Best movies like The Dancer Upstairs
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A police detective in a South American country is dedicated to hunting down a revolutionary guerilla leader.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Spain, USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, tense, political, psychological, suspense, disturbing, captivating, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Best tv shows and movies like The Dancer Upstairs (2002):
Similar in 85%
Numbered Days (1994)
Plot Summary:
Antonio, a gunman of the terrorist group ETA, days before making an attack, he meets Charo, a junkie of eighteen years, despite the sordid environment in which they grew up, still has the naivety. He has dedicated his life to a cause they do not believe and their discomfort grows to feel trapped in a dead end where everything is destruction and death.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Spain
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, suspense, exciting, captivating, erotic, political, realistic, contemplative, sexual
Similar in 77%
Jimmy and Judy (2006)
Plot Summary:
Two misunderstood suburban kids challenge society and run from the police while documenting all of their deeds with a digital camera.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, sexy, cult classic, teen, independent film, realistic, tension
Similar in 82%
Five Corners (1987)
Plot Summary:
A psychotic young man returns to his old neighborhood after release from prison. He seeks out the woman he previously tried to rape and the man who protected her, with twisted ideas of love for her and hate for him.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: disturbing, talky, serious, realistic, suspenseful, tense, grindhouse, independent film, clever, psychological thriller
Similar in 78%
Reversible Errors (2004)
Plot Summary:
A corporate lawyer's interest in a decade-old murder case is piqued by a new confession that could clear the convicted killer, who sits on death row.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 803
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 173 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, disturbing, intense
Similar in 87%
Land of the Blind (2006)
Plot Summary:
A soldier recounts his relationship with a famous political prisoner attempting to overthrow their country's authoritarian government.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: serious, psychological, bleak, disturbing, political, captivating, apocalyptic, inspirational, philosophical, black comedy
Similar in 76%
Cavite (2005)
Plot Summary:
Adam, a security guard, travels from California to the Philippines, his native land, for his father's funeral. He arrives in Manila. As he waits, a phone rings in his backpack; he answers it, and a male voice tells him that his mother and sister are captives and will be killed if Adam doesn't cooperate. Over the next hour, the voice sends Adam by bus, taxi, motorized tricycle, and on foot through an urban landscape of busy streets, cramped apartments, a fetid squatters' camp, a bank, a cockfighting arena, and a church. Adam's conversations with the voice cover murder, Islam, jihad, rebellion in Mindanao, and his family. What is it Adam will be commanded to do?.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 676
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Philippines, USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, rough, suspenseful, serious, realistic, crying
Similar in 85%
Judas Kiss (1998)
Plot Summary:
The shooting of a U.S. senator's wife raises the stakes for kidnappers seeking a hefty ransom for a computer magnate.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, realistic, neo noir, suspense, dark comedy, erotic, rough, independent film, detective
Similar in 86%
What the Eye Doesn't See (2003)
Plot Summary:
Through out six different and yet parallel stories that take place during the corrupted goverment during the 90s in Peru, Lombardi tells the moral decomposition that ran through all classes and generations of the peruvian society.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 287
Genere: Crime, Thriller, Drama
Country: Peru
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, mind bending, independent film
Similar in 83%
In the Time of the Butterflies (2001)
Plot Summary:
In the Time of the Butterflies is inspired by the true story of the three Mirabal sisters who, in 1960, were murdered for their part in an underground plot to overthrow the government.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA, Mexico
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, political, suspense
Similar in 85%
Able Danger (2008)
Plot Summary:
Tom Flynn, the idealist owner of a left-leaning radical café/bookstore and the quixotic publisher of a hard hitting 911 conspiracy expose, finds himself entangled with a mysterious Eastern European beauty, Kasia, who is on the run from strong hand of a global 911 cover up. In this contemporary take on film noir. When Tom is implicated in the murder of his friend and employee, he is forced to unravel Kasia's complex web of lies. As it turns out, Kasia possesses the smoking gun that proves the identities and methods of the real architects of 911, and Tom Flynn is willing to die to expose the truth. Written by Dave Herman.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 129
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: neo noir, serious, realistic, suspenseful, black and white, independent film, political thriller
Similar in 80%
Absolute Power (1997)
Plot Summary:
A master thief coincidentally is robbing a house where a murder in which the President of The United States is involved occurs in front of his eyes. He is forced to run yet may hold evidence that could convict the President. A political thriller from and starring Clint Eastwood and based on a novel by David Baldacci.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 59000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: political thriller, suspense, suspenseful, tense, political, intense, serious, realistic, neo noir, detective
Similar in 80%
A Dry White Season (1989)
Plot Summary:
Taking place during the 1976 Soweto uprising, the story follows a white school teacher whose life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: talky, emotional, disturbing, rough, thought provoking, serious, realistic, political, retro, thinking
Similar in 75%
The Parallax View (1974)
Plot Summary:
An ambitious reporter, investigating a senator's assassination, realizes witnesses to the shooting are systematically dying and discovers a multi-million dollar corporation which serves as a front for the recruitment of political assassins.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, disturbing, suspenseful, psychological, neo noir, political, intense, political thriller, serious, realistic
Similar in 76%
Imagining Argentina (2003)
Plot Summary:
Set during the unsettling disappearances in Buenos Aires during the dictatorship of the 1970s, the film involves theater director Carlos Rueda and his wife Cecilia. Shortly after Cecilia writes an editorial commentary questioning the mysterious abductions, she is herself abducted and taken into police custody.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: Spain, UK, USA, Argentina
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: tense, bleak, serious, psychological, suspenseful, suspense, inspirational, romantic, political, romantic drama
Similar in 87%
Under Suspicion (2000)
Plot Summary:
A lawyer is asked to come to the police station to clear up a few loose ends in his witness report of a foul murder. "This will only take ten minutes", they say, but it turns out to be one loose end after another, and the ten minutes he is away from his speech become longer and longer.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: France, USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspenseful, suspense, talky, tense, detective, enigmatic, twist ending, bleak, serious
Similar in 79%
Mother (2009)
Plot Summary:
A mother lives quietly with her twenty-eight-year-old son, Do-joon, providing herbs and acupuncture to neighbors. One day, a girl is brutally murdered, and Do-joon is charged with the killing. Now, it's his mother's call whether to prove him innocent or to leave him imprisoned.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 70000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: suspense, atmospheric, tense, psychological, neo noir, disturbing, mind bending, serious, cerebral, suspenseful
Similar in 89%
Dark Blue (2002)
Plot Summary:
Set during the Rodney King riots, a robbery homicide investigation triggers a series of events that will cause a corrupt LAPD officer to question his tactics.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, UK, Germany
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: neo noir, tense, detective, harsh, intense, stylized, serious, captivating, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 86%
Internal Affairs (1990)
Plot Summary:
Keen young Raymold Avila joins the Internal Affairs Department of the Los Angeles police. He and partner Amy Wallace are soon looking closely at the activities of cop Dennis Peck whose financial holdings start to suggest something shady. Indeed Peck is involved in any number of dubious or downright criminal activities. He is also devious, a womaniser, and a clever manipulator, and he starts to turn his attention on Avila.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: tense, suspense, neo noir, suspenseful, erotic, atmospheric, intense, clever, brutal, rough
Similar in 83%
Traffic (2000)
Plot Summary:
An exploration of the United States of America's war on drugs from multiple perspectives. For the new head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the war becomes personal when he discovers his well-educated daughter is abusing cocaine within their comfortable suburban home. In Mexico, a flawed, but noble policeman agrees to testify against a powerful general in league with a cartel, and in San Diego, a drug kingpin's sheltered trophy wife must learn her husband's ruthless business after he is arrested, endangering her luxurious lifestyle.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 217000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 147 min
Plot tags: suspense, bleak, political, realistic, dramatic, anthology, neo noir, tense, thought provoking, clever
Similar in 76%
The Drop (2014)
Plot Summary:
Bob Saginowski finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighborhood's past where friends, families, and foes all work together to make a living - no matter the cost.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 160000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, tense, realistic, suspense, cerebral, clever, atmospheric, tricky, crime thriller
Similar in 82%
Red Corner (1997)
Plot Summary:
An American attorney on business in China, ends up wrongfully on trial for murder and his only key to innocence is a female defense lawyer from the country.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, suspense, political, intense, psychological, thought provoking, serious, disturbing, rough, talky
Similar in 86%
Runaway Jury (2003)
Plot Summary:
A juror on the inside and a woman on the outside manipulate a court trial involving a major gun manufacturer.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 103000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: clever, suspense, tense, surprise ending, captivating, stylized, political, cynical, detective, twisted
Similar in 89%
Michael Clayton (2007)
Plot Summary:
A law firm brings in its 'fixer' to remedy the situation after a lawyer has a breakdown while representing a chemical company that he knows is guilty in a multi-billion dollar class action suit.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 172000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: suspense, serious, suspenseful, tense, political thriller, disturbing, clever, political, psychological, realistic
Similar in 82%
Derailed (2005)
Plot Summary:
When two married business executives having an affair are blackmailed by a violent criminal, they are forced to turn the tables on him to save their families.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 76000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, surprise ending, serious, suspense, rough, twist ending, tense, neo noir, psychological, psychological thriller
Similar in 81%
Marathon Man (1976)
Plot Summary:
A graduate student and obsessive runner in New York is drawn into a mysterious plot involving his brother, a member of the secretive Division.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 69000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, suspenseful, atmospheric, intense, serious, disturbing, dark, political thriller, grim
Similar in 77%
The Statement (2003)
Plot Summary:
The film is set in France in the 1990s, the French were defeated by the Germans early in World War II, an armistice was signed in 1940 which effectively split France into a German occupied part in the North and a semi-independent part in the south which became known as Vichy France. In reality the Vichy government was a puppet regime controlled by the Germans. Part of the agreement was that the Vichy Government would assist with the 'cleansing' of Jews from France. The Vichy government formed a police force called the Milice, who worked with the Germans.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada, France, UK
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: tense, suspenseful, political, intense, serious, cult classic, bleak, realistic, psychological, brutal
Similar in 77%
The Day of the Jackal (1973)
Plot Summary:
An international assassin known as ‘The Jackal’ is employed by disgruntled French generals to kill President Charles de Gaulle, with a dedicated gendarme on the assassin's trail.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 44000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, France
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: political thriller, exciting, suspenseful, political, atmospheric, talky, intense, rough, serious, suspense
Similar in 89%
A Most Wanted Man (2014)
Plot Summary:
A Chechen Muslim illegally immigrates to Hamburg and becomes a person of interest for a covert government team which tracks the movements of potential terrorists.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 79000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA, Germany
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: clever, bleak, tense, political, suspense, melancholic, thought provoking, psychological, cerebral, independent film
Similar in 88%
Rendition (2007)
Plot Summary:
When an Egyptian terrorism suspect "disappears" on a flight from Africa to Washington DC, his American wife and a CIA analyst find themselves caught up in a struggle to secure his release from a secret detention facility somewhere outside the US.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 58000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, tense, suspenseful, disturbing, dramatic, realistic, psychological thriller, sincere, sexy
Similar in 85%
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Plot Summary:
Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon dead bodies, $2 million and a hoard of heroin in a Texas desert, but methodical killer Anton Chigurh comes looking for it, with local sheriff Ed Tom Bell hot on his trail. The roles of prey and predator blur as the violent pursuit of money and justice collide.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 10000000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: neo noir, tense, serious, atmospheric, suspense, bleak, suspenseful, neo western, gloomy, rough