Movies like Death by Hanging (1968)
The best movies like Death by Hanging (1968) are Teddy Bear (1981), The Human Bullet (1968) and Funeral Parade of Roses (1969). If Death by Hanging hooked you with its comedy and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedIkiru (1952)8.3/10 from 1,427 votes
- NewestCode 3 (2025)Released 2025
- In JapaneseThe Human Bullet (1968)Also in Japanese
Teddy Bear (1981)
En route to London, Bear discovers at the border checkpoint that his passport is missing a few pages, which may prevent him from traveling to the city with the sports team he manages.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Human Bullet (1968)
A soldier has been in the Japanese military for the entirety of WWII, and in that time, his dedication to the army has never faltered. However, as the war draws to a close, his commanding officers become increasingly desperate and push their men to ever more absurd extremes. The ridiculousness of the orders from above peak when the hero of the story is assigned to drive a one-man submarine straight into the hull of an enemy battleship.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Funeral Parade of Roses (1969)
In 1960s Tokyo, Gonda owns a bar in which the gay, cross-dresser, and trans scenes meet. Gonda is in a relationship with the madam of the bar, Leda. As the younger Eddie starts a passionate affair with Gonda, she ignites the jealousy of Leda, unaware of another kind of history between them.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThree Resurrected Drunkards (1968)
Three students spend their holidays at the seaside where they are mistaken for Koreans, a minority which is looked down on in Japan. The action develops into a crime story.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Pleasures of the Flesh (1965)
After committing murder, businessman Atsushi is blackmailed into keeping a suitcase of embezzled money. What follows is a descent into lustful, reckless actions and regret.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Giants and Toys (1958)
Nishi is an advertising executive for a caramel company that is planning to launch a new product, in fierce competition with two other companies.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Pornographers (1966)
A former Buddhist monk turned erotic filmmaker, Subuyan lives with hairdresser Haru and her two teenage children. Shooting two skin flicks per day, he somehow manages to stay out of the clutches of the yakuza, but real trouble starts when Haru discovers him lusting after her daughter.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Ballad of Narayama (1958)
In a remote village where food is scarce, elders who reach the age of 70 are carried by their children to the top of a nearby mountain to die in solitude. Orin, a vibrant 69-year-old grandmother, has accepted her fate — but struggles to prepare the rest of her family for the ritual.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWoman in the Dunes (1964)
A vacationing entomologist suffers extreme physical and psychological trauma after being taken captive by the residents of a poor seaside village and made to live with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisA Sun-Tribe Myth from the Bakumatsu Era (1957)
Saheji, a man-about-town, gets stuck at a high-class brothel when he can’t pay the bill. He makes the best of his situation by performing various tasks amidst the tumult of the end of the shogunate—but always by making sure to get a “commission” for his troubles.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIkiru (1952)
Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Funeral (1984)
When Wabisuke's father-in-law unexpectedly dies, the family goes through a series of random events and occurrences as the funeral unfolds over three days in their home.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKikujiro (1999)
Brash, loudmouthed and opportunistic, Kikujiro is the unlikely companion for Masao who is determined to see the mother he has never met. The two begin a series of adventures which soon turns out to be a whimsical journey of laughter and tears with a wide array of surprises and unique characters along the way.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Hate But Love (1962)
A celebrity, dissatisfied with his personal and professional lives, impulsively leaves fast-paced Tokyo to deliver a much-needed jeep to a remote village. When his controlling manager, the woman he loves, follows, the two must reconcile while dodging reporters.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Madadayo (1993)
In postwar Tokyo, beloved writer-professor Hyakken Uchida retires and is buoyed through hardship by the fierce devotion of his former students, who honor him each year with a raucous “Not yet!” birthday toast. Told in warm, gently comic vignettes, Kurosawa’s farewell celebrates aging, friendship, and the sustaining ritual of teacher and pupils refusing to say goodbye.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTora-san, Our Lovable Tramp (1969)
Tora-san, an itinerant peddler who is thrown out of his father's house twenty years before but reconnects with his aunt, uncle and sister Sakura. Tora wreaks some havoc in their lives, like getting drunk and silly at a marriage meeting.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
The Naked Island (1960)
A family of four are the sole inhabitants of a small island, where they struggle each day to irrigate their crops.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisProfound Desires of the Gods (1968)
Tokyo engineer Kariya arrives on a primitive tropical island, where he interacts with the Futori clan, to drill a well to power a sugar mill.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThrow Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets (1971)
An experimental, psychedelic odyssey through Japanese subculture experienced via the eyes of a disillusioned young man, who must contend with intense familial dysfunction, psychosexual alienation, and existentialist malaise.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Ceremony (1971)
Oshima’s magisterial epic, centering on the ambivalent surviving heir of the Sakurada clan, uses ritual and the microcosm of the traditional family to trace the rise and fall of militaristic Japan across several decades.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
A fictional account of the life of Japanese author Yukio Mishima, combining dramatizations of three of his novels and a depiction of the events of November 25th, 1970.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGood Morning (1959)
Two boys beg their parents for a television set, nagging them until all patience is lost. The parents order the boys to be quiet and the boys do exactly that--refusing to utter a word. The boys' silence ultimately puts the whole neighborhood into turmoil.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAn Autumn Afternoon (1962)
Widower Shuhei Hirayama's caretaker is his 24-year-old daughter, Michiko. Gradually, he comes to realize that Michiko should not be obliged to look after him for the rest of his life, so he arranges a marriage for her.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Exterminating Angel (1962)
After a lavish dinner party, the guests find themselves unable to depart... and, over the next few days, all of their elaborate societal pretenses and façades deteriorate as they are reduced to living like animals.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLove and Crime (1969)
Discover 4 famous Japanese murderers: Takahashi Oden, the last woman beheaded in Japan, Sada Abe, a crazy lover, Kunihiko Kodaira, a rapist-killer and finally, the Toyokaku case, a woman who did everything to own a hotel.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Fighting 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 comedy & drama
Family Weekend (2013)
A 16-year-old girl takes her parents hostage after they miss her big jump-roping competition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCode 3 (2025)
A burned-out paramedic tries to survive his last 24 hours on the job while training a new recruit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSubUrbia (1997)
A group of suburban teenagers try to support each other through the difficult task of becoming adults.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSomewhere in Queens (2023)
Leo and Angela Russo live a simple life in Queens, surrounded by their overbearing Italian-American family. When their son finds success on his high school basketball team, Leo tears the family apart trying to make it happen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Death by Hanging?
The closest matches to Death by Hanging are Teddy Bear (1981), The Human Bullet (1968) and Funeral Parade of Roses (1969). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Death by Hanging?
People who watched Death by Hanging most often go on to Teddy Bear (1981), The Human Bullet (1968) and Funeral Parade of Roses (1969).
What is the highest-rated movie like Death by Hanging?
Ikiru (1952), rated 8.3/10 by 1,427 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Death by Hanging?
Code 3 (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Death by Hanging?
Yes: The Human Bullet (1968), Funeral Parade of Roses (1969) and Three Resurrected Drunkards (1968).
How are movies similar to Death by Hanging chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Death by Hanging, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.