Best movies like Ambition
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Mitchell Osgood dreams of being a famous writer, but the book he has written constantly is rejected by the editors. When the psychopathic killer Albert Merrik is released from prison after 15 years, Osgood believes that writing down the history of his crimes could be his breakthrough. Although he refuses to talk to him at first, Osgood follows him around and offers him a job in his book shop. To get the right impressions for his book, he feels that he has to experience Merrik psychopathic again.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 300
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: dark, independent film
Best tv shows and movies like Ambition (1991):
Similar in 87%
Live! From Death Row (1992)
Plot Summary:
Convicted killer Laurence Dvorak grants an exclusive last interview to TV newswoman Alana Powers shortly before his scheduled execution. Urbane and unrepentant, he seems almost mild at first. But Dvorak's real intention is revealed when he takes Powers, her crew and two guards hostage, and demands that the television network broadcast an execution - live.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 156
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
The Grief Tourist (2012)
Plot Summary:
JIM TAHANA doesn't leave much of an impression when he passes you by. But look closer and you'll sense his hunger - the deep hunger of an insatiable American soul - always scanning to devour something - anything that might fill the searing, unexplained void within him. Jim obsesses over the hobby that has been part of his DNA since he was a young boy: grief tourism - the act of traveling with the intent to visit places of tragedy or disaster. Every year his week-long vacations from work are spent going to grief tourist locations in the lives of different serial killers he is fascinated with. This years obsession is Carl Marznap, a mass murder from New Orleans, Louisiana. But this trip is no ordinary vacation as Jim's rancid sexual impulses and weakening grip on reality deteriorate into a violent despair that will ultimately unlock an unspeakable secret festering within him, bringing The Grief Tourist to it's brutal and shocking finale.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: psychological, mind bending, serious, atmospheric, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, grindhouse
Similar in 81%
Murder at My Door (1996)
Plot Summary:
In a quiet neighborhood, a suburban family is shocked when their son is the prime suspect in the brutal murder of a neighbor's daughter.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 406
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: detective
Similar in 87%
Fate (2003)
Plot Summary:
Serial killers have plagued the American landscape for decades, committing gruesome atrocities, and providing some tough cases for criminal investigators to crack. This thriller follows the travails of two detectives who are on the trail of a bizarre murderer intent on slaughtering his victims, then using them as real-life puppets in a tale that he is trying to tell. The plot holds a key to the whereabouts of the monstrous deviant, but the detectives have to unravel it quickly before more unsuspecting citizens become theater fodder for the unhinged madman.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 177
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Past Midnight (1991)
Plot Summary:
A man gets out of prison after 15 years for stabbing his wife to death, and his social worker becomes convinced he was innocent. As she researches his case, and interviews other people who were involved, she begins to fall in love with him, as her friends warn her that he's dangerous.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: neo noir, tense, atmospheric, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 82%
The Temp (1993)
Plot Summary:
A series of mysterious accidents at a food company lead a manager to suspect his impressive new temporary secretary.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, psychological, stylized, neo noir, serious, erotic, light, sexy, clever, feel good
Similar in 82%
Gone in the Night (1996)
Plot Summary:
A couple is unjustly accused of the murder of their daughter. Based on a true story and book of the same title.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 785
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 190 min
Plot tags: dark
Similar in 78%
Without Evidence (1995)
Plot Summary:
It is based on the true story of Michael Francke, who was the Head of Corrections for the state of Oregon before being murdered. Just before his murder, Francke visits his brother and informs him of a drug ring involving his prison colleagues. When Michael is killed, his brother begins his own investigation into the murder, leading him to more lies and deceit.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Thriller, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: spectacular, independent film, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 75%
Face of Evil (1996)
Plot Summary:
On her wedding night, twenty-year-old Darcy Palmer empties her fiancé's bank account and flees to New York City. Along the way, she tries robbing Brianne Dwyer, who's heading to a New England college for her freshman year, and ends up killing her. Darcy assumes Brianne's identity, enrolls in her place at college, and kills anyone who gets in her way. When Darcy becomes interested in her roommate Jeanelle's wealthy widowed father, she poisons Jeanelle so that she's too sick to spend time with him when he visits the campus, and Darcy takes her place. Suspecting her dirty deeds, Jeanelle confronts her roommate, who coolly admits to killing many people and stealing their identities. Then, Darcy attacks... Just in the nick of time, Jeanelle's father rescues her from harm. Darcy escapes but is caught just as she's about to snare her next victim.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 520
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: psychological thriller, sexy, surprise ending
Similar in 90%
Sketches of a Strangler (1978)
Plot Summary:
An art student living with his sister is actually a maniac strangling dancers and prostitutes. One victim's sister starts looking for him.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 50
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: slasher, grindhouse, independent film, psychological, mind bending, serious, realistic, suspenseful, sexual, sexy
Similar in 76%
Bound by Lies (2005)
Plot Summary:
When Detecive Max Garrett is assigned to protect the sultry photographer Laura Cross from a ruthless killer, he has no idea what he's in for. The more involved Garrett gets in the case, the more attracted he is to Cross, but as they get closer, so does the killer.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 593
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, detective, sexual, sexy
Similar in 90%
Night of the Hunter (1991)
Plot Summary:
A false preacher ingratiates himself with a dead man's family to find where he hid the money from a robbery.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 337
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychotronic
Similar in 78%
Crónicas (2004)
Plot Summary:
A suspense thriller about a reporter from Miami who travels to Ecuador in pursuit of a serial killer known as the "Monster of Babahoyo.".
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Mexico
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, suspenseful, atmospheric, stylized, serious, captivating, rough, thought provoking, detective
Similar in 89%
Twist of Fate (2002)
Plot Summary:
Troubled police detective Jack Lucas is falsely accused of a series of murders and must prove his innocence by catching the real serial killer.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 593
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, suspenseful, detective, realistic
Similar in 85%
Last Screening (2011)
Plot Summary:
Sylvain, a film-obsessed 31-year-old, lives in the basement of a small art-house theater where he works as a programmer, projectionist and cashier. Each night, after the last showing, he goes out for a murderous ritual.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 354
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: tense, suspenseful, psychological, captivating, scary, bleak, serious, realistic, slasher
Similar in 90%
Tangled (2001)
Plot Summary:
A young man is found bruised, beaten and stumbling down a secluded road. As the police try to piece together what happened, the convoluted relationship between a young woman and her two suitors gradually emerges.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, psychological, teen horror, tense, slasher, detective, non-linear, surprise ending
Similar in 76%
The Prophet's Game (2000)
Plot Summary:
The Prophet has arrived in the ultimate playing ground... Los Angeles. It has taken an innocent childhood game and twisted it into a deadly match of wits, where the only prize is survival. Moving from city to city, The Prophet lures unsuspecting contestants into solving the riddles it supplies. If the contestants are wrong, somebody dies... somebody famous.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, disturbing, psychological, bleak, realistic, suspense, serious
Similar in 85%
Bad Influence (1990)
Plot Summary:
Michael, a wimpy young executive, is about to get pulverized by a jealous boyfriend in a bar when a handsome, mysterious stranger steps in--and then disappears. Later that night, while jogging, Michael runs into the stranger on a pier. He introduces himself as Alex, and the two go out to an under- ground club. Alex wheedles his way into Michael's life and turns it upside down.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: neo noir, sexy, entertaining, psychological, clever, suspenseful, offbeat, visually stunning, rough, serious
Similar in 80%
Resurrection Man (1998)
Plot Summary:
Belfast, in 1970s. Victor Kelly is a young protestant man who hates the Catholics so much that one night he begins to brutally murder them. A reporter soon tries to uncover the murder and obtained prestige for himself, while Victor sinks deeper into madness.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 826
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: disturbing, bleak, serious, suspenseful, independent film, tense, rough, realistic, parody, sexy
Similar in 79%
The Collector (1965)
Plot Summary:
Freddie is an inept bank clerk with no future. His only hobby is collecting butterflies, which gives him a feeling of power and control that is otherwise totally missing from his life. He comes into a large sum of money, and buys himself a country house. Still unable to make himself at ease socially, he starts to plan on acquiring a girl friend - in the same manner as he collects butterflies. He prepares the cellar of the house to be a collecting jar, and stalks his victim over several days.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: tense, disturbing, serious, psychological thriller, suspense, dark, cult classic, tension, suspenseful, psychological
Similar in 83%
Heart of Stone (2001)
Plot Summary:
A beautiful woman doesn't know if the killer is her lover ... or her husband ... or someone else!.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 239
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sexy, suspenseful, suspense, independent film, tense, serious, realistic, sexual, erotic
Similar in 82%
Perfect Prey (1998)
Plot Summary:
A former Texas Ranger is recruited by a Houston police captain to assist a homicide detective in the search for an elusive serial killer who collects antique dolls.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 413
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 87%
Black Widow Murders: The Blanche Taylor Moore Story (1993)
Plot Summary:
Elizabeth Montgomery plays serial killer, churchgoer, and grandmother Blanch Taylor Moore in this, one of her last films before her untimely passing. Childhood memories of her womanizing and abusive father fill Moore with a hidden rage towards all men. Her former boyfriend, first husband and father all died of arsenic poisoning. Now her fiancé, the town's minister, is stricken the same way. Based on the true crime book Preacher's Girl: The Life and Crimes of Blanche Taylor Moore, the film is buoyed by Montgomery's startling performance, and keeps you on the edge of your seat until its final moments.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 309
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer (1999)
Plot Summary:
An account of early 1970s social activist Ira Einhorn, who allegedly murdered his girlfriend and then fled the country.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 763
Genere: Thriller, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, factual
Similar in 84%
The Night Stalker (2016)
Plot Summary:
An account of serial killer Richard Ramírez and his rampage in California during the mid-1980s.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 897
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, rough, suspense, slasher, suspenseful, psychological horror, psychotronic
Similar in 81%
Misery (1990)
Plot Summary:
Novelist Paul Sheldon crashes his car on a snowy Colorado road. He is found by Annie Wilkes, the "number one fan" of Paul's heroine Misery Chastaine. Annie is also somewhat unstable, and Paul finds himself crippled, drugged and at her mercy.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 230000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, suspenseful, scary, suspense, psychological thriller, atmospheric, tense, tension, slasher
Similar in 80%
Gone but Not Forgotten (2005)
Plot Summary:
An Oregon woman vanishes. In her wake remains a single black rose & a note reading gone but not forgotten. Now a man stands accused: a private eye has gone missing: a detective knows more than she lets on: & a tough female attorney has entered a web of duplicity revenge & multiple murder.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 705
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, psychological, serious, suspenseful
Similar in 82%
The Zodiac (2005)
Plot Summary:
An elusive serial killer known as the Zodiac terrorizes the San Francisco Bay in the late 1960s, while detectives aim to stop him before he claims more victims. Based on a true story.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 158 min
Plot tags: rough, psychological, bleak, scary, serious, suspenseful, neo noir, detective, independent film, realistic
Similar in 80%
Nightcrawler (2014)
Plot Summary:
When Lou Bloom, desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story. Aiding him in his effort is Nina, a TV-news veteran.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 590000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: neo noir, psychological, disturbing, suspense, suspenseful, atmospheric, psychological thriller, realistic, biting, cynical
Similar in 76%
Along Came a Spider (2001)
Plot Summary:
When a teacher kidnaps a girl from a prestigious school, homicide detective, Alex Cross takes the case and teams up with young security agent, Jezzie Flannigan in hope of finding the girl and stopping the brutal psychopath. Every second counts as Alex and Jezzie attempt to track down the kidnapper before the spider claims another victim for its web.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 94000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany, Canada
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: psychological, surprise ending, suspense, suspenseful, detective, twist ending, tense, psychological thriller, clever, intense