Movies like Vengeance Is Mine (1979)
The best movies like Vengeance Is Mine (1979) are Gate of Flesh (1964), High and Low (1963) and Tokyo Drifter (1966). If Vengeance Is Mine hooked you with its crime and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHigh and Low (1963)8.4/10 from 1,238 votes
- NewestThe Whisper Man (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseGate of Flesh (1964)Also in Japanese
Gate of Flesh (1964)
In the shady black markets and bombed-out hovels of post–World War II Tokyo, a tough band of prostitutes eke out a dog-eat-dog existence, maintaining tenuous friendships and a semblance of order in a world of chaos. But when a renegade ex-soldier stumbles into their midst, lusts and loyalties clash, with tragic results. With Gate of Flesh, visionary director Seijun Suzuki delivers a whirlwind of social critique and pulp drama, shot through with brilliant colors and raw emotions.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHigh and Low (1963)
A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTokyo Drifter (1966)
After yakuza boss Kurata dissolves his own criminal empire, a rival kingpin offers a position to Kurata's top operative, Tetsuya "Phoenix Tetsu" Hondo. When the fiercely loyal Tetsu declines, Otsuka taps unstoppable Tatsuzo the "Viper", a ruthless gun-for-hire, to assassinate him. As the Viper trails his target through the countryside, the agile Phoenix Tetsu grows concerned that one of his former associates has betrayed him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLady Snowblood (1973)
A strikingly beautiful young woman is trained from birth to be a deadly instrument of revenge against the swindlers who destroyed her family.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGhost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
A Black hitman who models after the samurai of old finds himself targeted for death by the mob.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBattles Without Honor and Humanity (1973)
In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSonatine (1993)
Murakawa, an aging Tokyo yakuza tiring of gangster life, is sent by his boss to Okinawa along with a few of his henchmen to help end a gang war, supposedly as mediators between two warring clans. He finds that the dispute between the clans is insignificant and whilst wondering why he was sent to Okinawa at all, his group is attacked in an ambush. The survivors flee and make a decision to lay low at the beach while they await further instructions.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBoy (1969)
A family of four lives off of scams in which they pretend to be injured by automobiles.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBranded to Kill (1967)
After botching his latest assignment, a third-ranked Japanese hit man becomes the target of another assassin.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPigs and Battleships (1961)
In the city of Yokosuka, Kinta and his lover Haruko, both involved with yakuza, brave the post-occupation period with a goal to be together.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Bad Sleep Well (1960)
In this loose adaptation of "Hamlet," illegitimate son Kôichi Nishi climbs to a high position within a Japanese corporation and marries the crippled daughter of company vice president Iwabuchi. At the reception, the wedding cake is a replica of their corporate headquarters, but an aspect of the design reminds the party of the hushed-up death of Nishi's father. It is then that Nishi unleashes his plan to avenge his father's death.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFireworks (1997)
Beleaguered police detective Nishi takes desperate measures to try and set things right in a world gone wrong. With those close to him suffering their own tribulations, Nishi's methods become increasingly extreme.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNew Battles Without Honor and Humanity 1 (1974)
Bunta Sugawara is Miyoshi, a low-level assassin of the Yamamori gang who is sent to jail after a bungled hit. While in stir, family member Aoki attempts to seize power from the boss, and Miyoshi finds himself stuck between the two factions with no honorable way out.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
A Woman Called Sada Abe (1975)
A true-life tale of a broken woman whose hedonistic tryst with a high-class restaurateur resulted in a horrific crime of passion that littered Tokyo headlines in 1936.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
The Yakuza (1974)
When George Tanner does business with high-ranking Yakuza Tono, Tono kidnaps his daughter, and George summons his old friend, private eye Harry Kilmer, to Japan to investigate.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisViolent Virgin (1969)
A bunch of young hipsters kidnaps a loving couple and keeps them trapped in a barren landscape. To the sounds of free jazz they are performing various experiments with the couple. In the distance is a yakuza gang keeping track of the youths. Who are really experimenting with whom?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
The Castle of Sand (1974)
Two detectives are tasked to investigate the murder of an old man, found bludgeoned to death in a Tokyo rail yard.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrother (2000)
A Japanese Yakuza gangster's deadly existence in his homeland gets him exiled to Los Angeles, where he is taken in by his little brother and his brother's gang.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Demon (1978)
When Sokichi stops providing his long-time lover Kikuyo enough money to pay for the care of their three young children, Kikuyo leaves the children with Sokichi - and his very surprised and angry wife Oume - and disappears.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Eel (1997)
A businessman kills his adulterous wife and is sent to prison. After his release, he opens a barbershop and meets new people, talking to almost no one except for an eel he befriended while in prison.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Petrified Forest (1973)
Troubled medical student Haruo navigates a toxic relationship with his mother and a dangerous affair with former classmate Eiko, leading to a murder plot involving a potent poison.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
The Sun's Burial (1960)
In Osaka's slum, capricious folks without futures engage in pilfering, assault and robbery, prostitution, and the trading of ID cards and blood.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Black River (1957)
A love triangle develops between a benevolent student, his innocent girlfriend, and a cruel petty criminal, all as a point of diagnosis of a social disease that had Japan slowly succumbing to lawlessness during the post-War era.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Yakuza Graveyard (1976)
A police investigator cracks down on yakuza business, but once he realizes the police are in negotiations with certain factions, he sides with his own syndicate of choice.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBattles Without Honor and Humanity: Proxy War (1973)
Shozo Hirono has managed to separate from the Yamamori family and create his own small family, and extend his circle of acquaintances. These new friendships include a powerful underboss of the Muraoka family, Noboru Uchimoto.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPale Flower (1964)
A recently released gangster has to cope with the recent shifts of power between gangs, while taking care of a thrill-seeking young woman, who got in bad company while gambling.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYouth of the Beast (1963)
When a mysterious stranger muscles into two rival yakuza gangs, Tokyo's underworld explodes with violence.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFighting Elegy (1966)
Kiroku boards with a Roman Catholic family and falls for the daughter Michiko. He ignores his feelings, joins a gang, gets in fights and, eventually, becomes involved with the radical Kita Ikki group.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Whisper Man (2026)
When his young son vanishes, a widower enlists help from his estranged father, a retired detective who put away the serial killer now linked to the case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShield of Straw (2013)
Ninagawa is a powerful man in Japanese politics and with top economic connections.His granddaughter is then murdered. The suspect is Kunihide Kiyomaru. Kunihide Kiyomaru has a prior conviction for assaulting and killing a girl 8 years ago. The police could never apprehend the suspect in the prior killing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Vengeance Is Mine?
The closest matches to Vengeance Is Mine are Gate of Flesh (1964), High and Low (1963) and Tokyo Drifter (1966). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Vengeance Is Mine?
People who watched Vengeance Is Mine most often go on to Gate of Flesh (1964), High and Low (1963) and Tokyo Drifter (1966).
What is the highest-rated movie like Vengeance Is Mine?
High and Low (1963), rated 8.4/10 by 1,238 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Vengeance Is Mine?
The Whisper Man (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Vengeance Is Mine?
Yes: Gate of Flesh (1964), High and Low (1963) and Tokyo Drifter (1966).
How are movies similar to Vengeance Is Mine chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Vengeance Is Mine, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.