Best movies like Inn of Evil
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The story takes place in feudal Japan, when any commerce with the rest of the world was strictly prohibited. An idealist suddenly appears in an isolated inn (the one that the title refers to), the head-quarters of a group of smugglers, with stolen money intended to ransom his loved one who is forced to work in a brothel.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: jidai geki
Best tv shows and movies like Inn of Evil (1971):
Similar in 85%
The Scarlet Camellia (1964)
Plot Summary:
In this Japanese drama, a young woman begins murdering all those responsible for her ailing father's condition. First she torches her parents' villa, and then slaughters all her lascivious mother's lovers. Because the girl is so outwardly sweet and innocent, the detective looking into the deaths does not suspect her. Unbeknownst to him, the girl plans on turning herself in, but not before she kills one more person--her real father. Later she changes her mind, but when his good wife learns of his philandering, she commits suicide.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 51
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 163 min
Plot tags: jidai geki, detective
Similar in 87%
The Stranger Within a Woman (1966)
Plot Summary:
Tashiro (Keiju Kobayashi) coincidentally meets his best friend Sugimoto (Tatsuya Mihashi) in a bar very close to the apartment in which Sugimoto’s wayward wife is found dead. Although Tashiro is not a suspect in the police investigation, he is racked with guilt and confesses to his wife, Masako (Michiyo Aratama). In an effort to further relieve his tortured sense of guilt, he then confesses to Sugimoto. Neither his wife nor his friend can believe that he could have been involved.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 447
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Captain Khorshid (1987)
Plot Summary:
Captain Khorshid is a sailor who although only having one hand, manages to sail his little boat. In his village, due to its hot climate and hard living conditions, dangerous criminals are sent into exile. They want to escape from the area, so they ask a middleman to strike a deal with Khorshid. Khorshid is asked to illegally take them out of the country with his boat. At first he is reluctant, but because of the hardships of living he accepts the job.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
Assassination (1964)
Plot Summary:
Assassination begins with the events of 1853 when "four black ships" anchored at Edo Bay, sparking civil unrest and the major political manoeuvring that saw the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. At a time when assassination had become a disturbing political tool, Shinoda's film follows Hachiro Kiyokawa (Tetsuro Tamba), an ambitious, masterless samurai whose allegiances drift dangerously between the Shogunate and the Emperor.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 956
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
Shogun's Shadow (1989)
Plot Summary:
Iemitsu, Tokugawa Shogun III, hates his eldest son Takechiyo; all his love is given to his younger son Tokumatsu. One day, he orders Takechiyo to an initiation rite in Yedo (today's Tokio). Takechiyo lives far away under the surveillance of Hotta Masamori, head of the Skura clan, where he was also raised. Hotta does suspect some kind of treachery, but he can not ignore the direct command of the Shogun. Therefore, he starts on his travel with Takechiyo and seven accompanying samurais. A large army under the command of Iba Shoemon, a vassal of the Shogun, attacks their night camp in the vicinity of a copper mine. Hotta dies in this first battle, but Takechiyo and the samurai manage to escape. They are chased by the army, and several skirmishes between the small force and the larger army follow.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 670
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History
Country: Japan
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 83%
Heat Wave (1991)
Plot Summary:
Rin Jyoshima lost her father to death-by-gambling; years later, she's grown up in the Kosugi household and has fallen victim to gambling herself.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 290
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
Crime and Punishment (2002)
Plot Summary:
John Simm stars in this adaptation of Dostoyevsky's tragic masterpiece - a profound drama of redemption and a thrilling detective story of the soul.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 925
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 200 min
Plot tags: psychological, thought provoking, captivating, disturbing, philosophical, period piece, costume drama, existential, psychotronic
Similar in 87%
Why Not? (1981)
Plot Summary:
The film depicts carnivalesque atmosphere summed up by the cry "Ee ja nai ka" ("Why not?") in Japan in 1867 and 1868 in the days leading to the Meiji Restoration. It examines the effects of the political and social upheaval of the time, and culminates in a revelrous march on the Kokyo, which turns into a massacre. Characteristically, Imamura focuses not on the leaders of the country, but on characters in the lower classes and on the fringes of society.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 681
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 151 min
Plot tags: clever, serious, realistic, witty, cynical, bilingual
Similar in 84%
High and Low (1963)
Plot Summary:
An executive of a shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped and held for ransom.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 51000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, suspense, captivating, bleak, black and white, tense, atmospheric, neo noir, breathtaking, intense
Similar in 78%
Kill! (1968)
Plot Summary:
In this pitch-black action comedy by Kihachi Okamoto, a pair of down-on-their-luck swordsmen arrive in a dusty, windblown town, where they become involved in a local clan dispute. One, previously a farmer, longs to become a noble samurai. The other, a former samurai haunted by his past, prefers living anonymously with gangsters. But when both men discover the wrongdoings of the nefarious clan leader, they side with a band of rebels who are under siege at a remote mountain cabin. Based on the same source novel as Akira Kurosawa’s Sanjuro, Kill! playfully tweaks samurai film convention, borrowing elements from established chanbara classics and seasoning them with a little Italian western.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, serious, realistic, jidai geki, spoof, black comedy, parody
Similar in 80%
After the Rain (1999)
Plot Summary:
A group of travelers is stranded in a small country inn when the river floods during heavy rains. As the bad weather continues, tensions rise amongst the travelers trapped at the inn. Ihei Misawa is a ronin, a samurai without a master, whose skills with a sword make him a valuable employee but whose brutal honesty and lack of social graces prevent him from staying with one master for too long. One night, Ihei impulsively offers to buy food and drink for the guests at a hotel; he doesn't have the money to pay, and to raise cash he concocts a scheme to take on anyone brave enough to fight him for a prize. Ihei's fighting skills impress Lord Shigeaki, who offers him a position as fencing master in his court. Ihei gratefully accepts, but when Shigeaki challenges him to a fight, Ihei beats the Lord decisively. Ihea is certain that he's managed to throw another opportunity away when a band of mercenaries attacks him, and his skills as a swordsman are put to the ultimate test.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan, France
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: spiritual, jidai geki, atmospheric, serious, captivating, stylized
Similar in 75%
Revenge (1964)
Plot Summary:
This tragic drama shows a young man fettered by Bushido, the way of the Samurai, who tried to escape the chains of his position, but was being forced to die. When the Tokugawa Shogunate ruled the land, Tatsuno castle in Wakisaka Clan's home of Harima held an established custom, the inspection of the arms warehouse. The Government Inspector Okuno Magodayu found a slight bit of dirt on the point of a spear and mentioned it with disdain. Ezaki Shinpachi heard it and started an argument with him. Magodayu then sent a a letter of challenge to him because he felt insulted by a low-ranking underling without a title. As it turned out Magodayu was killed. Since then, Shinpachi and the Okuno family have had continuous revenge duels. The tension mounts as this story builds to an extremely violent climax, when blood must pay for blood if the clan is to survive!.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 472
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, jidai geki
Similar in 87%
Harakiri (1962)
Plot Summary:
Peace in 17th-century Japan causes the Shogunate's breakup of warrior clans, throwing thousands of samurai out of work and into poverty. An honorable end to such fate under the samurai code is ritual suicide, or hara-kiri.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 66000
Genere: Action, Drama, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: tense, disturbing, bleak, black and white, enigmatic, melancholic, captivating, suspenseful, breathtaking, cerebral
Similar in 84%
The Sword of Doom (1966)
Plot Summary:
Through his unconscionable actions against others, a sociopathic samurai builds a trail of vendettas that follow him closely.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: black and white, cerebral, visual, tense, bleak, stylized, jidai geki, rough, epic, serious
Similar in 84%
Sanjuro (1962)
Plot Summary:
Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Kurosawa's tightly paced, beautifully composed "Sanjuro." In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 40000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: black and white, atmospheric, tense, witty, stylized, exciting, serious, realistic, touching, epic
Similar in 80%
Samurai Rebellion (1967)
Plot Summary:
The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped away from her husband by the lord. The husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to get her back.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: tense, emotional, stylized, black and white, sincere, atmospheric, jidai geki, serious, captivating, suspenseful
Similar in 80%
Goyokin (1969)
Plot Summary:
A guilt-haunted samurai warrior attempts to stop a massacre taking place.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, captivating, realistic, jidai geki, rough, bleak, stylized
Similar in 88%
Baragaki: Unbroken Samurai (2021)
Plot Summary:
Set in the 19th century, "Moeyo Ken" follows the life of Toshizo Hijikata. He was the vice-commander of the Shinsengumi and fought against the Meiji Restoration.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 257
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 148 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, disturbing, period drama
Similar in 77%
Shinsengumi: Assassins of Honor (1969)
Plot Summary:
Near the end of the nineteenth century, as the balance of power shifts from Shogunate towards the Emperor, Japan restlessly awaits the dawning of a new age. But not all are content...The Shinsengumi, a small army of samurai, farmers and peasants, band together to do battle against the tide of history. Their leader, Isami Kondo (Mifune) is a man who rises from farmer to fighter to head the fierce Shinsengumi brigade. Using a stern hand and a heart of gold, he rallies his men in defense of the tottering Shogunate. But bloodshed and treachery lurk around every corner.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 454
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History
Country: Japan
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: jidai geki
Similar in 90%
The Wolves (1971)
Plot Summary:
After going to prison for killing the boss of the Kanno gang, Seji Iwahashi (Tatsuya Nakadai) gets released early -- only to find that his former gang has merged with the Kannos. But with bitter resentments lingering on both sides, how long will it be before the bloodshed begins anew? Set in 1926 Japan, this serpentine crime thriller from director Hideo Gosha also stars Toshio Kurosawa and Isao Natsuyagi as Iwahashi's closest ally.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 612
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: crime drama, atmospheric, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 85%
Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011)
Plot Summary:
An tale of revenge, honor and disgrace, centering on a poverty-stricken samurai who discovers the fate of his ronin son-in-law, setting in motion a tense showdown of vengeance against the house of a feudal lord.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan, UK
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: tense, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, erotic, intense, jidai geki, atmospheric, contemplative
Similar in 81%
Vengeance is Mine (1979)
Plot Summary:
A thief, a murderer, and a charming lady-killer, Iwao Enokizu (Ken Ogata) is on the run from the police. Director Shohei Imamura turns this fact-based story—about the seventy-eight-day killing spree of a remorseless man from a devoutly Catholic family—into a cold, perverse, and at times diabolically funny examination of the primitive coexisting with the modern. More than just a true-crime tale, Vengeance Is Mine bares humanity’s snarling id.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: disturbing, tense, realistic, serious, suspenseful, neo noir, psychological thriller, philosophical, slasher, controversial
Similar in 84%
When the Last Sword is Drawn (2002)
Plot Summary:
Kanichiro Yoshimura is a Samurai and Family man who can no longer support his wife and children on the the low pay he receives from his small town clan, he is forced by the love for his family to leave for the city in search of higher pay to support them.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Japan
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, bleak, captivating, realistic, serious, spiritual, jidai geki, stylized, gloomy
Similar in 75%
The Hidden Blade (2004)
Plot Summary:
Set in 19th Century Japan a young samurai who finds himself in love with a farm girl leaves his home to begin a new life. He has to take stock of his new life when he is put to the test and ordered to kill a traitor who just happens to be his dearest friend.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, stylized, romantic, epic, jidai geki, realistic, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 80%
The Twilight Samurai (2002)
Plot Summary:
Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the beautiful Tomoe, a childhood friend, comes back into he and his daughters' life, but as the Japanese feudal system unravels, Seibei is still bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedence. How can he find a way to do what is best for those he loves?.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: tense, emotional, sincere, atmospheric, realistic, touching, talky, lyrical, sentimental, jidai geki
Similar in 80%
Love and Honor (2006)
Plot Summary:
A look at the relationship between a young blind samurai (Kimura) and his wife, who will make a sacrifice in order to defend her husband's honor.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, romantic, poignant, jidai geki, social, epic, period drama
Similar in 76%
Kagemusha (1980)
Plot Summary:
When a warlord dies, a peasant thief is called upon to impersonate him, in order to protect his clan from appearing weak and vulnerable. But he finds himself haunted by the warlord’s spirit as well as his own ambitions.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 38000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: captivating, enigmatic, bleak, costume drama, epic, tense, jidai geki, political, visually appealing, cerebral
Similar in 89%
Yojimbo (1961)
Plot Summary:
A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 129000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: black and white, visual, visually stunning, black comedy, cynical, art house, exciting, atmospheric, bleak, realistic
Similar in 85%
The Sea Is Watching (2002)
Plot Summary:
Based on Akira Kurosawa's final unproduced script, this Edo-period drama takes place almost entirely inside an ocean-village brothel. O-Shin is a young brothel worker who one night helps a young samurai escape from his pursuers. Against the warnings of her fellow workers, particularly Kikuno and the brothel's owner, O-Shin falls in love with the samurai.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Romance, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, realistic, touching, captivating, contemplative, gloomy, jidai geki
Similar in 84%
Last of the Wolves (2021)
Plot Summary:
After Shogo Ogami’s death in Hiroshima, Detective Shuichi Hioka successfully implemented Shogo Ogami’s plan, which was to control the yakuza to prevent further gang wars and save innocent people from getting harmed. Shuichi Hioka manages the criminal organizations, but, due to one evil person who gets released from prison, the situation drastically changes.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 790
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing