Best movies like The Panic in Needle Park
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
This movie is a stark portrayal of life among a group of heroin addicts who hang out in Needle Park in New York City. Played against this setting is a low-key love story between Bobby, a young addict and small-time hustler, and Helen, a homeless girl who finds in her relationship with Bobby the stability she craves.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: depressing, disturbing, bleak, rough, serious, controversial, grim, cult classic, realistic, dark
Best tv shows and movies like The Panic in Needle Park (1971):
Similar in 85%
Go Ask Alice (1973)
Plot Summary:
A 14-year-old girl in late 1960's America is inadvertently sucked into an odyssey of sex and drugs. She eventually seeks help.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 74 min
Plot tags: psychedelic, sincere, touching, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
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Similar in 75%
6 Balloons (2018)
Plot Summary:
Over the course of one night, a woman drives across LA with her heroin addict brother in search of a detox center, with his two year old daughter in tow.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 74 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, melancholic, sentimental, rough, captivating
Similar in 83%
Heaven Knows What (2014)
Plot Summary:
A young heroin addict roams the streets of New York to panhandle and get her next fix, while her unstable boyfriend drifts in and out of her life at random.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: France, USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspenseful, thrilling, erotic, retro, social, controversial, cynical, art house
Similar in 89%
The Boost (1988)
Plot Summary:
Lenny Brown moves to California to find his fortune in tax shelter investments. When the federal government changes the tax laws, poor Lenny finds himself $700,000 in hock with nowhere to turn. His friend, Joel, introduces him to cocaine to give Lenny that needed "boost". What ensues next is a descent into drug addiction and insanity as Lenny tries to regain control of his life, all the while needing that extra "boost".
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: bleak, independent film, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy, neo noir, psychological, depressing, unusual plot structure
Similar in 82%
Bullet (1996)
Plot Summary:
A tough, Jewish ex-con just released from prison crosses a powerful drug dealer and former prison rival in his return to a life of crime.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: realistic, rough, hood, disturbing, harsh, stylized, serious, cult classic, independent film, bleak
Similar in 79%
Party Monster (2003)
Plot Summary:
The New York club scene of the 80s and 90s was a world like no other. Into this candy-colored, mirror ball playground stepped Michael Alig, a wannabe from nowhere special. Under the watchful eye of veteran club kid James St. James, Alig quickly rose to the top... and there was no place to go but down.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: stylized, serious, disturbing, surreal, talky, black comedy, realistic, grindhouse, cult classic, dark comedy
Similar in 75%
Down to the Bone (2004)
Plot Summary:
A woman stuck in a stale marriage struggles to raise her children and manage her secret drug habit. But when winter comes to her small town, her balancing act begins to come crashing down.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, scary, bleak, realistic, gloomy, crying
Similar in 84%
Stuart: A Life Backwards (2007)
Plot Summary:
Story about the remarkable friendship between a reclusive writer and illustrator and a chaotic homeless man, whom he gets to know during a campaign to release two charity workers from prison.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: bleak, realistic, serious, sincere, christian film, sentimental, gloomy, emotional, hot, iconic
Similar in 77%
Bright Lights, Big City (1988)
Plot Summary:
A young kid from Kansas moves to New York to work on a magazine. He gets caught up in the world of drink and drugs, and starts a steady decline. The only hope is the cousin of one of his drinking partners, can she pull him through it ?.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: intense, serious, sentimental, touching, bleak, realistic, stylized, unusual plot structure, suspense, melancholic
Similar in 78%
Sid and Nancy (1986)
Plot Summary:
Following their breakout success in England, flagship punk rock band the Sex Pistols venture out on their first U.S. tour. Temperamental bassist Sid Vicious takes his troubled girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, along for the ride. Along the way, the couple's turbulent relationship strains the patience of bandmate Johnny Rotten and manager Malcolm McLaren, while plunging Sid and Nancy into the depths of drug addiction and co-dependency.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: bloody, cult classic, disturbing, independent film, psychedelic, serious, captivating, gloomy, offbeat, intellectual
Similar in 77%
Sweet Nothing (1995)
Plot Summary:
Angel celebrates the birth of his daughter by taking his first hit of crack cocaine. With the hesitant support of his wife, Monika, he joins a friend of his to deal drugs for a short time--enough time to get out of debt and buy some nice things for the family. Three years later, Angel is still dealing, and has not saved any money, instead spending it on crack. His addiction grows, straining his friendship and his family life, and he gradually loses control.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 580
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: melancholic, realistic, serious, independent film, crying, bleak, gloomy, weeping, light, road movie
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Similar in 90%
Gridlock'd (1997)
Plot Summary:
After a friend overdoses, Spoon and Stretch decide to kick their drug habits and attempt to enroll in a government detox program. Their efforts are hampered by seemingly endless red tape, as they are shuffled from one office to another while being chased by drug dealers and the police.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, hood, harsh, talky, stylized, realistic, disturbing, rough, humorous, black comedy
Similar in 79%
Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
Plot Summary:
Bob and his friends Dianne, Rick and Nadine have been drug addicts for years and live from one high to the next. Gus Van Sant attempts to show an intimate look into the lives of heroin addicts with his film Drugstore Cowboy.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 40000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: road movie, independent film, cult classic, depressing, dark, grim, realistic, psychedelic, art house, aesthetic
Similar in 76%
Spun (2002)
Plot Summary:
Over the course of three days Ross, a college dropout addicted to crystal-meth, encounters a variety of oddball folks - including a stripper named Nikki and her boyfriend, the local meth producer, The Cook - but all he really wants to do is hook up with his old girlfriend, Amy.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 40000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: psychedelic, disturbing, surreal, psychological, stylized, independent film, depressing, harsh, rough, cynical
Similar in 78%
Candy (2006)
Plot Summary:
A poet falls in love with an art student, who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle -- and his love of heroin. Hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 47000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: disturbing, depressing, romantic, touching, emotional, sexy, independent film, realistic, erotic, crying
Similar in 90%
Acts of Worship (2001)
Plot Summary:
Alix is taken in by a photographer, Digna, who despite her friends' protests, tries to help Alix piece her life back together and overcome her addictions.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 316
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, disturbing, bleak, gloomy
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Similar in 77%
Zooey (2006)
Plot Summary:
Angel and Zooey are not your typical newlyweds. Zooey is a professional prostitute and Angel is a drug dealer. Yet they are not without hopes and dreams, of escaping their life in the streets and starting a new in a fresh painted cottage with picked fence, kid and a dog, in Manitoba, Canada, Life gets in the way however when their best friend gets in trouble with her pimp. They sacrifice everything to save her, including their own dreams.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 70
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, bleak, gloomy
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Similar in 75%
Christiane F. (1981)
Plot Summary:
This movie portrays the drug scene in Berlin in the 70s, following tape recordings of Christiane F. 14 years old Christiane lives with her mother and little sister in a typical multi-storey apartment building in Berlin. She's fascinated by the 'Sound', a new disco with most modern equipment. Although she's legally too young, she asks a friend to take her. There she meets Detlef, who's in a clique where everybody's on drugs. Step by step she gets drawn deeper into the scene.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 28000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: West Germany
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: disturbing, rough, bleak, depressing, harsh, serious, realistic, gloomy, brutal, atmospheric
Similar in 81%
Euphoria (2019)
Plot Summary:
A group of high school students navigate love and friendships in a world of drugs, sex, trauma, and social media.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 225000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags: captivating, thought provoking, realistic, depressing, serious, psychedelic, rough, erotic, aesthetic, sentimental
Similar in 81%
The Knick (2014)
Plot Summary:
Set in downtown New York in 1900, 'The Knick' is centered on the Knickerbocker Hospital and the groundbreaking surgeons, nurses and staff who work there, pushing the bounds of medicine in a time of astonishingly high mortality rates and zero antibiotics. John Thackery is a brilliant surgeon pioneering new methods in the field, despite his secret addiction to cocaine. He leads a team of doctors including his protégé Dr. Everett Gallinger; the young Dr. Bertie Chickering Jr. and Dr. Algernon Edwards, a promising surgeon who's been recently thrust upon him. The lively cast of characters at the hospital also includes Cornelia Robertson, the daughter of its benefactor, Captain August Robertson; surly ambulance driver Tom Cleary; Lucy Elkins; a fresh-faced nurse from the country; the crooked hospital administrator Herman Barrow; and Sister Harriet, a nun who isn't afraid to speak her mind.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 52000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 58 min
Plot tags: serious, psychological, bleak, atmospheric, medical drama, rough, costume drama, historical drama, philosophical, gothic
Similar in 87%
Beautiful Boy (2018)
Plot Summary:
After he and his first wife separate, journalist David Sheff struggles to help their teenage son Nic, who goes from experimenting with drugs to becoming devastatingly addicted to methamphetamine.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 93000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: disturbing, sentimental, rough, captivating, social, sad, psychological, touching, intellectual, serious
Similar in 75%
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Plot Summary:
A naive male prostitute and his sickly friend struggle to survive on the streets of New York City.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 118000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: disturbing, realistic, depressing, controversial, cult classic, psychological, rough, serious, bleak, grim
Similar in 77%
The Basketball Diaries (1995)
Plot Summary:
Film adaptation of street tough Jim Carroll's epistle about his kaleidoscopic free fall into the harrowing world of drug addiction.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 119000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: emotional, rough, serious, realistic, bleak, teen, disturbing, depressing, brutal, talky
Similar in 84%
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Plot Summary:
Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 132000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: depressing, melancholic, disturbing, sexual, sad, emotional, heartbreaking, touching, bleak, talky
Similar in 79%
Kids (1995)
Plot Summary:
A controversial portrayal of teens in New York City which exposes a deeply disturbing world of sex and substance abuse. The film focuses on a sexually reckless, freckle-faced boy named Telly, whose goal is to have sex with as many different girls as he can. When Jenny, a girl who has had sex only once, tests positive for HIV, she knows she contracted the disease from Telly. When Jenny discovers that Telly's idea of "safe sex" is to only have sex with virgins, and is continuing to pass the disease onto other unsuspecting girls, Jenny makes it her business to try to stop him.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 83000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: disturbing, depressing, psychedelic, independent film, bleak, teen, rough, erotic, sexy, realistic
Similar in 87%
T2 Trainspotting (2017)
Plot Summary:
After 20 years abroad, Mark Renton returns to Scotland and reunites with his old friends Sick Boy, Spud and Begbie.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 131000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: exciting, intense, stylized, thought provoking, captivating, tense, black comedy, freeze frame, dark comedy, intellectual
Similar in 88%
Gia (1998)
Plot Summary:
Gia Carangi travels to New York City with dreams of becoming a fashion model. Within minutes of arriving, she meets Wilhelmina Cooper, a wise and high-powered agent who takes Gia under her wing. With Cooper's help and her own natural instincts, Gia quickly shoots to the top of the modeling world. When Cooper dies of lung cancer, however, Gia turns to drugs – and both she and her career begin to spiral out of control.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 49000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: psychological, melancholic, erotic, sexy, rough, sad, serious, touching, bleak, thought provoking
Similar in 81%
Trainspotting (1996)
Plot Summary:
Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out, despite the allure of the drugs and influence of friends.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 715000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, disturbing, psychedelic, black comedy, captivating, cult classic, stylized, controversial, depressing, clever
Similar in 75%
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Plot Summary:
The hopes and dreams of four ambitious people are shattered when their drug addictions begin spiraling out of control. A look into addiction and how it overcomes the mind and body.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 883000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, bleak, depressing, emotional, atmospheric, surreal, heartbreaking, realistic, mind bending
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Thirteen (2003)
Plot Summary:
Tracy is a normal 13-year-old trying to make it in school. After befriending the most popular girl at school, Evie, Tracy's world is turned upside down when Evie introduces her to a world of sex, drugs and cash. But it isn't long before Tracy's new world and attitude finally takes a toll on her, her family, and old friends.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 96000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: teen, sincere, realistic, tense, disturbing, emotional, intense, serious, depressing, bleak