Movies like A Knife to the Lips: The Lens Are Watching (1994)
The best movies like A Knife to the Lips: The Lens Are Watching (1994) are Cyber City Oedo 808 (1990), Frank and Penelope (2022) and Maniac (1963). If A Knife to the Lips: The Lens Are Watching hooked you with its horror and crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSuccubus (2024)8.3/10 from 280 votes
- NewestOne Mile: Chapter Two (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseCyber City Oedo 808 (1990)Also in Japanese
Cyber City Oedo 808 (1990)
In the city of Oedo 2808a.d., three Cyber criminals are given two choices, to either rot in jail or to join a special force of the Cyber Police to get possibly one more chance at freedom ever again. For each criminal apprehended, and for each successful mission done, the state will agree to reduce their sentences. Lead by Hasegawa, the new recruits: Sengoku, Gogul, and Benton will bring some hard justice to Oedo and possibly taste freedom again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrank and Penelope (2022)
A tale of love and violence when a man on his emotional last legs finds a savior seductively dancing in a run-down strip club. And a life most certainly headed off a cliff suddenly becomes redirected - as everything is now worth dying for.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisManiac (1963)
When a stranger enters a quiet, country town and is seduced by a sensuous married woman he unwittingly finds himself at the centre of a storm of sexual guilt and murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIchi the Killer (2001)
As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisImprint (2006)
An American journalist travels through 19th-century Japan to find the prostitute he fell in love with but instead learns of the physical and existential horror that befell her after he left.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisK-20: The Fiend with Twenty Faces (2008)
In an alternate version of 1949 Japan in which World War II never happened, the Japanese capital of Teito is home to both an ultra rich upper class and the dirt poor masses. The city is thrown into a state of panic when a phantom thief called “The Kaijin (Fiend) with 20 Faces” (K-20 for short) begins to use his mysterious abilities to steal from the rich and give to the poor. One day a circus acrobat named Heikichi Endo (Takeshi Kaneshiro) is framed for K-20’s crimes and becomes determined to clear his name. He teams up with K-20’s next target, a wealthy duchess named Yoko Hashiba (Takako Matsu) and her detective fiancé (Toru Nakamura), to take K-20 down once and for all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStar of David: Beauty Hunting (1979)
The life of Tatsuya, a young man of proper yet mysterious descent, whose outward respectability hides his urges for rape and torture.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSex and Fury (1973)
Sex & Fury chronicles Ocho's exploits as she searches for her father's killers, each identified by unique tattoos on their backs (a deer, a boar, and a butterfly). Along the way, she also crosses paths with Shunosuke, a radical set on murdering prominent politician Kurokawa, and Christina, an American spy posing as a gambler.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBaoh: The Visitor (1989)
Doress, a Japanese "black projects" organization, has been gathering psionics and creating biological weapons to "make Japan superior". When one of the biological experiments, BAOH, a parasite living inside 17-year-old Ikuro, escapes with a psychic young girl named Sumire, Doress will do anything to get the boy and girl back. The only problem for them is that BAOH has the ability to alter its host into a living death machine in order to keep it alive. BAOH "awakens" to its "Armed Defense Phenomenons", giving Ikuro acid-tipped claws, bio-regeneration, and super-strength. But Doress takes the girl, and BAOH, alongside its host, must fight an army of commandos and psionics to get her back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDetective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare (2016)
On a dark night, the Japanese police is raided by a spy. Different countries' intelligence agencies - such as England's MI6, Germany's BDN, and America's CIA - as well as the FBI's secret files are going to be taken, but public safety officers lead by Tooru Amuro arrive just in time. The spy steals a car and escapes. The spy and Amuro are then locked in a dead heat on the highway, and just as it is about to cause an accident with multiple cars, the spy's car is hit by FBI agent Shuichi Akai's rifle bullet and falls of the roadway. The next day, Conan and his friends go to a newly-remodeled aquarium in Tokyo. Under the main attraction, a Ferris wheel, Conan finds an attractive woman alone and injured. Her left and right eyes are different colors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDetective Conan: Sunflowers of Inferno (2015)
Conan tries to track down Kaito Kid, who supposedly steals a replica of one of Van Gogh's Sunflowers paintings during an auction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuccubus (2024)
A new father going through a marital separation joins a dating app and matches with a beautiful but mysterious young woman... whose powers of seduction and manipulation entangle him in a mystery more horrifying than he could have ever imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCharacter (2021)
A kind man aspires to become a manga writer, but villains and evil deeds do not come easily to him, for he has little experience or natural inclination for them. Things take a surprise turn when he comes across a family who were described as idealized that are no more. He uses the real-life situation for his work.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Garden of Sinners: Overlooking View (2007)
The story starts following an incident: a young girl jumps from the top of a building. The image provokes a certain dread, as the girl appears to have been a corpse even before she jumped. The case is dismissed, yet more and more of these suicides occur, and all from the same building. Thus began the rumour, that a ghost inhabited the rooftop of the building.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisX-Cross (2007)
Recovering from a failed love affair Shiyori heads to the country, in the company of best friend and bad girl Aiko. Having taken a long soak in the hot spring they retire to their respective cabins. They soon discover that the tranquil village is the home of a cult with a fetish for cutting off female legs. Trying to escape they are split up and keep in touch via their mobile phones. Multiple points of view and time frames keeps the viewer on their toes trying to discern the grisly fate of these "lost" girls.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIcefall (2025)
A young Indigenous game warden arrests an infamous poacher only to discover that the poacher knows the location of a plane carrying millions of dollars that has crashed in a frozen lake. When a group of criminals and dirty cops are alerted to the poacher’s whereabouts, the warden and the poacher team up to fight back and escape across the treacherous lake before the ice melts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisX (1996)
It's the year of destiny, and 15 year old Kamui Shiro, a powerful psychic, has returned to Toyko after a 6 year absence, having left when he was very young. He wants to be with his childhood friends, Fuma (his best friend) and Kotori, Fuma's little sister (and Kamui's possible girlfriend). He wants to protect them from all dangers, but destiny and fate are haunting Kamui and pulling in himself and his beloved childhood friends. It is his destiny and his sole decision to decide the fate of the world, no matter if he wants the role or not. Now it is a matter of if he will join the side of the Seven Seals and become the Dragon of Heaven to save mankind or join the Seven Angels and become the Dragon of Earth to destroy all civilization so the earth can heal itself from man's destruction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Mile: Chapter Two (2026)
Former special forces operative Danny is forced back onto a remote island when a violent, secretive community takes revenge by abducting his daughter Alex, launching a relentless hunt against enemies prepared for his every move.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDemon City Shinjuku (1988)
Ten Years ago, Genichiro Izayoi died trying to stop the sorcerer Rebi Ra, and as a result Shinjuku became a playground for demons. And now, the day approaches when Rebi Ra will complete his decade-long ritual to plunge the rest of the world into chaos! As Genichiro's son, it falls to Kyoya to venture into the heart of Shinjuku and put an end to the sorcerer his father couldn't beat. Can Kyoya exceed his father's legacy, or will the demons of Shinjuku create Hell on Earth?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReincarnation (2005)
A Japanese actress begins having strange visions and experiences after landing a role in a horror film about a real-life murder spree that took place over forty years ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Embryo Hunts in Secret (1966)
A man keeps his girlfriend tied up in his small apartment and tortures her. She is undressed, subjected to various types of bondage, whipped, and tortured with a razor blade.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBoss Girl Mafia: Flesh Punishment (Lynch) (1980)
Two young delinquent girls survive on the streets by selling themselves as high school students. But the local girl gang catches them working their territory and brings them to their boss. After they witness a girl getting brutally punished for not obeying their rules the two are given a choice. Join or suffer the consequences. Thus begins a battle of wills and razors as two headstrong women clash.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Female Prisoner: Caged! (1983)
A young woman who escaped from prison is eventually captured and brought back. The evil warden decides to make her a pet project and tries to break her down with torture, gang rape and by turning her friends against her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Siren the Ghost Story (1993)
Minayo plays the legendary "Siren," a ghost who lives forever by sucking men's life force. She skillfully seduces men using her body as bait, and those who fall prey to her turn into mummified corpses.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Siren the Ghost Story Again (1994)
Disappearances... What if a magical fairy beyond human knowledge is lurking in the shadows of incidents that could occur in our daily lives? Mysterious disappearances and slaughters in a seemingly peaceful and ordinary port town are so bizarre that all the bodies found have been mummified. Detective Junpei investigates this mysterious case. His father, who was also a detective, disappeared 20 years ago while investigating another strange case.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Hotaru Special (2007)
Hotaru Amami is a female detective who uses her knowledge of the law and her beautiful body as weapons. Together with her assistant, Mizuno , a law student, she works day and night to eliminate crimes that prey on women. Can they successfully trap the powerful con artists who appear one after another and save their clients? Two beautiful women put their bodies on the line in this definitive sexy detective story. (Compiles scenes from the four New Hotaru films).
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Siren the Ghost Story Forever (1995)
Suddenly, men abandon their jobs and families and come to the sea for no reason at all. Their disappearance was connected to an incredibly powerful force. One chilly day, when Cassiopeia shines strangely, two men suddenly arrive at the beach house "Kaijotei," asking to be allowed to stay here. The two men, who did not know each other and had no relation to each other, were drawn to the same beach for unknown reasons. Kazuhiko and Ayako, two lovers who run a beach pavilion, have no choice but to accept the two men, who are not moving even with their leverage, since it is out of season and there are no bathers. A few days later, a new man named Furuta arrives. Furuta is an expert in astronomical observation, and he senses something unusual in the way the stars have been shining these past few days.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Siren the Ghost Story Returns (1996)
The Internet, where anyone can easily come and go. In this virtual cyber world, a magical being with a will lives.... A strange rumor whispered among net surfers. It was a rumor that if one accessed the address "siren", he/she could experience virtual sex with a beautiful girl living in the Internet. In reality, however, those who access the address invariably disappear mysteriously. Ohtaka, who works for a computer software production company, heard this story from a colleague and at first thought it was ridiculous. One day, however, he goes missing, leaving behind a note with the address of "siren".
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Ballads (1993)
The story of a young man who tragically lost his lover in a horriffic motorcycle accident. Now working at a video store and selling uncensored gay hardcore pornography under the counter, he one day discovers the worlds most bizarre snuff video... which happens to "star" a man who looks exactly like his dead lover. Pushed over the edge by this event, the protagonist goes on a violent rampage, attempting to murder everybody involved in the video's creation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Lustmord (1987)
Eiji, a teenager eager to follow in his late father's scientific footsteps perfects one of his old experiments to diminish the barrier between pain and pleasure.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Knife to the Lips: The Lens Are Watching?
The closest matches to A Knife to the Lips: The Lens Are Watching are Cyber City Oedo 808 (1990), Frank and Penelope (2022) and Maniac (1963). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Knife to the Lips: The Lens Are Watching?
Start with Cyber City Oedo 808 (1990), the closest match to A Knife to the Lips: The Lens Are Watching.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Knife to the Lips: The Lens Are Watching?
Succubus (2024), rated 8.3/10 by 280 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Knife to the Lips: The Lens Are Watching?
One Mile: Chapter Two (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like A Knife to the Lips: The Lens Are Watching?
Yes: Cyber City Oedo 808 (1990), Ichi the Killer (2001) and Imprint (2006).
How are movies similar to A Knife to the Lips: The Lens Are Watching chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Knife to the Lips: The Lens Are Watching, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.