Best movies like Riot
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A riot in a state prison is staged to cover up an escape attempt, during which many inmates and guards are killed. Shot on location at Arizona State Prison.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 636
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, psychotronic
Best tv shows and movies like Riot (1969):
Similar in 87%
The Defiant Ones (1986)
Plot Summary:
Monroe and 'Joker' Johnson are two prisoners who despise each other. But after their prison transport crashes, they manage to escapechained to each other.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 420
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
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Similar in 89%
The Manhunt (1984)
Plot Summary:
A young man buys two horses at an Arizona race track but fails to get a receipt. Later, when riding across the land of a rancher named Robeson, he's accused of stealing the two horses. Unable to prove ownership, the young man is then sentenced to prison where he's forced to do chain-gang type work. He escapes, is recaptured, and escapes again as he tries to locate the man who sold him the horses.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 203
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Italy, USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: spaghetti western, serious, realistic, suspenseful, poliziottesco
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Similar in 81%
The Grave (1996)
Plot Summary:
Two prisoners escape with the help of their jailer to search for a treasure that is supposedly buried with a dead millionaire.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film, noir, serious, realistic, suspenseful, cult film
Similar in 75%
Cisco Pike (1971)
Plot Summary:
Cisco is an ex-rock star who has become a drug dealer. A corrupt cop blackmails Cisco to sell marijuana for him. Cisco has one weekend to sell it to his friends.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, suspenseful, serious, neo noir, surprise ending
Similar in 85%
Swelter (2014)
Plot Summary:
Ten years after their casino heist, four escaped convicts trace their former partner to a desert town, where he is now a lawman with no memory of his criminal past.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, exciting, serious, cult classic, rough, independent film, neo noir, neo western
Similar in 90%
La Fuga (2001)
Plot Summary:
In the summer of 1928, several inmates from the National Penitentiary in Buenos Aires managed to escape. The film narrates the fate of each of these runaways in search of their destiny - tough men with their own ethical codes and ready to do anything not to return to prison. Some of them will suffer violent deaths, while others manage de disappear. Sordid and moving stories, not excluding tenderness and love, mercy or horror sealed with a pact of prison love that will remain in the heart of Buenos Aires, as witness of the yearned-for freedom.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 834
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Spain, Argentina
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, captivating, suspenseful, realistic, adaptation directed by original author
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Similar in 76%
Garter Snake (2011)
Plot Summary:
In the heat of the night, a man from faraway plays the piano. In the local hillside prison, a bitter double-crossed convict stares at the city life over the roofs. A revenge is brewing in his mind; the blood-thirsty killer prepares his escape. Vares gets a client who needs private investigations. Despite the beautiful wife, Vares smells a rat... In the middle of the summer night, a shot rings out. One life comes to an end and Vares finds changes in his assignment. The clues lead him to first-hand encounters and second-hand bookshops; a visit to the gym reveals a drug-smuggling route from Stockholm... Vares finds himself entangled in hot money and cool silk. In the background slithers a cunning garter snake.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 870
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Finland
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
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Similar in 89%
The Escapist (2008)
Plot Summary:
Frank Perry is an institutionalized convict twelve years into a life sentence without parole. When his estranged daughter falls ill, he is determined to make peace with her before it's too late. He develops an ingenious escape plan, and recruits a dysfunctional band of escapists - misfits with a mutual dislike for one other but united by their desire to escape their hell hole of an existence.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: tense, harsh, rough, suspenseful, atmospheric, realistic, psychological thriller, mindfuck, sincere, mind bending
Similar in 89%
Reform School Girls (1986)
Plot Summary:
Jenny is sent to a women's reform school. It is run by evil warden Sutter and her henchwoman Edna. Jenny will stop at nothing to escape but she also has to deal with Charlie the bully.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: disturbing, surreal, serious, rough, realistic, suspenseful, entertaining, cult classic, grindhouse, sexual
Similar in 90%
Tell (2014)
Plot Summary:
Ethan Tell is a small time crook who makes a big-time score when he steals 1 million dollars. Ironically, his life radically changes for the worst when he discovers that stealing the money was the easy part and he now must keep his partner, his wife, his parole officer, and two corrupt detectives from stealing it from him.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, captivating, independent film
Similar in 90%
One (2002)
Plot Summary:
Après quinze ans passés derrière les barreaux, Bruno, qui prône la révolution prolétarienne, s'évade. Ce dernier veut continuer la lutte, faire sortir ses camarades de prison, libérer les masses du joug capitaliste. Tous ses anciens alliés n'y croient plus, même Jeanne qui s'est mariée et a maintenant des enfants.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Thriller, Crime, Drama
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, art house, bleak, neo noir
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Similar in 86%
Zero Tolerance (1994)
Plot Summary:
After surviving a sneak attack on himself and fellow agents Jimmy and Gene as they were transporting drug kingpin Raymond Manta out of a Mexican jail, FBI agent Jeff Douglas becomes an uwitting pawn of the White Hand drug cartel. Mistakenly told that his already murdered family is being held hostage, Jeff is forced to turn one-time courier for the White Hand, whose leaders are Manta and four others named Helmut Vitch, Milt Kowalski, Russ LaFleur, and Hansel Lee. After surviving a car-bombing in Las Vegas, Jeff learns the truth about his family being murdered, and he sets out to exterminate the White Hand cartel. Unofficially aided by an agent named Megan, whose mother was raped and murdered years ago, Jeff steals FBI files and begins his campaign of revenge on the White Hand cartel.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 655
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: suspense, independent film, exciting, tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized, fast
Similar in 78%
Prison on Fire (1987)
Plot Summary:
Ching and Yiu and problems they face with Mickey, a fellow inmate and "Assassin", a prison guard. Yiu is sentenced to three years for manslaughter. In a fight for his father, he pushed a man and was run over by a bus. Ching was sent to prison for killing his wife for being a prostitute. During the end of the film, inmates decide to go on hunger strike to protest against the cigarette price rise, this causes problems with Assassin. Ching bit Surface's ear off and gets an extended sentence, continued on Prison on Fire II, Yiu is released later on.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 82%
Prison on Fire II (1991)
Plot Summary:
Ching is a prisoner in a Honk Kong jail that has a large population of Mainland Chinese prisoners. Ching escapes to see his young son, who he has been put in an orphanage. He surrenders himself to authorities, but the vengeful chief of security, Zau, arranges for Ching to be set up in the eyes of the Mainland gang, led by the affable Dragon. Dragon and Ching both then escape separately, and while fugitives, hook up together and bond. Ching is recaptured and instigates a riot to save his own hide from the Mainlanders. In the chaos Ching gets revenge on Skull (who, working with Zau, set him up) and Zau.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 89%
Sitting Target (1972)
Plot Summary:
Imprisoned Harry Lomart is a vicious, brute of a man and yet he is prepared to do his long jail term as he is confident that on his release his beautiful wife Pat will be waiting for him, but a visit from Pat brings him his worst nightmare.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: neo noir, offbeat, grindhouse, cult classic, exciting, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
13 Dead Men (2003)
Plot Summary:
Set in a prison, a death row inmate has a secret and the warden will go to any lengths to get it. Things dont go as planned as you would expect. A good action film with alot of good fight scenes and an interesting twist at the end.What we have learned to expect from Art Camacho.
IMDB Rating: 2.3
IMDB Votes: 546
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, sexual, crying, sexy
Similar in 90%
Girls in Prison (1994)
Plot Summary:
Framed for the murder of a record company president in 1952 Hollywood, young, aspiring singer Aggie O'Hanlon is sentenced to life in prison and tries to adjust to her life life behind bars in a hellish womens prison where she is befriended by other "lifer" inmates who help her out when Aggie finds herself marked for murder by an unknown source who thinks she knows more about the murder than she does.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 678
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, psychotronic, erotic, campy
Similar in 86%
Perfect Witness (1989)
Plot Summary:
A witness to a mob killing has second thoughts about testifying when he realizes his family might become a target.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 479
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 86%
Civil Brand (2002)
Plot Summary:
Forced to work under slave-like conditions in a "prison for profit" program, the inmates of a mostly-African-American female prison, Whitehead Correctional, try to take over the institution. At the core of the story is Frances, who finds herself in prison after being falsely convicted of murder, and who is told that her baby has been murdered, sparking her to lead her fellow inmates in the protest.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 790
Genere: Drama, Thriller, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, bleak, disturbing, thought provoking, serious, realistic, suspenseful, hood, independent film
Similar in 84%
Setup (2011)
Plot Summary:
A group of friends plan out a detailed heist that turns deadly when one betrays the other by taking off with the goods. Taking matters into his own hands, Sonny seeks out his revenge teaming up with the most dangerous mob boss in town to get back what is rightfully his. When he finally comes face to face with his longtime friend he will be forced to make a life changing choice.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: exciting, realistic, rough, serious, suspenseful, independent film, fast, neo noir, hood
Similar in 80%
The Domino Killings (1977)
Plot Summary:
Tucker is a chronic underachiever and a loser. A Vietnam war veteran who just can't seem to keep out of trouble, in the years since his discharge. The only thing he got out of the war was his skill with a rifle. Now, serving a long stretch in prison for murder, he has hit rock-bottom. But one day a man in a three-piece suit visits him in prison, a man he has never seen before, and informs him that he can walk out of prison a free man if he will shoot someone for them, no questions asked.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: neo noir, independent film, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, surprise ending, cult film
Similar in 89%
What Doesn't Kill You (2008)
Plot Summary:
Two childhood friends from South Boston turn to crime as a way to get by, ultimately causing a strain in their personal lives and their friendship.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, rough, captivating, realistic, cerebral, sincere
Similar in 75%
Felon (2008)
Plot Summary:
A family man convicted of killing an intruder must cope with life afterward in the violent penal system.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 83000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: brutal, realistic, tense, emotional, serious, sincere, social, grindhouse, cerebral, rough
Similar in 77%
Cell 211 (2009)
Plot Summary:
The story of two men on different sides of a prison riot -- the inmate leading the rebellion and the young guard trapped in the revolt, who poses as a prisoner in a desperate attempt to survive the ordeal.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 70000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Spain, France
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, tense, psychological, intense, tricky, rough, bleak, clever, dramatic, realistic
Similar in 82%
McVicar (1980)
Plot Summary:
John McVicar was a London Bad Boy. he graduated to armed bank robbery and was Britain's "Public Enemy No. 1". He was captured and put into a high security prison. Will even the highest security prison be able to hold him? This is the true story of his life, his criminal exploits and his eventual rehabilitation.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, independent film, cult film
Similar in 76%
The Chamber (1996)
Plot Summary:
Having survived the hatred and bigotry that was his Klansman grandfather's only legacy, young attorney Adam Hall seeks at the last minute to appeal the old man's death sentence for the murder of two small Jewish boys 30 years before. Only four weeks before Sam Cayhall is to be executed, Adam meets his grandfather for the first time in the Mississippi prison which has held him since the crime. The meeting is predictably tense when the educated, young Mr. "Hall" confronts his venom-spewing elder, Mr. "Cayhall," about the murders. The next day, headlines run proclaiming Adam the grandson who has come to the state to save his grandfather, the infamous Ku Klux Klan bomber. While the old man's life lies in the balance, Adam's motivation in fighting this battle becomes clear as the story unfolds. Not only does he fight for his grandfather, but perhaps for himself as well. He has come to heal the wounds of his own father's suicide.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: emotional, suspense, thought provoking, realistic, rough, serious, suspenseful, talky, anamorphic, contemplative
Similar in 80%
Lock Up (1989)
Plot Summary:
Frank Leone is nearing the end of his prison term for a relatively minor crime. Just before he is paroled, however, Warden Drumgoole takes charge. Drumgoole was assigned to a hell-hole prison after his administration was publicly humiliated by Leone, and has now arrived on the scene to ensure that Leone never sees the light of day.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 46000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: suspense, intense, realistic, rough, serious, suspenseful, exciting, brutal, clever, cult classic
Similar in 75%
The Escapist (2002)
Plot Summary:
Denis Hopkins, a pilot, lives with his pregnant wife Valerie and has a comfortable lifestyle. When a gang of criminals led by the sadistic Ricky Barnes breaks into his home, he offers whatever the criminals want to protect his wife and unborn child, but the evil Ricky kills Valerie anyway. Their baby is saved, and later Barnes is arrested and sentenced to life in the maximum security prison, Sullen Voe. Denis fakes his own suicide, then assaults a police car in order to get himself arrested and sent to prison with the intention of tracking down and killing Ricky Barnes. He does not reveal his true name and is called John "What" by the prisoners and guards. Denis escapes from successive prisons, forcing his eventual transfer to Sullen Voe. When he reaches his objective, Ricky Barnes schedules a confrontation, but things do not quite turn out the way Denis had expected.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, tense, serious, rough
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Similar in 77%
Brubaker (1980)
Plot Summary:
The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspense, factual, harsh, serious, captivating, political, tense, psychological, edutainment
Similar in 79%
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Plot Summary:
When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable will. Luke's bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box," make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 186000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, serious, rough, depressing, intense, scary, inspirational, dorama, spiritual