Best movies like Desperate Hours

Similar in 78%

The Contract (2006)

Plot Summary:

Attempting to recover from a recent family trauma by escaping into the woods for a peaceful hiking trip, an ex-lawman and his young son stumble across a dangerous contract killer.

Similar in 78%

Johnny Handsome (1989)

Plot Summary:

A career criminal who has been deformed since birth is given a new face by a kindly doctor and paroled from prison. It appears that he has gone straight, but he is really planning his revenge on the man who killed his mentor and sent him to prison.

Similar in 85%

Oxygen (1999)

Plot Summary:

A masochistic cop, who hides her predilection from her cop husband, gets involved in pursuing a kidnapper nicknamed Harry for Harry Houdini.

Similar in 87%

Cohen and Tate (1988)

Plot Summary:

A boy kidnapped by two mismatched hitmen puts them at each other's throats while being driven to their employers, possibly to be killed. Cohen, an older professional becomes increasingly irritated with his partner Tate, a brutish killer, when their prisoner uses unnatural guile and resourcefulness to play them off against each other.

Similar in 80%

Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)

Plot Summary:

In Queens, Mike Keegan is celebrating with his wife Ellie, his son Tommy and friends his recent promotion to detective in a precinct in Manhattan. Meanwhile, in a fancy club, the socialite Claire Gregory witnesses the murder of the owner of the place by the powerful mobster Joey Venza. Mike is assigned to protect her in the night shift in her apartment in Manhattan. When Venza threatens Claire, the contact of Mike with Claire gets closer and conflicts him, dividing between the love for his family and the heat passion for Claire and the fascination for her world.

Similar in 88%

Trapped (2002)

Plot Summary:

When their daughter is kidnapped by experienced nappers (Bacon and Love), the Jennings' (Theron and Townsend) turn the tables on this seemingly foolproof plan.

Similar in 76%

Killshot (2008)

Plot Summary:

Beautiful Carmen Colson and her ironworker husband Wayne are placed in the Federal Witness Protection program after witnessing an "incident". Thinking they are at last safe, they are targeted by an experienced hit man and a psychopathic young upstart killer.

Similar in 90%

Unlawful Entry (1992)

Plot Summary:

After a break-in at their house, a couple gets help from one of the cops that answered their call. He helps them install the security system, and begins dropping by on short notice and unofficial patrol, and spends a lot of time discussing the couple's problems with the wife. The husband begins wondering if they're getting too much help.

Similar in 79%

White Sands (1992)

Plot Summary:

A small southwestern town sheriff finds a body in the desert with a suitcase and $500,000. He impersonates the man and stumbles into an FBI investigation.

Similar in 88%

Judgment Night (1993)

Plot Summary:

While racing to a boxing match, Frank, Mike, John and Rey get more than they bargained for. A wrong turn lands them directly in the path of Fallon, a vicious, wise-cracking drug lord. After accidentally witnessing Fallon murder a disloyal henchman, the four become his unwilling prey in a savage game of cat & mouse as they are mercilessly stalked through the urban jungle in this taut suspense drama.

Similar in 80%

Mercury Rising (1998)

Plot Summary:

Renegade FBI agent Art Jeffries protects a nine-year-old autistic boy who has cracked the government's new "unbreakable" code.

Similar in 83%

The Hunted (2003)

Plot Summary:

In the wilderness of British Columbia, two hunters are tracked and viciously murdered by Aaron Hallum. Former Special Operations instructor, L.T. Bonham is approached and asked to apprehend Hallum, his former student, who has 'gone rogue' after suffering severe battle stress from his time in Kosovo.

Similar in 76%

Hostage (2005)

Plot Summary:

When a mafia accountant is taken hostage on his beat, a police officer – wracked by guilt from a prior stint as a negotiator – must negotiate the standoff, even as his own family is held captive by the mob.

Similar in 76%

The Package (1989)

Plot Summary:

Experienced Green Beret sergeant Johnny Gallagher is escorting a prisoner, Airborne Ranger Thomas Boyette, back to the US, but Boyette escapes and Gallagher must risk life and limb to catch him.

Similar in 87%

To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)

Plot Summary:

A fearless Secret Service agent will stop at nothing to bring down the counterfeiter who killed his partner.

Similar in 75%

Shattered (2007)

Plot Summary:

A sociopathic kidnapper methodically pushes a desperate pair of parents to their absolute breaking point.

Similar in 82%

A Prayer for the Dying (1987)

Plot Summary:

Jack Higgins' straightforward thriller about a guilt-ridden IRA bomber forced into "one last job".

Similar in 78%

Blue Steel (1990)

Plot Summary:

A female rookie in the police force engages in a cat and mouse game with a pistol wielding psychopath who becomes obsessed with her.

Similar in 90%

Point Blank (1998)

Plot Summary:

Convicted corporate criminal Howard engineers a prison break as he and a number of fellow inmates are being transferred to a new facility. The escapees storm a shopping mall and take a group of shoppers hostage (after killing many more of them) before making their demands. Only Rudy, a former mercenary and brother of one of the fugitives, can take out the criminals before more of the hostages die.

Similar in 82%

Boiling Point (1993)

Plot Summary:

Red is an aging scam-artist who's just been released from prison together with Ronnie, a young and not-so-bright hoodlum who is easily manipulated. Their new business is to organize fake-money sales and then kill the buyer to take his money; but when Ronnie kills an undercover secret service agent, his partner Jimmy Mercer vows revenge and is given one week to catch the killers before being transferred. Written by Giancarlo Cairella.

Similar in 87%

Year of the Dragon (1985)

Plot Summary:

In New York, racist Capt. Stanley White becomes obsessed with destroying a Chinese-American drug ring run by Joey Tai, an up-and-coming young gangster as ambitious as he is ruthless. While pursuing an unauthorized investigation, White grows increasingly willing to violate police protocol, resorting to progressively violent measures -- even as his concerned wife, Connie, and his superiors beg him to consider the consequences of his actions.

Similar in 85%

Shoot to Kill (1988)

Plot Summary:

When a cunning murderer vanishes into the rugged mountains of the Pacific Northwest, pursuing FBI agent Warren Stantin must exchange familiar city streets for unknown wilderness trails. Completely out of his element, Stantin is forced to enlist the aid of expert tracker Jonathan Knox. It's a turbulent yet vital relationship they must maintain in order to survive... and one that becomes increasingly desperate when Knox's girlfriend Sarah becomes the killer's latest hostage!.

Similar in 78%

Trespass (2011)

Plot Summary:

Kyle (Nicolas Cage) and Sarah Miller (Nicole Kidman) have it all: a huge gated house on the water, fancy cars, and the potential for romance in their relationship. He's just back from a business trip (he brokers diamonds) and their teen daughter Avery (Liana Liberato) is sneaking out to a party, when four thugs in security uniforms and ski masks stage a home invasion. They want what's in the safe: cash and diamonds. As Kyle stalls them, trying to negotiate for Sarah's freedom, the fault lines in Kyle and Sarah's marriage and the pasts of the four robbers come into play. Is there room here for heroism?.

Similar in 89%

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)

Plot Summary:

Armed men hijack a New York City subway train, holding the passengers hostage in return for a ransom, and turning an ordinary day's work for dispatcher Walter Garber into a face-off with the mastermind behind the crime.

Similar in 79%

Fracture (2007)

Plot Summary:

A husband is on trial for the attempted murder of his wife, in what is seemingly an open/shut case for the ambitious district attorney trying to put him away. However, there are surprises for both around every corner, and, as a suspenseful game of cat-and-mouse is played out, each must manipulate and outwit the other.

Similar in 76%

Red Dragon (2002)

Plot Summary:

Former FBI Agent Will Graham, who was once almost killed by the savage Hannibal 'The Cannibal' Lecter, now has no choice but to face him again, as it seems Lecter is the only one who can help Graham track down a new serial killer.

Similar in 82%

Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

Plot Summary:

A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free. He targets not only the killer but also the district attorney and others involved in the deal.

Similar in 82%

A History of Violence (2005)

Plot Summary:

An average family is thrust into the spotlight after the father commits a seemingly self-defense murder at his diner.

Similar in 84%

Hannibal (2001)

Plot Summary:

After having successfully eluded the authorities for years, Hannibal peacefully lives in Italy in disguise as an art scholar. Trouble strikes again when he's discovered leaving a deserving few dead in the process. He returns to America to make contact with now disgraced Agent Clarice Starling, who is suffering the wrath of a malicious FBI rival as well as the media.

Similar in 88%

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Plot Summary:

FBI trainee, Clarice Starling ventures into a maximum-security asylum to pick the diseased brain of Hannibal Lecter, a psychiatrist turned homicidal cannibal. Starling needs clues to help her capture a serial killer. But her Faustian relationship with Lecter soon leads to his escape, and now two deranged killers are on the loose.