Best movies like Memories of Murder
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
1986 Gyunggi Province. The body of a young woman is found brutally raped and murdered. Two months later, a series of rapes and murders commences under similar circumstances. And in a country that had never known such crimes, the dark whispers about a serial murderer grow louder. A special task force is set up in the area, with two local detectives Park Doo-Man and Jo Young-Goo joined by a detective from Seoul who requested to be assigned to the case.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 208000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: realistic, neo noir, psychological, suspense, bleak, disturbing, detective, enigmatic, clever, thought provoking
Best tv shows and movies like Memories of Murder (2003):
Similar in 76%
Burning (2018)
Plot Summary:
Deliveryman Jongsu is out on a job when he runs into Haemi, a girl who once lived in his neighborhood. She asks if he'd mind looking after her cat while she's away on a trip to Africa. On her return she introduces to Jongsu an enigmatic young man named Ben, who she met during her trip. And one day Ben tells Jongsu about his most unusual hobby.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 74000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea, Japan
Duration: 148 min
Plot tags: suspense, art house, ambiguous ending, exciting, suspenseful, tense, psychological thriller, psychological, inspirational, atmospheric
Similar in 90%
Cruising (1980)
Plot Summary:
A serial killer brutally slays and dismembers several gay men in New York's S/M and leather districts. The young police officer Steve Burns is sent undercover onto the streets as decoy for the murderer. Working almost completely isolated from his department, he has to learn and practice the complex rules and signals of this little society.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: West Germany, USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: disturbing, suspenseful, psychological, detective, sexual, erotic, sexy, cult classic, intense, slasher
Similar in 85%
Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1974 (2009)
Plot Summary:
It's Yorkshire in 1974, and fear, mistrust and institutionalised police corruption are running riot. Rookie journalist Eddie Dunford is determined to search for the truth in an increasingly complex maze of lies and deceit surrounding the police investigation into a series of child abductions. When young Clare Kemplay goes missing, Eddie and his colleague, Barry, persuade their editor to let them investigate links with two similar abductions in the last decade. But after a mutilated body is found on a construction site owned by a local property magnate, Eddie and Barry are drawn into a deadly world of secrecy, intimidation, shocking revelations and police brutality.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Crime, Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, neo noir, bleak, suspenseful, detective, suspense, serious, stylized, philosophical, mind bending
Similar in 82%
Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1983 (2009)
Plot Summary:
Nine years on, another Morley child has gone missing on her way home from school. Detective Chief Superintendent Maurice Jobson is forced to remember the very similar disappearance of Clare Kemplay, who was found dead in 1974, and the subsequent imprisonment of local boy Michael Myshkin. Washed-up local solicitor John Piggott becomes convinced of Myshkin's innocence and begins to fight on his behalf, unwittingly providing a catalyst for Jobson to start to right some wrongs.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Crime, Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: bleak, detective, enigmatic, brutal, atmospheric, suspenseful, stylized, gloomy, mind bending, cerebral
Similar in 80%
The Girl in the Fog (2017)
Plot Summary:
Based on the bestselling novel by Donato Carrisi, THE GIRL IN THE FOG is a gripping and chilling thriller that brings us to a hazy mountain village where enigmatic Detective Vogel is investigating on the sudden disappearance of fifteen-year-old Anna Lou. But with the case at the heart of a media storm, the fine line between the police and criminals begins to blur and soon everyone becomes a suspect.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Italy, Germany, France
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, suspense, tense, enigmatic, disturbing, clever, neo noir, crime drama, detective
Similar in 85%
Marshland (2014)
Plot Summary:
The Spanish deep South, 1980. A series of brutal murders of adolescent girls in a remote and forgotten town bring together two disparate characters - both detectives in the homicide division - to investigate the cases. With deep divisions in their ideology, detectives Juan and Pedro must put aside their differences if they are to successfully hunt down a killer who for years has terrorized a community in the shadow of a general disregard for women rooted in a misogynistic past.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 36000
Genere: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Spain
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: suspense, suspenseful, detective, enigmatic, serious, tricky, psychological, hispanic, tense, neo noir
Similar in 82%
The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)
Plot Summary:
A retired legal counselor writes a novel hoping to find closure for one of his past unresolved homicide cases and for his unreciprocated love with his superior - both of which still haunt him decades later.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 219000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: Argentina, Spain
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: suspense, tense, touching, suspenseful, intense, detective, psychological, psychological thriller, clever, captivating
Similar in 76%
Mother (2009)
Plot Summary:
A mother lives quietly with her twenty-eight-year-old son, Do-joon, providing herbs and acupuncture to neighbors. One day, a girl is brutally murdered, and Do-joon is charged with the killing. Now, it's his mother's call whether to prove him innocent or to leave him imprisoned.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 70000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: suspense, atmospheric, tense, psychological, neo noir, disturbing, mind bending, serious, cerebral, suspenseful
Similar in 90%
The Body (2012)
Plot Summary:
A woman’s body disappears mysteriously from the morgue without a trace. Police inspector Jaime Peña investigates the strange occurrence with the help of Álex Ulloa, the widower of the missing woman.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 71000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Spain
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: surprise ending, suspenseful, atmospheric, tense, suspense, mind blowing, detective, serious, psychological thriller, mind twisting
Similar in 87%
Insomnia (1997)
Plot Summary:
Detectives Jonas and Erik are called to the midnight sun country of northern Norway to investigate a recent homicide, but their plan to arrest the killer goes awry, and Jonas mistakenly shoots Erik. The suspect escapes, and a frightened Jonas pins Erik's death on the fugitive. Jonas continues to pursue the killer as he seeks to protect himself; however, his mounting guilt and the omnipresent sun plague him with an insomnia that affects his sanity.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Norway
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, neo noir, detective, tense, suspense, enigmatic, bleak, dark, cynical, grim
Similar in 79%
Tell No One (2006)
Plot Summary:
A man receives a mysterious e-mail appearing to be from his wife, who was murdered years earlier. As he frantically tries to find out whether she's alive, he finds himself being implicated in her death.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 57000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: France, UK
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: captivating, suspenseful, psychological thriller, psychological, suspense, detective, serious, clever, dramatic, neo noir
Similar in 82%
Wind River (2017)
Plot Summary:
An FBI agent teams with the town's veteran game tracker to investigate a murder that occurred on a Native American reservation.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 274000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Western
Country: USA, UK, France
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: suspense, suspenseful, neo western, neo noir, surprise ending, bleak, sentimental, detective, psychological thriller, atmospheric
Similar in 84%
Forgotten (2017)
Plot Summary:
Jin-seok, 21-year-old, moves into a new house with his family. He suffers from a slight schizophrenia but he carries an ordinary life under the warm care of the family. His older brother Yu-seok is a decent college student, a mentor, and role model for Jin-seok. One night, his beloved brother is kidnapped by unidentified assailants before Jin-seok’s eye. Jin-seok can’t recognize their faces, but can remember only the VIN that matches with no car. After long silence of 19 days, suddenly Yu-seok returns home, but remembers nothing which had happened in the meantime. And soon Jin-seok feels Yu-seok is a total stranger….
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 44000
Genere: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: twist ending, suspense, psychological, suspenseful, captivating, mind twisting, tense, twisted, exciting, mindfuck
Similar in 90%
Lady Vengeance (2005)
Plot Summary:
After a 13-year imprisonment for the kidnap and murder of a 6 year old boy, beautiful Lee Guem-ja starts seeking revenge on the man that was really responsible for the boy's death. With the help of fellow inmates and reunited with her daughter, she gets closer and closer to her goal. But will her actions lead to the relief she seeks?.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 85000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, suspense, atmospheric, bloody, cerebral, brutal, serious, bleak, surreal
Similar in 76%
Parasite (2019)
Plot Summary:
All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 910000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: suspense, black comedy, exciting, dark comedy, captivating, tragic ending, psychological thriller, political, social, disturbing
Similar in 86%
The Chaser (2008)
Plot Summary:
Joong-ho is a dirty detective turned pimp in financial trouble as several of his girls have recently disappeared without clearing their debts. While trying to track them down, he finds a clue that the vanished girls were all called up by the same client whom one of his girls is meeting with right now.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 71000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: suspense, disturbing, bloody, psychological, suspenseful, detective, realistic, serious, psychological thriller, bleak
Similar in 81%
I Saw the Devil (2010)
Plot Summary:
Kyung-chul is a dangerous psychopath who kills for pleasure. He has committed infernal serial murders in diabolic ways that one cannot even imagine and his victims range from young women to even children. The police have chased him for a long time, but were unable to catch him. One day, Joo-yeon, daughter of a retired police chief becomes his prey and is found dead in a horrific state. Her fiance Soo-hyun, a top secret agent, decides to track down the murderer himself. He promises himself that he will do everything in his power to take bloody vengeance against the killer, even if it means that he must become a monster himself to get this monstrous and inhumane killer.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 143000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: bleak, psychological, suspenseful, tense, disturbing, bloody, suspense, serious, twist ending, rough
Similar in 89%
Citizen X (1995)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of a Russian serial killer who, over many years, claimed victim to over 50 people. His victims were mostly under the age of 17. In what was then a communists state, the police investigations were hampered by bureaucracy, incompetence and those in power. The story is told from the viewpoint of the detective in charge of the case.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, History, Thriller
Country: USA, Hungary
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: detective, suspense, tense, suspenseful, psychological, intense, factual, serious, realistic, grim
Similar in 86%
Oldboy (2003)
Plot Summary:
With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate businessman seeks revenge on his captors.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 619000
Genere: Action, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: twist ending, bleak, intense, psychological, neo noir, clever, mindfuck, brutal, atmospheric, surprise ending
Similar in 90%
Mystic River (2003)
Plot Summary:
A story about friendship and loyalty, guilt and vengeance, and the fateful affect the past has on the present.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 477000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, emotional, twist ending, neo noir, depressing, tense, bleak, psychological thriller, disturbing
Similar in 78%
The Crimson Rivers (2000)
Plot Summary:
Two French policemen, one investigating a grisly murder at a remote mountain college, the other working on the desecration of a young girl's grave by skinheads, are brought together by the clues from their respective cases. Soon after they start working together, more murders are committed, and the pair begin to discover just what dark secrets are behind the killings.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 65000
Genere: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: tense, suspenseful, serious, suspense, detective, psychological, rough, sexy, enigmatic, atmospheric
Similar in 76%
Zodiac (2007)
Plot Summary:
The true story of the investigation of the "Zodiac Killer", a serial killer who terrified the San Francisco Bay Area, taunting police with his ciphers and letters. The case becomes an obsession for four men as their lives and careers are built and destroyed by the endless trail of clues.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 584000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 157 min
Plot tags: suspense, atmospheric, tense, neo noir, stylized, twist ending, suspenseful, psychological, rough, detective
Similar in 77%
Prisoners (2013)
Plot Summary:
When Keller Dover's daughter and her friend go missing, he takes matters into his own hands as the police pursue multiple leads and the pressure mounts. But just how far will this desperate father go to protect his family?.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 784000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 153 min
Plot tags: psychological, twist ending, suspenseful, bleak, atmospheric, neo noir, detective, surprise ending, psychological thriller, tense
Similar in 78%
The Invisible Guest (2016)
Plot Summary:
"The Invisible Guest” turns on a young businessman who wakes up in a hotel room locked from the inside with the dead body of his lover next to him. He hires a prestigious lawyer, and over one night they work together to clarify what happened in a frenetic race against time.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 189000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Spain
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: surprise ending, suspense, psychological, twist ending, mind blowing, psychological thriller, mindfuck, detective, suspense thriller, psychotronic
Similar in 75%
True Detective (2014)
Plot Summary:
An American anthology police detective series utilizing multiple timelines in which investigations seem to unearth personal and professional secrets of those involved, both within or outside the law.
IMDB Rating: 8.9
IMDB Votes: 618000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags: neo noir, serious, atmospheric, anthology, gloomy, realistic, southern gothic, clever, stylized, captivating
Similar in 79%
Insomnia (2002)
Plot Summary:
Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 313000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: neo noir, psychological, atmospheric, detective, psychological thriller, suspense, dark, suspenseful, tense, bad ending
Similar in 78%
The Pledge (2001)
Plot Summary:
A police chief about to retire pledges to help a woman find her daughter's killer. Based on a story by Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 65000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: psychological, bleak, suspenseful, detective, suspense, enigmatic, intense, psychological thriller, atmospheric, disturbing
Similar in 87%
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Plot Summary:
Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon dead bodies, $2 million and a hoard of heroin in a Texas desert, but methodical killer Anton Chigurh comes looking for it, with local sheriff Ed Tom Bell hot on his trail. The roles of prey and predator blur as the violent pursuit of money and justice collide.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 10000000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: neo noir, tense, serious, atmospheric, suspense, bleak, suspenseful, neo western, gloomy, rough
Similar in 84%
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.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 15000000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspenseful, suspense, scary, psychological thriller, tense, dark, neo noir, serious, thrilling
Similar in 80%
Se7en (1995)
Plot Summary:
Two homicide detectives are on a desperate hunt for a serial killer whose crimes are based on the "seven deadly sins" in this dark and haunting film that takes viewers from the tortured remains of one victim to the next. The seasoned Det. Sommerset researches each sin in an effort to get inside the killer's mind, while his novice partner, Mills, scoffs at his efforts to unravel the case.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 18000000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: surprise ending, detective, suspenseful, disturbing, neo noir, suspense, scary, tense, bad ending, atmospheric