Best movies like Penance
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A young mother decides to become a stripper to earn some fast cash only to find her worst nightmares are about to begin.
IMDB Rating: 3.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: scary, serious, suspenseful, slasher, realistic, disturbing, sexy, suspense, sexual
Best tv shows and movies like Penance (2009):
Similar in 88%
Descendant (2003)
Plot Summary:
As Ann Hedgerow - an indirect descendant of Edgar Allen Poe - begins to explore her family's past, she meets novelist Ethan Poe. Ethan, also a distant descendant of Poe, is tormented by visions of his famous ancestor. When Ann and Ethan begin a romance, the dark - and deadly - secrets of Poe's legacy emerge... will Poe's stories inspire a real-life horror-tragedy?.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 481
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, sexy, suspenseful, disturbing, suspense, independent film
Similar in 75%
Bikini Girls on Ice (2009)
Plot Summary:
When a bus-load of women's college soccer players get stranded on their way to a bikini car-wash fundraiser, they decide to set-up shop in front of an abandoned gas station on the edge of town. Little do they know the place is the stalking-grounds for a homicidal maniac mechanic named Moe.
IMDB Rating: 3.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: slasher, serious, suspenseful, tense, suspense, psychological, captivating, sexy, horror comedy, scary
Similar in 79%
Shadow Puppets (2007)
Plot Summary:
Director Michael Winnick's chilling tale stars James Marsters as Jack, one of eight captives who awaken in an abandoned asylum not knowing who they are or why they are together. They discover that they've been used in an experiment to erase disturbing memories, but instead, a murderous creature has been unleashed. Reaching out from the shadows, the monster hunts the eight strangers as they race to escape the asylum.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: scary, psychological, serious, slasher, suspenseful, suspense, dark, grindhouse, psychotronic
Similar in 84%
The Hitchhiker (2007)
Plot Summary:
Four young women driving across the desert to Las Vegas have their road trip turned upside-down when they pick up a handsome, seemingly-friendly hitchhiker. When their car breaks down near a roadside motel in the middle of nowhere, they find themselves trapped with a woman-hating, masochistic killer.
IMDB Rating: 3.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: slasher, scary, serious, rough, realistic, disturbing, mockbuster, splatter, road movie
Similar in 86%
Huff (2013)
Plot Summary:
A woman steals her abusive boyfriend's drug money for her three teenage daughters to seek better lives for themselves and a bloody pursuit ensues.
IMDB Rating: 3.1
IMDB Votes: 391
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: slasher, fairy tale, psychotronic, scary, bleak, suspense
Similar in 82%
Broken (2006)
Plot Summary:
After dating a wonderful man, Hope comes back home, sees her daughter Jennifer and goes to sleep. She wakes-up in the woods with a psychopath.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: disturbing, scary, rough, bleak, suspenseful, psychological, bloody, suspense, controversial, grindhouse
Similar in 79%
Lake Dead (2007)
Plot Summary:
Three sisters and a group of their friends take a trip to the home of the recently deceased grandfather -- who died a particularly grisly death -- to learn more about the promise of an inheritance, only to encounter a family of psychos who have taken up residence in the old man's cabin.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: slasher, suspense, rough, suspenseful, disturbing, erotic, perverse, serious, independent film
Similar in 82%
Strangeland (1998)
Plot Summary:
A pierced and tattooed sadist, Captain Howdy, trolls the Internet for naive teens, luring them to his home to torture and defile them. When Howdy kidnaps and tortures the daughter of police Detective Mike Gage, he is caught. Deemed insane, he is sent to an asylum but is released soon after, seemingly better. However, Gage knows it is only a matter of time before Howdy strikes again, and he's ready to unleash his own form of retribution when the time comes.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: psychological, slasher, rough, suspenseful, disturbing, cult classic, detective, scary, suspense, serious
Similar in 90%
The Wisher (2002)
Plot Summary:
Mary is a horror-movie junkie whose obsession is out of control, leading her over-protective father to ban her from seeing scary flicks. But when she and her friends sneak out to see a film called The Wisher, its creepy antagonist seems to escape into her life and make her darkest desires come true.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: slasher, scary, suspenseful, atmospheric, serious, suspense, teen horror
Similar in 90%
Rest Stop: Don't Look Back (2008)
Plot Summary:
One year after running away from home, Nicole and Jesse are still missing. When Jesse's brother, Tom, returns home from active duty, he sets out with his friends Marilyn and Jared to locate the lost couple. Their search leads them to the stretch of old highway with a mysterious Rest Stop, where they find themselves in the same predicament as Nicole and Jesse: confronting a madman.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: slasher, scary, rough, serious, suspenseful, brutal, suspense, independent film, awful
Similar in 89%
Trail of Blood (2011)
Plot Summary:
On a weekend camping trip deep in the forest, a young U.S. Marine enlistee named Jim and his friends stumble upon the murdered bodies of a vacationing couple. They're suddenly taken hostage by a deeply disturbed war veteran on a sadistic killing spree - leaving Jim and his friends fighting to get out of the forest alive.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 254
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, rough, serious, tense, captivating, suspense, anime, exciting, realistic, slasher
Similar in 77%
Scrapbook (2000)
Plot Summary:
A young woman named Clara is captured by a serial killer named Leonard who records his “life story” by keeping a scrapbook of his many victims. In addition to adhering Polaroids, scraps of clothing, and other small trophies to the pages, Leonard has forced his victims to personally write in the scrapbook about their individual ordeals. Clara is beaten, raped, starved, and locked up like an animal, filthy and naked. She is forced to write in the scrapbook, adding her agony to the pages. She soon realizes that her only hope for survival is to manipulate Leonard through her writings in his cherished scrapbook.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: disturbing, rough, bleak, suspenseful, sexy, controversial, bloody, suspense, dark, intense
Similar in 89%
Dark Asylum (2001)
Plot Summary:
Asylum is a taut psychological thriller about a deranged fearsome killer running lose in an abandoned high security Asylum. Pitting the county psychiatrist Dr. Maggie Belham against the psychotic maniac, Dr Belham is trapped in a maze of corridors, and her only help is the janitor, Quitz who may in fact be a forgotten asylum inmate.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 931
Genere: Thriller, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: slasher, psychological, serious, suspenseful, scary, independent film
Similar in 79%
Little Erin Merryweather (2003)
Plot Summary:
Once upon a time, death preyed upon a New England college campus. Rumors swirl that "if you see a flash of red, you're dead!" Local golden boy, Peter Bloom (David Morwick) investigates the grisly killings until the stakes grow higher and the body count mounts. Suddenly, Peter's search becomes a fight for survival in a fairy tale world full of nightmares.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 660
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: suspense, slasher, scary, serious, suspenseful, fairy tale, psychological thriller
Similar in 75%
Babysitter Massacre (2013)
Plot Summary:
A group of young women teamed together in their youth to run a babysitting business, when one of their friends died suddenly the group fell apart. Now years later they are all going their separate ways as college approaches, but on Halloween night someone is torturing and killing every member of the babysitter club.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 440
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: slasher, suspenseful, rough, tense, suspense, scary, sexy, serious, realistic
Similar in 75%
Deadly Weekend (2014)
Plot Summary:
Two young couples take one last trip to the country before moving to different cities. Unfortunately, when secrets come out and jealously takes a toll the weekend takes an unexpected and deadly turn for the worst.
IMDB Rating: 2.9
IMDB Votes: 730
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: slasher, scary, serious, suspenseful, suspense, realistic, independent film, bloody
Similar in 78%
Don't Let Him In (2011)
Plot Summary:
Two couples spend a weekend in the country, only to cross paths with a brutal serial killer. As the body count rises, suspicion spirals into paranoia, climaxing in a terrifying battle for survival.
IMDB Rating: 3.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: slasher, suspenseful, serious, suspense, tense, captivating, cult classic, scary, realistic, dark
Similar in 80%
Inhuman Resources (2012)
Plot Summary:
Six captive office workers are literally chained to their desks by a demented, escaped serial killer; former regional manager Thomas Reddmann (Redd). He assigns his 'human resources' the impossible task of proving his innocence or suffering gruesome consequences.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: Australia
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: scary, serious, suspenseful, tense, realistic, slasher, psychological, brutal, bloody, disturbing
Similar in 78%
Chaos (2005)
Plot Summary:
Emily and her friend Angelica go to a rave in the woods, and when they arrive, they meet a stranger called Swan that promises some Exstasy for the girls. They follow him to a cabin into the forest where they meet the sadistic gang leaded by the psychotic Chaos. The girls are abused, tortured and raped in a night of nightmare and murder.
IMDB Rating: 3.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 74 min
Plot tags: rough, slasher, realistic, suspenseful, serious, disturbing, suspense, dark, controversial, cult classic
Similar in 88%
The Cellar Door (2007)
Plot Summary:
Having developed an uncontrollable obsession with the beautiful young Rudy (Michelle Tomlinson), crazed serial killer Herman (James DuMont) kidnaps her and locks her in a cage in his basement. The only way for Rudy to survive this nightmare is to outsmart her psychopathic tormentor. But Herman has experience on his side: He's entrapped and tortured other women before, playing sick and twisted mind games with his frightened victims.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: slasher, suspense, psychological, serious, suspenseful, scary, tense, awful
Similar in 83%
Carl (2012)
Plot Summary:
A psychological horror/thriller depicting a backwoods family with a dark secret.
IMDB Rating: 2.8
IMDB Votes: 338
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: scary, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, slasher, independent film, sinister, ambiguous ending
Similar in 79%
HazMat (2013)
Plot Summary:
The television crew of the "Scary Antics" hidden camera show sets up a disturbed young man for a practical joke, but the joke is on them when heads roll.
IMDB Rating: 3.5
IMDB Votes: 508
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, rough, slasher, tense, psychological, captivating, suspense, scary, serious, realistic
Similar in 90%
Shiver (2012)
Plot Summary:
Wendy Alden, a young secretary in Portland lacking in self- confidence becomes victim of a savage killer who has claimed the lives of a number of other women. Somehow Wendy finds the resources of courage to fight back and escape.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: rough, suspenseful, scary, bleak, realistic, slasher, psychological, bloody, independent film, serious
Similar in 82%
Rogue River (2011)
Plot Summary:
When a young woman takes a trip down Rogue River, her car mysteriously disappears. Lost without transport or communication, she accepts the hospitality of a stranger who offers her shelter for the night at his cabin. With no other options available, she reluctantly accepts only to forever regret it. The ensuing hours yield nothing but torture, indescribable pain, and horrific agony. If you've seen Misery, you've seen nothing. This movie starts where horror films end and leaves viewers paralysed by fear and disgust.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, scary, realistic, rough, tense, serious, slasher, independent film, interesting
Similar in 82%
Train (2008)
Plot Summary:
This new Train tells the tale of an American wrestling team who board a train that just so happens to be used as a supermarket for organ harvesters.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: scary, slasher, suspenseful, rough, serious, disturbing, sexy, brutal, bloody, suspense
Similar in 90%
Timber Falls (2007)
Plot Summary:
A weekend of camping in the mountains becomes an excursion into hell for a young couple, who become pawns in a grotesque plot hatched by deranged locals.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA, Romania
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: scary, suspense, bleak, slasher, psychological, rough, suspenseful, disturbing, serious, splatter
Similar in 84%
The Collector (2009)
Plot Summary:
Desperate to repay his debt to his ex-wife, an ex-con plots a heist at his new employer's country home, unaware that a second criminal has also targeted the property, and rigged it with a series of deadly traps.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 71000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: slasher, scary, brutal, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, rough, sadistic, splatter, bloody
Similar in 81%
Escapee (2011)
Plot Summary:
While on a class observation trip at a local mental hospital, young psychology major, Abby Jones has a chilling encounter with high-risk patient, Harmon. She returns home for an evening of normal study with her two roommates unaware of the darkness shes awakened within him.
IMDB Rating: 3.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, rough, serious, scary, slasher, realistic, independent film, suspense
Similar in 79%
The Last House on the Left (2009)
Plot Summary:
A group of teenage girls heading into the city hook up with a gang of drug-addled ne'er-do-wells and are brutally murdered. The killers find their way to the home of one of their victim's parents, where both father and mother exact a horrible revenge.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 99000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA, UK, South Africa
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: slasher, scary, brutal, disturbing, rough, bleak, suspenseful, psychological, suspense, grindhouse
Similar in 89%
I Spit on Your Grave (2010)
Plot Summary:
A remake of the 1979 controversial cult classic, I Spit on Your Grave retells the horrific tale of writer Jennifer Hills who takes a retreat from the city to a charming cabin in the woods to start on her next book. But Jennifer's presence in the small town attracts the attention of a few morally deprived locals led by Johnny, the town's service station owner, his two co-workers, Andy and Stanley, who along with their socially and mentally challenged friend Matthew, set out one night to teach this city girl a lesson.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 91000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: brutal, disturbing, psychological, scary, suspenseful, suspense, splatter, bloody, controversial, harsh