Best movies like Top Knot Detective
The greatest 90's Japanese samurai series you've never heard of
A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Top Knot Detective Starring Toshi Okuzaki, Masa Yamaguchi, Mayu Iwasaki, Kuni Hashimoto, and more. If you liked Top Knot Detective then you may also like: 13 Assassins, 47 Ronin, The Yakuza, Young Sherlock Holmes, Welcome Home Brother Charles and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.
In the early 1990s, a Japanese samurai detective series was aired in Australia and became a cult success. Titled in Japan Ronin Suiri Tentai (meaning roughly Deductive Reasoning Ronin), it was soon known in the West as Top Knot Detective. The original series was legendary in Japan, a cultural train wreck led by Takashi Tawagoto, a crazy writer, producer, director and lead actor; one who could not act, fight or write at all.
Top Knot Detective
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47 Ronin
Kai—an outcast—joins Oishi, the leader of 47 outcast samurai. Together they seek vengeance upon the treacherous overlord who killed their master and banished their kind. To restore honour to their homeland, the warriors embark upon a quest that challenges them with a series of trials that would destroy ordinary warriors.
The Yakuza
Harry Kilmer returns to Japan after several years in order to rescue his friend George's kidnapped daughter - and ends up on the wrong side of the Yakuza, the notorious Japanese mafia.
Young Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson meet as boys in an English Boarding school. Holmes is known for his deductive ability even as a youth, amazing his classmates with his abilities. When they discover a plot to murder a series of British business men by an Egyptian cult, they move to stop it.
Welcome Home Brother Charles
After wrongly doing time in prison for murder, a man seeks revenge on a racist law enforcement system and the detective who framed him.
Nightmares in Red, White and Blue
An exploration of the appeal of horror films, with interviews of many legendary directors in the genre.
One-Eyed Monster
In February 2007, ten people went to the remote mountains of Northern California to shoot an adult movie. What happened next was something no one expected, but everyone saw coming.
Joe Kidd
A band of Mexicans find their U. S. land claims denied and all the records destroyed in a courthouse fire. Their leader, Louis Chama, encourages them to use force to regain their land. A wealthy landowner wanting the same decides to hire a gang of killers with Joe Kidd to track Chama.
Kagemusha
Akira Kurosawa's lauded feudal epic presents the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. When Shingen dies, his generals reluctantly agree to have the impostor take over as the powerful ruler. He soon begins to appreciate life as Shingen, but his commitment to the role is tested when he must lead his troops into battle against the forces of a rival warlord.
American Ninja 5
When a scientists daughter is kidnapped, American Ninja, attempts to find her, but this time he teams up with a youngster he has trained in the ways of the ninja.
The Beastmaster
Dar, is the son of a king, who is hunted by a priest after his birth and grows up in another family. When he becomes a grown man his new father is murdered by savages and he discovers that he has the ability to communicate with the animals, which leads him on his quest for revenge against his father's killers.
Beyond the Door III
A shy co-ed and her classmates travel to Europe to see a ritual. With a satanist/professor with them, he lures them into deadly traps to become sacrifices to Satan. One co-ed is a virgin, the main key to bring Satan back to life. But can the co-ed lose her virginity before Satan controls the world?
The Bushido Blade
A steel samurai blade that was to be given to the American ambassador by the Emperor of Japan is stolen. American sailors and Japanese samurai are sent to find it.
Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword
The Mystery Inc. gang takes a trip to Japan and finds themselves circling Asia and the Pacific in a treasure hunt, racing against the vengeful Black Samurai and his Ninja warriors to find the legendary Sword of Fate, an ancientblade fabled to possess extraordinary supernaturalpowers.
The Last Samurai
Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.
The Mangler
When an accident involving a folding machine at an old laundry happens, detective John Hunton investigates. While he tries to solve the mystery, Bill Gartley, the owner, wants to find new victims for his machine.
Blade of the Immortal
Manji, a highly skilled samurai, becomes cursed with immortality after a legendary battle. Haunted by the brutal murder of his sister, Manji knows that only fighting evil will regain his soul. He promises to help a young girl named Rin avenge her parents, who were killed by a group of master swordsmen led by ruthless warrior Anotsu. The mission will change Manji in ways he could never imagine.
The Midnight Meat Train
A photographer's obsessive pursuit of dark subject matter leads him into the path of a serial killer who stalks late night commuters, ultimately butchering them in the most gruesome ways.
The Man with the Iron Fists
In feudal China, a blacksmith who makes weapons for a small village is put in the position where he must defend himself and his fellow villagers.
The Hunted
Paul Racine, a high-powered American business executive in Japan, is catapulted into a maze of danger and intrigue after he and his sexy companion are the targets of assassins hired by the ruthless Kinjo. To survive, Racine must join forces with a powerful samurai and together they will fight the force of evil in an awesome battle rooted in centuries of brutal conflict.
Bad Biology
Driven by biological excess, a young man and woman search for sexual fulfillment, unaware of each other's existence. Unfortunately, they eventually meet, and the bonding of these two very unusual human beings ends in an explosive and ultimately over-the-top sexual experience, resulting in a truly god awful love story....
The Tunnel
In 2007, in the midst of the drought and water shortages, the NSW State government has unveiled plans to tap into and recycle millions of litres of water trapped in a network of abandoned train tunnels just beneath the heart of Sydney. However the government suddenly goes cold on the plan and it is not made public why. There is talk of homeless people who use the tunnel as shelter going missing, even though the government states that there are no homeless people in there. This, and the silence from the officials and ministers, leads a journalist, Natasha to begin an investigation into a government cover-up. She and her crew Pete (Producer), Steve (Cameraman) and Tangles (Sound Technichian) decide to investigate the story in the tunnel.
Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai
A tale of revenge, honor and disgrace, centering on a poverty-stricken samurai who discovers the fate of his ronin son-in-law, setting in motion a tense showdown of vengeance against the house of a feudal lord.
Puppet Master: Axis of Evil
In a Stateside hotel during the height of World War II, young Danny Coogan dreams of joining the war effort. Following the murder of hotel guest Mr. Toulon by Nazi assassins, Danny finds the old man's crate of mysterious puppets and is suddenly thrust into a battle all his own. He discovers that Nazis Max and Klaus, along with beautiful Japanese saboteur Ozu, plan to attack a secret American manufacturing plant. After his family is attacked and his girlfriend Beth is kidnapped, it is up to Danny and the living deadly Puppets to stop this Axis of Evil.
Shogun Assassin
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.
Godzilla, King of the Monsters!
During an assignment, foreign correspondent Steve Martin spends a layover in Tokyo and is caught amid the rampage of an unstoppable prehistoric monster the Japanese call 'Godzilla'. The only hope for both Japan and the world lies on a secret weapon, which may prove more destructive than the monster itself.
Book of Swords
An Asian cop returns to Chicago to revenge his brother's death, only to come up against a psycho threesome on a killing spree.
Ninjas vs. Zombies
Seven friends, struggling with late 20s, early 30's life, find themselves in terrifying danger when a long-dead loved one is magically resurrected and starts devouring souls. To make matters worse, three of them have been granted the power of the Ninja, and now must lead the fight against a power they cannot hope to vanquish. If they fail, the un-dead will overrun their little town, and quite possibly the world.
Ninjas vs. Vampires
Vampires kidnap the girl of Aaron's dreams, leading him to track down and join an elusive clan of ninjas who battle the blood suckers nightly.
Scare Campaign
Popular prank TV show, Scare Campaign, has been entertaining audiences for the last 5 years with its mix of old school scares and hidden camera fun. But as we enter a new age of online TV the producers find themselves up against a new hard edged web series which makes their show look decidedly quaint. It's time to up the ante, but will the team go too far this time, and are they about to prank the wrong guy?
Afro Samurai: Resurrection
Afro Samurai avenged his father and found a life of peace. But the legendary master is forced back into the game by a beautiful and deadly woman from his past. The sparks of violence dropped along Afro’s bloody path now burn out of control – and nowhere are the flames of hatred more intense than in the eyes of Sio.
Slice and Dice: The Slasher Film Forever
A celebration of slasher cinema - from PSYCHO to the present day, with a focus on highlighting many of the genre's forgotten cult classics, deconstructing how to survive a slice and dice movie and meditating upon why it is almost always a final girl and rarely a final guy... this is a documentary which is designed for both the biggest fan of "mad maniac" movies and the person who may only have seen HALLOWEEN and SCREAM. Either way, this is a documentary that proves the SLASHER FILM is truly FOREVER!
Final Destination 6: Bloodlines
Sixth installment in the Final Destination franchise. Plot TBA.
Bombs Over Burma
The film tells the story of Chinese guerrillas fighting for the Allied cause in Burma during Early in World War II, Chungking schoolteacher Lin Yang is recruited to help with the dangerous mission of protecting the Allied supply line from Burma into China. In spite of the danger involved, her determination to help is strengthened when one of her young students is killed in a Japanese air raid. Some time later, she is part of a group of Allied representatives departing from Lashio, on a bus traveling the Burma Road back to China. A bridge outage forces them to spend the night in a monastery along the way, and during the night they watch in horror as a supply convoy of trucks is bombed by Japanese planes. The timing and accuracy of the raid brings them to realize that either one of their group, or perhaps the priest in the monastery, is really an enemy agent
13 Assassins
A bravado period action film set at the end of Japan's feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war-torn future.