in 81%
Tai Chi II (1996)
Plot Summary:
A young Tai Chi master fights Opium smugglers with the aid of his powerful braid while wooing a girl.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 756
Genere: Action, Comedy, Romance
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, captivating, suspenseful, stylized, semi serious, fast
Similar in 88%
Dance of the Drunken Mantis (1979)
Plot Summary:
A year after training young Jackie Chan in the Drunken Fist, Sam the Seed discovers he has a son, Foggy. He tries to train Foggy but to no avail. Foggy is then trained in Drunken Fist from his uncle as he must face his father's rival, Rubber Legs, another Drunken Fist master who combines it with Mantis Fist to create a deadly style.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 803
Genere: Action, Comedy
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: slapstick, exciting, offbeat, humorous, suspenseful, semi serious, slapstick comedy, cult film
Similar in 84%
Ninja in the Dragon's Den (1982)
Plot Summary:
Two rival warriors, a Japanese and a Chinese, are forced to work together after their master has been killed by a mighty enemy.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Comedy
Country: Hong Kong, Japan
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: scenic, exciting, humorous, suspenseful, semi serious, fast
Similar in 80%
The Bodyguard 2 (2007)
Plot Summary:
The best agent of Vieng, the country near the boundary of Thailand received the important mission that he had to catch two armed dealers who could be the dangerous for his country.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Comedy
Country: Thailand
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, semi serious, suspenseful, exciting, humorous
Similar in 88%
The Bodyguard (2004)
Plot Summary:
A professional bodyguard who failed to protect his Choti, most successful businessman, is fired by his employer's son. The son inherits his fathers company but is then targets by assassins who want to gain control of the estate. He is forced to hide out in the slums where a kind family looks after him and sparks up a relationship with their tomboy daughter.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Comedy
Country: Thailand
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, suspenseful, semi serious, humorous, realistic, spoof, slapstick comedy, slapstick, parody
Similar in 77%
Magnificent Guardsmen (1978)
Plot Summary:
Chan is asked by a young, wealthy lady to take her sick brother to a particular doctor in order to be cured. To reach this doctor, Chan and a handful of travelling companions must pass through bandit-infested wild country. They meet and kung-fu-fight several gangs of thugs along the way.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 948
Genere: Action
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious
Similar in 81%
Red Shadow (2001)
Plot Summary:
The secret warriors of feudal Japan were the Ninja. Sent on impossible missions, the Ninja were trained to work in shadows, gather information and defeat the enemy to build a world of peace. Red Shadow, Blue Shadow and Aska are neophyte ninjas under the tutelage of White Shadow. Their life is a series of perilous missions that entail intrigue, deception and intimidation.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 960
Genere: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Country: Japan
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: exciting, stylized, humorous, semi serious, manga
Similar in 87%
Heroes of the Wild (1977)
Plot Summary:
A regional champion martial artist that moonlights as an honour-bound assassin, Tu Ta Shen, solidifies his reputation by challenging top fighters en route to the other champion, Nan Pa Tien, in order to unify both titles. Along the way he defeats a man who's shame in defeat drives him to suicide. Before he dies, recognizing Tu Ta Shen honour, he asks Tu Ta Shen to defeat a group of Manchu supporters led by none other that Nan Pa Tien. The dying mans son, Sa Woo, tries to kill Tu Ta Shen but is easily outmatched. Tu Ta Shen offer to teach Sa Yoo enough so that he can take revenge for his father. The two set out together; One to fulfill a promise to a dying man, one to keep a promise of revenge.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 146
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: exciting, humorous, suspenseful, stylized, semi serious
Similar in 81%
Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978)
Plot Summary:
Everyone abuses and humiliates a downtrodden orphan (Chan) until he befriends an old man, who turns out to be the last master of the "snake fist" fighting style. Jackie becomes the old man's student and finds himself in battle with the master of the "eagle's claw" style, who has vowed to destroy the snake fist clan.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Action, Comedy
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, grindhouse, fast paced, cult classic, exciting, realistic, fast, slapstick comedy, funny
Similar in 83%
The Protector 2 (2013)
Plot Summary:
Kham is the last in long line of guards who once watched over the King of Thailand's war elephants. Traditionally, only the perfect elephants could successfully help defend the throne, after his harrowing quest to retrieve the elephants, Kham returns to his village to live in peace. But for someone as good in martial arts as him, peace is but a wishful thought.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action
Country: Thailand
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, suspenseful, serious, action thriller, realistic, fast
Similar in 90%
Half a Loaf of Kung Fu (1978)
Plot Summary:
A young daydreamer assumes the identity of a dead martial arts hero and quickly finds himself caught up in a plot by several clans to steal famous martial arts artifacts being transported by an escort company.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Comedy
Country: Taiwan, Hong Kong
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: humorous, stylized, semi serious, fast, slapstick comedy
Similar in 89%
The Butcher, the Chef, and the Swordsman (2010)
Plot Summary:
A tale of revenge, honor and greed follows a group of misfits that gets involved with a kitchen cleaver made from the top five swords of the martial arts world in this wild and brash action comedy.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 708
Genere: Action, Comedy
Country: China, Hong Kong, USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: humorous, captivating, stylized, exciting, semi serious, epic, fast
Similar in 82%
My Wife Is a Gangster 3 (2006)
Plot Summary:
When Aryong, the daughter of a triad boss from Hong Kong is accused of killing the boss of a competing triad, she is goes into hiding in Korea. Upon arriving, she is guided by a nimble but loyal Gi-chul and his motley crew, who are assigned to protect her until her return.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Drama
Country: Hong Kong, China, South Korea
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspenseful, semi serious, humorous, realistic, stylized, crime drama
Similar in 78%
Return to the 36th Chamber (1980)
Plot Summary:
The workers of a dye factory have their pay cut by 20% when the factory owner brings in some Manchu thugs to try and increase production. Desperate to reclaim their full wages, the workers hire an actor to impersonate a priest and kung-fu expert from the temple of Shaolin. The factory owner proves the actor a fraud, and punishes all those involved. The young actor feels he has let the workers down, and promises to atone. He sets out for Shaolin, determined to be accepted as a kung-fu pupil at the elite temple.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Comedy
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, exciting, humorous, realistic, semi serious, fast
Similar in 82%
House of Fury (2005)
Plot Summary:
Teddy Yu is a former secret agent turned chiropractor who thought he left his past behind. He teaches martial arts to his two kids. However, his past catches up to him as a rogue agent demands to know the whereabouts of an agent known as Dragon. Now, father and children must team up to stop the rogue agent and his goons.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Comedy
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: exciting, humorous, semi serious, light, cult classic, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 78%
American Ninja 2: The Confrontation (1987)
Plot Summary:
On a remote Caribbean island, Army Ranger Joe Armstrong saves an old friend from the clutches of "The Lion", an evil super-criminal who has kidnapped a local scientist and mass-produced an army of mutant Ninja warriors.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: intense, serious, grindhouse, light, cult classic, light hearted, independent film, exciting, rough, realistic