Best movies like The Castle
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Michael Haneke's adaptation of Franz Kafka's unfinished novel Das Schloss. K arrives in a remote village a stranger. In attempting to establish himself there, he enters the nightmarish world of the castle bureaucracy.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Austria, Germany, France
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: mind twisting, mind bending, allegory, cerebral, psychological, atmospheric, bleak, serious, realistic, surreal
Best tv shows and movies like The Castle (1997):
Similar in 87%
The Castle (1968)
Plot Summary:
A man comes to a small village to begin his new job as an attendant at the nearby castle. But everybody in the village claims that he surely must be mistaken, there is no need for an attendant at the castle.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 276
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: West Germany
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: allegory
Similar in 85%
Charisma (1999)
Plot Summary:
A seasoned detective is called in to rescue a politician held hostage by a lunatic. In a brief moment of uncertainty, he misses the chance for action. Leaving his job and family without explanation, he makes his way to a mountain forest, encountering a peculiar tree called Charisma.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: mind bending, psychological, suspenseful, detective, surreal, action thriller, atmospheric, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 86%
Zift (2008)
Plot Summary:
Moth is freed on parole after spending time in prison on wrongful conviction of murder. Jailed shortly before the Bulgarian communist coup of 1944, he now finds himself in a new and alien world - the totalitarian Sofia of the 60s. His first night of freedom draws the map of a diabolical city full of decaying neighborhoods, gloomy streets and a bizarre parade of characters.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: Bulgaria
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: neo noir, atmospheric, bleak, realistic, dark comedy, psychological, neo western, tense, rough, thought provoking
Similar in 90%
Mysteries (1978)
Plot Summary:
In the winter of 1891 a stranger arrives in a small coastal town on the Isle of Man. His presence soon disturbs the lives of the local inhabitants, especially the beautiful daughter of the parson.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 294
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: serious, surprise ending, enigmatic, suspense, psychological, captivating, sexy, mind bending, realistic, sexual
Similar in 81%
4 (2004)
Plot Summary:
Two men and a woman happen to meet in a bar. We learn from their conversations both the intriguing and banal details of their lives. But is anyone really telling the truth?.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: Russia, Netherlands
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, captivating, surreal, realistic, art house, heartfelt, experimental, tense, atmospheric
Similar in 78%
Ten Days Wonder (1971)
Plot Summary:
Anthony Perkins, a young sculptor with a weird penchant for waking up in strange hotels with his memory wiped clean and bloodied hands, invites a former professor (Michel Piccoli) to the Gatsby-like provincial manor presided over by his powerful tycoon father (Orson Welles). Welcomed by Welles' young wife (Marlene Jobert), Piccoli soon finds a nest of rats beneath the bourgeoisie voluptuousness -- a clan bound in a circle of illicit romance, blackmail, faked burglaries and, of course, murder.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 969
Genere: Mystery, Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, atmospheric, mind bending, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, contemplative
Similar in 79%
The Quack (1982)
Plot Summary:
A famous surgeon is beaten by drunken bullies, loses his memory and cannot recollect who he was before. He gets to a village, lives in a not so well to do family and becomes the Quack - he slowly regains his talent for medicine and saves the lives of several village patients.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Poland
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, serious, atmospheric, sentimental, realistic, offbeat, sincere, surreal, gloomy
Similar in 81%
At the Gate of the Ghost (2011)
Plot Summary:
Adapted from Japanese film called Rashomon, U Mong Pa Meung (The Outrage) takes place in a wood during Thai’s Lanna period where a mysterious murder happens. The story is told through three witnesses: a young monk, woodcutter and undertaker.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 406
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Thailand
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspenseful, atmospheric, mind bending, serious, realistic, non-linear
Similar in 87%
Moss (2010)
Plot Summary:
Hae Gook (Park Hae Il) travels to a reclusive village to attend his father's funeral. He wants to find out the reason behind his father's strange death, but the villagers, in particular village chief Cheon (Jung Jae Young), seem to be watching his every move and eager to see him leave. Determined to get to the bottom of the mystery, Hae Gook enlists the help of prosecutor Park (Yoo Jun Sang) to slowly unravel the village's sinister secrets.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 163 min
Plot tags: tense, atmospheric, captivating, suspenseful, mind twisting, psychological, mind bending, action thriller, rough, serious
Similar in 83%
The Trial (1993)
Plot Summary:
Joseph K. awakes one morning, to find two strange men in his room, telling him he has been arrested. Joseph is not told what he is charged with, and despite being "arrested," is allowed to remain free and go to work. But despite the strange nature of his arrest, Joseph soon learns that his trial, however odd, is very real, and tries desperately to spare himself from the court's judgement.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: tense, atmospheric, bleak, suspenseful, serious, surreal, psychological, realistic, psychotronic, independent film
Similar in 86%
UV (2007)
Plot Summary:
During the absence of Philipp, in his house appears the stranger, who calls himself Boris. He says that he was the school comrade of Philipp and it arrived to visit old friend. Boris charms all households and remains to await Philipp. Only one Andre- Pierre distrustful relates to the stranger.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 436
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: France
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, tense, psychological, captivating, serious, realistic, suspenseful, surprise ending
Similar in 79%
Cold Light (2004)
Plot Summary:
What could be better than knowing your future? And what could be worse? A love-filled childhood abruptly ends when catastrophe descends. A catastrophe that the child had foreseen yet failed to act upon.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 611
Genere: Drama
Country: Iceland, Norway, UK, Germany
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, atmospheric, serious, offbeat, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Last Winter (2011)
Plot Summary:
A young farmer in Central France tries to sustain his spiritual connection to the land amid the crushing pressures of modern agriculture in this brooding drama.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 187
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, realistic, captivating, gloomy
Similar in 83%
Autumn (2008)
Plot Summary:
A man struggles after his release from ten years as a political prisoner.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Turkey, Germany
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, serious, realistic, art house, political, sad, bleak, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 81%
Headwinds (2011)
Plot Summary:
Sarah tells Paul that she wants out of their marriage; the next day she disappears. A year later and Paul along with their children return to his childhood town to start anew after the loss of his wife and their mother.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 84%
L'Immortelle (1963)
Plot Summary:
A sad man meets a beautiful, secretive woman who may or may not be involved in some conspiracy ring dealing in kidnapped women used as prostitutes. After several days of their sadly passionate relationship she disappears. The sad man is unable to locate her as all the local Turkish people pretend not to remember any such woman. He suddenly finds her again (she finds him?) and before she can explain her disappearance she is killed in a car crash while he is in the passenger seat. He replays the accident over and over in his mind trying to remember how she died if he caused the accident himself by grabbing the wheel.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: France, Italy, Turkey
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: surreal, mind bending, psychedelic, experimental, avant garde, psychological, atmospheric, offbeat, serious, realistic
Similar in 76%
Teorema (1968)
Plot Summary:
A wealthy Italian household is turned upside down when a handsome stranger (Terence Stamp) arrives, makes love to every family member and then disappears. Each has an epiphany of sorts, but none can figure out who the seductive visitor was or why he came.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Italy
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: surreal, allegory, erotic, disturbing, controversial, art house, mind bending, psychedelic, depressing, experimental
Similar in 77%
The Man from London (2007)
Plot Summary:
One night Maloin, a switchman at a seaside railway station situated by a ferry harbour, witnesses a terrible event.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: Hungary, Germany, France, Italy
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: neo noir, serious, black and white, psychological, atmospheric, bleak, contemplative, captivating, art house, confusing
Similar in 79%
The Moustache (2005)
Plot Summary:
One day, on a whim, Marc decides to shave off the moustache he's worn all of his adult life. He waits patiently for his wife's reaction, but neither she nor his friends seem to notice. Stranger still, when he finally tells them, they all insist he never had a moustache. Is Marc going mad? Is he the victim of some elaborate conspiracy? Or has something in the world's order gone terribly awry?.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: France
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: surreal, psychological, mindfuck, cerebral, mind bending, meditative, serious, disturbing, art house, mind twisting
Similar in 81%
Island (2011)
Plot Summary:
Based on 'Jane Rogers' acclaimed novel, "Island" is a tale of yearning and retribution. Abandoned at birth, Nikki Black has spent most of her life in care sustained only by fairy-stories. Incapable of love, fearful and desperate for revenge, she decides to find her birth mother, confront her, and bitter enough to consider murder. She travels incognito to a remote Hebridean island where Phyllis now lives as a recluse with Calum, her son.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 553
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: serious, psychological, tense, atmospheric, realistic, gloomy, art house
Similar in 86%
Sounds of Sand (2006)
Plot Summary:
On the one hand, there's the desert eating away at the land. The endless dry season, the lack of water. On the other there's the threat of war. The village well has run dry. The livestock is dying. Trusting their instinct, most of the villagers leave and head south. Rahne, the only literate one, decides to head east with his three children and Mouna, his wife. A few sheep, some goats and Chamelle, a dromedary, are their only riches. A tale of exodus, quest, hope and fatality. Rahne and his family travel across hostile lands under a lethal sun, walking endlessly onwards and frequently crossing paths with death. But "Sounds of sand" is also a parable about determination and eternity that takes us in the footsteps of Shasha, a nomad child full of the joys of life, whose tenacity and strength will conquer her father's love.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 553
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium, France
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sincere, atmospheric, serious, captivating, bleak, realistic
Similar in 89%
Jew-Boy Levi (1999)
Plot Summary:
Benjamin Levi (Bruno Cathomas) is a Bavarian cattle dealer traveling to pre-World War II Germany on his annual trip to a remote farming village. Levi hopes to do some business and, more importantly, win the hand of the lovely Lisbeth (Caroline Ebner). But Nazi propaganda has gripped the small community and poisoned it forever. Now, Levi and Lisbeth are targets of hate in this provocative and shocking drama.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 199
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany, Switzerland, Austria
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, touching, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, disturbing, biting, suspense
Similar in 78%
The Outlander (2005)
Plot Summary:
It is the early 20th century. A stranger arrives in the small, rural community and disrupts the lives of its inhabitants. The man, who refuses to give his name, is dubbed The Outlander. A traveller who disdains conventional behaviour and parochialism, The Outlander disturbs the villagers' complacency and scandalizes the community; he also elicits admiration and gains a woman's love. He ultimately leaves in the same manner he had arrived, but not before he has helped the villagers open their eyes to the larger world beyond their village.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 406
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, sentimental, touching, realistic, serious
Similar in 82%
Funny Games (1997)
Plot Summary:
Two psychotic young men take a mother, father, and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic "games" with one another for their own amusement.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 82000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Austria
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: disturbing, bleak, suspense, psychological, scary, psychological thriller, tense, atmospheric, suspenseful, bloody
Similar in 77%
The Disappearance of Finbar (1996)
Plot Summary:
A dissatisfied teen disappears from his small town, leaving friends to wonder about his whereabouts.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 652
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Ireland, Sweden, UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: offbeat, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 77%
The Trial (1962)
Plot Summary:
An unassuming office worker is arrested and stands trial, but he is never made aware of his charges.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: France, Italy, West Germany
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: surreal, black and white, psychological, disturbing, visually appealing, cerebral, philosophical, neo noir, psychological thriller, atmospheric
Similar in 75%
Hidden (2005)
Plot Summary:
A married couple is terrorized by a series of videotapes planted on their front porch.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 84000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: France, Austria, Germany, Italy
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, psychological thriller, art house, surreal, tense, neo noir, clever, bleak, confusing
Similar in 83%
The White Ribbon (2009)
Plot Summary:
Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years just before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. The abused and suppressed children of the villagers seem to be at the heart of this mystery.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 77000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Canada
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, black and white, art house, bleak, atmospheric, breathtaking, visual, thought provoking, contemplative
Similar in 80%
Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
Plot Summary:
This story takes place in a small town on the Hungarian Plain. In a provincial town, which is surrounded with nothing else but frost. It is bitterly cold weather — without snow. Even in this bewildered cold hundreds of people are standing around the circus tent, which is put up in the main square, to see — as the outcome of their wait — the chief attraction, the stuffed carcass of a real whale. The people are coming from everywhere. From the neighboring settlings, even from quite far away parts of the country. They are following this clumsy monster as a dumb, faceless, rag-wearing crowd. This strange state of affairs — the appearance of the foreigners, the extreme frost — disturbs the order of the small town. Ambitious personages of the story feel they can take advantage of this situation. The tension growing to the unbearable is brought to explosion by the figure of the Prince, who is pretending facelessness. Even his mere appearance is enough to break loose destructive emotions.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Hungary, Italy, Germany, France
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: bleak, contemplative, serious, allegory, psychological, slow cinema, tense, atmospheric, suspenseful, futuristic
Similar in 86%
The Lives of Others (2006)
Plot Summary:
A tragic love story set in East Berlin with the backdrop of an undercover Stasi controlled culture. Stasi captain Wieler is ordered to follow author Dreyman and plunges deeper and deeper into his life until he reaches the threshold of doubting the system.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 405000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Germany, France
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: political thriller, gloomy, tense, political, atmospheric, sincere, suspense, breathtaking, harsh, bleak