- Year
- 1966
- Country
- Japan
- Runtime
- 122 min
- Director
- Kihachi Okamoto
- Updated
- 9 Aug 2026
- Obscurity
- cult (35/100)
- Also known as
- The Sword of Doom
Sword of Doom
A swordsman with no morals and no motive cuts his way through the film. It stops rather than ends.
Kihachi Okamoto's portrait of Ryunosuke, a master swordsman who is simply, motivelessly evil, killing without cause and feeling nothing. Tatsuya Nakadai plays him as a void, and the film follows his path of destruction toward a legendary final sequence in which he hallucinates his victims and cuts down an entire building's worth of men.
It was meant as the first of a trilogy that never came, so it ends mid-frenzy with no resolution, which somehow suits its nihilism perfectly. A cold, brilliant, disturbing film.
Trailer
The numbers
Nobody has rated this yet. Be the first to make a claim you'll have to defend.
Your call
Where to watch
Legal options in USA
Links open in a new tab (↗). Availability data via TMDB and changes constantly, so confirm on the service. Legal options only. Checked 9 Aug 2026. All options ↗
Discuss with AI
Open a chatbot with a question about this film already typed out. Useful for a second opinion, plot detail, or where to find a copy.
Filed alongside
▶ watchcultLone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx
The best of the series. A pram, a snowfield, and a small army that should have stayed home.
cultGoyokin
A samurai returns to stop the massacre he could not prevent the first time. Shot in real snow.
▶ watchcultLone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance
A disgraced executioner and his toddler take the assassin's road. The pram has blades in it.
▶ watchcultZatoichi: The Tale of Zatoichi
The blind masseur who is also the deadliest swordsman alive. The first of twenty-five-plus.
▶ watchknownLady Snowblood
Where Kill Bill got most of its ideas, including the snow.
▶ watchknownSamurai Rebellion
Kobayashi and Mifune against feudal authority again. It builds slowly and then it does not stop.