Dead or AliveMovies like Dead or Alive
- Key Features:
- Yakuza, Triad, Gang warfare, Underworld, Crime, Police investigation, Organized crime, Betrayal, Violence-high, Action, Neo-noir, Power struggle
- Tone:
- gritty, serious, stylized
- Target Audience:
- Action fans, Crime thriller enthusiasts, Fans of Japanese cinema
- Emotional Arc:
- Tension → Violence → Resolution
Dead or Alive

Ryūichi and his small gang of Triad vie for control of the Japanese underworld in a crime-ridden Shinjuku quarter while Detective Jojima tries to bring it down.
Dead or Alive
When a tough yakuza gangster is betrayed by his bosses, it means all out war. Bodies pile up as he takes out everyone in his way to the top in a brutal quest for revenge.

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.

Five men plot to steal a large sum of money from the local yakuza, but everything does not go as planned and the men find themselves hunted down by contract killers.

Tatsuhito, a cop, pursues Chinese warlord Wang through the underworld of Shinjuku and over to Taiwan.

A detective breaks all rules of ethical conduct while investigating a colleague’s involvement in drug pushing and Yakuza activities.

In post-apocalyptic Yokohama, a hard-boiled cop and a mellowed out drifter hook up with a gang of rebels. When the gang kidnap the cop's son, the wheels are set in motion for an inevitable showdown.

An undercover cop has his loyalties tested when the boss of the corporate gang he's spent years infiltrating dies.

As the police launch a full-scale crackdown on organized crime, it ignites a national yakuza struggle between the Sanno of the East and Hanabishi of the West. What started as an internal strife in Outrage has now become a nationwide war in Outrage Beyond.

Two contract killers cross paths in the middle of the same job and realize they are childhood friends. Together they take a break from killing and visit the small island they once called home. After reflecting on their past lives they decided to team up and use their talents in killing for good... much to the upset of the crime syndicates.

A simple Chinese immigrant wages a perilous war against one of the most powerful criminal organizations on the planet.

Tenshu is imprisoned and sentenced to death for murdering the men who raped his girlfriend. However, he manages to survive his execution and is presented with an option: face another execution attempt or subject himself to their bizarre and dangerous experiments.

Former yakuza underling Kazuma Kiryū has recently been released from prison after a lengthy incarceration and is trying to piece his life together and distance himself from his yakuza past. Unfortunately, Kiryū's problems slowly escalate as he is pursued by a former associate, the baseball-bat-wielding psycho Gorō Majima, who has a grudge to settle with Kiryū.

A self-destructive man becomes a powerful member of the yakuza but quickly loses his self-control. Based on the true story of Rikio Ishikawa.

When Lupin heads to the kingdom of Zufu to pilfer its treasure, he incurs the wrath of its psychotic ruler General Headhunter, who places a dead-or-alive bounty on his head.

When Koryu's childhood friend Shurei is abducted by gangsters, the desperate young woman recruits a female martial artist and a tough-as-nails stranger to join her for a dangerous rescue mission.

Young assassins Azumi and Nagara continue their mission to prevent a civil war. In their hunt for Masayuki Sanada, who is protected by both an army and a dangerous clan, they meet Ginkaku, a person who shows a remarking resemblance with former friend Nachi.

Feeling unhappy with his gun, Jigen is looking for the world’s best gunsmith. He finally finds out that Chiharu, who runs a watch shop, is the person he’s been seeking. Then, Jigen meets Oto, who comes to Chiharu’s shop looking for a gun. Jigen finds out about Oto's secrets and the mysterious organization that’s after her. After Oto is kidnapped, Jigen gets into a desperate battle to save her.

A barkeeper saves a Yakuza boss' life and thus makes his way up in the organization. However, his fear of nothing soon causes problems.

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.

A group of ruthless gangsters, an unknown woman and an escaped convict have met, in The Forest of Resurrection, the 444th portal to the other side. Their troubles start when those once killed and buried in the forest come back from the dead.

A seemingly unremarkable man called “Mouse” is caught by the police. In exchange for his freedom, he goes undercover, infiltrates a drug ring, and arranges a fake deal, but an unexpected turn of events occurs.

Rei helps the woman she's been in love with for years escape her abusive husband. While on the run, their feelings for each other catch fire.

A friendship is formed between an ex-gangster, and two groups of hitmen - those who want to protect him and those who were sent to kill him.

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.

After a disastrous failure to stop a robber gang, the police attempt to redeem themselves through a series of publicity stunts and shootouts.

After being brutally murdered in a gangster-style execution, Kensuke Hagane finds himself brought back to life by a mad scientist and rebuilt as a robot-human hybrid with a serious thirst for vengeance and the tools to carry it out.

Five different criminals face imminent death after botching a job quite badly.

When a mysterious stranger muscles into two rival yakuza gangs, Tokyo's underworld explodes with violence.

Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo draws our series' hero, Shozo Hirono, and the other yakuza into a new round of bloodshed.

Five years after the all-out war between the Sanno and Hanabishi crime families, former yakuza boss Otomo works in South Korea for Mr. Chang, a noted fixer. When tensions rise between Chang and the Hanabishi, and Chang's life is endangered, Otomo returns to Japan to settle things once and for all.

A man goes undercover in a hi-tech prison to find out information to help prosecute those who killed his wife. While there, he stumbles onto a plot involving a death-row inmate and his $200 million stash of gold.

In order to settle a business dispute, a mob leader murders one of his own teenage sons. The surviving son vows to avenge his brother's death, and organizes his own gang of teenage killers to destroy his father's organization.

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.

After losing an election to become chairman of the Wo Lin Shing triad, a gang leader lashes out and tries to seize the dragon-head baton, the official symbol of a chairman's authority.

Bent on revenge, a traumatized ex-police officer must infiltrate a yakuza organization by befriending one of the group's most unhinged members.

To bring down a global human trafficking ring, an Interpol agent recruits the help of a brutal criminal with inside knowledge of the yakuza.

On the planet Latimer, Takeshi Kovacs must protect a tattooist while investigating the death of a yakuza boss alongside a no-nonsense CTAC.

Tang Ren and Qin Feng travel to Japan to investigate the death of a mafia head. As they suspect foul play, they engage in a battle of wits against foreign detectives.

Two warring gang families (one African-American, the other Chinese) maneuver for bragging rights to the Oakland, California, docks. Hang Sing and Trish O'Day uncover a trail of deceit that leaves most of the warring factions dead … or worse!

A corrupt customs official joins forces with a vicious gangster to form the most powerful crime partnership in Busan.

Taken in by the yakuza at a young age, Kenji swears allegiance to his old-school boss, pledging to adhere to the family code amid ever-changing times.

After his girlfriend commits suicide, a man becomes embroiled in gang warfare attempting to obtain a gun in hopes to kill himself.

A gang lord hires Kamimura, a hit man, to take out a rival boss who's gotten greedy.

When young protege Akira Kageyama is bitten by his dying vampire boss, Genyo Kamiura, he must get used to his new powers before seeking revenge.

Professional assassin O has resided in an isolated world of killing and loneliness. But his life begins to change once he meets the innocent Chin; hired to clean O's apartment. However, soon the flamboyent and reckless Tok enters Chin's life with a mission to unveil O's identity and usurp his place as the number one sharp-shooting assassin in the game.

Two high school girls who are about to graduate also happen to be highly-skilled assassins. When the organization they work for orders them to share a room, their relationship quickly sours. But when they become targets of the yakuza, the girls realize they'll have to work together to survive.

A team of Interpol agents arrive in the city to testify against a local crime lord. However on the way to court the vehicle carrying the Triad boss is attacked and the crime lord snatched, not by his own people but by another foe.

Four young officers of the Hong Kong Police are joined together to fight against organised crime using all possible means, even if this would lead them to break the law… Their first assignment is to eliminate a gang of criminals who have stolen a shipload of explosives.

Financially troubled, a newbie hitman reluctantly takes the job of finding the plotted killer of a Japanese tycoon.

Beleaguered police detective Nishi takes desperate measures to try and set things right in a world gone wrong. With his wife suffering from leukemia and his business partner paralyzed from a brutal gangster attack, Nishi borrows from a yakuza loan shark and then robs a bank to clear his debt.

Nick Randall is a Los Angeles-based bounty hunter and an ex-CIA operative who is asked by a former co-worker to help track down terrorist Malak Al Rahim. However, Malak Al Rahim is also looking for Randall, forcing a showdown on the waterfront.

In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza.

After botching his latest assignment, a third-ranked Japanese hit man becomes the target of another assassin.

A gangster gets released from prison and has to cope with the recent shifts of power between the gangs, while taking care of a thrill-seeking young woman, who got in bad company while gambling.

Takuma Tsurugi takes on the government, the police, the mafia and an international ring of kidnappers who aim to dispossess a beautiful young heiress of her millions.

Four beautiful rivals at an invitation-only martial-arts tournament join forces against a sinister threat. Princess Kasumi is an aristocratic warrior trained by martial-arts masters. Tina Armstrong is a wrestling superstar. Helena Douglas is an athlete with a tragic past. Christie Allen earns her keep as a thief and an assassin-for-hire.

Canadian policeman Louis Burke is assigned in a jail to investigate the murders of prisoners and jailors. While there, Louis, using his outstanding martial arts skills, is able to save his life and make himself respected in this violent world.

A gangster's son is accidentally killed during a drunken dispute with a rival gang, and Officer Milo's task force is assigned to the case. He soon learns that a hitman has been hired to take out the rival gang leader. While Milo and his crew desperately try to find and stop the hired gun, fearing all-out war in the streets, Lai Fu, a smart but inexperienced killer from a small town in the mainland, arrives in Hong Kong to do his job.

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.

Caught in the crosshairs of police corruption and Marseille’s warring gangs, a loyal cop must protect his squad by taking matters into his own hands.

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.

As a rowdy team of detectives clashes with their disciplined new boss, they must catch a vicious band of robbers who are wreaking havoc on their city.

A Parisian criminal gang fall apart after challenges to the gang's leader lessen his influence.

A drug cartel boss is arrested in a raid and coerced into betraying his former accomplices as part of an undercover operation.

Kensuke Sonomura directs the legendary Hitoshi Ozawa in this ultimate V-Cinema actioner. Kaiko City is plagued with poverty and crime. When a corrupt businessman decides to run for mayor and starts eliminating opponents from the rival mafia, a former police captain serving time for murder is secretly released and put in charge of a special task force to arrest him.

In a world with no guns, a mysterious drifter, a bartender and a young samurai plot revenge against a ruthless leader and his army of thugs, headed by nine diverse and deadly assassins.

A ruthless criminal operative has less than 24 hours to exact revenge on her enemies and in the process forms an unexpected bond with the daughter of one of her past victims.

A large scale catastrophe is occurring across the planet. Ability users are discovered after the appearance of a mysterious fog, apparently having committed suicide, so the Armed Detective Agency sets out to investigate these mysterious deaths. The case seems to involve an unknown ability user referred to as "Collector," a man who could be the mastermind behind the incident. Trust and courage are put to the test in order to save the city of Yokohama and ability users across the world from the grip of Collector where the Armed Detective Agency forms an unlikely partnership with the dangerous Port Mafia.

Detective Ma Seok-do changes his affiliation from the Geumcheon Police Station to the Metropolitan Investigation Team, in order to eradicate Japanese gangsters who enter Korea to commit heinous crimes.

After a former elite agent rescues a 12-year-old Chinese girl who's been abducted, they find themselves in the middle of a standoff between Triads, the Russian Mafia and high-level corrupt New York City politicians and police.

Five young hoodlums sing karaoke, murder, joke around, get beaten up, win and lose women, and learn the value of blind loyalty.

Jong-dae and Yong-ki make a living by picking up paper and empty bottles. Both then join different gangster clan and becomes involved in a struggle of political interests over development in Gangnam, Seoul.

An undercover cop teams up with a martial-arts expert to stop a gang of drug smugglers and car thieves.

A special agent has for 8 years been deep undercover in Asia's lucrative organized crime trade as he plays protégé to one of the key players, Banker. Now, Nick has but he has started to feel loyalty to his new environment and to the money.

An American with a Japanese upbringing, Chris Kenner is a police officer assigned to the Little Tokyo section of Los Angeles. Kenner is partnered with Johnny Murata, a Japanese-American who isn't in touch with his roots. Despite their differences, both men excel at martial arts, and utilize their formidable skills when they go up against Yoshida, a vicious yakuza drug dealer with ties to Kenner's past.

A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.

Chan, an articulate senior detective nearing the end of his career, is taking care of the daughter of a witness killed by ruthless crime lord Po. Martial arts expert Ma is set to take over as head of the crime unit, replacing Chan who wants an early retirement.

A hotel room shootout between two assassins kicks off a long night where bodies fall like dominoes, as we follow a chain of crooked cops, gangsters, hitmen, a femme Fatale and an ex-mercenary through a relay of murder, betrayal, revenge and redemption.

The students of Suzuran High compete for the King of School title. An ex-graduate yakuza is sent to kill the son of a criminal group, but he can't make himself do it as he reminds him of his youth.

When a private eye, a jilted bride and a mysterious stranger join forces to track down an elusive mobster, there's more than trouble in the air.

FBI agent Jack Crawford is out for revenge when his partner is killed and all clues point to the mysterious assassin Rogue. But when Rogue turns up years later to take care of some unfinished business, he triggers a violent clash of rival gangs. Will the truth come out before it's too late? And when the dust settles, who will remain standing?

Danny is a young cop partnered with Nick, a seasoned but ethically tainted veteran. As the two try to stop a gang war in Chinatown, Danny relies on Nick but grows increasingly uncomfortable with the way Nick gets things done.

Mob assassin Jeffrey is no ordinary hired gun; the best in his business, he views his chosen profession as a calling rather than simply a job. So, when beautiful nightclub chanteuse Jennie is blinded in the crossfire of his most recent hit, Jeffrey chooses to retire after one last job to pay for his unintended victim's sight-restoring operation. But when Jeffrey is double-crossed, he reluctantly joins forces with a rogue policeman to make things right.

After she betrays a powerful mob boss, a woman matches wits and weaponry with a legion of killers who are out to collect the bounty on the heads of her and her family.

Triad boss Lung, who has just escaped being killed in an assassination attempt hires the killers Curtis, James, Mike, Roy and Shin for his protection.

In Chinatown, law and order is turned upside down when a trio of feral Chinese gangsters arrive, start terrorizing civilians, and usurping territory. The beleaguered local gangsters team up with the police, lead by the badass loose cannon Ma Seok-do, to bring them down. Based on a true story.

Jang Tae-Young is a popular trouble shooter in the criminal world. He is cold and ambitious. He dreams of building a casino hotel one day. A reporter then goes to Jang Tae-Young.

Now a member of Anteiku, Ken Kaneki grows closer to the ghouls around him. Determined to protect his new home against anti-ghoul forces, he trains his powers in secret. But when the infamous gourmet, Shū Tsukiyama, wishes to savour some half-ghoul flavour, Kaneki's training is put to test of a lifetime.

Li Mansei is a martial-arts champion turned undercover agent. When he is captured by a drug lord, his sister Li Koryu turns to his former martial-arts school, including the powerful Sonny Kawasaka, for help in the inevitable battle royale.

Sean Kane is forced to resign from the San Francisco Police Department's Narcotics Division when he goes berserk after his partner is murdered. He decides to fight alone and follows a trail of drug traffickers into unexpected high places.

In the midst of a violent gang war, a series of misfortunes threaten the fate of a gang boss and his mob.

An undercover cop struggling to provide for his son and ailing wife, must infiltrate a ruthless gang. But things turn sour when another cop blows his cover and he quickly finds himself battling for his life and the lives of his family.

Jack and Martin are gunmen who work for two rival kingpins. Jack and Martin have been fighting on their bosses behalf for close to a year. When a truce is made both Jack and Martin are cut loose. The two men then decide to join forces and take on the gangsters who used them.

Framed for his family's murder and left for dead, an ex-hitman will stop at nothing to exact revenge on the masked "demons" who have taken over his city.

Two Hong Kong policewomen (Ida and Hon) take on a Japanese boss who has returned from a seven-year exile to retake his old turf.

Eddie Kenner is given a special assignment by the Army to get the inside story on Sandy Dawson, a former GI who has formed a gang of fellow servicemen and Japanese locals.

When panic erupts on a Tokyo-bound bullet train that will explode if it slows below 100 kph, authorities race against time to save everyone on board.

Life has not been kind to drinking buddies Sam, Fai, and Mok as they struggle to make ends meet, until one stormy evening a mysterious old man appears before them in a bar with a 'get rich quick' scheme: an ancient treasure is buried under a high-security government building.

A crime syndicate places a hit on a billionaire's daughter, making her the target of an elite assassin squad. A small band of down-and-out mercenaries protects her, fighting tooth and nail to stop the assassins from reaching their target.
