Best movies like A Shock to the System
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Madison Avenue executive Graham Marshall has paid his dues. A talented and devoted worker, he has suffered through mounting bills and a nagging wife with one thing to look forward to: a well-deserved promotion. But when the promotion is given to a loud-mouthed yuppie associate, Graham unleashes his rage on an overly aggressive panhandler, who he accidently kills by pushing him into the path of an oncoming subway train. He re-thinks his problems with an entirely new solution. First, he arranges an "accident" for his annoying wife. Then he creates another "mishap" for his boss. It seems like the world is once more Graham's oyster…but a missing cigarette lighter and a prying police detective may change all that.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, black comedy, suspense, suspenseful, tense, light, realistic, witty, cynical, clever
Best tv shows and movies like A Shock to the System (1990):
Similar in 86%
Getting In (1994)
Plot Summary:
Gabriel Higgs has failed to get into Johns Hopkins to study medicine. He's sixth on a list of backup candidates, and must persuade the five people ahead of him to drop out. Gabriel has a family tradition to live up to. Things don't go to plan.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 562
Genere: Comedy, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, independent film, slasher, clever, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, witty, cynical, semi serious
Similar in 85%
Pretty Poison (1968)
Plot Summary:
A young man gets in over his head when he convinces a small-town girl he's a secret agent.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, suspenseful, witty, neo noir, slasher, cult classic, black comedy, clever
Similar in 81%
Wish You Were Dead (2001)
Plot Summary:
Two bad women fight over one man in a back-stabbing, money-grabbing, insurance-hustling, double-dealing, two-timing caper.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 494
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, humorous, witty, semi serious, dark comedy, offbeat, realistic, romantic comedy, crime thriller
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Similar in 82%
Miss Nobody (2010)
Plot Summary:
A mild-mannered secretary discovers that she has a talent for murder as she ascends the corporate ladder.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, humorous, captivating, witty, semi serious, detective, horror comedy, psychological, offbeat, realistic
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Similar in 77%
Little Murders (1971)
Plot Summary:
Elliot Gould plays Alfred Chamberlain -- a one time successful photographer who is now down on his luck because he began to eliminate people from his photographs. He also suffers from an inability to feel or to be passionate about anything. But then Alfred meets Patsy Newqvist, who takes it upon herself to mold Alfred into "a strong, vital, self-assured man, that I can protect and take care of.".
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, surreal, grim, witty, cynical, biting, intellectual, black comedy, funny, cult classic
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Similar in 84%
Shut Up and Shoot! (2006)
Plot Summary:
A movie producer hatches a scheme to have an actor (Silvio Pollio) kill his fellow filmmakers.
IMDB Rating: 3.0
IMDB Votes: 456
Genere: Comedy, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: realistic, humorous, cynical, suspense, independent film, semi serious, biting, surprise ending, dark comedy
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Similar in 83%
Coldblooded (1995)
Plot Summary:
Cosmo, an affectless mob bookie who lives in the basement of a retirement home, is promoted to hitman. He learns his new trade from Steve, a seasoned killer. He falls in love with a yoga teacher, Jasmine, and must figure out a way to leave the mob so they can be together.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, humorous, stylized, intense, black comedy, realistic, semi serious, witty, action comedy, crime thriller
Similar in 87%
Lonely Street (2008)
Plot Summary:
Bubba Mabry, a gullible private detective, becomes the prime suspect in a tabloid reporter's murder after being hired to snoop on him by a mysterious celebrity.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 575
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, suspenseful, semi serious, detective
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Similar in 88%
Out Cold (1989)
Plot Summary:
A comedy about an angry married couple, a private investigator, and a walk-in freezer.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 919
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, independent film, rough, clever, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, witty, cynical, semi serious
Similar in 81%
Throw Momma from the Train (1987)
Plot Summary:
Larry Donner is a author and writing professor who tutors people who want to write books. Larry's life has become a misery when his Ex-wife has published a book he wrote under her name and has gotten rich over it. Owen Lift, one of Larry's students offers Larry to kill Larry's Ex-wife and in return Owen wants Larry to kill his horrible mother. Larry thinks it is a joke, until he learns Owen killed his Ex-wife and he has become the prime suspect.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 40000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: black comedy, dark comedy, humorous, exciting, semi serious, funny, suspense, dark, clever, parody
Similar in 87%
Deathtrap (1982)
Plot Summary:
A Broadway playwright puts murder in his plan to take credit for a student's script.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: psychological, dark comedy, surprise ending, witty, semi serious, detective, cerebral, psychological thriller, black comedy, minimal cast
Similar in 89%
Swimming with Sharks (1994)
Plot Summary:
A young, naive Hollywood studio assistant finally turns the tables on his incredibly abusive producer boss.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, black comedy, entertaining, talky, absurd, humorous, disturbing, semi serious, funny, ironic
Similar in 78%
No Way to Treat a Lady (1968)
Plot Summary:
Christopher Gill is a psychotic killer who uses various disguises to trick and strangle his victims. Moe Brummel is a single and harassed New York City police detective who starts to get phone calls from the strangler and builds a strange alliance as a result. Kate Palmer is a swinging, hip tour guide who witnesses the strangler leaving her dead neighbor's apartment and sets her sights on the detective. Moe's live-in mother wishes her son would be a successful Jewish doctor like his big brother.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: detective, dark comedy, clever, suspenseful, retro, spooky, black comedy, offbeat, humorous, realistic
Similar in 86%
Novocaine (2001)
Plot Summary:
A dentist finds himself a murder suspect after a sexy patient seduces him into prescribing her drugs.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: black comedy, dark comedy, suspenseful, tricky, humorous, captivating, clever, suspense, cult classic, offbeat
Similar in 80%
Buffet Froid (1979)
Plot Summary:
An absurd black comedy that cunningly reverses the conventions of the crime thriller to comment on the alienating and dehumanizing effects of contemporary urban life. Alphonse Tram is unwittingly involved in several murders despite having no memory of committing the crimes. His confusion lead him to confess to his neighbour, Inspector Morvandieu. Alphonse and Morvandieu become the axis around which murders occur.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: surreal, dark comedy, humorous, semi serious, realistic, mindfuck, anthology, cult classic, offbeat, witty
Similar in 85%
Death to Smoochy (2002)
Plot Summary:
Tells the story of Rainbow Randolph, the corrupt, costumed star of a popular children's TV show, who is fired over a bribery scandal and replaced by squeaky-clean Smoochy, a puffy fuscia rhinoceros. As Smoochy catapults to fame - scoring hit ratings and the affections of a network executive - Randolph makes the unsuspecting rhino the target of his numerous outrageous attempts to exact revenge and reclaim his status as America's sweetheart.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 42000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, Germany, USA, Canada
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, humorous, black comedy, funny, bad ending, harsh, stylized, realistic, surreal, cult classic
Similar in 80%
R.S.V.P. (2002)
Plot Summary:
A young man invites a group of his closest friends to a party, where he proceeds to discreetly kill them all.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: slasher, humorous, suspenseful, semi serious, suspense, surprise ending, independent film, offbeat, realistic
Similar in 77%
Quick Change (1990)
Plot Summary:
With the aid of his girlfriend, Phyllis Potter, and best friend, Loomis, Grimm enters a Manhattan bank dressed as a clown, creates a hostage situation and executes a flawless robbery. The only thing left for the trio to do is make their getaway out of the city and to the airport. It sounds simple enough, but it seems that fate deserts them immediately after the bank heist. One mishap after another conspires to keep these robbers from reaching freedom.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: feel good, humorous, light, absurd, cult classic, witty, sweet, buddy comedy, fast, realistic
Similar in 78%
Home Sweet Hell (2015)
Plot Summary:
Mona and Don’s seemingly perfect suburban bliss is disrupted by a sexy extortionist and Mona will stop at nothing, including killing the competition, to keep her little slice of heaven.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, realistic, humorous, semi serious, funny, suspenseful, black comedy, captivating, psychological, feel good
Similar in 84%
Very Bad Things (1998)
Plot Summary:
Kyle Fisher has one last night to celebrate life as a single man before marrying Laura, so he sets out to Vegas with four of his best buddies. But a drug and alcohol filled night on the town with a stripper who goes all the way, turns into a cold night in the desert with shovels when the stripper goes all the way into a body bag after dying in their bathroom. And that's just the first of the bodies to pile up before Kyle can walk down the aisle.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 49000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, funny, disturbing, black comedy, humorous, intense, not serious, suspenseful, semi serious, cult classic
Similar in 87%
Curdled (1996)
Plot Summary:
Gabriella, a Columbian immigrant, is obsessed with understanding violent crime. The current string of murders by "The Blue Blood Killer" of affluent Miami socialites provides her with fodder for her scrapbook of death. She lands a job with a post-murder cleaning service and during a Blue-Blood clean-up job, discovers evidence that police have overlooked.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, disturbing, bloody, black comedy, suspenseful, offbeat, serious, realistic, psychotronic, independent film
Similar in 89%
Serial Mom (1994)
Plot Summary:
A picture perfect middle class family is shocked when they find out that one of their neighbors is receiving obscene phone calls. The mom takes slights against her family very personally, and it turns out she is indeed the one harassing the neighbor. As other slights befall her beloved family, the body count begins to increase.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, parody, black comedy, disturbing, cult classic, talky, humorous, realistic, cynical, semi serious
Similar in 84%
Fun with Dick and Jane (2005)
Plot Summary:
After Dick Harper loses his job at Globodyne in an Enron-esque collapse, he and his wife, Jane, turn to crime in order to handle the massive debt they now face. Two intelligent people, Dick and Jane actually get pretty good at robbing people and even enjoy it -- but they have second thoughts when they're reminded that crime can hurt innocent people. When the couple hears that Globodyne boss Jack McCallister actually swindled the company, they plot revenge.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 152000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: funny, light, humorous, feel good, satirical, entertaining, hilarious, predictable, captivating, dark comedy
Similar in 76%
Relentless (1989)
Plot Summary:
Two Los Angeles police detectives, cynical veteran Malloy and cocky rookie Dietz, hunt for a serial killer, an ex-cop named Taylor, whom randomly chooses his victims from a phone directory.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, exciting, suspenseful, suspense, detective, slasher, neo noir, independent film, rough, serious
Similar in 78%
The Ladykillers (2004)
Plot Summary:
An eccentric, if not charming Southern professor and his crew pose as a band in order to rob a casino, all under the nose of his unsuspecting landlord – a sharp old woman.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 108000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: funny, entertaining, dark comedy, humorous, black comedy, absurd, bad ending, hilarious, clever, light
Similar in 86%
Get Shorty (1995)
Plot Summary:
Chili Palmer is a Miami mobster who gets sent by his boss, the psychopathic "Bones" Barboni, to collect a bad debt from Harry Zimm, a Hollywood producer who specializes in cheesy horror films. When Chili meets Harry's leading lady, the romantic sparks fly. After pitching his own life story as a movie idea, Chili learns that being a mobster and being a Hollywood producer really aren't all that different.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 88000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: funny, humorous, clever, intense, light, suspense, entertaining, witty, talky, dark comedy
Similar in 79%
Fun with Dick and Jane (1977)
Plot Summary:
When an upwardly mobile couple find themselves unemployed and in debt, they turn to armed robbery in desperation.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: humorous, feel good, intense, light, semi serious, funny, clever, realistic, witty, cynical
Similar in 76%
The Player (1992)
Plot Summary:
A Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected - but which one?.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 65000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: suspense, dark comedy, neo noir, clever, black comedy, talky, satirical, cynical, psychological, semi serious
Similar in 86%
The Last Supper (1995)
Plot Summary:
A group of idealistic, but frustrated, liberals succumb to the temptation of murdering rightwing pundits for their political beliefs.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, black comedy, witty, intense, disturbing, tense, humorous, realistic, semi serious, psychological
Similar in 82%
The Ax (2005)
Plot Summary:
A chemist loses his job to outsourcing. Two years later and still jobless, he hits on a solution: to genuinely eliminate his competition.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Belgium, France, Spain
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, psychological, suspense, atmospheric, black comedy, humorous, cynical, political, dark, psychological thriller