Best movies like In the Shadows
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies similar to In the Shadows? Share your expertise to lead others find tv series and movies you've viewed already that might suit them too. Aid in growing the cohort of people putting forward videos to one another. We welcome your contribution!
Plot Summary:
When a stunt man dies in Miami, his uncle, a New York mob boss, sends a hit man to tail the stunt coordinator, whom the boss wants dead. The hit man, Eric O'Bryne, gets close to his mark's daughter, and through her he asks her dad to teach him to do stunts. While waiting for the word to kill this mentor, Eric discovers the joy of stunt work and of being part of a family. Meanwhile, several people are looking for the dead man's briefcase of money and a cloth bag of illegal drugs that he stole from an undercover FBI agent now desperate to get the borrowed drugs back to the bureau. The stunt coordinator says that 'we dance in the shadows of death.' Can Eric step out into the sun?.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 991
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Best tv shows and movies like In the Shadows (2001):
Similar in 85%
Protection (2001)
Plot Summary:
A mobster moves to a new town as a protected witness and tries to start over, only to find he can't escape his old ways.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 440
Genere: Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 75%
Bad Guys (1995)
Plot Summary:
On the run from a drug deal gone wrong, a beautiful young woman escapes across the border only to find herself trapped in a dangerous web of intrigue and deceit in old Mexico.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 407
Genere: Drama, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: independent film, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 78%
Tough Luck (2003)
Plot Summary:
A tense and intricate web of deceit and betrayal entangles Archie, a wandering grifter who is hired by a traveling carnival owner to murder his beautiful wife.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, suspenseful, serious, erotic, neo noir, independent film
Similar in 80%
29 Palms (2002)
Plot Summary:
When a bag filled with money goes missing from a casino, the Hitman (Chris O'Donnell) must retrieve it. While he tracks the stash down, the bag changes hands numerous times, finding its way to the Drifter (Jeremy Davies) and the Waitress (Rachael Leigh Cook), among others. As the bag's journey continues, more characters, including the Cop (Michael Rapaport) and the Sheriff (Keith David), get drawn into the winding crime tale, and the search becomes increasingly desperate.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, realistic, fast, romantic
Similar in 81%
If... Dog... Rabbit (1999)
Plot Summary:
Johnnie Cooper served time for an armed robbery that also his father and brother participated in. When he's released from jail he's determined to live a normal life and gets work at a gas station. But soon his brother pays a visit.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 602
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: independent film, tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 81%
Moscow Chill (2007)
Plot Summary:
A loner American computer hacker is brought to Russia to commit bank fraud, only to find a family and love in the incomprehensible, violent, and chaotic Moscow underworld.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 707
Genere: Thriller, Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: rough, exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
Assassins' Code (2011)
Plot Summary:
A corporate assassination forces opportunistic double agents from three nations to fight to retrieve a high-tech computer disk containing schematics for a deadly weapon.
IMDB Rating: 3.2
IMDB Votes: 190
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, suspenseful, tense, suspense, rough, realistic
Similar in 76%
Hard Luck (2006)
Plot Summary:
Three converging story lines involving bootleggers, a serial killer and drug dealers are followed. A former drug dealer tries to go straight, but comes across a stash of stolen drugs. Meanwhile, a middle-aged suburban housewife hides a sadistic and vicious streak.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: suspense, serious, suspenseful, realistic
Similar in 75%
Toxic (2008)
Plot Summary:
The lives of a nightclub owner, a crime boss, a stripper, a bartender, two hitmen, a prostitute and a psychic take a turn for the worse when they are trapped in an escaped mental patient's sinister path of madness and destruction.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 968
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, suspenseful, realistic, independent film, fast
Similar in 83%
Tell (2014)
Plot Summary:
Ethan Tell is a small time crook who makes a big-time score when he steals 1 million dollars. Ironically, his life radically changes for the worst when he discovers that stealing the money was the easy part and he now must keep his partner, his wife, his parole officer, and two corrupt detectives from stealing it from him.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, captivating, independent film
Similar in 87%
A Cold Day in August (2003)
Plot Summary:
One day in the life of a hit man, Ronnie, who spends it trying to save the life of fellow hit man, August, who he had brought into the business three years ago. August has become a real problem for some of the bosses around town, and Ronnie will soon find out just what his Frankenstein's monster will cost him.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 644
Genere: Action, Comedy, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: semi serious, humorous, realistic, exciting, tense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 75%
Ready 2 Die (2014)
Plot Summary:
After a violent bank robbery, the trio of hoods make their way across East L.A. carrying a blood-soaked bag of money. When word gets out, they must fend off gangs and crooked cops alike as they strive to keep the loot and stay alive.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 851
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, exciting, realistic, crime drama, independent film
Similar in 79%
Backflash (2001)
Plot Summary:
A woman is released from prison and heads home to help outwit a local mob boss and pull off the scam of a lifetime.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 723
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, suspense, action packed, realistic
Similar in 76%
Man with a Gun (1995)
Plot Summary:
Madsen plays an assassin who's hired to kill the woman he loves.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 656
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: suspense, independent film, tense, noir, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
Federal Protection (2002)
Plot Summary:
"Chop Chop" Frankie Carbone has made a career out of stealing cars for the mob in Chicago. An attempted assassination by a mob boss goes badly and Frankie retaliates, only to wind up in the hands of the Feds. Frankie agrees to testify against the mobsters and his life is suddenly worthless - unless he submits to going into federal protection. The FBI gives him a new name - Howard Akers - and relocates him to a sleepy middle-class suburb in Little Rock, AR. Howard catches the attention of his lovely neighbor, Leigh, a bored fund-raiser for a non-profit zoo whose husband, Dennis, is having an affair - and she knows it, but she doesn't know it's with her hot-blooded sister, Bootsie. Leigh becomes friends with the enigmatic Howard, but Dennis and Bootsie see an opportunity to earn the million-dollar bounty the mob has put on his head by turning him in to the mob.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 891
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, serious, touching, exciting
Similar in 89%
Blood Crime (2002)
Plot Summary:
For burned-out Seattle cop Daniel Pruitt, a camping trip turns hellish when his wife, Jessica, is savagely attacked in the forest. En route to the hospital, the Pruitts collide with a semi, and Jessica identifies the driver as her assailant. Enraged, Pruitt pummels the man. Once at the ER, however, she changes her mind and names a male nurse as her attacker. But before Pruitt can make amends, he learns that his victim, the son of Sheriff Morgan McKenna, is dead.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 670
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense
Similar in 86%
Secrets From Her Past (2011)
Plot Summary:
Ten years ago, Kate Collins (Ashley Jones) was a different person. Literally. She was living in Chicago, working as a bartender, and going by her real name ‘Stephanie Wickers.’ That all changed when she witnessed the murder of her boss by a ruthless member of an up and coming crime syndicate named Alek Ravik (Al Sapienza). Knowing that Klebanov saw her, she faked her death, changed her name, and went into hiding in Philadelphia. When a crooked cop retires and young, eager Detective Miesen (Alain Chanoine) is chosen to head a new task force to tackle crime syndicates in Chicago, the unsolved murder case is reopened. Miesen believes that Kate/Stephanie is still alive and begins to look for her. Unfortunately, so does Alek.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 287
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: tense, suspenseful, captivating, suspense, serious, realistic
Similar in 83%
Betrayal (2003)
Plot Summary:
When one of her hits goes wrong, a professional assassin ends up with a suitcase full of a million dollars belonging to a mob boss.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, rough, realistic, serious, spoof, parody
Similar in 82%
Sunset Heat (1992)
Plot Summary:
A former drug-dealer photojournalist (Michael Paré) returns to Los Angeles and helps friends terrorized by his ex-partner (Dennis Hopper).
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 480
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: erotic, independent film, neo noir, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 86%
Double Bang (2001)
Plot Summary:
An honest cop enters the dark world of murder and corruption.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 463
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 75%
Back in the Day (2005)
Plot Summary:
A young man slides back into a life of crime after reuniting with a shady acquaintance from his past.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 800
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: rough, suspenseful, serious, realistic, hood, neo noir
Similar in 88%
Good Chemistry (2008)
Plot Summary:
After picking up an alluring woman,Toby, a gifted chemist slumming as a high school teacher, is kidnapped by her violent boyfriend and ordered to use his skills to create methamphetamine for a group of drug traffickers. When Toby refuses, his nightmare only worsens.
IMDB Rating: 3.0
IMDB Votes: 160
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, rough, realistic, suspenseful, suspense
Similar in 90%
Perfect Witness (1989)
Plot Summary:
A witness to a mob killing has second thoughts about testifying when he realizes his family might become a target.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 479
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 88%
Across the Line: The Exodus of Charlie Wright (2010)
Plot Summary:
The story centers on Charlie, a Los Angeles billionaire financial whiz who goes into self-imposed exile in Tijuana after his empire is revealed to have been a Ponzi scheme. While looking for the woman he abandoned there 25 years before, Charlie is pursued by a Mexican gangster, a federal agent and thugs sent by a former client looking to retrieve his money.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, captivating, tense, crime drama, rough, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 87%
Absolute Deception (2013)
Plot Summary:
A widowed reporter recruits the help of a federal agent to investigate her late husband's secrets, but the two become the target of unknown attackers. When FBI Agent John Nelson’s key informant, Miles, is abducted and shot, all that’s left is a severed finger. In order to find a new lead, Nelson travels to New York City to inform widowed magazine reporter Rebecca Scott that her long dead husband, Miles, had only recently been murdered to see if she had heard from him in recent years. Perplexed, Scott joins Agent Nelson in the wealthy enclave of Australia’s Gold Coast to find out what really happened. The two soon discover Miles may have been part of an elaborate “Ponzi scheme” to bilk investors, and a vengeful billionaire, out of millions of dollars. As more layers of Miles’ secret life are exposed, can the two stay ahead of the mysterious attackers who will stop at nothing to halt their investigation?.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Australia, Canada
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, tense, exciting, mind bending
Similar in 77%
Fatwa (2006)
Plot Summary:
In the midst of a personal crisis, junior senator Maggie Davidson (Holly) ascertains that she's the subject of a terrorist plot.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 482
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, psychological, suspense, independent film, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 89%
Illegal Tender (2007)
Plot Summary:
After the gangsters who killed his father come to settle a score, a teenage boy and his mother turn the tables on the killers - one Latino family's quest for honor and revenge as the hunted become the hunters.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, captivating, psychological, suspense, crime drama, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 90%
Monument Ave. (1998)
Plot Summary:
Bobby O'Grady a low level member of a Boston Irish gang run by Jackie O'Hara. Jackie demands absolute, total loyalty to him. When Jackie kills one of Bobby's buddies, Teddy, Bobby and others have to keep it an absolute secret, even from their and Teddy's relatives.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, suspenseful, tense, serious, independent film, neo noir, cult classic, rough, bleak, realistic
Similar in 86%
The Gunman (2004)
Plot Summary:
When Detective Ben Simm's wife is killed, he has to learn to be both father and mother to his little girl while searching for a Vigilante that has his own sense of justice.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 465
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: disturbing, tense, serious, suspenseful, independent film, bleak, realistic
Similar in 84%
Snitch'd (2003)
Plot Summary:
When the South Side Gang and the Cut Throat Mafia start a drug war at a local high school in Santa Ana, CA, detective McClure goes undercover to investigate the brutal murder of a young Latina student. The gang members are the key suspects but nobody is talking. And as McClure continues to dig for answers, it becomes clear that the two gangs are fighting for territory - and nobody is getting in their way.
IMDB Rating: 2.1
IMDB Votes: 205
Genere: Action, Adventure, Thriller, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film, bleak