Movies Like A Knife to the Lips: The Lens Are Watching

If you liked A Knife to the Lips: The Lens Are Watching (1994), a horror and crime movie directed by Takao Nagaishi, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Imprint (2006)
★ 6.8/10Also horror
An American journalist travels through 19th-century Japan to find the prostitute he fell in love with but instead learns of the physical and existential horror that befell her after he left.
2
Sex and Fury (1973)
★ 6.2/10Also crime
Sex & Fury chronicles Ocho's exploits as she searches for her father's killers, each identified by unique tattoos on their backs (a deer, a boar, and a butterfly). Along the way, she also crosses paths with Shunosuke…
3
Star of David: Beauty Hunting (1979)
★ 6.2/10Also horror
The life of Tatsuya, a young man of proper yet mysterious descent, whose outward respectability hides his urges for rape and torture.
4
Maniac (1963)
★ 6.2/10Also crime and horror
When a stranger enters a quiet, country town and is seduced by a sensuous married woman he unwittingly finds himself at the centre of a storm of sexual guilt and murder.
5
Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare (2016)
★ 6.8/10Also crime
On a dark night, the Japanese police is raided by a spy. Different countries' intelligence agencies - such as England's MI6, Germany's BDN, and America's CIA - as well as the FBI's secret files are going to be taken…
6
Frank and Penelope (2022)
★ 7.3/10Also horror and crime
A tale of love and violence when a man on his emotional last legs finds a savior seductively dancing in a run-down strip club. And a life most certainly headed off a cliff suddenly becomes redirected - as everything is…
7
Detective Conan: Sunflowers of Inferno (2015)
★ 6.2/10Also crime
Conan tries to track down Kaito Kid, who supposedly steals a replica of one of Van Gogh's Sunflowers paintings during an auction.
8
Succubus (2024)
★ 8.3/10Also horror
A new father going through a marital separation joins a dating app and matches with a beautiful but mysterious young woman... whose powers of seduction and manipulation entangle him in a mystery more horrifying than he…
9
Icefall (2025)
★ 6.6/10Also crime
A young Indigenous game warden arrests an infamous poacher only to discover that the poacher knows the location of a plane carrying millions of dollars that has crashed in a frozen lake. When a group of criminals and…
10
Ichi the Killer (2001)
★ 7/10Also crime and horror
As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of.
11
One Mile: Chapter Two (2026)
★ 6.6/10Also crime
Former special forces operative Danny is forced back onto a remote island when a violent, secretive community takes revenge by abducting his daughter Alex, launching a relentless hunt against enemies prepared for his…
12
Vicious (2025)
★ 6/10Also horror
When Polly receives a mysterious box, it comes with one rule: place inside something she needs, something she hates, and something she loves. If she doesn’t obey, it will consume everything—and everyone—she’s ever known.
13
Code 8 Part II (2024)
★ 6.4/10Also crime
In a world where superpowered people are heavily policed by robots, an ex-con teams up with a drug lord he despises to protect a teen from a corrupt cop.
14
Shades of Desire (2023)
★ 6.5/10Also horror
After her twin sister Aubrey goes missing, Jennifer uncovers the scandalous, secret double-life that Aubrey leads - and that has put both of them in danger.
15
X (1996)
★ 6.2/10Also horror
It's the year of destiny, and 15 year old Kamui Shiro, a powerful psychic, has returned to Toyko after a 6 year absence, having left when he was very young. He wants to be with his childhood friends, Fuma (his best…
16
The Garden of Sinners: Overlooking View (2007)
★ 6.7/10Also crime
The story starts following an incident: a young girl jumps from the top of a building. The image provokes a certain dread, as the girl appears to have been a corpse even before she jumped. The case is dismissed, yet…
17
Demon City Shinjuku (1988)
★ 6/10Also horror
Ten Years ago, Genichiro Izayoi died trying to stop the sorcerer Rebi Ra, and as a result Shinjuku became a playground for demons. And now, the day approaches when Rebi Ra will complete his decade-long ritual to plunge…
18
Urotsukidōji III: Return of the Overfiend (1993)
★ 6.6/10Also horror
As the Overfiend slumbers, the mad emperor Caesar rises to power, enslaving a new race of demon beasts. Into this cruel existence is born the Lord of Chaos, the Overfiend's nemesis. As the blood-thirsty beasts capture…
19
They Reach (2020)
★ 6.8/10Also horror
In 1979, a young girl stumbles upon a possessed tape player. She unknowingly unleashes a demonic entity that haunts her family while slowly dragging the small town of Clarkston to Hell.
20
Pitfall (2025)
★ 6.2/10Also horror
After a young man is separated from his friends in the woods, he falls into a ten-foot deep pit of spikes, impaling him through his leg and leaving him trapped. He quickly learns that his fall was not an accident.