Best movies like Hell Behind the Bars
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A woman murders her boyfriends and steals some diamonds he has smuggled. She gets found out though, and locked in a prison with an evil sadistic lesbian warden. She immediately sets about planning her escape with some of her fellow inmates, but the plans are even more difficult than they seemed when set in motion.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 343
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Italy
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, sexploitation film
Best tv shows and movies like Hell Behind the Bars (1984):
Similar in 88%
Caged Heat II: Stripped of Freedom (1994)
Plot Summary:
King Lim is the oppressive ruler of a country on the verge of revolution. The CIA arranges a fake assassination to get him safely out of the country, but his daughter is captured in the ensuing melee and sent to The Rock, an island penitentiary known for its harshness. Agent Amanda commits a local crime in order to infiltrate the prison and rescue Princess Marga. Within, she predictably encounters official corruption, shifting allegiances, and a sleazy warden that make her task more challenging.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 445
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: Philippines, USA
Duration: 72 min
Plot tags: psychotronic, independent film, sexploitation film, cult film
Similar in 80%
Savage Island (1985)
Plot Summary:
Women who have been captured and sold as slave labor to a South American emerald mine hatch a plan for revolution and revenge.
IMDB Rating: 3.3
IMDB Votes: 800
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Italy, USA
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: erotic, independent film, exciting, serious, realistic, psychotronic, grindhouse
Similar in 78%
Jailbirds (1978)
Plot Summary:
Four female convicts break out of prison, and during their escape they take hostage a bus full of young female tennis players. They drive the bus to the house of the judge who originally sent them to prison, where--since this is after all a women-in-prison picture--the hostages undergo various forms of physical and sexual abuse in various degrees of nudity.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 339
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: suspense, sensual, sexploitation film
Similar in 75%
Caged Women in Purgatory (1991)
Plot Summary:
Former Miss Spanish Basque Country, Pilar Orive, stars as American Janet Cooper who is drugged and shipped to a remote women's prison managed by a sleazy warden and a Nazi-type lesbian guard. 90 minute of graphic sexual abuse ensue.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 318
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Italy, Portugal
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: grindhouse
Similar in 86%
The Naked Cage (1986)
Plot Summary:
A young woman is falsely convicted of a bank robbery and sent to a maximum-security prison run by a corrupt warden, where she is forced to suffer various indignities.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 839
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychotronic, rough, suspenseful, grindhouse, sensual, cult classic, independent film, sexploitation film
Similar in 77%
The Concrete Jungle (1982)
Plot Summary:
An unfortunate and naive girl is set-up by her boyfriend and convicted of drug smuggling. She is sent to a women's correctional facility where she must constantly struggle to survive.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 803
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexy, soap opera, cult classic, psychotronic, independent film, grindhouse, sexploitation film, cult film
Similar in 84%
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 83%
The Jail: The Women's Hell (2006)
Plot Summary:
Three women are sent by steamboat to an undisclosed jungle prison called "The Home of Lost Souls". Here they experience the usual beatings, whippings, cat fights and humiliations. The butch warden has a deal on the side with a local pimp who forces them to dance in bikinis at a nightclub and sexually service the patrons. Tired of cages, rape, torture and rats, the girls kill the resident snitch and escape into the jungle.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 212
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror
Country: Italy
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: suspense, rough, brutal, suspenseful, sadistic, disturbing, bloody
Similar in 75%
Under Lock and Key (1995)
Plot Summary:
An FBI agent goes undercover in a women's prison to find evidence hidden by a drug dealer's ex-girlfriend. After she is taken off the case, she finds that the drug dealer has kidnapped her daughter. She enlists the help of one of her prison guards, and together they take on the drug dealer's mob.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 322
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 90%
99 Women (1969)
Plot Summary:
Jesus Franco's campy women's prison film is worthwhile for genre devotees primarily due to an outstanding cast. Mercedes McCambridge is unintentionally hilarious as sadistic lesbian warden Thelma Diaz, spitting tacky dialogue with exuberant venom in a performance so overbearing that it verges on classic. The plot is standard for the genre, as three women (Maria Rohm, Elisa Montes, Luciana Paluzzi) are sentenced to an island prison off the Panamanian coast, only to encounter torture, rape, and lesbianism. When sympathetic Warden Caroll (Maria Schell) replaces Diaz, the prisoners assume that conditions will improve, but their agony only worsens until they decide to escape. Rosalba Neri co-stars, and Herbert Lom runs the corrupt men's prison nearby. 99 Mujeres was heavily censored in various prints, with versions running anywhere between 70 and 108 minutes. Edits running 84, 86, and 94 minutes are most commonly available.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror
Country: UK, Italy, West Germany, Spain
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: erotic, grindhouse, psychotronic, suspense, disturbing, sensual, cult classic, explicit, independent film, rough
Similar in 79%
Hell Penitentiary (1984)
Plot Summary:
When her sister turns up dead, Julia (Linda Jones) tries to convince the cops that a notorious gangster is to blame by going undercover as a prisoner to unearth the only witness to the crime. Problems arise when the sexually perverse warden (Rita Silva) adopts Julia as her new plaything and throws her noble mission off-course. Ajita Wilson and Alessandro Freyberger co-star in this erotically charged thriller.
IMDB Rating: 3.3
IMDB Votes: 237
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Italy
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sexploitation film
Similar in 78%
Fugitive Rage (1996)
Plot Summary:
No overview found.
IMDB Rating: 3.6
IMDB Votes: 364
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: independent film, sexploitation film
Similar in 81%
Women's Prison Massacre (1983)
Plot Summary:
Emanuelle, a reporter, comes just a little too close to exposing a corrupt official, and is sent to prison on trumped-up charges. In the prison, the inmates are constantly humiliated and tortured by the prison staff. Overly affectionate prisoners are forced underwater, while others are obliged to look on. Emanuelle finds an enemy in the deranged Albina, who "runs the prison." For the pleasure of the warden, Emanuelle and Albina are forced to fight each other with knives. Bad becomes worse when four men awaiting execution escape and take over the prison. Gore flows like water.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: suspense, sensual, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, sexual, erotic, sexy
Similar in 84%
Hellhole Women (1981)
Plot Summary:
Soon after newlyweds Olga and Michel set foot on the grounds of a notorious women's prison, they're arrested by topless guards and ushered behind bars where the warden quickly dismisses Michel but demands that Olga do a little time.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Spain, West Germany
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexy, sexual, disturbing, sensual, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, controversial
Similar in 88%
Chained Heat II (1993)
Plot Summary:
An American tourist lands in a Slavic prison run by a twisted woman and the U.S. ambassador.
IMDB Rating: 3.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada, Czech Republic
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sexy, erotic, grindhouse, sensual, independent film, rough, serious, realistic, sexual, psychotronic
Similar in 89%
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 80%
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 79%
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 90%
Women in Fury (1984)
Plot Summary:
The young, pretty and shy Angela Duvall is jailed for murder in some Latin American country. In the prison she gets brutally "initiated" by the other inmates. The nice, honest and handsome prison doctor believe she's innocent and tries to help her out.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 493
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Italy, Brazil
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sexy, erotic, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, sexual, sexploitation film, campy
Similar in 79%
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 75%
The Big Bird Cage (1972)
Plot Summary:
Grier and Haig are thieving mercenaries who engineer a prison break from the outside.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Philippines, USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, psychotronic, independent film, erotic, parody, sexy
Similar in 77%
The Big Doll House (1971)
Plot Summary:
Female prisoners in a Phillippine jail are being subjected to sadistic torture. Five of the women--along with the help of two men--plot an escape.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Philippines, USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, art house, cult classic, rough, offbeat, serious, realistic, suspenseful, surprise ending, psychotronic
Similar in 89%
Marked Man (1996)
Plot Summary:
A jailed auto mechanic must run for his life after he witnesses the murder of a fellow inmate by two prison guards.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 351
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, campy
Similar in 81%
Emmanuelle in Hell (1982)
Plot Summary:
Emanuelle goes undercover into a prison to expose the corrupted officials who are brutalizing the inmates. Emanuelle is shocked by the horrors and humiliation the prisoners are subjected to, but when her true identity is discovered, she finds herself at the receiving end.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 959
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: rough, suspenseful, bleak, disturbing, psychotronic, bloody, suspense, cult classic, disgusting, erotic
Similar in 78%
Vendetta (1986)
Plot Summary:
A sexy stuntwoman gets herself thrown into prison to avenge the death of her sister.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 596
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, independent film, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 81%
School for Unclaimed Girls (1969)
Plot Summary:
A gold digging man seduces a widow for her money, and also makes a pass at her teenage Daughter, the Daughter plans a terrible revenge.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 212
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 84%
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 88%
The Crew (2008)
Plot Summary:
Hoping to raise enough capital to finance a legitimate business and leave behind his life of crime, Liverpool underworld boss Ged Brennan sends his brother Ratter and a crew to pull a daring final heist. But when Ratter kills a drug kingpin during the job, Brennan must turn to rival crook Franner to avert an all-out gangland war.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, serious, suspenseful, crime drama
Similar in 80%
The Escapist (2002)
Plot Summary:
Denis Hopkins, a pilot, lives with his pregnant wife Valerie and has a comfortable lifestyle. When a gang of criminals led by the sadistic Ricky Barnes breaks into his home, he offers whatever the criminals want to protect his wife and unborn child, but the evil Ricky kills Valerie anyway. Their baby is saved, and later Barnes is arrested and sentenced to life in the maximum security prison, Sullen Voe. Denis fakes his own suicide, then assaults a police car in order to get himself arrested and sent to prison with the intention of tracking down and killing Ricky Barnes. He does not reveal his true name and is called John "What" by the prisoners and guards. Denis escapes from successive prisons, forcing his eventual transfer to Sullen Voe. When he reaches his objective, Ricky Barnes schedules a confrontation, but things do not quite turn out the way Denis had expected.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, tense, serious, rough
Similar in 83%
Purgatory (1988)
Plot Summary:
Two Peace Corps volunteers in Africa are framed and put into an oppressive women's prison.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 363
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: South Africa
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, psychotronic, grindhouse