Best movies like Dead Heart
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Ray Lorkin, chief lawman in the tiny rural settlement of Wala Wala, Australia, fears that long-simmering tensions between the area's aborigine natives and white settlers are on the verge of erupting. When it's discovered that Kate, the white wife of local schoolteacher Les, has despoiled a sacred site by secretly meeting her aborigine lover, Tony, there, a shocking murder threatens to rip the small town apart.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 298
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Australia
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: tension, bleak, serious, realistic, independent film, suspense
Best tv shows and movies like Dead Heart (1996):
Similar in 84%
The Naked Country (1985)
Plot Summary:
Far North Queensland, 1955. Deep in the untamed frontier tough rancher Lance Dillon and his sensual, but bored wife, battle inhospitable nature to eke out a living from their cattle herd. When the aborigines kill the Dillon's prize bull a chase begins that will culminate in bloody tragedy with Lance pitted against Mandaru - an aborigine struggling to maintain his cultural way of life.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 120
Genere: Action, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: Australia
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: retro, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 80%
Escape Clause (1996)
Plot Summary:
A man finds out that his wife has paid $10,000 to have him killed. Then both the would-be killer and the wife turn up dead.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 801
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: rough, mind bending, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 80%
Sioux City (1994)
Plot Summary:
A young Lakota Sioux, adopted by a wealthy Jewish couple in Beverly Hills, gets in touch with his cultural roots and solves a mystery in this thriller.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 510
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: independent film, mind bending, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
The Demon (1978)
Plot Summary:
When Sokichi stops providing his long-time lover Kikuyo enough money to pay for the care of their three young children, Kikuyo leaves the children with Sokichi - and his very surprised and angry wife Oume - and disappears.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 940
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: slasher, erotic, psychological, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, sexual, crying, sexy
Similar in 89%
One Night the Moon (2001)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of a young girl who went missing in the Australian outback in 1932.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 368
Genere: Drama, Musical, Mystery
Country: Australia
Duration: 57 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, serious, suspenseful, mind bending, captivating, realistic, independent film
Similar in 87%
Cactus (2008)
Plot Summary:
A man is kidnapped from his city home in the quiet hours of the night and, the kidnapper, John Kelly, embarks on a journey into the Australian Outback towards the place where his hostage is due for delivery. As time and distance roll by, the strength and endurance of both men will be tested to the very end.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 585
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Australia
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, psychological, tense, serious, road movie, realistic
Similar in 87%
The Scarlet Letter (2004)
Plot Summary:
Policeman Ki-Hoon's life is duplicitous, oscillating between the amenable, newly pregnant wife and a very appealing mistress- the singer Ga-yee. His world gets shaken up when he gets news during a murder investigation that Ga-yee is pregnant and her obsession with him rules out abortion as an option. In a very twisted chance of fate, Ki-hoon and Ga-yee end up locked in the trunk of his car on the side of the road as raw despair brings to light the shocking truth about his wife and his mistress.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, suspenseful, erotic, sexy, twisted, detective, realistic
Similar in 75%
Everybody Wins (1990)
Plot Summary:
A seemingly good Samaritan hires a private detective to prove a teen sitting in prison on a murder charge is innocent. His investigation discovers deep corruption in a Connecticut town and finds the woman isn't everything she is pretending to be either.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: neo noir, independent film, atmospheric, mind bending, serious, realistic, suspenseful, contemplative, gloomy, crying
Similar in 79%
Against the Grain (2013)
Plot Summary:
Fatima, a committed schoolteacher living the cosmopolitan high life in Karachi, has her life shattered when her nanny, Nusrat, inexplicably disappears. Though her friends and family beg her not to disturb the status quo and confront the powerful feudals in Nusrat's village, Fatima travels there to investigate. Will the trials and tribulations deter Fatima's resolve? Will the quest challenge an already complicated romantic relationship? Josh: Against the Grain Is the story of Fatima's search for a dangerous truth in Nusrat's feudal village. It is the story of the biggest challenge to Pakistan's still reigning feudalism: the country's youth.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Pakistan
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, suspenseful, tense, inspirational, islamic, realistic
Similar in 90%
Backyard (2009)
Plot Summary:
An astonishing fictional account of the unending series of murders of young women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, which began in 1996. Most of the victims are low-paid laborers who have been drawn to the town by the possibility of work at American-owned factories. In the film Mexican police officer Blanca Bravo is sent to Cuidad Juarez to investigate and comes to learn realities of these women's lives, as well as the truth about a police force and local power structure embodied by entrepreneur Mickey Santos that has ceased to care.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Mexico
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: serious, rough, psychological, bleak, suspenseful, disturbing, crime drama, twisted, scary, tense
Similar in 90%
Heaven's Prisoners (1996)
Plot Summary:
A hardened New Orleans cop, Dave Robicheaux, finally tosses in the badge and settles into life on the bayou with his wife. But a bizarre plane crash draws him back into the fray when his family is viciously threatened.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: stylized, suspense, melancholic, talky, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, erotic
Similar in 83%
An Occasional Hell (1996)
Plot Summary:
A former policeman-turned college professor of forensics, is asked by a widow to solve the murder of her unfaithful husband and the disappearance of his mistress who may have been linked to some drug dealers.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 780
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: erotic, psychological, atmospheric, mind bending, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Secrets of Eden (2012)
Plot Summary:
Based on Chris Bohjalian’s New York Times best-selling novel, “Secrets of Eden” centers on Stephen Drew, an adored small-town minister, and the brutal and sadistic murder-suicide of Alice and George Hayward, the town’s most beloved parishioners. Dark secrets begin to surface.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 542
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, realistic, serious, captivating
Similar in 77%
The Clearing (2004)
Plot Summary:
When affluent executive, Wayne Hayes is kidnapped by a disgruntled employee and held for ransom in a forest, Wayne’s wife is forced to reckon with the FBI agents as they negotiate with the kidnapper.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, Germany, USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: tense, suspenseful, intense, serious, contemplative, psychological, psychotronic, detective, realistic, surprise ending
Similar in 76%
Strangerland (2015)
Plot Summary:
Newly arrived to a remote desert town, Catherine and Matthew are tormented by a suspicion when their two teenage children mysteriously vanish.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Ireland, Australia
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, tense, serious, captivating, realistic, dark, action thriller, twisted, independent film, neo noir
Similar in 77%
The Other Man (2008)
Plot Summary:
The story of a husband who suspects his wife of adultery, and sets out to track down the other man in her life.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, sincere, realistic, romantic, romantic drama, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 87%
A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story (1992)
Plot Summary:
After sixteen years of marriage and four children, Betty Broderick's high-powered attorney husband decides to leave her for a younger woman with whom he's been having an affair. Hurt by his betrayal and feeling helpless against his legal expertise, Betty begins a campaign of vandalism and verbal assault. Her rage consumes her and ultimately leads to a terrible and violent act.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, biting, suspense, ridiculous
Similar in 76%
Backfire (1987)
Plot Summary:
Mara McAndrew's marriage is falling apart. Her husband, Donnie, a Vietnam veteran, suffers troubling flashbacks about the war, leaving him unresponsive to her needs. Mara wants out, but she also wants Donnie's money. When Mara meets a mysterious stranger, Reed, at a local bar, she believes she has found the right person to help her out of her predicament. But Mara worries that Donnie's sister, Jill, is on to her.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 712
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada, UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, suspenseful, psychological, serious, neo noir, independent film, surprise ending, tension, twist ending
Similar in 87%
Where Are the Children? (1986)
Plot Summary:
Thriller about the kidnapping of two children and the investigation that follows, based on the book by Mary Higgins Clark.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 311
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: mind bending, serious, realistic, suspenseful, psychological thriller
Similar in 82%
Mystery Road (2013)
Plot Summary:
An indigenous detective returns to the Outback to investigate the murder of a young girl.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Australia
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: detective, atmospheric, serious, captivating, tense, realistic, suspenseful, neo noir, thought provoking, disturbing
Similar in 84%
Deadlocked (2000)
Plot Summary:
A young man is accused of rape and murder and placed on trial. His father doesn't believe that he is guilty, so in act of desperation he grabs the bailiff's guns and takes the whole jury hostage and insists that the prosecuting attorney re-investigates the crime that his son's accused of.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 372
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Portugal, Germany, USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, bleak, psychological thriller, psycho film
Similar in 85%
Black and White (2002)
Plot Summary:
Australia, 1958. When a nine year old white girl is found murdered, police are quick to arrest illiterate Aborigine, Max Stuart. Under interrogation Max admits to the killing and signs a statement that will send him to the gallows. With no Court of Appeal established in the country, and with a legal system compromised by intimidation tactics and the stain of institutional racism, the skills of his two gifted but naive defense lawyers are put to the test. Based on a true story.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 861
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia, UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic
Similar in 75%
Jindabyne (2006)
Plot Summary:
Stewart Kane, an Irishman living in the Australian town of Jindabyne, is on a fishing trip in isolated hill country with three other men when they discover the body of a murdered girl in the river. Rather than return to the town immediately, they continue fishing and report their gruesome find days later. The story of a murder and a marriage - a film about the things that haunt us.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Australia
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: disturbing, serious, realistic, suspenseful, emotional, intense, contemplative, detective, surprise ending, psychological
Similar in 75%
Dream Lover (1993)
Plot Summary:
Ray is young, charming, successful and the owner of a prosperous architect company. However, he has recently gone trough a very painful divorce. His friends try to cheer him up by showing him the positive sides of being single but for Ray marriage and stability is just too important. But when he meets Lena his gloom is quickly forgotten.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sexy, serious, suspenseful, psychological, atmospheric, realistic, psychosexual thriller, sexual, erotic, neo noir
Similar in 78%
Jasper Jones (2017)
Plot Summary:
On the night that Jasper Jones, the town's mixed race outcast shows him the dead body of young Laura Wishart, Charlie's life is changed forever. Entrusted with this secret and believing Jasper to be innocent, Charlie embarks on a dangerous journey to find the true killer. Set over the scorching summer holidays of 1965, Charlie defeats the local racists, faces the breakup of his parents and falls head over heels in love as he discovers what it means to be truly courageous.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Australia
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, captivating, disturbing, suspense, independent film, tension
Similar in 81%
Deadline (2012)
Plot Summary:
Deadline is the story of the murder of an African American youth in rural Alabama that has gone uninvestigated, unsolved, and unpunished for almost twenty years. That changes when Nashville Times reporter Matt Harper (Steve Talley) meets an idealistic young blueblood bent on discovering the truth. Harper undertakes the investigation despite the opposition of his publisher, violent threats from mysterious forces, a break-up with his fiancée, and his father's cancer diagnosis.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 454
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 90%
Strange Fruit (2004)
Plot Summary:
New York attorney William Boyals has escaped the Louisiana bayou of his childhood, but he must return to investigate the death of a childhood friend who, like Boyals himself, was both black and gay.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 260
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, thought provoking, bleak, crying, independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 80%
The Perfect Husband: The Laci Peterson Story (2004)
Plot Summary:
Dean Cain portrays Scott Peterson, the California man accused of murdering his 8 month pregnant wife, Laci. Based on a true story.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: disturbing, tense, serious, suspenseful, bleak, emotional, realistic
Similar in 79%
Alexandra's Project (2003)
Plot Summary:
Steve is a man who has it all, a successful career, wonderful children, beautiful home and a loving wife. However, returning to his home after work on his birthday, he finds his house deserted and darkened with almost all the lightbulbs missing, all easy access outside cut off and a videotape waiting for him. Playing that tape, he watches a bizarre and grueling recording in which his wife explains her grievance with him, her reasons for disappearing with the children and her revenge for how he treated her in a way he would never forget.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Australia
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, suspenseful, bleak, enigmatic, captivating, controversial, art house, twisted, tense
Similar in 90%
Deep Water (2022)
Plot Summary:
Vic and Melinda Van Allen are a couple in the small town of Little Wesley. Their loveless marriage is held together only by a precarious arrangement whereby, in order to avoid the messiness of divorce, Melinda is allowed to take any number of lovers as long as she does not desert her family.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 55000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Australia, USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: suspense, psychological, surprise ending, dark, disturbing, captivating, sexy, slasher, crime drama, psychosexual thriller