Best movies like Scent of a Spell
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A young man returns home from the bar only to find a woman who was about to kill herself. Taking her home and protecting her, he learns that she’s escaped from a violent husband… but there’s more to her story than she’s willing to tell at first.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 60
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like Scent of a Spell (1985):
Similar in 78%
The Rook (1994)
Plot Summary:
Martin Donovan plays John Abbott, a church investigator looking into a murder. The world is similar to England in the mid to late 1800s but with odd touches such as primitive computers etc. The sets are similar to Brazil, as is the look of a lot of the movie although much more reserved and somewhat more sinister. The movie revolves around a man, Abbott, who starts supremely self confident but eventually has to deal with his own failings and flaws.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 35
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: neo noir, independent film, detective
Similar in 81%
O Fascínio (2003)
Plot Summary:
An intriguing story about a family and a manor house (where some terrible crimes were committed in the past by a member of that family) adapted from a novel with the same title by Tabajara Ruas.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 99
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Portugal, Spain, France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Celluloid Nightmares (1988)
Plot Summary:
A gruesome snuff video is found in a sex booth. It shows a young woman who is tortured, killed, and dismembered by an unknown sadist.The deadly blade is hidden inside the camera itself. Hisayasu Sato's regular Kiyomi Ito begins to investigate the videotape.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 156
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 64 min
Plot tags: extreme horror, pink cinema
Similar in 89%
And Jimmy Went to the Rainbow's Foot (1971)
Plot Summary:
The son of an Argentine chemist travels to Vienna, to solve the murder of his father. Step by step, he realizes that his father was internationally entangled in secret service machinations and chemical weapon sales, and ends up in mortal danger himself. Meanwhile, he also realizes that there is no connection between his father's murderess and those dubious activities. Her motive for killing him goes back much futher, to a court hearing during the Third Reich.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 122
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: West Germany, Austria
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: suspense
Similar in 82%
Female Teacher Hunting (1982)
Plot Summary:
A moonlight skinny-dipping session between two carefree high schoolers leads to a young boy being accused of a violent assault on his female classmate. After throwing a teacher to the ground, he stomps out of the school gates and spends his summer break roaming a beachside town. Falling down a rabbit hole into a dark, oppressive world of sex and violence, he is taken in by a bar-owner and his libidinous mistress. Meanwhile, the teacher he assaulted hunkers down in a rented villa in the same coastal resort, awaiting a secret tryst with her married lover. What will happen when the student and teacher meet again?.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 71
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 66 min
Plot tags: sexploitation film
Similar in 89%
A Woman Called Sada Abe (1975)
Plot Summary:
The young and beautiful Sada Abe, the daughter of a rich merchant, is banished for losing her virginity after being raped by a college student. Sada wanders the city, becoming a geisha and eventually meeting Kichizo, a posh restaurateur who falls under her spell. Together, they embark on a week-long sexual escapade filled with dangerous obsessions. Their complete descent into each others desires culminates in a shocking crime of passion which captures the city's headlines. Based on a real event from 1936.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 593
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 76 min
Plot tags: erotic, disturbing, sensual, biting, suspense
Similar in 76%
While the Women Are Sleeping (2016)
Plot Summary:
Kenji and Aya spend their summer days in a Hotel. While she is doing her own thing, he tries to work on his novel. But then a few strange hotel guest arouse the curiosity of the couple.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 469
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sentimental, light, romantic, captivating, entertaining, contemplative, detective
Similar in 84%
64: Part 2 (2016)
Plot Summary:
1989 is the 64 Shouwa year in the Japanese calendar, thus the unsolved girl kidnapping-murder case is called "64(rokuyon)" that got up in this year in Criminal Investigation Department in the Prefectural Police Department. And 14 years were over as the prefecture's police to be unsolved greatest stain, and statute of limitations approached it. In 2002, Yoshinobu Mikami, an ex-detective who was assigned as the investigator of the "Rokuyon" case 14years ago, moves as a Public Relations Officer in the Police Affairs Department against his will. As a newly assigned Public Relations Officer, he was troubled with the relation between the reporters, new case has occurred. And that new case traced "Rokuyon" case exactly.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 315
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 81%
Zero Woman R (2007)
Plot Summary:
A mysterious female spy is recruited to infiltrate the Japanese underworld and gather evidence for a clandestine secretive branch of the Tokyo Police Department.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 103
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 73 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, erotic
Similar in 89%
Charades (1998)
Plot Summary:
Barry is a down-and-out-guy who takes a job at the shipping department of Technoworks, a high-tech Yuppie company. He gets invited to the house of his boss Quinn, for a weekend afternoon barbecue with some of his boss's friends. The party gets weird, Barry plays a demented version of charades while standing on the picnic table, and the next door neighbor starts screaming racial slurs over the fence. When Jude, the widow of the ex-owner of Technoworks arrives, the plot thickens. Clues to past crimes are revealed, and the real reason for the party is discovered. But not before Barry beats the hell out of a tow-truck driver, screws the boss's wife and wreaks havok with the neighbor. And as the title suggests, before the day is over, we will discover who is the Felon, or perhaps the people at party are all, one way or another, Felons.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 458
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 81%
The Murder in China Basin (1999)
Plot Summary:
Accused of murder, a man enlists the help of his ex-wife to find the true killer.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 78
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
Female Teacher: Dirty Afternoon (1981)
Plot Summary:
A teacher, Sakiko Kurata (Yuki Kazamatsuri), receives a phone call regarding one of her former students. Young Sueko (Ayako Ôta) is accused of being a prostitute and has requested Sakiko’s help. This minx seduces random strangers for sex, but does not ask for payment. Sakiko has moved to another town and barely remembers Sueko, but there’s something about her that awakens painful memories of her own secretive past. What is that strange paint thinner smell on Sueko? Who is the man in the nylon ski mask that violently assaulted Sakiko many years ago? In her search for answers, Sakiko discovers that her past may have inadvertently destroyed another family’s future.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 94
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 66 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexploitation film, pink cinema
Similar in 86%
Gukoroku - Traces of Sin (2016)
Plot Summary:
Tanaka is going through a tough time trying to support his younger sister Mitsuko, recently arrested and hold up in jail. As an investigative reporter, he immerses himself into a story about a shocking murder case gone cold; a family was brutally murdered a year ago and the case remains unsolved.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: disturbing, enigmatic, captivating, suspenseful
Similar in 88%
Maya (1993)
Plot Summary:
A frustrated housewife whose marriage to an average man does not meet her expectations enters into an affair with a younger man. Of course, there are no easy escapes from reality.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: France, UK, India
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: art film
Similar in 84%
Sweet Whip (2013)
Plot Summary:
When Naoko was a freshman in high school she was kidnapped and imprisoned by a man who lived next door. For one month, she went through hell. Finally, she killed the man and escaped. Now as an adult, Naoko is a doctor specializing in infertility treatment, but she also has another side. Naoko is a popular master in a S&M club.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 430
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, suspense, suspenseful, tense, disturbing, bleak, crying, erotic
Similar in 85%
The Robber Bride (2007)
Plot Summary:
Journalist Zenia Arden has disappeared. When her finger turns up on the shores of Lake Ontario next to her blood-soaked car, the police believe they've uncovered a homicide.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 387
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Canada, UK
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
Love Rites (1987)
Plot Summary:
A man meets a prostitute who takes him to a boudoir.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 528
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: France
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: erotic, sensual
Similar in 84%
Humanity (1999)
Plot Summary:
When an 11-year-old girl is brutally raped and murdered in a quiet French village, a police detective who has forgotten how to feel emotions--because of the death of his own family in some kind of accident--investigates the crime, which turns out to ask more questions than it answers.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: France
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: contemplative, slow cinema, erotic, bleak, disturbing, detective, depressing, neo noir, captivating, controversial
Similar in 76%
Suspect X (2008)
Plot Summary:
A male corpse is discovered with a smashed face and burned hands. Strangely, the cause of death is determined to be strangulation. When Detective Kaoru Utsumi attempts to corroborate the victim’s ex-wife’s alibi she discovers the mysterious neighbor and only a few small clues to help her disprove a seemingly "airtight" alibi.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: psychological thriller, intellectual, bleak, suspenseful, disturbing, detective, crime thriller, twisted
Similar in 86%
Criminal Passion (1994)
Plot Summary:
A homicide detective begins a torrid affair with a senator's son who is a suspect in a series of grisly murders.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 487
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sexy, erotic, rough, independent film, mind bending, serious, realistic, suspenseful, sexual, detective
Similar in 83%
Into the White Night (2010)
Plot Summary:
A pawn shop owner in Osaka is murdered, but due to a lack of conclusive evidence the police lists the man's death as a suicide. Detective Sasagaki, who investigated the case, can't forget the dark eyes of the main suspect's daughter Yukiho and the pawn shop owner's son Ryouji. As time goes by, more mysterious deaths surround Yukiho & Ryouji. Detective Sasagaki still unable to let go of the pawn shop owner case discovers startling details about Yukiho and Ryouji.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 490
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 149 min
Plot tags: tense, atmospheric, serious, psychological, captivating, twisted, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
The Past (2013)
Plot Summary:
After four years apart, Ahmad returns to his wife Marie in Paris in order to progress their divorce. During his brief stay, he cannot help noticing the strained relationship between Marie and her daughter Lucie. As he attempts to improve matters between mother and daughter Ahmad unwittingly lifts the lid on a long buried secret.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 50000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: France, Italy, Belgium
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, emotional, sincere, captivating, art house, cerebral, realistic, inspirational, touching, depressing
Similar in 86%
American Woman (2018)
Plot Summary:
A young grandmother in a small Pennsylvania town raises her daughter's child after the girl disappears. All the while, a desperate search for her continues.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: UK, USA, Canada
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, disturbing, suspense, social, detective
Similar in 78%
Pink and Gray (2015)
Plot Summary:
Popular actor Rengo Shiraki dies suddenly. Due to his sudden death, unpopular actor Daiki Kawata attracts the spotlight due to his close friendship with Rengo. Did Rengo Shiraki commit suicide or was he murdered?.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 243
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 76%
Agnes of God (1985)
Plot Summary:
When a dead newborn is found, wrapped in bloody sheets, in the bedroom wastebasket of a young novice, psychiatrist Martha Livingston is called in to determine if the seemingly innocent novice, who knows nothing of sex or birth, is competent enough to stand trial for the murder of the baby.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, intense, suspenseful, serious, realistic, talky, slasher, clever, contemplative
Similar in 81%
Class Trip (1998)
Plot Summary:
A schoolboy Nicholas always worries about something. When he goes on a school skiing trip, all his visions and nightmares take him over.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: France
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: controversial, psychological, atmospheric, serious, realistic, suspenseful, gloomy, fairy tale, crying, hood
Similar in 84%
Beautiful Kate (2009)
Plot Summary:
Ned Kendall is asked to return to the remote and isolated family home by his sister, to say goodbye to his father who is dying. Ned also brings his young aspiring actress fiancee who struggles with the isolation. When home he starts having memories of his childhood many involving his beautiful twin sister and his older brother. These memories awaken long-buried secrets from the family's past.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Australia
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: stylized, realistic, psychological, tense, disturbing, bleak, serious, crying, independent film, hot
Similar in 76%
Bad Timing (1980)
Plot Summary:
Alex Linden is a psychiatrist living in Vienna who meets Milena Flaherty though a mutual friend. Though Alex is quite a bit older than Milena, he's attracted to her young, carefree spirit. Despite the fact that Milena is already married, their friendship quickly turns into a deeply passionate love affair that threatens to overtake them both. When Milena ends up in the hospital from an overdose, Alex is taken into custody by Inspector Netusil.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: controversial, erotic, disturbing, art house, non-linear, psychological, atmospheric, sexual, scary, noir
Similar in 90%
Chiwawa (2019)
Plot Summary:
Chiwawa is a popular girl. One day, her dismembered body is found in Tokyo Bay. Chiwawa's friends gather to remember her, but they realize they do not know anything about her background or even her real name.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 295
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, unusual plot structure, suspense, suspenseful, contemplative
Similar in 77%
Alexandra's Project (2003)
Plot Summary:
Steve is a man who has it all, a successful career, wonderful children, beautiful home and a loving wife. However, returning to his home after work on his birthday, he finds his house deserted and darkened with almost all the lightbulbs missing, all easy access outside cut off and a videotape waiting for him. Playing that tape, he watches a bizarre and grueling recording in which his wife explains her grievance with him, her reasons for disappearing with the children and her revenge for how he treated her in a way he would never forget.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Australia
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, suspenseful, bleak, enigmatic, captivating, controversial, art house, twisted, tense