Best movies like Short Eyes
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A young man who is charged with child molestation is placed in New York City’s infamous Tombs prison. When the other inmates in his cell block find out what he is charged with, life becomes extremely difficult for him.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: crime drama, grim, cult classic, independent film, tense, rough, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic
Best tv shows and movies like Short Eyes (1977):
Similar in 82%
Cargo (2011)
Plot Summary:
A young Russian woman, smuggled into America by human traffickers, and a notorious Egyptian transporter hired to drive her from the Mexican border to New York City, form an unlikely bond that transforms them and threatens to derail the traffickers' plans.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 531
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: disturbing, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 90%
The 19th Wife (2010)
Plot Summary:
Fundamentalist sect member BeckyLyn is accused of killing her husband. Queenie, another wife in the polygamist sect, doesn't believe BeckyLyn is capable of such violence and desperate to prove her innocence reaches out to her excommunicated son Jordan for help in freeing his mother.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 729
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, disturbing, psychological, tense, captivating, rough, bleak, suspenseful
Similar in 84%
Penitentiary (1979)
Plot Summary:
A hitchhiker named Martel Gordone gets in a fight with two bikers over a prostitute, and one of the bikers is killed. Gordone is arrested and sent to prison, where he joins the prison's boxing team in an effort to secure an early parole and to establish his dominance over the prison's toughest gang.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: independent film, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 86%
Sus (2010)
Plot Summary:
Election Night 1979: Margaret Thatcher is about to come into power. A young black man is held on suspicion of murdering his pregnant wife. Officers Karn and Wilby, racist to the core and high on the prospect of a Conservative Party victory, try to lure the suspect into a quick confession. But the night has just begun...Callous humiliation gives way to a barrage of sinister violence, leading to a devastating conclusion.Written by Barrie Keefe, who was behind the British classic The Long Good Friday, SUS is an emotionally charged and incredibly tense crime drama that serves as a powerful outcry against past institutional racism. But in the age of counter-terrorism SUS also begs the question: has history caught up with us?.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 432
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: disturbing, rough, realistic, suspenseful, tense, serious, independent film, minimal cast
Similar in 78%
The Revenge of Al Capone (1989)
Plot Summary:
After Al Capone is imprisoned, he still continues to run his empire, and plots to assassinate the mayor of Chicago.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 154
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 90%
The War Within (2005)
Plot Summary:
A Pakistani involved in a planned attack in New York City experiences a crisis of conscience.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, tense, suspenseful, poignant, serious, realistic
Similar in 82%
Fortune and Men's Eyes (1971)
Plot Summary:
Smitty, a young man sentenced to six months in prison for marijuana possession eventually becomes the sexual subordinate of another inmate, Rocky.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 559
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, crying, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 82%
Animal 2 (2008)
Plot Summary:
Now serving a life sentence for murder, James "Animal" Allen returns to fighting for cash in order to help his troubled son on the outside. However, with his newfound fame as a fighter, Animal uncovers a jailhouse conspiracy that threatens to cause racial tensions to explode.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, hood, crime drama
Similar in 80%
Caged Heat (1974)
Plot Summary:
A girl is caught in a drug bust and sent to the hoosegow.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, sensual, cult classic, action thriller, rough, offbeat, humorous, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 81%
Doing Hard Time (2004)
Plot Summary:
A father's eight year old son is murdered in a gangland shooting. The father (Boris Kodjoe) gets himself thrown into prison to avenge his son's death.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, hood, crime drama
Similar in 77%
The Wee Man (2013)
Plot Summary:
The true life story of the rise to power of Glasgow gangster Paul Ferris.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, rough, bleak, captivating, cult film
Similar in 75%
A Date with Darkness: The Trial and Capture of Andrew Luster (2003)
Plot Summary:
Andrew Luster, the heir to the Max factor fortune, is convicted of rape on 86 counts. This Lifetime original movie recounts the rapes committed by the infamous Andrew Luster and the women who brought him to justice.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 492
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, bleak, captivating, realistic, sexual, detective, sexy
Similar in 84%
Women of San Quentin (1983)
Plot Summary:
A young female prison guard finds out that her first assignment is to San Quentin, one of the toughest prisons in the country.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 110
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, serious, realistic
Similar in 86%
K-11 (2012)
Plot Summary:
Raymond Saxx Jr., a powerful record producer, wakes from a drug-induced blackout to find himself locked up and classified "K-11." Plunged into a nightmarish world ruled by a transsexual diva named Mousey, Raymond is truly a fish out of water. Complicating matters are a troubled young transgender named Butterfly, a predatory child molester and the ruthless Sheriff's Deputy, Lt. Johnson. Ray's struggle to contact the outside world and regain his freedom seems impossible, but he must learn to navigate this new power structure if he is ever going survive and be in control of his life again.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, serious, bleak, tense, realistic, hispanic, queer cinema, sexploitation film
Similar in 88%
Day Break (2005)
Plot Summary:
Since the Islamic Revolution in Iran, capital punishment is carried out according to Islamic law, which gives the family of the victim ownership of the offender's life. Day Break - based on a compilation of true stories and shot inside Tehran's century-old prison - revolves around the imminent execution of Mansour, a man found guilty of murder. When the family of the victim repeatedly fails to show up on the appointed day, Mansour's execution is postponed again and again. Stuck inside the purgatory of his own mind, he waits as time passes on without him, caught between life and death, retribution and forgiveness.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 327
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: disturbing, rough, serious, suspenseful, thought provoking, bleak, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, surprise ending
Similar in 89%
Fast-Walking (1982)
Plot Summary:
A dirty corrections officer gets involved in a murder plot involving one of the inmates.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 749
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: political, independent film, rough, clever, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, cynical
Similar in 75%
The Glass House (1972)
Plot Summary:
Adapted from a story by Truman Capote ("In Cold Blood"), the world of the prison convict is open to the viewer. As the story develops, one thing becomes clear. As in the outside world, there is a "system"; and just as on the outside, there is accommodation, honesty, cynicism, violence and all the other factors that make up our society. The film follows the three newcomers, it records the grim, terrifying, sometimes fascinating events that occur.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 902
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: tense, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, tension, suspense
Similar in 75%
Through the Valley (2008)
Plot Summary:
An innocent man framed for murder, and the system that just wants another minority conviction.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 74
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, crime drama, independent film
Similar in 84%
Lockdown (2000)
Plot Summary:
Avery (Jones) returns to college as a competitive swimmer after getting his life back on track. But his life takes another unexpected turn when he and his two friends (Bonds, Casseus) are wrongly accused of murder and end up in prison.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: disturbing, rough, serious, realistic, hood, crime drama, bleak, independent film
Similar in 77%
Whitewash: The Clarence Brandley Story (2002)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of Clarence Brandley, a black man wrongly accused in 1980 of the murder of a 16-year-old white high school girl named Cheryl Ferguson. Brandley worked at Conroe High School, where Ferguson was visiting as a member of the Belleville High School volleyball team. Three days after her body was discovered, Brandley was arrested as the murderer. Jew Don Boney, a popular activist and Houston city council member, leads the fight to uncover the truth about the Ferguson murder. Mike DeGeurin, a Texas attorney, is brought in to act as the head defense attorney for Brandley, and is joined by a former minister, Jim McCloskey. The lawyers discover that not only is there a complete lack of evidence against Brandley, but the District Attorney, James Keeshan, has been strategizing with the presiding judge. After nine years in prison, three trials and a stay of execution that saved Brandley's life, justice finally prevails as Brandley is granted his freedom.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 165
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: disturbing, emotional, realistic, suspenseful, tense, serious
Similar in 81%
Civil Brand (2002)
Plot Summary:
Forced to work under slave-like conditions in a "prison for profit" program, the inmates of a mostly-African-American female prison, Whitehead Correctional, try to take over the institution. At the core of the story is Frances, who finds herself in prison after being falsely convicted of murder, and who is told that her baby has been murdered, sparking her to lead her fellow inmates in the protest.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 790
Genere: Drama, Thriller, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, bleak, disturbing, thought provoking, serious, realistic, suspenseful, hood, independent film
Similar in 77%
Slam (1998)
Plot Summary:
Slam tells the story of Ray Joshua, an original, gifted young MC trapped in a war-zone housing project known as Dodge City. Unable to find a job, Ray copes with the despair and poverty of his neighborhood by using his wits and verbal talent. Written by Offline Publicist Young Ray Joshua lives in the Washington, DC, district known as Dodge City, which is dominated by gang wars. One day he is arrested when his drug dealer is gunned down while talking to him. He is put to prison where two rival gangs, Thug Life and the Union, want to recruit him as a member.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: independent film, hood, psychological, talky, uplifting, tense, sincere, bleak, serious, realistic
Similar in 89%
The Stick Up Kids (2008)
Plot Summary:
People always told Santos he was something special. His Uncle told him to get a skill, so he became a hustler and with his three,they became "The Stick Up Kids" Harlem would never be the same. They thought they had it all... Money, cars, the lifestyle and the lingo. The only two words They didn't know were JURISDICTION AND GENTRIFICATION but in their world it was all for one and one for all until an unexpected, mysterious death, forced "The Stick Up Kids"to change their focus from doing crime to stopping the "North Manhattan Project". Now it was up to Santos to pull off one last sting before it destroyed them all. Watch out America. 'The Stick Up Kids" are coming to your town!.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 104
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, crime drama, independent film, rough, suspenseful
Similar in 82%
Color of Justice (1997)
Plot Summary:
Four young black men kill a white woman, the D.A. is very cautious in how to proceed.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 228
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, rough, thought provoking, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 87%
R: Hit First, Hit Hardest (2010)
Plot Summary:
The R of the title stands for the young protagonist, Rune, fearlessly played by Pilou Asbæk. Imprisoned for violent assault, he's a cocky, good-looking young man placed in the hardcore ward, where his survival depends on quickly learning the prison's parallel world of rules, honor, and obligations. R also stands for Rachid, a young Muslim prisoner who becomes Rune's friend and accomplice, defying the rigid racial stratifications among the inmates.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Denmark
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, rough, captivating, disturbing, psychological, suspense, thought provoking, independent film, bleak
Similar in 76%
Jailbait (2004)
Plot Summary:
Randy commits a crime that would normally get him probation and a hefty fine, but in the "three-strikes" world of justice, he finds himself locked up for 25 years. His cellmate Jake is a congenial yet remorseless lifer who casually informs Randy that he slit his wife's throat because she slept with another man just three months after they exchanged vows. Jake recognizes Randy's fear and offers him advice on how to make it in prison. But it soon becomes clear that Jake has much more than mentoring in mind as he takes Randy under his wing. "Jailbait" sets a darkly cerebral tone, juxtaposing brutality with the unattainable ideal of intimacy in the harshest of psychological environments. For these two men so yearning to be anything but who they are and where they are, power is the goal, and it's never clear who truly holds it right up to the last unsettling moment.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 436
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic
Similar in 87%
Fuehrer Ex (2002)
Plot Summary:
Ingo Hasselbach, whose parents were Communist Party members in East Germany during his childhood, has lived at both ends of the political seesaw. The question of how people reach a change of heart is a profound one; Hasselbach describes the external forces that led to his founding Germany's first neo-Nazi political party and the internal ones that led him away from it five years later.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany, France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, disturbing, tense, rough, bleak, realistic
Similar in 87%
Attica (1980)
Plot Summary:
A behind the scenes look of the 1971 prisoners revolt at the Attica prison.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 526
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: political, rough, thought provoking, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, tension, suspense
Similar in 83%
Tangier (2006)
Plot Summary:
In August 1996, bus drivers Marcel Van Loock and Wim Moreels are apprehended by the Moroccan Customs for drug trafficking. Inside their bus, hidden behind a false compartment, they have discovered 700 pounds of hashish. Although the owner of the bus company is arrested as well and makes a full confession clearly indicating that both drivers were unaware of the hidden drugs, the Moroccan judge sentences both men to 5 years in the Moroccan prison of Tangiers. Nothing could have prepared the two men for life inside a Moroccan prison. Without food, clothes or medical care, they must learn how to take care of themselves to survive their stay in prison. Corrupt guards, corrupt lawyers and judges, a consul who doesn't care and frequent beatings are only part of the terrible prison. Meanwhile their families at home are left without any information, any help or any hope - finding out that their own government doesn't care for Belgian people in prisons abroad.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, tense, bleak, realistic
Similar in 85%
Black August (2007)
Plot Summary:
The last 14 months of George Jackson's life was an existence under subjective and objective conditions in California's industrial prison complex. George Jackson would spend 11 years in jail (7 of which were in solitary confinement) for a $70 gas station robbery crime in 1960. He was 18 years of age when the sentence of one year-to-life was handed down to him.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 302
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: rough, thought provoking, serious, realistic, political