Ryuhei Kitamura

Directing

Ryuhei Kitamura

Born

1969-05-30 (57)

Place of birth

Osaka, Japan

Known for

Directing

Credits

45 titles

Ryuhei Kitamura (born May 30, 1969) is a Japanese filmmaker. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ryuhei Kitamura, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known for

The Midnight Meat Train poster
6.2

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 Midnight Meat Train

2008

Horror's Greatest poster
6.4

A deep dive into everything we love about horror — from fresh looks at classics to unearthing scores of hidden gems, this series has something for every fright film enthusiast.

Horror's Greatest

2024

Jam Films poster
7.9

Jam Films is a 2002 suite of 7 shorts produced by Sega/Amuse.

Jam Films

2002

Godzilla: Final Wars poster
7.1

Humanity finally rids themselves of Godzilla, imprisoning him in an icy tomb in the South Pole. All is peaceful until various monsters emerge to lay waste to Earth's cities. Overwhelmed, humanity is seemingly saved by a race of benevolent aliens known as Xiliens. But not all is what it seems with these bizarre visitors. If humanity wishes to survive, they must reluctantly resurrect their most hated enemy, Godzilla.

Godzilla: Final Wars

2004

Lupin the 3rd poster
5.9

Interpol Inspector Zenigata begins a world-wide hunt for the infamous thief Arsène Lupin III, who, with his cavalcade of collaborators infiltrate a highly secured fortress-like safe named the 'Ark of Navarone' to claim the "Crimson Heart of Cleopatra".

Lupin the 3rd

2014

The Doorman poster
5.8

A former Marine turned doorman at a luxury New York City high-rise must outsmart and battle a group of art thieves and their ruthless leader — while struggling to protect her sister's family. As the thieves become increasingly desperate and violent, the doorman calls upon her deadly fighting skills to end the showdown.

The Doorman

2020

Film credits

Series credits

Behind the camera

The Midnight Meat Train poster
6.2

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 Midnight Meat Train

2008

Jam Films poster
7.9

Jam Films is a 2002 suite of 7 shorts produced by Sega/Amuse.

Jam Films

2002

Godzilla: Final Wars poster
7.1

Humanity finally rids themselves of Godzilla, imprisoning him in an icy tomb in the South Pole. All is peaceful until various monsters emerge to lay waste to Earth's cities. Overwhelmed, humanity is seemingly saved by a race of benevolent aliens known as Xiliens. But not all is what it seems with these bizarre visitors. If humanity wishes to survive, they must reluctantly resurrect their most hated enemy, Godzilla.

Godzilla: Final Wars

2004

Godzilla: Final Wars poster
7.1

Humanity finally rids themselves of Godzilla, imprisoning him in an icy tomb in the South Pole. All is peaceful until various monsters emerge to lay waste to Earth's cities. Overwhelmed, humanity is seemingly saved by a race of benevolent aliens known as Xiliens. But not all is what it seems with these bizarre visitors. If humanity wishes to survive, they must reluctantly resurrect their most hated enemy, Godzilla.

Godzilla: Final Wars

2004

Lupin the 3rd poster
5.9

Interpol Inspector Zenigata begins a world-wide hunt for the infamous thief Arsène Lupin III, who, with his cavalcade of collaborators infiltrate a highly secured fortress-like safe named the 'Ark of Navarone' to claim the "Crimson Heart of Cleopatra".

Lupin the 3rd

2014

The Doorman poster
5.8

A former Marine turned doorman at a luxury New York City high-rise must outsmart and battle a group of art thieves and their ruthless leader — while struggling to protect her sister's family. As the thieves become increasingly desperate and violent, the doorman calls upon her deadly fighting skills to end the showdown.

The Doorman

2020

Downrange poster
5.7

Stranded at the side of the road after a tire blowout, a group of friends become targets for an enigmatic sniper.

Downrange

2018

Downrange poster
5.7

Stranded at the side of the road after a tire blowout, a group of friends become targets for an enigmatic sniper.

Downrange

2018

Downrange poster
5.7

Stranded at the side of the road after a tire blowout, a group of friends become targets for an enigmatic sniper.

Downrange

2018

Azumi poster
6.9

In war-torn Japan, the Tokugawa Shogun, desperate to restore peace to his people, orders the assassination of the hostile warlords. A beautiful young woman is raised from birth with nine other orphans, to become an assassin. Her name is Azumi, the ultimate assassin.

Azumi

2003

No One Lives poster
6.0

A gang of ruthless highway killers kidnap a wealthy couple traveling cross country only to shockingly discover that things are not what they seem.

No One Lives

2013

Nightmare Cinema poster
5.8

A series of down-on-their-luck individuals enter the decrepit and spine-chilling Rialto theater, only to have their deepest and darkest fears brought to life on the silver screen by The Projectionist – a mysterious, ghostly figure who holds the nightmarish futures of all who attend his screenings.

Nightmare Cinema

2018

The Price We Pay poster
5.8

After a pawn shop robbery goes askew, two criminals take refuge at a remote farmhouse to try to let the heat die down, but find something much more menacing.

The Price We Pay

2023

The Three Sisters of Tenmasou Inn poster
7.2

Tenmasou is a long-established inn atop a mountain overlooking the sea, in a town called Mitsuse that exists between heaven and earth. The inn is run by Nozomi Tenma, the proprietress. Her younger sister Kanae works as a dolphin trainer. Their mother Keiko is the inn's elder proprietress, who is still resentful of her ex-husband that deserted his wife and family.

The Three Sisters of Tenmasou Inn

2022

LoveDeath poster
7.0

A man and a woman are together on the 'Chrysalis Day', the fatal day everything in your life will be decided depends on how you spend the day. A violent man holding pure love, Sai and a stunningly beautiful playgirl, Sheila. While Sheila flees with a large sum of money, she is chased by a cool but violent gang, crazy killers and an out of control cop. No one can stop Sai and Sheila's love runaway.

LoveDeath

2006

LoveDeath poster
7.0

A man and a woman are together on the 'Chrysalis Day', the fatal day everything in your life will be decided depends on how you spend the day. A violent man holding pure love, Sai and a stunningly beautiful playgirl, Sheila. While Sheila flees with a large sum of money, she is chased by a cool but violent gang, crazy killers and an out of control cop. No one can stop Sai and Sheila's love runaway.

LoveDeath

2006

Versus poster
6.2

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.

Versus

2000

Versus poster
6.2

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.

Versus

2000

Sky High poster
6.3

A serial-murderer is on the loose who just so happens to also be removing the hearts of his victims and taking them with him. His victims however, are not merely random humans as thought by the police. They are in fact, the past and present guardians of the gateway of the afterlife.On the day he is to be married, Detective Kanzaki, who happens to be on the case, discovers that his fiancé Mina has been murdered with her heart also missing. He also learns that the killers are Kudo, a geneticist, and his evil secretary Rei. The two are trying to obtain six hearts from the guardians so that they may call forth a horde of demons from the Gate of Rage and have their every desire granted. Only problem is, once they open the gate the entire world will be covered in darkness.

Sky High

2003

Labyrinth poster
NR

A group of strangers are brought together under mysterious circumstances by a nefarious leader to be judged for their past transgressions in a facility designed to test their mettle against a gauntlet of deadly challenges. Most will fall while others find redemption in this action-packed descent into Hell.

Labyrinth

2025

Alive poster
5.8

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.

Alive

2003

Alive poster
5.8

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.

Alive

2003

Aragami poster
7.0

Two seriously wounded samurai find refuge from a storm at an isolated temple, the home of a swordsman and a mysterious young woman. One samurai awakes to find that not only has his comrade died, but that his wounds have miraculously healed. He discovers that he has been given the power of immortality by the swordsman, a man once known as the legendary Miyamoto Musashi, who now lives an endless existence as Aragami, a "god of battle".

Aragami

2003

Aragami poster
7.0

Two seriously wounded samurai find refuge from a storm at an isolated temple, the home of a swordsman and a mysterious young woman. One samurai awakes to find that not only has his comrade died, but that his wounds have miraculously healed. He discovers that he has been given the power of immortality by the swordsman, a man once known as the legendary Miyamoto Musashi, who now lives an endless existence as Aragami, a "god of battle".

Aragami

2003

Baton poster
4.3

Baton is a collection of three 20-minute Sci-fi anime films dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the establishment of Yokohama city. On Planet Abel, human-like robot Apollo (Ichihara Hayato, Rookies) and robot-like human Mikaru (Ueto Aya, Azumi) come upon a stowaway robot with a mysterious "Cipher" chip. Not knowing Cipher's powers, Apollo takes the chip for fun, throwing both him and Mikaru headfirst into a mind-boggling mystery that affects the past, present, and future.

Baton

2009

Heat After Dark poster
6.6

Heat After Dark is director Ryuhei Kitamura's first theatrical release. This 50 minute film is predominantly a character study within an intense action drama. Those familiar with Kitamura's later works, perhaps especially Versus will realize this is the beginning of his characetristic modus operandi. Here, the well defined characters consist of the innocent (the cop), the relatively good (Atsuro Watabe), the relatively bad (Shinichi Suzuki), and the absolutely bad (Shigeru Izumiya ), and a few other Yakuza hoodlums thrown in for entertainment.

Heat After Dark

1996

Heat After Dark poster
6.6

Heat After Dark is director Ryuhei Kitamura's first theatrical release. This 50 minute film is predominantly a character study within an intense action drama. Those familiar with Kitamura's later works, perhaps especially Versus will realize this is the beginning of his characetristic modus operandi. Here, the well defined characters consist of the innocent (the cop), the relatively good (Atsuro Watabe), the relatively bad (Shinichi Suzuki), and the absolutely bad (Shigeru Izumiya ), and a few other Yakuza hoodlums thrown in for entertainment.

Heat After Dark

1996

Hellgate poster
4.8

A western businessman, his Thai wife and son experience a horrible accident while visiting Bangkok. In the aftermath, they find there is a shadow world between life and death where endless darkness lies.

Hellgate

2011

The Spear of Longinus poster
6.2

A war rages on, its end unknown, covering the world in despair. At a military field hospital, a group of soldiers bring in one of their own, wounded by a large, vicious, bite-like wound, along with a large box. The soldiers are visibly shaken. Suddenly, an enigmatic man appears. As he starts to tell them the legend of the Lance of Longinus, their night of unimaginable terror begins.

The Spear of Longinus

2004

The Spear of Longinus poster
6.2

A war rages on, its end unknown, covering the world in despair. At a military field hospital, a group of soldiers bring in one of their own, wounded by a large, vicious, bite-like wound, along with a large box. The soldiers are visibly shaken. Suddenly, an enigmatic man appears. As he starts to tell them the legend of the Lance of Longinus, their night of unimaginable terror begins.

The Spear of Longinus

2004

Battlefield Baseball poster
5.5

Battlefield Baseball is a tough game — it doesn't end until all the members on the opposing team are dead. In this game the Gedo High team is composed of blue-faced zombies, and their opponents on the Seido High team know they don't have a chance at beating them unless they can bring back a star pitcher who has a lethal pitch called the Super Tornado, but who has hung up his cleats and has no desire to return to the game.

Battlefield Baseball

2003

Samurai Zombie poster
4.9

A family travelling in a minivan are taken hostage by two fugitives. When the minivan gets a flat tire, they stumble upon a village infested by zombies in samurai armor.

Samurai Zombie

2008

Nervous Part 1: Versus Side Story poster
NR

The first side story featuring characters from the main feature "Versus" (2000 - Ryûhei Kitamura).

Nervous Part 1: Versus Side Story

2004

Down to Hell poster
6.0

4 guys kidnap random people from the street, take them to a remote forest and give them 3 choices: run away, kill us or die. The film follows the fate of one of their victims.

Down to Hell

1997

Down to Hell poster
6.0

4 guys kidnap random people from the street, take them to a remote forest and give them 3 choices: run away, kill us or die. The film follows the fate of one of their victims.

Down to Hell

1997

Down to Hell poster
6.0

4 guys kidnap random people from the street, take them to a remote forest and give them 3 choices: run away, kill us or die. The film follows the fate of one of their victims.

Down to Hell

1997

No artwork available
NR

The story of a group of people, including two young women, who are trapped upside down on a roller coaster taken over by a mysterious saboteur threatening to drop them all one-by-one to their deaths.

Thrill Ride

—

No artwork available
6.0

Short film

The Messenger: Tomurai wa yoru no hate de

2003