Movies like Snake in the Monkey's Shadow (1979)
The best movies like Snake in the Monkey's Shadow (1979) are Crippled Avengers (1978), Invincible Shaolin (1978) and Blood Brothers (1973). If Snake in the Monkey's Shadow hooked you with its action and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRan (1985)8.0/10 from 1,968 votes
- NewestMexicali (2026)Released 2026
- In ChineseCrippled Avengers (1978)Also in Chinese
Crippled Avengers (1978)
A group of martial artists seek revenge after being crippled by Tu Tin-To, a martial arts master, and his son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInvincible Shaolin (1978)
Three North Shaolin teachers are called on by the Manchus to teach their soldiers and are urged to challenge the current South Shaolin teachers. They defeat the South Shaolin teachers and, that night, the head general kills the South Shaolin teachers and blames their death on the North Shaolin teachers. The South Shaolin master sends more of his pupils, who are killed accidentally by the North Shaolin teachers. He finally sends two more of his students to train with old masters and trains one student himself with the goal of finally defeating the North Shaolin experts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlood Brothers (1973)
Set in the waning years of the Ching Dyansty, this dramatic, tragic, romantic, blood-soaked martial arts tale of betrayal and revenge explores one of the most sensational scandals in Chinese history and marked the true ascension of its director and actors to superstar status. In fact, Ti Lung won Taiwan's Golden Horse Award for Outstanding Performance as the challenging role of a jealous provincial governor who kills his friend in order to steal the man's wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNo Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers (1990)
Two feuding brothers of differing political views, one a policeman, the other a martial artist, join forces to avenge the death of their father, a retired agent who was brutally murdered by the mafia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMexicali (2026)
A former special forces contractor is forced out of retirement as an avocado farmer in Mexico when local gangsters try to force him and his family off their farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJawbone (2017)
A former youth boxing champion, Jimmy McCabe is a man in search of hope but looking in all the wrong places. When he hits rock bottom he turns to his childhood boxing club and the only family he has left: gym owner Bill corner man Eddie and promoter Joe. Back in training, years after anyone thought he was a contender, he risks his life, as he tries to stand tall and regain his place in the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEl Gringo (2012)
A man crossing into Mexico with a satchel of $2,000,000—and a bloody past—finds himself under sudden attack in the sleepy town of El Fronteras.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNew Fist of Fury (1976)
A brother and sister escape from Japanese-occupied Shanghai to Japanese-occupied Taiwan, to stay with their grandfather who runs a Kung-Fu school there. However, the master of a Japanese Kung- Fu school in Taiwan has plans to bringing all other schools on the island under his domination, and part of his plan involves the murder of the grandfather.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNever Back Down: Revolt (2021)
An amateur fighter is lured by a trafficking syndicate specializing in elite underground fighting where her brutal captor forces her to fight or face certain death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRise of the Footsoldier (2007)
Carlton Leach rises from one of the most feared generals of the football terraces to becoming a member of a notorious gang of criminals who rampaged their way through London and Essex in the late '80s and early '90s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWake of Death (2004)
Ben Archer, an ex-mob enforcer, seeks revenge against a ruthless Chinese kingpin responsible for his wife's brutal murder. When Archer joins forces with his old underworld friends, an all-out war is waged against the Chinese Triad.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTiger Claws (1991)
A mysterious martial artist is killing martial arts masters with his unique style, Tiger Claw. Two police detectives, who are also martial arts experts, use unorthodox methods to track down the serial killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
SnoozefestMovies like thisNinja: Shadow of a Tear (2013)
Fight everyone and trust no one: it's the code of survival practiced by martial-arts master Casey Bowman after his life of domestic bliss is shattered by a savage act of violence. Vowing revenge, the fearless American stealthily tracks the killer from Osaka to Bangkok to Rangoon with the help of a wise and crafty sensei. His only clues: a series of victims whose necks bear the distinctive mark of strangulation by barbed wire. Fighting to avenge as well as to survive, Casey must sharpen his razor-like responses and take his battle skills to the next level, even using deep meditation to fake his own death. His target: the sinister drug lord Goro, who is flooding the streets with deadly meth cooked at his remote jungle factory. To prepare for his ultimate confrontation, Casey must finally become an invisible warrior worthy of the name Ninja. But just when his prey is cornered, an unexpected twist shows Casey that his battle is only beginning: he truly can trust no one.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUntil Death (2007)
Anthony Stowe is a dirty cop who is hooked on heroin—and everyone hates him. After a serious accident, he is placed into an induced coma, but emerges from it a better person who wants to put things right.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
SnoozefestMovies like thisIn the Blood (2014)
When her husband goes missing during their Caribbean vacation, a woman sets off on her own to take down the men she thinks are responsible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
SnoozefestMovies like thisShadow Master (2022)
After being slain by a group of criminals, a man is reborn with animal-like superpowers and makes it his mission to right the wrongs of his city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShogun Assassin (1980)
A Shogun who grew paranoid as he became senile sent his ninjas to kill his samurai. They failed but did kill the samurai’s wife. The samurai swore to avenge the death of his wife and roams the countryside with his toddler son in search of vengeance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShowdown (1993)
Ken has just moved from Kansas with his mother. He talks to a girl named Julie, not knowing that her boyfriend Tom is very possessive of her. Tom is learning karate from Lee, a sensei whose brother was killed by a rookie cop named Billy. Billy has since then become the janitor of the school that Ken, Julie and Tom go to. When Ken gets beaten up by Tom for talking to Julie again, Billy helps Ken by teaching him how to defend himself, which eventually leads to a battle between student vs. student, and sensei vs. sensei.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Protector (1985)
Billy Wong is a New York City cop whose partner is gunned down during a robbery. Billy and his new partner, Danny Garoni, are working security at a fashion show when a wealthy man's daughter, Laura Shapiro, is kidnapped. The Federal authorities suspect that Laura's father is involved with Mr. Ko, a Hong Kong drug kingpin, so the NYC police commissioner sends the two cops to Hong Kong to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Warrior (2001)
In feudal India, a warrior who renounces his role as the longtime enforcer to a local lord becomes the prey in a murderous hunt through the Himalayan mountains.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRevengence Superlady (1986)
A woman seeks vengeance against the man who killed her entire family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & action
The Next Karate Kid (1994)
Mr. Miyagi decides to take Julie, a troubled teenager, under his wing after he learns that she blames herself for her parents' demise and struggles to adjust with her grandmother and fellow pupils.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Bittersweet Life (2005)
Kim Sun-woo is an enforcer and manager for a hotel owned by a cold, calculative crime boss, Kang who assigns Sun-woo to a simple errand while he is away on a business trip; to shadow his young mistress, Hee-soo, for fear that she may be cheating on him with a younger man with the mandate that he must kill them both if he discovers their affair.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRan (1985)
Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisFist of Fury (1972)
During the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, Chen Zhen, the star pupil of a recently-deceased martial arts teacher battles a Japanese dojo which seeks the demise of his fighting school.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDeath Sentence (2007)
Nick Hume is a mild-mannered executive with a perfect life, until one gruesome night he witnesses something that changes him forever. Transformed by grief, Hume eventually comes to the disturbing conclusion that no length is too great when protecting his family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNew Police Story (2004)
Sent into a drunken tailspin when his entire unit is killed by a gang of thrill-seeking punks, disgraced Hong Kong police inspector Wing needs help from his new rookie partner, with a troubled past of his own, to climb out of the bottle and track down the gang and its ruthless leader.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Sword and Nine Rings, Part Two (1961)
Lee Kap-lan, whose parents are slaughtered by the underling of the Qing court, Yan Sheung-kong, is rescued from the carnage by Leopard-faced Magic Nun. Nun imparts martial artistry to Lee, who will kill the old enmity when she grows into womanhood. Yan and his half-brother Luk Sun are assigned to capture the survivor. Fong-ping comes under the attack of an assassin dispatched by Sun when Butterfly comes to his help. Recruited to the Yan den, Ying Tin-lung summons the knights-errant of the martial world to the court. Lee infiltrates the congregation and has her eyes fixed upon Sun and strikes him with the Soul-snatching Tai Chi Dart which has mistakenly wounded Fong-ping. Butterfly puts Lee into a drug-induced coma to obtain the antidote to treat Fong-ping. Ying seizes the chance to capture the women. Fong-ping sustains another injury to rescue the hostages. Nun arrives in time and seizes the Lee family heirloom. Lee avenges her parents' death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
One Foot Crane (1979)
As a child, Fong Lin I witnesses the murder of her lawman father at the hand of 4 outlaws. She devotes her life to Martial Arts, with the aim of taking revenge years later.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Drunken Master (1978)
After getting into trouble, a mischievous young man is sent to train under a brutal, but slovenly old beggar, who teaches him the secret of the Drunken Fist.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Snake in the Monkey's Shadow?
The closest matches to Snake in the Monkey's Shadow are Crippled Avengers (1978), Invincible Shaolin (1978) and Blood Brothers (1973). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Snake in the Monkey's Shadow?
Start with Crippled Avengers (1978), the closest match to Snake in the Monkey's Shadow.
What is the highest-rated movie like Snake in the Monkey's Shadow?
Ran (1985), rated 8.0/10 by 1,968 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Snake in the Monkey's Shadow?
Mexicali (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Chinese movies like Snake in the Monkey's Shadow?
Yes: Crippled Avengers (1978), Invincible Shaolin (1978) and Blood Brothers (1973).
How are movies similar to Snake in the Monkey's Shadow chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Snake in the Monkey's Shadow, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.