Movies like Kaidan (2007)
The best movies like Kaidan (2007) are Empire of Passion (1978), Dracula (1974) and Kuroneko (1968). If Kaidan hooked you with its drama and horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Punisher: One Last Kill (2026)8.2/10 from 2,399 votes
- NewestThe Punisher: One Last Kill (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseEmpire of Passion (1978)Also in Japanese
Empire of Passion (1978)
A married woman and her lover murder her husband and dump his body into a well, but his ghost returns to haunt them as the local gossip intensifies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDracula (1974)
Dracula is searching for a woman who looks like his long dead wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKuroneko (1968)
In the Sengoku period, a woman and her daughter are raped and murdered by soldiers during a time of civil war. Afterwards, a series of samurai returning from the war through that area are found mysteriously dead with their throats torn out. The governor calls in a wild and fierce young hero to quell what is evidently an Onryō ghost.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRurouni Kenshin: The Beginning (2021)
Before he was a protector, Kenshin was a fearsome assassin known as Battosai. But when he meets gentle Tomoe Yukishiro, a beautiful young woman who carries a huge burden in her heart, his life will change forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove and Honor (2006)
A look at the relationship between a young blind samurai and his wife, who will make a sacrifice in order to defend her husband's honor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Twilight Samurai (2002)
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?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDouble Suicide (1969)
Successful and married with children, paper-mill owner Jihei knows better than to contradict the strict social and moral codes of 18th-century Japan. But when he meets the lovely courtesan Koharu, he becomes a man obsessed. Koharu returns his love, even foregoing other customers while Jihei schemes to somehow buy her freedom. His efforts yield ruinous consequences for his business and his family life, and Koharu is meanwhile purchased by another client.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDolls (2002)
Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif, which relates thematically to the action provided by the live characters. Chief among those tales is the story of Matsumoto and Sawako, a young couple whose relationship is about to be broken apart by the former's parents, who have insisted their son take part in an arranged marriage to his boss' daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOcean Waves (1993)
At Kichijōji Station, Tokyo, Taku Morisaki glimpses a familiar woman on the platform opposite boarding a train. Later, her photo falls from a shelf as he exits his apartment before flying to Kōchi Prefecture. Picking it up, he looks at it briefly before leaving. As the aeroplane takes off, he narrates the events that brought her into his life...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKwaidan (1965)
Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJourney to the Shore (2015)
Mizuki's husband Yusuke has been missing for three years. He suddenly comes back home as a ghost and asks Mizuki to go on a trip with him. Their trip consists of visiting the people that helped Yusuke on his previous travel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGate of Hell (1953)
Japan, 1159. Moritō, a brave samurai, performs a heroic act by rescuing the lovely Kesa during a violent uprising. Moritō falls in love with her, but becomes distraught when he finds out that she is married.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Happy Marriage (2023)
An unhappy young woman from an abusive family is married off to a fearsome and chilly army commander. But the two learn more about each other, love may have a chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGemini (1999)
When his mother's untimely death quickly follows his father's, a doctor begins to believe a killer may be targeting him and his amnesiac wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hidden Blade (2004)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSay 'I Love You' (2014)
Mei Tachibana is a high school student. Due to a traumatic incident when she was a kid, Mei has been unable to make friends or have boyfriends. By mistake, Mei then injures the most popular male student named Yamato Kurosawa. Somehow, Yamato Kurosawa likes Mei Tachibana and tells everyone unilaterally that Mei is his friend. One day, Yamato Kurosawa saves Mei Tachibana from a stalker by kissing her. From that kiss, their love story begins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sleeping Dictionary (2003)
In the 1930s, British officer John Truscott journeys to a remote village in colonial Malaysia to educate and Westernize the local Iban population. There, he's introduced to the lovely Selima. In keeping with tradition, Selima is assigned to sleep with Truscott and teach him the native language and customs. But when they fall in love, both colonists and natives object to their plans to marry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEndless (2020)
When madly in love high school graduates Riley and Chris are separated by a tragic car accident, Riley blames herself for her boyfriend's death while Chris is stranded in limbo. Miraculously, the two find a way to connect. In a love story that transcends life and death, both Riley and Chris are forced to learn the hardest lesson of all: letting go.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pillow Book (1995)
Nagiko has a fetish for calligraphy on the human body and meets her ideal soulmate Jerome, an English translator sent to Japan. However, once Nagiko's father's gay publisher rejoins the scene, the story is overtaken by treachery and bloodlust.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOnmyoji (2001)
During a dark time in the Heian period, when evil forces threaten the kingdom, the emperor relies on the onmyōji to keep the supernatural forces in line. But as political events become highly charged, friction within the order leads to betrayal. Now, Seimei, a talented member of the clan, must face down his master, Dōson, in the hopes of restoring peace to the kingdom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSosok Ketiga: Lintrik (2025)
After six months of marriage, Andin begins to notice many oddities in her marriage. From the beginning, Uncle Bagyo suspected the marriage was rushed, and together with Amara—Andin's younger sister who also inherited the mystical arts—he often noticed disturbing, odd signs. Their suspicions were proven correct when it was revealed that Ario, Andin's husband, had been having a special relationship with Naura, a wealthy woman in their town who was trying to steal Ario completely from Andin using the Lintrik love spell, a dangerous mystical power that dragged Andin and her family into endless supernatural terror. What will happen to Andin and Ario's marriage going forward?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & horror
Kagemusha (1980)
A feudal epic presenting the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. The impostor becomes comfortable living his life among nobility, but his responsibilities to his station grow more demanding the longer he occupies it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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
Woodland Grey (2022)
When a man living alone in the woods saves the life of a young woman, they are forced to coexist. Chaos ensues when the woman makes a terrifying discovery in the woods behind the man's home and unleashes something truly haunting.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Samurai Secret Agent (1983)
A master swordsman is ordered to go undercover on a mission to find and destroy a cannon factory being used by two samurai clans that try to usurp power and gain the position of shogun for one of their own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Heart and Souls (1993)
A fateful night in 1959, four people die when the bus they are riding crashes. They continue as ghosts; their souls become eternally entwined to the life of a child born at the moment of their deaths as his guardians. Baby Thomas grows up to be a businessman who has memories of his playmates, but assumes they are products of his youthful imagination. When the ghosts realize they need Thomas' help to move on to the afterlife, they decide to make an appearance once more.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDark Water (2002)
A woman in the midst of an unpleasant divorce moves to an eerie apartment building with her young daughter. The ceiling of their apartment has a dark and active leak.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Punisher: One Last Kill (2026)
As Frank Castle searches for meaning beyond revenge, an unexpected force pulls him back into the fight.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisIslamic Exorcist (2017)
The lives of an Indian couple are devastated when their adopted daughter becomes possessed by a demonic force. The father shoots the daughter to death, However an investigative journalist doesn't believe in their story and becomes determine to know the real truth by going much deeper in the couple's scary past.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Izo (2004)
Izo is an assassin in the service of a Tosa lord and Imperial supporter. After killing dozens of the Shogun's men, Izo is captured and crucified. Instead of being extinguished, his rage propels him through the space-time continuum to present-day Tokyo. Here Izo transforms himself into a new, improved killing machine.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Kaidan?
The closest matches to Kaidan are Empire of Passion (1978), Dracula (1974) and Kuroneko (1968). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Kaidan?
Start with Empire of Passion (1978), the closest match to Kaidan.
What is the highest-rated movie like Kaidan?
The Punisher: One Last Kill (2026), rated 8.2/10 by 2,399 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Kaidan?
The Punisher: One Last Kill (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Kaidan?
Yes: Empire of Passion (1978), Kuroneko (1968) and Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning (2021).
How are movies similar to Kaidan chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Kaidan, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.