Best movies like Cry in the Wild: The Taking of Peggy Ann
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
True story of a young woman's abduction by a deranged loner that led to the largest manhunt in the history of Pennsylvania.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 535
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like Cry in the Wild: The Taking of Peggy Ann (1991):
Similar in 75%
The Awakening of Candra (1983)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true-life story of teenage bride Candra Torres who was abducted in 1975 while on a honeymoon camping trip in the High Sierras.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 68
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological thriller
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Similar in 77%
Keys (1994)
Plot Summary:
A one-time investigator gets back in the game when a family suffers a trauma similar to her own.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 95
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags:
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Similar in 84%
A Promise to Carolyn (1996)
Plot Summary:
When two sisters can no longer go on living with the painful memory of their baby sister being murdered 37 years ago by their stepmother, together they try to uncover the truth.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 339
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sad, detective
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Similar in 90%
Right to Kill? (1985)
Plot Summary:
Based on true story of teens Richard and Deborah Jahnke charged in Wyoming for the killing of their abusive father.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 266
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags:
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Similar in 86%
The Chase (1991)
Plot Summary:
In Denver, a fleeing bank robber kills a cop and kidnaps an old man to hold as a hostage. He is chased by the police and a news helicopter, which films the entire incident. Based on a true story.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 180
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
Adam (1983)
Plot Summary:
After their child is abducted, John and Reve Walsh are trying to find him. But, shortly after that, Adam is found dead.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 695
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: depressing, crying
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Similar in 76%
And the Sea Will Tell (1991)
Plot Summary:
A wealthy couple (James Brolin and Deidre Hall) are killed on their yacht off the coast of a secluded South American island called Palmyra. The suspects are a hippyish pair (Hart Bochner and Rachel Ward) whom the rich folks had befriended. It’s fairly clear that the hippies were involved in the crime: The question is, did the man do it while the girl looked on helplessly, or was she a willing accomplice?.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 523
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 179 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Bad to the Bone (1997)
Plot Summary:
A bad girl uses her brother to kill her lover.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 392
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: ridiculous
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Similar in 76%
Brass (1985)
Plot Summary:
The Chief of Detectives of the New York Police Department, is a tough cop who has worked his way up the ladder from being on a beat.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 133
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, detective
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Similar in 88%
Doomsday Mom (2021)
Plot Summary:
Lori Vallow gained national attention when her children, JJ and Tylee, were reported missing from their Idaho home.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 220
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, suspense, suspenseful
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Similar in 81%
Stolen from the Suburbs (2015)
Plot Summary:
A single mother from the suburbs searches for her kidnapped daughter before human traffickers sell her on the international market.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 629
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 77%
Easy Prey (1986)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story, a serial killer abducts his latest victim from a mall and assaults her. Confused by her atypical reaction, he doesn't kill her, but instead takes her along as he continues on his killing spree. Meanwhile, the authorities debate whether she's a victim or a willing participant.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 242
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: factual
Similar in 82%
Adam: His Song Continues (1986)
Plot Summary:
Follows the true story of John and Reve Walsh who, after their child was murdered, fought to raise national awareness of the problem of missing children.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 234
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, emotional, realistic
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Similar in 85%
The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother's Hunt for Justice (2021)
Plot Summary:
The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother’s Hunt for Justice tells the story of Mari Gilbert’s search for the truth behind what happened to her daughter Shannan, a sometime escort who disappeared after a ‘date’ on Long Island. After Shannan (Katharine Isabelle, Hannibal) fails to come home, her mother Mari (Kim Delaney) knows something is terribly wrong. Pleading to police to take her concerns seriously, she keeps pushing the police for answers. Mari’s insistence that her daughter not be overlooked eventually leads to a horror hidden on Long Island for more than a decade – 19 bodies of young women discovered buried in shallow graves along Ocean Parkway in the area of Jones Beach State Park.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 199
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags: tense, psychological, unusual plot structure, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, contemplative
Similar in 85%
Murder: By Reason of Insanity (1985)
Plot Summary:
A crime drama dircted by Anthony Page.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 149
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags:
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Similar in 86%
They've Taken Our Children: The Chowchilla Kidnapping (1993)
Plot Summary:
Three young men decide to make easy money by mass kidnapping. After careful preparations, they hijack the school bus and take 26 children and the driver as hostages. However, the bravery and the wit of the old driver could spoil their plan for the perfect crime.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 296
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic
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Similar in 80%
Trafficked: A Parent's Worst Nightmare (2021)
Plot Summary:
On the eve of her 16th birthday, Allison Riley disappears. When the police refuse their requests, her parents, Joanna and Case, reluctantly hire John Belton, a private investigator with a reputation for questionable procedures and a dark past. Quickly, Belton realizes that Allison was coerced by a young handsome boy she met on social media and had been trafficked, and they are on a race against time to get her back.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 315
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, thought provoking, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 87%
We Have Your Husband (2011)
Plot Summary:
American-born Jayne Valseca, her husband Eduardo, the son of a legendary Mexican newspaper publisher, and their two children live an idyllic life on their 1,000 acre ranch outside of a peaceful Mexico town. But in the summer of 2007, their peaceful life is turned into a real-life nightmare when Eduardo is ambushed and kidnapped by strangers. With kidnapping becoming a pervasive and lucrative business in Mexico, Jayne is at the mercy of the kidnappers when they demand millions for the husband's safe release. She's pushed to the limit to do everything she possibly can to raise the money necessary to bring Eduardo back alive. As Eduardo is starved and tortured, he looses hope of ever seeing his family again but despite the dire and bleak times, Jayne refuses to give up and decides to turn the tables on the kidnappers and makes demands of her own. The film is based on a true story from the book, We Have Your Husband: One Woman's Terrifying Story of a Kidnapping in Mexico.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 342
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, tense, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 75%
I Know My First Name Is Steven (1989)
Plot Summary:
7-year old Steven Stayner is kidnapped a few days before Christmas by Kenneth Parnell. Under the belief that Parnell has been given legal custody of him, and that his family has moved away, he stays with Parnell for seven years, enduring repetitive sexual abuse the entire time. Finally, at fourteen, he returns home to his family.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, suspenseful, emotional, thought provoking, sad, tense, bleak, serious, realistic
Similar in 76%
The Sugarland Express (1974)
Plot Summary:
Married small-time crooks Lou-Jean and Clovis Poplin lose their baby to the state of Texas and resolve to do whatever it takes to get him back. Lou-Jean gets Clovis out of jail, and the two steal their son from his foster home, in addition to taking a highway patrolman hostage. As a massive dragnet starts to pursue them across Texas, the couple become unlikely folk heroes and even start to bond with the captive policeman.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: road movie, black comedy, cult classic, suspenseful, retro, sexy, offbeat, southern gothic, anamorphic, serious
Similar in 78%
Judgment Day: The John List Story (1993)
Plot Summary:
The pious John List regularly goes to church and is respected by his neighbours. But one day the police finds his wife Helen and their three children slayed in their house - obviously by John, who left two letters for the police and his priest and disappeared. Chief Richland is disgusted by the murder and starts an intensive investigation. In flashbacks we learn about the history of the disaster.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 250
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
The Onion Field (1979)
Plot Summary:
Greg Powell, a disturbed ex-con, recruits Jimmy Youngblood (Smith) a petty thief, as partner in crime. Powell panics when they two of are pulled over by two cops for tail lights. Powell decides to kidnap the cops and Smith goes along with his crazy scheme. They drive out to a deserted onion field in Bakersfield, where one cop is killed and the other escapes. The film explores the consequences.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: neo noir, atmospheric, psychological, realistic, rough, serious, disturbing, detective, bleak, emotional
Similar in 85%
Nightmare in Columbia County (1991)
Plot Summary:
The recounting of a terrible crime that wracked a family and galvanized police in South Carolina in the 1980's. Southern beauty pageant winner Dawn Smith is targeted by a sadistic stalker whose obsession with her leads him to kidnap her younger sister.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 385
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, mind bending, serious, realistic, suspenseful, cult film
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Similar in 81%
Flinch (2021)
Plot Summary:
A young Hitman who lives with his mother catches feelings for the witness of a murder he commits.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 756
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, neo noir
Similar in 78%
Dungeon Girl (2008)
Plot Summary:
A shocking story of captivity and survival inspired by actual events.
IMDB Rating: 1.5
IMDB Votes: 941
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: rough, disturbing, psychological, serious, realistic, scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful
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Similar in 87%
Kidnapped: The Hannah Anderson Story (2015)
Plot Summary:
On the afternoon of August 3, 2013, 16-year-old Hannah Anderson was abducted after finishing cheerleading practice in a San Diego suburb. When the bodies of her mother and brother were found in the burned home of family friend James DiMaggio later that day, an AMBER Alert was issued, and a frantic multi-state manhunt for Hannah began. For a week she was kept prisoner by the increasingly unstable DiMaggio as they made their way across the state. One week later, the two were found in Idaho and DiMaggio was killed in a shootout with FBI agents, leaving Hannah as the sole survivor. As the dust settled, questions began to emerge about the nature of the relationship between Hannah and her kidnapper...and what really happened?.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 729
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, dark
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Similar in 78%
I Am Elizabeth Smart (2017)
Plot Summary:
The story of Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping and captivity, as told from her perspective.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country:
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, factual, dark, suspense, realistic
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Similar in 82%
Cleveland Abduction (2015)
Plot Summary:
A single mother becomes Ariel Castro's first kidnapping victim, and finds herself trapped in his home with two other women for 11 years.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, bleak, serious, emotional, disturbing, realistic, dark
Similar in 90%
Taken in Broad Daylight (2009)
Plot Summary:
Every 24 hrs. after a child's been kidnapped by a stranger, chances of finding them alive diminishes to almost 100% ... The true and inspiring survival story of kidnapped teen, Anne Sluti, and how she manages to stay alive by manipulating her captor, engineering her own rescue and negotiating her safe release after 6 days of hell.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, serious, suspenseful, exciting, bleak
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Similar in 84%
3096 Days (2013)
Plot Summary:
A young Austrian girl is kidnapped and held in captivity for eight years. Based on the real-life case of Natascha Kampusch.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: realistic, rough, dark, saga, disturbing, controversial, teen, twisted, captivating, serious