Best movies like Menace II Society
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Menace II Society is a coming of age tale detailing the summer after its protagonist Caine (Tyrin Turner) graduates from high school. This is Caine's story, which details real life in today's tough inner city.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 63000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: tense, bleak, realistic, stylized, hood, rough, serious, harsh, intense, bloody
Best tv shows and movies like Menace II Society (1993):
Similar in 89%
Tales from the Hood (1995)
Plot Summary:
A strange funeral director tells four strange tales of horror with an African American focus to three drug dealers he traps in his place of business.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: scary, atmospheric, disturbing, anthology, hood, cult classic, bleak, psychological, creepy, dark fairy tale
Similar in 90%
Pusher III (2005)
Plot Summary:
In this third installment of the 'Pusher' trilogy, we follow Milo ('Zlatko Buric'), the drug lord from the two first films. He is aging, he is planning his daughter's 25th birthday and his shipment of heroin turns out to be 10.000 pills of ecstasy. When Milo tries to sell the pills anyway, all Hell breaks loose and his only chance is to ask for help from his ex-henchman and old friend Radovan.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Denmark
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, realistic, neo noir, dark comedy, psychological, brutal, mumblecore, cynical, cult classic
Similar in 89%
Juice (1992)
Plot Summary:
Four Harlem friends -- Bishop, Q, Steel and Raheem -- dabble in petty crime, but they decide to go big by knocking off a convenience store. Bishop, the magnetic leader of the group, has the gun. But Q has different aspirations. He wants to be a DJ and happens to have a gig the night of the robbery. Unfortunately for him, Bishop isn't willing to take no for answer in a game where everything's for keeps.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: hood, cult classic, tense, social, neo noir, dark, sexual, crime drama, atmospheric, rough
Similar in 76%
Blood In, Blood Out (1993)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true life experiences of poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, the film focuses on half-brothers Paco and Cruz, and their bi-racial cousin Miklo. It opens in 1972, as the three are members of an East L.A. gang known as the "Vatos Locos", and the story focuses on how a violent crime and the influence of narcotics alter their lives. Miklo is incarcerated and sent to San Quentin, where he makes a "home" for himself. Cruz becomes an exceptional artist, but a heroin addiction overcomes him with tragic results. Paco becomes a cop and an enemy to his "carnal", Miklo.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: intense, bad ending, entertaining, rough, serious, realistic, disturbing, cult classic, inspirational, retro
Similar in 82%
Empire (2002)
Plot Summary:
A big time drug dealer Victor Rosa is looking to get out of the game and sees his chance with a big deal with a new friend who happens to be a Wall St. stockbroker. Thinking this will be his chance to go out on top Victor soon finds out that he has been double crossed and his last option is to get revenge.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: intense, suspense, melancholic, stylized, rough, serious, suspenseful, hood, tense, realistic
Similar in 79%
Animal Kingdom (2010)
Plot Summary:
Following the death of his mother, J finds himself living with his estranged family, under the watchful eye of his doting grandmother, Smurf, mother to the Cody boys. J quickly comes to believe that he is a player in this world. But, as he soon discovers, this world is far larger and more menacing than he could ever imagine. J finds himself at the center of a cold-blooded revenge plot that turns the family upside down.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 60000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Australia
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: tense, disturbing, bleak, atmospheric, realistic, neo noir, suspense, intense, visually appealing, rough
Similar in 79%
My Crazy Life (1993)
Plot Summary:
Mousie and Sad Girl are childhood best friends in a contemporary Los Angeles poor Hispanic neighborhood. But when Sad Girl becomes pregnant by Mousie's boyfriend, a drug dealer named Ernesto, the two become bitter enemies. While their dispute escalates towards violence, the violence of the world around them soon also impacts their lives.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: realistic, talky, serious, hood, cult classic, independent film, bleak, hispanic, crime drama, sincere
Similar in 77%
Sugar Hill (1993)
Plot Summary:
In the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, the Mafia steps in when a drug dealer quits his partner brother to lead a straight life with his girlfriend.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: hood, serious, suspenseful, tense, realistic, crime drama, independent film, black cinema
Similar in 88%
Fresh (1994)
Plot Summary:
Michael is a 12-year-old drug pusher who lives in a crowded house with his cousins and aunt. His father has become a street bum,but still meets with Fresh on occasion to play chess. Fresh is rather quiet in a crazy world. Fresh's sister is a junkie who sleeps with the dealers that Fresh sells for. As the story progresses Fresh realizes that he doesn't want to sell drugs anymore - he wants revenge.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, France
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: hood, bleak, realistic, suspenseful, atmospheric, disturbing, harsh, tense, rough, touching
Similar in 81%
Dark Blue (2002)
Plot Summary:
Set during the Rodney King riots, a robbery homicide investigation triggers a series of events that will cause a corrupt LAPD officer to question his tactics.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, UK, Germany
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: neo noir, tense, detective, harsh, intense, stylized, serious, captivating, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 90%
Dead Presidents (1995)
Plot Summary:
Depicts a heist of old bills, retired from circulation and destined by the government to be "money to burn". However, more broadly, it addresses the issues of Black Americans' involvement in the Vietnam War and their subsequent disillusionment with progress in social issues and civil rights back home in the United States, during the 1960s.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspense, disturbing, intense, neo noir, tense, rough, serious, suspenseful, cult classic
Similar in 89%
Colors (1988)
Plot Summary:
A confident young cop is shown the ropes by a veteran partner in the dangerous gang-controlled barrios of Los Angeles, where the gang culture is enforced by the colors the members wear.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: realistic, hood, psychological, exciting, serious, cult classic, crime drama, retro, thought provoking, neo noir
Similar in 75%
Waist Deep (2006)
Plot Summary:
An ex-convict (Tyrese) gets tangled up with a gang after his car is hijacked with his son inside.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: hood, suspense, intense, exciting, suspenseful, social, crime drama, independent film, rough, serious
Similar in 78%
Traffic (2000)
Plot Summary:
An exploration of the United States of America's war on drugs from multiple perspectives. For the new head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the war becomes personal when he discovers his well-educated daughter is abusing cocaine within their comfortable suburban home. In Mexico, a flawed, but noble policeman agrees to testify against a powerful general in league with a cartel, and in San Diego, a drug kingpin's sheltered trophy wife must learn her husband's ruthless business after he is arrested, endangering her luxurious lifestyle.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 217000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 147 min
Plot tags: suspense, bleak, political, realistic, dramatic, anthology, neo noir, tense, thought provoking, clever
Similar in 76%
Green Street Hooligans (2005)
Plot Summary:
After being wrongfully expelled from Harvard University, American Matt Buckner flees to his sister's home in England. Once there, he is befriended by her charming and dangerous brother-in-law, Pete Dunham, and introduced to the underworld of British football hooliganism. Matt learns to stand his ground through a friendship that develops against the backdrop of this secret and often violent world. 'Green Street Hooligans' is a story of loyalty, trust and the sometimes brutal consequences of living close to the edge.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 159000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Sport, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: serious, disturbing, factual, intense, bleak, suspenseful, rough, bloody, entertaining, grindhouse
Similar in 88%
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
Plot Summary:
An African-American Mafia hit man who models himself after the samurai of old finds himself targeted for death by the mob.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 96000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: France, Germany, USA, Japan
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: art house, stylized, atmospheric, cult classic, hood, thought provoking, captivating, neo noir, tense, philosophical
Similar in 85%
King of New York (1990)
Plot Summary:
A former drug lord returns from prison determined to wipe out all his competition and distribute the profits of his operations to New York's poor and lower classes in this stylish and ultra violent modern twist on Robin Hood.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 41000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: Italy, USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: neo noir, atmospheric, hood, tense, suspense, intense, serious, captivating, realistic, dark
Similar in 84%
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 78%
Above the Rim (1994)
Plot Summary:
Story of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fallen on hard times and now employed as a security guard.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Sport, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: hood, inspirational, independent film, tense, touching, serious, realistic, suspenseful, gloomy, light
Similar in 77%
New Jersey Drive (1995)
Plot Summary:
New Jersey Drive is a 1995 film about black youths in Newark, New Jersey, the unofficial "car theft capital of the world". Their favorite pastime is that of everybody in their neighborhood: stealing cars and joyriding. The trouble starts when they steal a police car and the cops launch a violent offensive that involves beating and even shooting suspects.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: realistic, hood, brutal, melancholic, rough, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, cult classic, independent film
Similar in 89%
Paid in Full (2002)
Plot Summary:
Ace is an impressionable young man working for a dry cleaning business. His friend, drug dealer Mitch goes to prison. In an unrelated incident, he finds some cocaine in a pants pocket. Soon, Ace finds himself dealing cocaine for Lulu. Via lucky breaks and solid interpersonal skills, Ace moves to the top of the Harlem drug world. Of course, unfaithful employees and/or rivals conspire to bring about Ace's fall.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: hood, tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, bleak, grim, neo noir
Similar in 83%
New Jack City (1991)
Plot Summary:
A gangster, Nino, is in the Cash Money Brothers, making a million dollars every week selling crack. A cop, Scotty, discovers that the only way to infiltrate the gang is to become a dealer himself.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 38000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: hood, stylized, suspense, harsh, intense, serious, tense, captivating, neo noir, cult classic
Similar in 76%
Belly (1998)
Plot Summary:
Tommy Brown and Sincere are best friends as well as infamous and ruthless criminals and shot-callers in the hood. Respected by many but feared by all. As the police are closing in on them and new players are looking for a come up, will their reign last?.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: hood, independent film, stylized, crime drama, bleak, serious, realistic, gloomy, fairy tale, neorealism
Similar in 83%
Boyz n the Hood (1991)
Plot Summary:
Boyz n the Hood is the popular and successful film and social criticism from John Singleton about the conditions in South Central Los Angeles where teenagers are involved in gun fights and drug dealing on a daily basis.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 151000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: disturbing, tense, thought provoking, hood, cult classic, brutal, bleak, independent film, rough, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
South Central (1992)
Plot Summary:
A man is put to prison for 10 years. Coming out of prison he wants to live a normal life and stop with crime but his son has yet followed the criminal path of his father.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: hood, captivating, social, sexual, crime drama, tense, rough, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 87%
Wild at Heart (1990)
Plot Summary:
Young lovers Sailor and Lula run from the variety of weirdos that Lula's mom has hired to kill Sailor.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 99000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: surreal, road movie, black comedy, avant garde, dark comedy, sexy, atmospheric, erotic, art house, mindfuck
Similar in 89%
Hustle & Flow (2005)
Plot Summary:
With help from his friends, a Memphis pimp in a mid-life crisis attempts to become a successful hip-hop emcee.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 43000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: touching, bleak, realistic, hood, emotional, intense, sincere, rough, uplifting, serious
Similar in 77%
City of God (2002)
Plot Summary:
Cidade de Deus is a shantytown that started during the 1960s and became one of Rio de Janeiro’s most dangerous places in the beginning of the 1980s. To tell the story of this place, the movie describes the life of various characters, all seen by the point of view of the narrator, Buscapé. Buscapé was raised in a very violent environment. Despite the feeling that all odds were against him, he finds out that life can be seen with other eyes.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 788000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Brazil, France, Germany
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: disturbing, rough, bleak, hood, stylized, visual, cult classic, visually stunning, captivating, emotional
Similar in 87%
American History X (1998)
Plot Summary:
Derek Vineyard is paroled after serving 3 years in prison for killing two thugs who tried to break into/steal his truck. Through his brother, Danny Vineyard's narration, we learn that before going to prison, Derek was a skinhead and the leader of a violent white supremacist gang that committed acts of racial crime throughout L.A. and his actions greatly influenced Danny. Reformed and fresh out of prison, Derek severs contact with the gang and becomes determined to keep Danny from going down the same violent path as he did.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 12000000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: emotional, dramatic, serious, rough, cerebral, psychological, tense, disturbing, black and white, political
Similar in 85%
Triple 9 (2016)
Plot Summary:
A gang of criminals and corrupt cops plan the murder of a police officer in order to pull off their biggest heist yet across town.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 76000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: tense, exciting, suspense, suspenseful, stylized, intense, neo noir, detective, independent film, crime thriller