Best movies like Civil Brand
Last updated March 2024
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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
Best tv shows and movies like Civil Brand (2002):
Similar in 85%
Nightmare in Badham County (1976)
Plot Summary:
Two UCLA coeds have engine trouble in small Southern town. When they spurn the local sheriff's advances he arranges for them to be taken to the women's prison on trivial charges (the judge is a cousin), where they must endure atrocities at the hands of the administrators of the prison and the prison guards.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 664
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: crying, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, psychotronic, independent film
Similar in 76%
Escape from Hell (1980)
Plot Summary:
A women's prison camp is located deep in the tropical rain forest. Sadistic guards and a warden from hell make life almost unbearable for the inmates, and any infraction of the rules is dealt with swiftly and savagely. The camp doctor is horrified at what he sees happening, and drinks heavily to push the horror away. Finally the inmates have had had enough, and they enlist the help of the doctor to try and escape.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 624
Genere: Adventure, Crime, Thriller
Country: Spain, Italy
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, disturbing, rough, captivating, grindhouse, sensual, bleak, serious, realistic, psychotronic
Similar in 87%
Jackson County Jail (1976)
Plot Summary:
This is a powerful drama about a young woman who stumbles into a nightmare land of hijacking and humiliation while driving cross-country from California to New York.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, independent film, road movie, tense, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 83%
Black Mama White Mama (1973)
Plot Summary:
When two troublemaking female prisoners (one a revolutionary, the other a former harem-girl) can't seem to get along, they are chained together and extradited for safekeeping. The women, still chained together, stumble, stab, and cat-fight their way across the wilderness, igniting a bloody shootout between gangsters and a group of revolutionaries.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Philippines, USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, realistic, rough, serious, psychotronic, psychological, slasher, cult classic, independent film, exciting
Similar in 87%
Locked Up (2017)
Plot Summary:
When an American teenager gets bullied at her school in Southeast Asia, she fights back--and gets sent to a reform school. But the "school" is more like a prison, and the young teenager must fend off predatory guards and menacing gangs to survive.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: scary, psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, art house, mockbuster
Similar in 85%
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 77%
Shot in the Heart (2001)
Plot Summary:
AND YOU'RE TO BLAME! Honey, you give love a bad name. (The story of a man coming to terms with the sins and secrets of his notorious brother and, in the process, exploring the legacy of violence in his own family.).
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 654
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: disturbing, tense, realistic, suspenseful, bleak, serious, talky, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Villa Captive (2011)
Plot Summary:
A young actress seeking a life away from adult movies moves to Florida insearch of a new identity. Her newfound peace is shattered when local thugsrecognize her.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 349
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, disturbing, scary, serious, realistic, rough
Similar in 84%
Lust for Freedom (1987)
Plot Summary:
A former female cop is framed by corrupt police, acting in collusion with the local judge, and has to fight her way out of the pen, alone, against tough inmates, and the people in charge.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 545
Genere: Drama, Thriller, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing, independent film, cult film
Similar in 89%
Jailbait (2014)
Plot Summary:
A gritty coming of age thriller about a young girl sent to juvenile prison for the murder of her abusive step father. The film follows Anna Nix's journey into the dark world of an all girls jail where she discovers complex relationships, drugs, mental illness and her eventual search for redemption.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: emotional, rough, erotic, suspense, art house, crime drama, realistic, serious, psychological, mockbuster
Similar in 77%
Chess Game (2014)
Plot Summary:
Mina (Priscila Fantin) is arrested for defrauding the Social Security and beyond to defend the other inmates need to escape from the prison director of surveillance (Tuca Andrada). The crime involved a Senator (Antonio Calloni), trying in every way to prevent your participation to surface.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 113
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Brazil
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, bleak, realistic, psychological thriller
Similar in 78%
Fight for Your Life (1977)
Plot Summary:
A minister dispenses justice on three convicts who take his family hostage.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, disturbing, controversial, terrifying, independent film, tense, rough, bleak, serious, realistic
Similar in 80%
Chained Heat (1983)
Plot Summary:
Linda Blair plays Carol, a young woman who must serve 18 months in prison after drink driving and killing a man. The prison turns out to be brimming with decadence, corruption and sleaze, where the other female inmates are sadistic crack-selling lesbian rapists and the guards and warden are no better.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, West Germany
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sexy, psychotronic, grindhouse, erotic, neo noir, sensual, cult classic, rough, bleak, serious
Similar in 90%
Prison Heat (1993)
Plot Summary:
Four American babes on vacation in the Middle East run into trouble when they are imprisoned by corrupt army officials and that's where the fun begins.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 985
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, serious, erotic, sexy, grindhouse, independent film
Similar in 76%
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 75%
Women's Prison (1988)
Plot Summary:
A young woman about to get married discovers all too late that her spouse has mafia connections, when violence breaks out during her wedding. Caught up in the crossfire Lynn gets arrested and thrown into a women's prison.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 98
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
Lockdown (2000)
Plot Summary:
Avery (Jones) returns to college as a competitive swimmer after getting his life back on track. But his life takes another unexpected turn when he and his two friends (Bonds, Casseus) are wrongly accused of murder and end up in prison.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: disturbing, rough, serious, realistic, hood, crime drama, bleak, independent film
Similar in 85%
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%
Reversible Errors (2004)
Plot Summary:
A corporate lawyer's interest in a decade-old murder case is piqued by a new confession that could clear the convicted killer, who sits on death row.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 803
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 173 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, disturbing, intense
Similar in 81%
Guilt by Association (2002)
Plot Summary:
Life is good for Susan, her two children and new boyfriend Russell. But life abruptly changes when she discovers her perfect boyfriend is a drug dealer. Realising the danger this could bring to her family she tells him to leave. Suddenly her house is raided and Susan is arrested as a co-conspirator in Russell's drug business. Her situation goes from bad to worse when she finds herself behind bars with violent criminals. How will she ever prove her innocence when the system seems against her? Guilt By Association is a disturbing story based on true events.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 490
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, realistic, disturbing, thought provoking, bleak, serious, crying
Similar in 87%
Inside (1996)
Plot Summary:
An emotional and thrilling tale of life and death behind the walls of a maximum security prison. From the acclaimed director of 'Bonnie and Clyde', and featuring a powerful international cast.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 317
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: independent film, tense, rough, thought provoking, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 89%
Stranger Inside (2001)
Plot Summary:
A mother daughter reunion set in the harsh reality of a women's correctional facility.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 592
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: rough, thought provoking, emotional, disturbing, crime drama, independent film, bleak, serious, realistic, surprise ending
Similar in 84%
Bad Boys (1983)
Plot Summary:
Mick O'Brien is a young Chicago street thug torn between a life of petty crime and the love of his girlfriend. But when the heist of a local drug dealer goes tragically wrong Mick is sentenced to a brutal juvenile prison where violence is a rite of passage and respect is measured in vengeance.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: neo noir, suspense, realistic, disturbing, tense, serious, entertaining, bleak, suspenseful, epic
Similar in 85%
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 87%
The Klansman (1974)
Plot Summary:
A small southern town has just been rocked by a tragedy: a young woman has been violently raped. The white town fathers immediately declare that the attacker had to be black, and place the blame on Garth, a young black man. Assuming that the men in white sheets aren't intent on holding a fair and impartial trial, Garth takes to the woods as the Klansmen lynching party hunts him down.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: political, tense, sincere, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, campy
Similar in 83%
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 85%
Higher Learning (1995)
Plot Summary:
Malik (Omar Epps) is an African-American student attending on a track scholarship; academics are not his strong suit, and he goes in thinking that his athletic abilities will earn him a free ride through college. Fudge (Ice Cube), a "professional student" who has been at Columbus for six years so far, becomes friendly with Malik and challenges his views about race and politics in America.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: realistic, hood, intense, thought provoking, serious, emotional, tense, disturbing, inspirational, touching
Similar in 75%
Detention: The Siege at Johnson High (1997)
Plot Summary:
A former high school student, Jason Copeland, returns to his school to take his revenge on the teachers for failing him out of school.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 629
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 84%
Black August (2007)
Plot Summary:
The last 14 months of George Jackson's life was an existence under subjective and objective conditions in California's industrial prison complex. George Jackson would spend 11 years in jail (7 of which were in solitary confinement) for a $70 gas station robbery crime in 1960. He was 18 years of age when the sentence of one year-to-life was handed down to him.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 302
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: rough, thought provoking, serious, realistic, political
Similar in 81%
A Time to Kill (1996)
Plot Summary:
A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 177000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 149 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, sincere, suspense, serious, political, realistic, tense, brutal, intense, emotional