As one of Seijun Suzuki's most influential films,
Branded to Kill has been acknowledged as a source of inspiration by such internationally renowned directors as
Hong Kong's
John Woo, South Korea's
Park Chan-wook and America's
Jim Jarmusch and
Quentin Tarantino. Jarmusch listed it as his favourite hitman film, alongside
Le Samouraï (also 1967), and thanked Suzuki in the screen credits of his own hitman film
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999). Most notably, Jarmusch mirrored a scene in which the protagonist kills a target by shooting up from a basement through a sink drain. He went so far as to screen the film for Suzuki when the two met in Tokyo. Critics have noted ''Branded to Kill's
influence on the films of Wong Kar-wai, such as his hitman film Fallen Angels'' (1995), as well as
Johnnie To's
Fulltime Killer (2001).
Associated films Prior to the release of
Branded to Kill, Suzuki and the other members of Hachiro Guryu began developing a
stand-alone sequel to the film, tentatively titled . The story would have concerned Noda (set to have been played by Shishido), an unranked member of the assassin's guild Hanada belongs to, being tasked by a woman named Ruiko with killing her husband, a formerly-ranked killer who has since disgraced the organization. Noda would have soon discovered that he and Ruiko's husband share similar killing methods, as both would leave their victims with eerie grins upon their deaths. According to Yamatoya,
Branded to Kill Continued would have "crank[ed] up" the surrealist qualities of the original film, and given meaning to the
Branded of the film's title (with the grins on Noda's victims acting as his "brand"); the film's climax would have taken place on an abandoned island and depicted a shootout against a computer. A full script for
Branded to Kill Continued was never written due to the original film's initial failure. In 1973, Nikkatsu released ''
, which has been described as a "Roman Porno reimagining" of Branded to Kill
, as both tell the story of a contract killer forced to lie low after botching an assignment. Directed by Yamatoya from a script by fellow Hachiro Guryu member Yōzō Tanaka, the film was produced independently of Nikkatsu (in contrast to other Roman Porno'' films) by
Genjiro Arato, who also played the lead role of Hoshi and would later produce the three films comprising Suzuki's Taishō Roman Trilogy,
Zigeunerweisen (1980),
Kagero-za (1981) and
Yumeji (1991). Sharp has described
Trapped in Lust as "a brilliant testament to the fact that, rather than mere cheap exploitation, the
adult film genre was regarded as liberating, daring and anti-authoritarian, and that interesting and intelligent things could be realised with it". He also notes its reflection of the
gumi system of the Japanese film industry (whereby a single director frequently works with the same pool of collaborators), as the film was made by Suzuki's recurring colleagues and thus bears elements of Suzuki's style despite his lack of involvement. Thirty-four years after the original release of
Branded to Kill, Suzuki directed
Pistol Opera (2001), a loose sequel co-produced by
Shochiku and filmed at Nikkatsu. The character Goro Hanada returns as a mentor figure to the new Number Three, played by
Makiko Esumi. However, Joe Shishido was replaced by
Mikijiro Hira in the role of Hanada. Suzuki has said that the original intention was for Shishido to play the character again but that the film's producer, Satoru Ogura, wanted Hira for the role. Reviews were of a favourable nature on par with its predecessor.
Jonathan Rosenbaum supposed, "Can I call a film a masterpiece without being sure that I understand it? I think so ..." Although some, such as
Elvis Mitchell for
The Village Voice, felt its zeal fell slightly short of the original. ==Home video==