Best movies like Death by Hanging
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A Korean man is sentenced to death by hanging, but he survives the execution. For the following two hours, his executioners try to work out how to handle the situation in this black farce.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, mind bending, psychedelic, experimental, surreal, black comedy, weird, cult film
Best tv shows and movies like Death by Hanging (1968):
Similar in 88%
Three Resurrected Drunkards (1968)
Plot Summary:
Three students spend their holidays at the seaside where they are mistaken for Koreans, a minority which is looked down on in Japan. The action develops into a crime story.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 691
Genere: Action, Comedy
Country: Japan
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: offbeat, humorous, realistic, surreal, witty, semi serious, biting, black comedy, slapstick comedy, slapstick
Similar in 81%
The Crazy Family (1984)
Plot Summary:
The Kobayashi family finally get the chance to move out of their tiny, cramped Tokyo apartment in favour of the suburban house of their dreams. But all is not well: the house is infested by termites and the family starts cracking up: Son Masaki is studying so obsessively for his exams that he's losing his mind; daughter Erika is oblivious of all but her forthcoming record company audition, grandfather Yasukuni starts getting World War II flashbacks and father Katsuhiko is so worried about his family's "sickness" that he thinks can only be cured by group suicide.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 950
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, deep, surprise ending, manga, allegory, black comedy, weird, cult film
Similar in 83%
Dear Summer Sister (1972)
Plot Summary:
Sunaoko come to Okinawa to find his brother Tsuruo. Her searching is not very painless because it tears up old wounds in complicated relationships, some of which date back to the horrors of war.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 218
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
The Man Who Left His Will on Film (1970)
Plot Summary:
A metaphysical mystery involving a university student's camera getting stolen, and the thief then committing suicide. Looking back upon the event, the situation comes to be questioned if it happened at all.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 776
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, weird
Similar in 84%
Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1969)
Plot Summary:
This is the story of a bookstore thief named Birdy, who is led through various adventures in Tokyo's Shinjuku district by salesgirl Umeko.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 817
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: experimental, avant garde, weird
Similar in 76%
Dead Man Out (1989)
Plot Summary:
A psychiatrist is sent to evaluate if a convicted multiple murderer who's awaiting execution on Death Row for eighth year now and whose behavior during that time got more and more erratic is still mentally fit to be executed.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 395
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
The Ceremony (1971)
Plot Summary:
Oshima’s magisterial epic, centering on the ambivalent surviving heir of the Sakurada clan, uses ritual and the microcosm of the traditional family to trace the rise and fall of militaristic Japan across several decades.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: spiritual, avant garde, cult film
Similar in 76%
Happy End (1967)
Plot Summary:
A dark comedy about a murder and its consequences presented in a backwards manner, where death is actually a rebirth. The film starts with an "execution" of the main protagonist and goes back to explore his previous actions and motivations.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: Czechoslovakia
Duration: 71 min
Plot tags: experimental, black comedy, absurd, dark fantasy, avant garde, psychotronic, slapstick comedy, dark comedy, metafiction, alternative comedy
Similar in 86%
Pitfall (1962)
Plot Summary:
A man wanders into a seemingly deserted town with his young son in search of work. But after a bit of bad luck, he joins the town's population of lost souls.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Fantasy
Country: Japan
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: surreal, mind bending, psychedelic, depressing, experimental, avant garde, atmospheric, rough, offbeat, bleak
Similar in 81%
Sing a Song of Sex (1967)
Plot Summary:
Four sexually hungry high school students preparing for their university entrance exams meet up with an inebriated teacher singing bawdy drinking songs. This encounter sets them on a less than academic path.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 853
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: absurd, erotic, touching, serious, realistic, stylized, sexual, suspense, sexy, weird
Similar in 87%
Japanese Summer: Double Suicide (1967)
Plot Summary:
A sex-obsessed young woman, a suicidal young man she meets on the street, a gun-crazy wannabe gangster—these are just three of the irrational, oddball anarchists trapped in an underground hideaway in Oshima’s devilish, absurdist portrait of what he deemed the “death drive” in Japanese youth culture.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 855
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: political, psychological, tense, atmospheric, offbeat, serious, realistic, surreal, stylized, allegory
Similar in 80%
Violence at Noon (1966)
Plot Summary:
Hakuchu no Torima" is the portrayal of a violent rapist as seen through the recollections of his wife and one of his victims. As the film starts, Eisuke (Kei Sato) encounters Shino (Saeda Kawaguchi), who works as a maid in a house. She is a former coworker from a failed collective farm, whose life he once saved -- only to rape her. Soon, Eisuke's criminal pattern of rapes and murders emerges as he goes on assaulting women (Shino being the witness of one of them, as Eisuke tries to violate her employer). When cooperating with the police on making a description of the rapist, Shino withholds her crucial knowledge of his identity. She prefers writing letters to Eisuke's dutiful wife, Matsuko, a schoolteacher (Akiko Koyama -- Mrs Oshima), in order to expose his true nature and perhaps induce her into turning Eisuke over to the police.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing, detective, weird
Similar in 83%
A Report on the Party and the Guests (1966)
Plot Summary:
In Jan Němec’s surreal fable, a picnic is rudely transformed into a lesson in political hierarchy when a handful of mysterious authority figures show up. This allegory about oppression and conformity was banned in its home country but became an international success after it premiered at the New York Film Festival.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Czechoslovakia
Duration: 71 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, cult classic, mind bending, psychedelic, spiritual, surreal, crying, allegory, weird
Similar in 75%
Dillinger Is Dead (1969)
Plot Summary:
Back home, Glauco, an industrial designer, finds his wife in bed with a serious headache. She has left him dinner but it is cold and Glauco decides to prepare himself a gourmet meal.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: experimental, cult classic, mind bending, psychedelic, surreal, poliziottesco, clever, offbeat, humorous, realistic
Similar in 77%
Adam's Apples (2005)
Plot Summary:
A neo-nazi sentenced to community service at a church clashes with the blindly devotional priest.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 54000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: Denmark, Germany
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, humorous, surreal, black comedy, psychological, intellectual, dark, offbeat, realistic, witty
Similar in 80%
R100 (2013)
Plot Summary:
Ruthless dominatrixes pursue a mild-mannered salesman who wants to get out of his unbreakable contract with a secret bondage club.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: surreal, psychological, atmospheric, humorous, stylized, semi serious, sexy, erotic, psychedelic, controversial
Similar in 80%
Pastoral Hide and Seek (1974)
Plot Summary:
A young boys' coming of age tale set in a strange, carnivalesque village becomes the recreation of a memory that the director has twenty years later.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy
Country: Japan
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: surreal, experimental, psychedelic, mind bending, disturbing, avant garde, weird, cult film
Similar in 85%
Boy (1969)
Plot Summary:
A family of four lives off of scams in which they pretend to be injured by automobiles. After suffering an injury during the war, the father believes he is an invalid. He and his wife have a 10-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl. The adults pretend to be injured by autos in crowded traffic, blackmailing the fearful motorists with threats to call in the police.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: experimental, atmospheric, thought provoking, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy, cult film
Similar in 81%
Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970)
Plot Summary:
The inhabitants of an institution in a remote country rebel against their keepers. Their acts of rebellion are by turns humorous, boring and alarming. An allegory on the problematic nature of fully liberating the human spirit, as both commendable and disturbing elements of our nature come forward. The film shows how justifiable revolt may be empowering, but may also turn to chaos and depravity. The allegory is developed in part by the fact that the film is cast entirely with dwarfs.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: West Germany
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: black and white, cult classic, surreal, disturbing, art house, black comedy, atmospheric, experimental, dark comedy, mind bending
Similar in 76%
The Pornographers (1966)
Plot Summary:
Subu makes pornographic films. He sees nothing wrong with it. They are an aid to a repressed society, and he uses the money to support his landlady, Haru, and her family. From time to time, Haru shares her bed with Subu, though she believes her dead husband, reincarnated as a carp, disapproves. Director Shohei Imamura has always delighted in the kinky exploits of lowlifes, and in this 1966 classic, he finds subversive humor in the bizarre dynamics of Haru, her Oedipal son, and her daughter, the true object of her pornographer-boyfriend’s obsession. Imamura’s comic treatment of such taboos as voyeurism and incest sparked controversy when the film was released, but The Pornographers has outlasted its critics, and now seems frankly ahead of its time.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: surreal, dark comedy, erotic, mind bending, psychedelic, cult classic, erotic drama, clever, offbeat, humorous
Similar in 77%
Mr. Freedom (1968)
Plot Summary:
A pro-America superhero destroys France to prevent Communists from taking over.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: black comedy, mind bending, psychedelic, political, surreal, satirical, psychotronic, spoof, avant garde, parody
Similar in 78%
Pleasures of the Flesh (1965)
Plot Summary:
A corrupt businessman blackmails the lovelorn reprobate Atsushi into watching over his suitcase full of embezzled cash while he serves a jail sentence. Rather than wait for the man to retrieve his money, however, Atsushi decides to spend it all in one libidinous rush—fully expecting to be tracked down and killed.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, captivating, suspenseful, bleak, realistic, sexual, black comedy, dark comedy, sexy
Similar in 75%
The Bus (1975)
Plot Summary:
A group of illegal immigrants are brought to Stockholm in a bus by a smuggler who takes all their money and passports, and then runs away.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: Switzerland, Turkey
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: sad, art house, comedy drama, black comedy, dark comedy
Similar in 79%
The Witness (1969)
Plot Summary:
Known as the best satire about communism, banned for over a decade in Hungary. 'The Witness' has become a cult classic, well received by critics and general audiences when it was finally released outside of Hungary. 'The Witness' takes place during the height of the Rákosi Era, which was closely modeled after the ruthless and brutal Stalin regime. The film follows the life of an ordinary dike keeper, József Pelikán, who has been caught for illegally slaughtering his pig, Dezsõ. Instead of doing hard time for his "heinous" crime, Pelikán is elevated into an important position, generally reserved for the communist elite. His new benefactor, the mysterious Comrade Virág, is reluctant to reveal the real reason behind Pelikán's preferential treatment. Thus, begins Pelikán's hilarious adventure deep within the "sophisticated" communist society... Until one day, when he gets called for to return the "favour" by falsely testifying against his long-time friend in a mock-up show trial.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Comedy
Country: Hungary
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: satirical, parody, black comedy, cult classic, dark comedy, thought provoking, clever, offbeat, humorous, realistic
Similar in 88%
Human Nature (2001)
Plot Summary:
A philosophical burlesque, Human Nature follows the ups and downs of an obsessive scientist, a female naturalist, and the man they discover, born and raised in the wild. As scientist Nathan trains the wild man, Puff, in the ways of the world - starting with table manners - Nathan's lover Lila fights to preserve the man's simian past, which represents a freedom enviable to most.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France, USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: surreal, humorous, philosophical, witty, semi serious, psychological, black comedy, dark comedy, clever, talky
Similar in 79%
Weekend (1967)
Plot Summary:
A supposedly idyllic weekend trip to the countryside turns into a never-ending nightmare of traffic jams, revolution, cannibalism and murder as French bourgeois society starts to collapse under the weight of its own consumer preoccupations.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: black comedy, road movie, surreal, disturbing, experimental, art house, avant garde, political, absurd, controversial
Similar in 89%
Man Bites Dog (1992)
Plot Summary:
The activities of rampaging, indiscriminate serial killer Ben are recorded by a willingly complicit documentary team, who eventually become his accomplices and active participants. Ben provides casual commentary on the nature of his work and arbitrary musings on topics of interest to him, such as music or the conditions of low-income housing, and even goes so far as to introduce the documentary crew to his family. But their reckless indulgences soon get the better of them.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 43000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: Belgium
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: mockumentary, dark comedy, black comedy, disturbing, black and white, humorous, controversial, stylized, cult classic, atmospheric
Similar in 75%
A Short Film About Killing (1988)
Plot Summary:
Jacek climbs into the taxi driven by Waldemar, tells him to drive to a remote location, then brutally strangles him, seemingly without motive.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: disturbing, bleak, contemplative, social, psychological, psychological thriller, philosophical, offbeat, neo noir, sad
Similar in 75%
Conspirators of Pleasure (1996)
Plot Summary:
Six outwardly average individuals have elaborate fetishes they indulge with surreptitious care. A mousy letter carrier makes dough balls she grotesquely ingests before bed. A shop clerk fixates on a TV news reader while he builds a machine to massage and masturbate him. One of his customers makes an elaborate chicken costume for a voodoo-like scene with a doll resembling his plump neighbor. She, in turn, has a doll that resembles him, which she whips and dominates in an abandoned church. The TV news reader has her own fantasy involving carp. Her husband, who is indifferent to her, steals materials to fashion elaborate artifacts that he rubs, scrapes and rolls across his body.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Czech Republic, Switzerland, UK
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: surreal, experimental, sexy, dark comedy, psychedelic, psychotronic, sex comedy, erotic, mind bending, gothic
Similar in 75%
The Doom Generation (1995)
Plot Summary:
Jordan White and Amy Blue, two troubled teens, pick up an adolescent drifter, Xavier Red. Together, the threesome embark on a sex and violence-filled journey through an America of psychos and quickiemarts.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: USA, France
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: erotic, disturbing, dark comedy, surreal, art house, cult classic, artsy, teen, black comedy, gothic