Best movies like Payback
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
An escaped convict tracks down the cop who put him away.
IMDB Rating: 3.4
IMDB Votes: 250
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Best tv shows and movies like Payback (2007):
Similar in 82%
Ring of Death (2008)
Plot Summary:
On the inside, there are no rules. See what happens when Prison Officials Profit from Illegal fights.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, realistic
Similar in 90%
Point Doom (2000)
Plot Summary:
A Hollywood talent agent's girlfriend thrusts him into a world of strip clubs, drugs and deadly motorcycle gangs.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 480
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, tense, captivating, neo noir, independent film
Similar in 75%
Boulevard (1994)
Plot Summary:
A street prostitute takes in an abused young woman on the run from her misogynist boyfriend, leading to both facing off against the prostitute's dreaded pimp and a relentless police detective out to arrest all of them.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 648
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: erotic, independent film, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, detective
Similar in 80%
Island of Fire (1990)
Plot Summary:
Someone in a prison run by a corrupt warden fakes the deaths of convicts to later use them as expendable assassins. A police officer is sent into the prison to gather evidence of the corruption.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: cult classic, action adventure, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast, independent film, cult film
Similar in 77%
Walking Tall: Lone Justice (2007)
Plot Summary:
In Dallas, witnesses against a drug-lord are murdered in a safe-house.The testimony of FBI agents becomes the only chance to keep him in prison. They are lodged in another safe-house, but the place is invaded and the agents are executed. However, Kate is only wounded, and her boyfriend Nick believes there is a traitor in the agency and takes her to his ranch to protect her life.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, realistic, neo western
Similar in 78%
Code 37 (2011)
Plot Summary:
A famous writer is violated in a sex-movie-theatre. He had a date with Roos, a young student who works also as a prostitute. Quickly it becomes clear that more students are active in the prostitution. Enough reason for Hannah and her team to go undercover in club Sin City, a port for everyone who avoids the daylight and for girls who pick up their customers. When Hannah and her team investigate that the owner of both the sex-theatre as Sin City are Roos' uncle, the whole case takes a personal turn. In the first place for Hannah, because she knows as no-one else how heavy family secrets can weigh.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 762
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Belgium
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: tense, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
The Badge (2015)
Plot Summary:
The only difference between a cop and a criminal is The Badge. Detective Vince McKinley and his partner Martin Goulet have to solve the biggest case of their careers: a series of evidence have been stolen from their own precinct. Through out the case, Vince discovers that the person responsible could be one of his closest friend. The Badge brings a unique view on how trust and friendship can switch to blood in an instant.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 19
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, rough
Similar in 87%
The Devil's Teardrop (2010)
Plot Summary:
When a man known only as "The Digger" opens fire in a train station many are left dead. The only clue the FBI has is a hand written letter with demands on it. Agent Margurete needs help analyzing it and the best is retired specialist Kincaid.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 686
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, captivating, psychological, exciting, rough, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
American Yakuza (1993)
Plot Summary:
When Nick Davis leaves prison after one year in solitaire, he is hired to operate forklift in a warehouse in the harbor owned by the Japanese Yakuza patriarch Isshin Tendo. The place is assaulted by the Italian Mafia leaded by Dino Campanela and Nick rescues and saves the life of Shuji Sawamoto, who is the representative of Yakuza interests in America. Shuji hires Nick to work for Yakuza and becomes his godfather in the family after his oath to join Yakuza. However, Nick is a lonely FBI undercover agent assigned to penetrate in the criminal organization. When the FBI discovers that Campanela is organizing a massive attack to destroy the Yakuza, Nick's boss Littman calls off the operation to leave the dirty work to the Italian Mafia. But the connection of Nick with Shuji and his goddaughter Yuko forces him to help his Japanese family.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: crime drama, independent film, exciting, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, cynical
Similar in 77%
Sinners and Saints (2010)
Plot Summary:
In lawless storm ravaged New Orleans, eleaguered Detective Sean Riley is trying to cope with the death of his young son and the abandonment of his wife. Facing a probable suspension from the department, Riley is teamed with a young homicide Detective, Will Ganz, to help solve a series of brutal murders that have plunged the city into a major gang war. The two quickly realize there is something far more sinister going on than either could have ever imagined.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, suspense, perverse, exciting, realistic, fast
Similar in 77%
Kill Switch (2008)
Plot Summary:
A troubled detective travels to Memphis in order to track down a pair of serial killers.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: serious, rough, suspenseful, realistic, fast, suspense, neo noir, detective
Similar in 88%
Ginostra (2002)
Plot Summary:
An FBI Agent from America and his bride and young child travel to the Sicilian island of Ginostra to solve the murder of a key witness.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 790
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: France, Italy, USA
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, suspenseful, exciting, realistic, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 83%
Half Past Dead 2 (2007)
Plot Summary:
Long time inmate Twitch (Kurupt) gets himself transfered to a tougher prison than the re-opened Alcatraz. He claims it's to be closer to his lady but his real motives are a bit more grandiose. There he crosses paths with Burke (Bill Goldberg) a bulky prisoner who can take care of himself. Twitch, despite being less muscular, is just as mouthy and is pretty much the same. But there is a gang war brewing between the black and hispanic inmates that explodes into a hostile takeover of the prison when the black's gang leader is shot dead and the finger points at Burke. But the sh!t really hits the fan when the real killer and leader of the hispanics, Cortez (Robert Madrid) takes Twitch's girlfriend and Burke's daughter hostage.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, rough, realistic, action packed, fast, campy
Similar in 85%
Blood in the Streets (1973)
Plot Summary:
An Italian prison official's wife is kidnapped, and the kidnappers demand that a notorious prisoner be released in order for the man to get his wife back. He gets the man released - but then kidnaps him himself, in order to ensure that the man's colleagues don't kill his wife. Enraged, the gang sets out to free their compatriot and kill the man who took him.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Italy, France, West Germany
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: poliziottesco, retro, cult classic, action thriller, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, cult film
Similar in 78%
Sunday in the Country (1974)
Plot Summary:
Three vicious thugs are on the run in rural America after robbing a local bank. They seek refuge at the home of a reclusive farmer, but he is prepared for their arrival and holds them at gunpoint. Unable to let them simply wait for the law, he decides to take them into into his cellar and torture them a little before the police arrive.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 677
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, independent film, psychological, exciting, tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, poliziottesco
Similar in 87%
Zero Tolerance (1994)
Plot Summary:
After surviving a sneak attack on himself and fellow agents Jimmy and Gene as they were transporting drug kingpin Raymond Manta out of a Mexican jail, FBI agent Jeff Douglas becomes an uwitting pawn of the White Hand drug cartel. Mistakenly told that his already murdered family is being held hostage, Jeff is forced to turn one-time courier for the White Hand, whose leaders are Manta and four others named Helmut Vitch, Milt Kowalski, Russ LaFleur, and Hansel Lee. After surviving a car-bombing in Las Vegas, Jeff learns the truth about his family being murdered, and he sets out to exterminate the White Hand cartel. Unofficially aided by an agent named Megan, whose mother was raped and murdered years ago, Jeff steals FBI files and begins his campaign of revenge on the White Hand cartel.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 655
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: suspense, independent film, exciting, tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized, fast
Similar in 83%
Wild Seven (2006)
Plot Summary:
In this darkly karmic vision of Arizona, a man who breathes nothing but ill will begins a noxious domino effect as quickly as an uncontrollable virus kills. As he exits Arizona State Penn after twenty-one long years, Wilson has only one thing on the brain, leveling the score with career criminal, Mackey Willis.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, captivating, suspense, realistic
Similar in 78%
Ladies Night (2005)
Plot Summary:
Insurance investigators track a serial killer who seduces women with access to big bucks, convinces them to embezzle, then kills them.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 197
Genere: Thriller, Drama, Crime
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, cynical, realistic
Similar in 90%
She Made Them Do It (2013)
Plot Summary:
"She Made Them Do It" follows the twisted life of Sarah Pender (Jenna Dewan-Tatum) a charismatic, intelligent young woman who would become one of the country’s most sought after fugitives.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, serious, realistic, suspenseful, crime drama, crime thriller
Similar in 89%
Public Enemies (1996)
Plot Summary:
Ma Barker (Theresa Russell) and her sons rob banks, shoot people and wind up at the top of the FBI's "most wanted" list in the 1930s.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, tense, suspense, independent film
Similar in 79%
Red Swastik (2007)
Plot Summary:
Bollywood version of Basic Instinct - has to be seen to be believed!!!.
IMDB Rating: 3.0
IMDB Votes: 241
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: India
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: tense, suspense, psychological, captivating, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
Red Letters (2000)
Plot Summary:
A college professor reluctantly hides an escaped female convict who tries to get him to help prove her innocent of a murder.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 642
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, suspenseful, tense, serious, independent film, psychological, detective
Similar in 86%
The Ministers (2009)
Plot Summary:
A NYPD detective attempts to avenge the death of her father, but unwittingly becomes involved with one of his killers.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, captivating, psychological, suspense, rough, realistic, suspenseful, independent film, detective
Similar in 87%
Breaking Point (1976)
Plot Summary:
The Mafia tries to take revenge against a man who testified against them in court.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 340
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 76%
Boston Strangler: The Untold Story (2008)
Plot Summary:
Boston Strangler: The Untold Story is an intense true-crime thriller about Albert De Salvo, a wise cracking, small time criminal with an unrelenting sex drive, who ultimately falsely confesses to being the strangler that wreaked havoc in Boston during the early sixties. Guided by his manipulative cell mate, who knows more about the murders than he reveals, they devise a plan to gain all of the notoriety from the killings and the money from the reward. Meanwhile, Detective John Marsden, searches out the truth certain that they were not committed by one man. Fighting the bureaucracy of the day, Marsden lets his emotions get the best of him as he follows the trail of the murders.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 759
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: scary, psychological, serious, rough, realistic, suspense, spooky, suspenseful
Similar in 78%
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 78%
Capone (1975)
Plot Summary:
The story of the rise and fall of the infamous Chicago gangster Al Capone and the control he exhibited over the city during the prohibition years.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, suspenseful, serious, psychotronic, cult classic, captivating, poliziottesco
Similar in 85%
Beyond the Law (1993)
Plot Summary:
Dan Saxon is an undercover cop who infiltrates a biker gang to nail the scum behind a drug-smuggling operation. In order to maintain the trust of the gang's leader, he must commit ever more dangerous and heinous crimes. Just how far 'beyond the law' will Saxon go?.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, exciting, rough, realistic, neo noir, retro, road movie, detective, bleak
Similar in 80%
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.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: serious, rough, realistic, tense, suspense, exciting, independent film, suspenseful, fast, surprise ending
Similar in 87%
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