Ichi the Killer

2001 ‘殺し屋1’ Directed by Takashi Miike

Love really hurts

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.

Tadanobu Asano Nao Ōmori Shinya Tsukamoto SABU Paulyn Sun Susumu Terajima Shun Sugata Toru Tezuka Yoshiki Arizono Kiyohiko Shibukawa Satoshi Niizuma Suzuki Matsuo Jun Kunimura Morooka Moro Houka Kinoshita Yoshiyuki Morishita Yuki Kazamatsuri Rio Aoki Makoto Takeda Sakichi Satō Kaori Sugawara Hiroshi Kobayashi Mai Goto Manzô Shinra Masataka Haji Hideo Sako

Alternative Titles

Koroshiya Ichi, Ichi - O Assassino, Ichi The Killer, Koroshiya 1, Ichi the killer, Убийца Ичи, 이치 더 킬러, 杀手阿一

crime action horror

129 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Ryan Francis ★★★★½ 3

My friend requested that we watch something "twisted". I simply put Ichi the Killer in and let her regret that particular request and letting me choose to begin with.
Review by Naughty aka Juli Norwood ★★★★★ 16

Please cue up the tune... Hurt So Good!
I found it amusing that the publicity machine for the film handed out barf bags at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Stockholm International Film Festival!
Even more amusing was the fact that it was subsequently banned in Norway after news of someone actually upchucking in said barf bag and another in the audience had fainted! Malaysia and Germany subsequently banned the film as well!
Obviously this isn't a film for mainstream audiences! You would think the minute someone started handing out barf bags that would have clued the "faint of heart" in on the type of film that was to be shown and perhaps they should pass on the film…
Review by Ava Davis ★★★½ 9

Ichi the Incel
Review by DirkH ★★★★ 18

..........what the hell did I just watch?
And why exactly did I like it so much?
Sometimes I worry me............
Review by Jay ★★★★ 13

uncut gems: our title sequence is inside a rectum
ichi the killer’s cum pool title card: you are like a baby, watch this
Review by josh lewis ★★★★ 2

i have very little idea what happened but it was pretty gross. 4 stars
Review by YI JIAN ★★★★★

Honestly, without exaggeration, the most depraved film of all time. I've been putting this off for six years and after testing the waters by venturing into Visitor Q (Sorry God), I've finally found the guts to watch it, turns out it's just as twisted, absurd and gory as I've expected it to be; I beg you, don't see me as some sort of delusional maniac for saying this, but I love it, really, every inch of it.
Ichi the Killer is a film that features everything under the sun that is frowned, spitted or vomited upon by a normal, healthy, functioning society-- that includes abuse, murder, torture, sadism, masochism, necrophilia, misogyny, rape, penis mutilation (though toned down a lot compared…
Review by amaya ★★★★ 6

it's really worrying that after watching such a perverted & vile movie my first thought was "ok i want to steal all of kakihara's clothes"
Review by Filipe Furtado ★★★

The most brutal and depraved 13 year old boy fantasy ever put on screen.
Review by Steve G 🐝 ★★ 8

The World Is More Than Enough 3: You Haven't Seen That Yet?!
3/30 - Japan
It says here that Ichi The Killer is 129 minutes long. Not hours.
So how come it felt much longer? I am a fan of Takeshi Miike but from the films I've seen from him, generally it seems I'm in trouble when he decides to do something longer. The only exception to that would be Gozu, a film I regard as something of a minor modern masterpiece of violent delirium, sexual deviance and black comedy.
Where Gozu succeeds yet Ichi The Killer and, to a certain extent, Lesson Of The Evil fail is that despite the fact that it is not always advancing its main…
Review by 1̶̢̧͉̞̰͕̤̰̏̍͜ͅ%̸̢͈͉̖͚̗̦̻̼̫̍͂̔͝ ̸̨̡̲͙̠̭̺̝͕͇̊́̐̉̑̓͛̓͘͝ȍ̵̮̉̀̑̏͘͘f̶̹͉̩̯̗͙̗̼̈̒̍̆̍̕ ̷̼͈̖͈̟̔̽̒̄̿̓̌̚͝M̶̡̖̪̗͖̝̆̀͜o̶̮͕̦͛̈́̈́̏́͋̔͂̕͘n̴̛͉͍̳̦̈́̽̐̆̀̋̌s̸̨̠̽ţ̸̡̡͕̜͖̝̪̙͘͜͝e̶̿̈́͂͊͗ͅr̵̪͕̞̖̩͆ ★★★★ 2

this is a certified coom classic
Review by <Todd> ★★★½

"Just a little torture." -Kakihara,
- 5x5 Directors Challenge 3 (Takashi Miike 1/5): boxd.it/7ALXq
Yep, this is pretty gross.
Ichi the Killer is about a sadomasochistic Yakuza hitman that goes on a crazy torture tour when his boss goes missing. It's a nasty movie that looks at a list of trigger warnings and says "looks good." Ichi the Killer is also at times a fairly thoughtful piece on violence with a fully realized character as the centerpiece in everything but the film title. I love the stylized violence... it's very effective horror... and the story is really engaging. I have to admit I had trouble with the abuse of women in this film, which at times felt too casual and jokey for my tastes, despite fitting in with the overall tone of the film.
I liked it, and I feel dirty for that.

Recent reviews

Review by rasheema ★★★★

my biggest question is why did they put ichi as the main character and not kakihara. ichi was just NASTY but kakihara had A+ fashion sense and he was much more interesting. KAKIHARA IS THE LITERAL POSTER AND THEY MADE ICHI THE TITLE????? make it make sense. anyways, i gagged like 3 times which is actually very low for me, because 1 1/2 years ago i would've probably puked 2 times. so im lowkey proud of myself.
i dont write reviews, i write experiences 🤤 ♡
Review by Marcus Roman ★★★½

Really violent and trangressive deconstruction on how society treats violence. It's also very funny, but I would not recommend this to most people.
Review by TheWalrusD ★

Embarrassingly cringy
Review by raven ★★★★

here we have a hero who is actually a pathetic sadist that gets off on rape fantasies and a villain who is actually a masochistic freak that wants to die. match made in hell. i love it. gotta read the manga now, byeee!
Review by scottyclell ★★★½

There was a period in the mid 90's following Pulp Fiction and Lock, Stock where every cunt and his dog wanted to one up each other with the next gritty, cool, action-crime flick. I think Japan's 2001 answer to this was the culmination of this aesthetic, and what better way to go out than this mind fuck by Takashi Miike. It's showing its age a little now, but still a fun(?) watch for sure.
Review by Vlad Sánchez ★★★½

t'was nice
Review by Jay Nagjee ★★★½

INSERT EVERY POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING HERE. Like every single one I’m not even kidding.
Saying this film has extreme violence is an understatement. It’s the most gruesome thing I’ve ever seen. There’s a lot of disturbing rape scenes as well. It’s incredibly, incredibly fuc*ed and absolutely not for everyone.
Tekashi Miike is one terrifying filmmaker. I saw Audition and was intrigued to watch Ichi The Killer as someone recommended it to me. Boy did I not know what I was getting into.
In terms of the art of film it’s a very well made movie. The film does keep you hooked throughout. The writing, production quality (minus a few really poor cgi scenes), music and shots are brilliant. The performances are out…
Review by Zain A ★★★★

WH
Review by Bailey ★★★★

I really like the visuals in the movie, the story is good and for the most part the graphics and special effects are good (except for a few scenes here and there). I love the costume design for the characters as well and overall it’s a pretty good movie.
Review by Renato Rodrigues ★★½

weirdly comical
Review by Vinícius ★★★★

queria ser estiloso igual o kakihara
Review by Giovanni Perruci ★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Esse filme me deu a cabeça do Tsukamoto no corpo de um bodybuilder e eu sou eternamente grato