Best movies like Terra Nova
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies similar to Terra Nova? Share your familiarity to help others to tv shows and movies you've viewed before that may likewise appeal to them. Support broadening the network of people mentioning videos to one another. We appreciate your involvement!
Plot Summary:
A story, which takes place in 2013, describes the world overflowing with "dangerous" criminals due to the official termination of death penalty. The UN "blue helmets" under the directive from the central authority (i.e., One World Government) decided to conduct a social "experiment" by forcibly dumping the outlaws on the deserted island.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Russia
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful, sadistic, psychological horror, bleak
Best tv shows and movies like Terra Nova (2008):
Similar in 84%
White Wall (2010)
Plot Summary:
In the near future, everything has changed. Basic human rights have become the rarest of luxuries. No one knows when this started but everyone knows how. The VXII, the deadliest virus ever created, spread like wildfire and decimated the majority of the world's population. The non-infected survivors now cling to life in four quarantined cities behind a wall. Shawn Kors and his brother, Jude, survived the VXII only to grow up in a squalid internment camp for orphaned children. Under the care of the militia, they were pitted against other children in backwoods death matches. Shawn, Jude, and the few who escaped became notorious for their incredible fighting skills. They have since parted ways. Shawn now makes a comfortable living as a janitor at the local medic station. He spends his days dreaming of curing the VXII. When Shawn discovers the discarded body of a fellow internment camp friend, he is forced out of hiding and pulled into a rabbit hole of conspiracy and violence.
IMDB Rating: 3.1
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, futuristic, suspenseful, independent film, exciting
Similar in 86%
Prison on Fire (1987)
Plot Summary:
Ching and Yiu and problems they face with Mickey, a fellow inmate and "Assassin", a prison guard. Yiu is sentenced to three years for manslaughter. In a fight for his father, he pushed a man and was run over by a bus. Ching was sent to prison for killing his wife for being a prostitute. During the end of the film, inmates decide to go on hunger strike to protest against the cigarette price rise, this causes problems with Assassin. Ching bit Surface's ear off and gets an extended sentence, continued on Prison on Fire II, Yiu is released later on.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 76%
The Devil's 8 (1969)
Plot Summary:
The Devil's 8 is a 1969 film from American International Pictures. It is about a Federal agent (Christopher George) who recruits six convicts to bust a moonshine ring.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 434
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: exciting, independent film, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, slang
Similar in 82%
Death Row (2007)
Plot Summary:
As eight convicts serve their sentences in a work-release program at a creepy abandoned prison, an unknown killer stalks them.
IMDB Rating: 3.4
IMDB Votes: 604
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, scary, independent film
Similar in 84%
Caught in the Headlights (2005)
Plot Summary:
A federal agent, Kate Parker arrives in a small rural town to extradite Claire Scott, a young woman suspected of murdering a government scientist. Kate is prevented from delivering her prisoner as the mysterious John Lawson, a rouge agent, now selling classified information on the black market, wants what Claire has - a deadly biological formula. Claire, unaware that she has it, proclaims her innocence, and together with Kate, must escape from Lawson and his two seasoned assassins Mr. and Mrs. Jones. Harry Eden, a CIA operative and Kate's former lover, is dropped into the equation to help Kate but ultimately might lead to her demise as a deadly game of cat-and-mouse is played to its extreme.
IMDB Rating: 3.5
IMDB Votes: 202
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration:
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, exciting, bleak, stylized
Similar in 79%
Female Convict Scorpion (2008)
Plot Summary:
When a band of assassins invade the home of their target Hei Tai they find only his lovely, innocent, bride-to-be, Nami and force upon her a cruel dilemma: either she kills her fiancee’s sister or they kill her fiancee. Trapped, and unable to confide in the person she loves most, Nami kills her fiancee’s sister and is sent to prison where she survives only by becoming as ruthless as those around her. Trained to fight by a fellow inmate, Nami develops the skills and strength to escape and sets out on a quest for revenge. After killing two of the assassins she’s reunited with Hei Tai who’s still unaware she killed his sister. As their love is rekindled Nami decides to abandon her crusade of vengeance when the remaining assassin finds them and tells Hei Tai what Nami did. Nami realizes she can never rest until she finds and defeats the assassins’ employer, but now her beloved’s torn between helping her and his own personal desire for revenge.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 404
Genere: Action
Country: Japan, Hong Kong
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful, retro, naughty, bleak, realistic
Similar in 86%
Prison on Fire II (1991)
Plot Summary:
Ching is a prisoner in a Honk Kong jail that has a large population of Mainland Chinese prisoners. Ching escapes to see his young son, who he has been put in an orphanage. He surrenders himself to authorities, but the vengeful chief of security, Zau, arranges for Ching to be set up in the eyes of the Mainland gang, led by the affable Dragon. Dragon and Ching both then escape separately, and while fugitives, hook up together and bond. Ching is recaptured and instigates a riot to save his own hide from the Mainlanders. In the chaos Ching gets revenge on Skull (who, working with Zau, set him up) and Zau.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 89%
Opposing Force (1986)
Plot Summary:
A group of elite soldiers, including one woman, sign up for the ultimate training mission. The group parachutes onto a remote island, where their objective is to reach the safety zone before the "opposing force" captures them. Everything does not go as expected, and the training mission turns into the real thing.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 933
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: retro, independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, homoerotic, freeze frame
Similar in 79%
Chess Game (2014)
Plot Summary:
Mina (Priscila Fantin) is arrested for defrauding the Social Security and beyond to defend the other inmates need to escape from the prison director of surveillance (Tuca Andrada). The crime involved a Senator (Antonio Calloni), trying in every way to prevent your participation to surface.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 113
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Brazil
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, bleak, realistic, psychological thriller
Similar in 80%
Marked Man (1996)
Plot Summary:
A jailed auto mechanic must run for his life after he witnesses the murder of a fellow inmate by two prison guards.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 351
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, campy
Similar in 82%
The Wrath of Cain (2010)
Plot Summary:
A former kingpin of the streets, Miles “Cain” Skinner is doing life in prison. He is feared and respected among the inmates. When Cain learns that his sentence will be shortened only by brain cancer, his urgency to change his ways goes into overdrive.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, captivating, crime drama, hood
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 82%
Born American (1986)
Plot Summary:
Three American students vacationing in Finland, cross the border into Russia for fun of it. When they are spotted by the Russian soldiers who are shooting to kill, it's not fun anymore. Captured and thrown in jail, they find it's not fun either. It's a nightmare.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Finland
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: suspense, harsh, stylized, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, rough, independent film, bleak, realistic
Similar in 78%
Submerged (2000)
Plot Summary:
Navy SEALs launch a rescue mission after terrorists plunge a jet carrying a missile-launching computer into the sea.
IMDB Rating: 3.2
IMDB Votes: 830
Genere: Action
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful, independent film, realistic, disaster movie
Similar in 78%
Ghosted (2011)
Plot Summary:
‘GHOSTED’ tells a story of survival inside a British Prison. Jack a model prisoner, has kept his head down and done his time. After his wife confirms that she is leaving him, on the anniversary of their son’s death, the only thing that keeps him from going under is the new prisoner, Paul. Jack’s cell mate Ahmed, attempts to guide him on a path of salvation, a path that involves saving Paul from the clutches of the wing beast, Clay.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 660
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: rough, suspenseful, serious, bleak, tense, realistic
Similar in 86%
Extraction (2013)
Plot Summary:
A major feature exclusively for digital, EXTRACTION follows a U.S. Black Ops team member who finds himself the only survivor of a botched prisoner extraction mission. Forced to fight his way out of a maximum-security Chechen prison, he must keep his target alive in order to catch a terrorist arms-dealer who is a threat to thousands of lives.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful, realistic
Similar in 89%
Crash Point Zero (2001)
Plot Summary:
When a plane carrying a legendary and recently found death ray machine from Siberia to Canada is hijacked and crashes in the remote mountains of Alaska, only a fearless government agent (Treat Williams) will risk his life to save the world. A modern B movie, reusing lots of footage from other films.
IMDB Rating: 3.4
IMDB Votes: 529
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, suspenseful, tense, suspense, cliffhanger
Similar in 83%
Monster (2014)
Plot Summary:
Bok-Soon (Kim Go-eun-I) runs a street stall while taking care of her younger sister. Bok-Soon may not be the brightest girl but what she lacks in intelligence, she makes up for in uncontrollable rage. She’s infamously known as the “psycho bitch” in her neighborhood. Bok-Soon’s relatively peaceful life with her sister is disrupted when they cross paths with a serial killer named Tae-Soo (Lee Min-ki). Tae-Soo kills Bok-Soon’s sister because she may have stumbled upon the truth of his murderous lifestyle. Bok-Soon’s rage consumes her completely, leading her to plot her revenge on Tae Soo.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, exciting, psychological, realistic, psychotronic
Similar in 83%
Blackmail (2005)
Plot Summary:
Inspector Abhay Rathod is a honest and diligent Police Inspector employed with Bombay Police. He was assigned the case of racketeer and criminal don, Shekhar Mohan. Abhay successfully entraps and arrests him, and has him sentenced to a long jail term. Years later, Abhay is now the Assistant Commissioner of Police; is married, and has a son named Chirag; and Shekhar Mohan has completed his jail term and is looking to seek vengeance against Abhay. He does so by kidnapping Chirag and taking him along with him. He object is not to seek any ransom money, but attempt to separate the child from his parents, as well as attempt to make a place in his heart. Shekhar finds out that Chirag loves racing and takes him on various race courses where the child is thrilled to watch fast sport cars, and soon starts a friendship with "Uncle" Shekhar. But with Abhay and the police closing in fast, will Shekhar and Chirag be able to maintain their friendship?.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 714
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: India
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, suspenseful, serious, exciting, captivating
Similar in 76%
An Innocent Man (1989)
Plot Summary:
Jimmie Rainwood was minding his own business when two corrupt police officers (getting an address wrong) burst into his house, expecting to find a major drug dealer. Rainwood is shot, and the officers frame him as a drug dealer. Rainwood is convicted of drug dealing, based on the perjured evidence of a police informant. Thrown into a seedy jail, fighting to prove his innocence is diffucult when he has to deal with the realities of prison life, where everyone claims they were framed.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: tense, psychological, suspense, intense, suspenseful, disturbing, rough, serious, realistic, scary
Similar in 76%
No Escape (1994)
Plot Summary:
In the year 2022, a ruthless prison warden has created the ultimate solution for his most troublesome and violent inmates: Absolom, a secret jungle island where prisoners are abandoned and left to die. But Marine Captain John Robbins, convicted of murdering a commanding officer, is determined to escape the island in order to reveal the truth behind his murderous actions and clear his name.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, grindhouse, bleak, rough, serious, suspenseful, apocalyptic, intense, perverse
Similar in 82%
Cell 211 (2009)
Plot Summary:
The story of two men on different sides of a prison riot -- the inmate leading the rebellion and the young guard trapped in the revolt, who poses as a prisoner in a desperate attempt to survive the ordeal.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 70000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Spain, France
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, tense, psychological, intense, tricky, rough, bleak, clever, dramatic, realistic
Similar in 82%
In Hell (2003)
Plot Summary:
A man must survive a prison where hardened criminals battle to the death for the warden's entertainment.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: harsh, brutal, emotional, stylized, intense, serious, realistic, exciting, rough, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
Alive (2002)
Plot Summary:
Tenshu is imprisoned and sentenced to death for murdering the men who raped his girlfriend. However, he manages to survive his execution and is presented with an option: face another execution attempt or subject himself to their bizarre and dangerous experiments.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, rough, bleak, serious, weird
Similar in 87%
The Last Patrol (2000)
Plot Summary:
After a massive earthquake destroys Los Angeles, a new order is formed. But disagreement among the ranks leads to more war and disruption, and The Last Patrol must bring order if there's to be any hope for the future.
IMDB Rating: 3.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Israel, USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, serious, suspenseful, apocalyptic, futuristic, fast
Similar in 75%
Prison Break: The Final Break (2009)
Plot Summary:
The movie covers the events which occurred in between the downfall of The Company and the finale of the series. It details the arrest and incarceration of Sara Tancredi, the final escape plan which Michael devises for Sara. It also reveals the ultimate fate of Gretchen Morgan.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, suspense, clever, intense, exciting, rough, realistic, tense, serious, enigmatic
Similar in 79%
Mean Dog Blues (1978)
Plot Summary:
Former TV documentary filmmaker Mel Stuart tries to inject an acceptable degree of verisimilitude in Mean Dog Blues. A victim of circumstance, country and western musician Paul Ramsey (Gregg Henry) finds himself on a Southern chain gang. Captain Omar Kinsman (George Kennedy) snarls a lot as the obligatory sadistic prison guard, but the film's real villains are Victor and Donna Lacey (William Windom and Tina Louise) as the Bonnie-and-Clyde couple who get Henry into trouble. Listed as editor is Housley Stevenson, the son of the late Hollywood character-actor Onslow Stevens.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 289
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, independent film, tense, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 87%
186 Dollars to Freedom (2012)
Plot Summary:
A young California surfer has to grow up in a hurry when he is thrown into a Peruvian political prison in 1980.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 575
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Peru, USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: realistic, tense, serious, captivating, suspense, exciting, rough, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
Escape Under Pressure (2000)
Plot Summary:
A luxury cruise liner is requisitioned by the Greek government in an attempt to give safe passage to national treasures worth millions of pounds. The liner is attacked by an art collector who finds out about the plan. During the hijack the liner sinks to the sea floor and so begins a fight for survival as the remaining air begins to run out.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 655
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, suspenseful, tense
Similar in 88%
Travellers (2011)
Plot Summary:
Four friends set out on a motorcycle adventure weekend, clocking up miles in an attempt to outrun their age and urban lifestyles. After bartering with a local land owner for a place to set up camp, they spend the night reminiscing over their wasted youth. The following morning they spot an ominous looking caravan, and decide to investigate. Within minutes, an idiotic prank leads to a series of brutal events and a deadly race for survival. A modern plunge back into the worlds created by movies such as 'Deliverance' and 'Southern Comfort' but with a gritty British twang. Kidnap, murder and a hidden past are just some of the reasons these four adventurers should have stayed at home. An action thriller that will make you question who the villains really are. You cant outrun what's in your blood.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 559
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, atmospheric, rough, serious, tense, captivating, bleak, realistic