Best movies like The Escapist
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Frank Perry is an institutionalized convict twelve years into a life sentence without parole. When his estranged daughter falls ill, he is determined to make peace with her before it's too late. He develops an ingenious escape plan, and recruits a dysfunctional band of escapists - misfits with a mutual dislike for one other but united by their desire to escape their hell hole of an existence.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: tense, harsh, rough, suspenseful, atmospheric, realistic, psychological thriller, mindfuck, sincere, mind bending
Best tv shows and movies like The Escapist (2008):
Similar in 80%
If... Dog... Rabbit (1999)
Plot Summary:
Johnnie Cooper served time for an armed robbery that also his father and brother participated in. When he's released from jail he's determined to live a normal life and gets work at a gas station. But soon his brother pays a visit.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 602
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: independent film, tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 78%
Desperate Measures (1998)
Plot Summary:
San Francisco police officer Frank Connor is in a frantic search for a compatible bone marrow donor for his gravely ill son. There's only one catch the potential donor is convicted multiple murderer Peter McCabe who sees a trip to the hospital as the perfect opportunity to get what he wants most freedom. With McCabe's escape, the entire hospital becomes a battleground and Connor must pursue and, ironically, protect the deadly fugitive who is his son's only hope for survival.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: suspense, suspenseful, rough, emotional, breathtaking, dark, cult classic, disgusting, surprise ending, psychological thriller
Similar in 79%
La Fuga (2001)
Plot Summary:
In the summer of 1928, several inmates from the National Penitentiary in Buenos Aires managed to escape. The film narrates the fate of each of these runaways in search of their destiny - tough men with their own ethical codes and ready to do anything not to return to prison. Some of them will suffer violent deaths, while others manage de disappear. Sordid and moving stories, not excluding tenderness and love, mercy or horror sealed with a pact of prison love that will remain in the heart of Buenos Aires, as witness of the yearned-for freedom.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 834
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Spain, Argentina
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, captivating, suspenseful, realistic, adaptation directed by original author
Similar in 88%
Night Zoo (1987)
Plot Summary:
Marcel (Gilles Maheu) emerges from prison in hopes of a reconciliation with his dying father Albert (Roger Le Bel) in this thrilling crime drama. Raped in prison, Marcel encounters a homosexual cop involved with drug smuggling who presses him for information and sex. Marcel fights his way out of the cop's lecherous advances and is reunited with his father. The two catch up on old times on a fishing trip, and Albert reveals he has both money and cocaine stashed away for Marcel's return. Marcel and his homosexual cellmate later corner the crooked cops in a sleazy hotel to exact revenge. Julie (Lynne Adams) is Marcel's former girlfriend who works in a sex club peep show. Gay and straight scenes of rough sex permeate this film which marks the directorial debut of Jean-Claude Lauzon.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 767
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, neo noir
Similar in 82%
One (2002)
Plot Summary:
Après quinze ans passés derrière les barreaux, Bruno, qui prône la révolution prolétarienne, s'évade. Ce dernier veut continuer la lutte, faire sortir ses camarades de prison, libérer les masses du joug capitaliste. Tous ses anciens alliés n'y croient plus, même Jeanne qui s'est mariée et a maintenant des enfants.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Thriller, Crime, Drama
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, art house, bleak, neo noir
Similar in 76%
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 77%
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 84%
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 82%
Girls in Prison (1994)
Plot Summary:
Framed for the murder of a record company president in 1952 Hollywood, young, aspiring singer Aggie O'Hanlon is sentenced to life in prison and tries to adjust to her life life behind bars in a hellish womens prison where she is befriended by other "lifer" inmates who help her out when Aggie finds herself marked for murder by an unknown source who thinks she knows more about the murder than she does.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 678
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, psychotronic, erotic, campy
Similar in 75%
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 79%
Screwed (2011)
Plot Summary:
The film is a semi-biographical story based on the experiences of former prison guard Ronnie Thompson who spent seven years working in some of the UK's most dangerous prisons. Based on Thompson's book of the same name, the project stars James D'Arcy (Master & Commander), Noel Clarke (Kidulthood), Frank Harper (The Football Factory), Jamie Foreman (Layer Cake), Andrew Shim (This Is England) and Kate Magowan (Stardust). The story revolves around former soldier Sam Norwood who takes a job as a prison officer when he returns from Iraq and becomes exposed to the underworld of prison culture - including corrupt guards and drug trafficking.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: rough, disturbing, tense, serious, sincere, bleak, captivating, emotional, realistic, cult film
Similar in 80%
Face (1997)
Plot Summary:
Ray is an aging ex-socialist who has become a bankrobber after seeing the demise of socialism in 1980s Britain. Teaming up with a gang of other has-beenish crims, he commits one bank job too many. The gang dissolves in a murderous flurry of recriminations.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: political, independent film, exciting, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
Three Walls (2003)
Plot Summary:
Three men are on death row. Jaggu (Jackie Shroff), a lawyer and a poet, is serving a sentence for murdering his wife because she was cheating on him with another man. Nagya (Nagesh Kukunoor), a man angry with the whole world, is arrested for murdering his wife too, but he claims that it was an accident where she falls off the sidewalk while they were talking. Ishaan (Naseeruddin Shah), a happy-go-lucky man, is also arrested for murder that he commits while in the act of robbery. The prison's custodian is Mohan (Gulshan Grover), who attempts several methods to reform the prison's inmates. A documentary filmmaker, Chandrika (Juhi Chawla) comes to the jail to set a film about these three men. In the process, she finds redemption to her troubled marriage.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: India
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, touching, bleak, contemplative, rough, realistic, suspenseful, offbeat, twist ending
Similar in 78%
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 88%
Flawless (2007)
Plot Summary:
A female executive (Demi Moore) and a night janitor (Michael Caine) conspire to commit a daring diamond heist from their mutual employer, The London Diamond Corporation.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, Luxembourg
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: suspense, clever, atmospheric, suspenseful, tense, dramatic, stylized, cult classic, suspense thriller, serious
Similar in 75%
Bad Boys (1983)
Plot Summary:
Mick O'Brien is a young Chicago street thug torn between a life of petty crime and the love of his girlfriend. But when the heist of a local drug dealer goes tragically wrong Mick is sentenced to a brutal juvenile prison where violence is a rite of passage and respect is measured in vengeance.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: neo noir, suspense, realistic, disturbing, tense, serious, entertaining, bleak, suspenseful, epic
Similar in 79%
Felon (2008)
Plot Summary:
A family man convicted of killing an intruder must cope with life afterward in the violent penal system.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 83000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: brutal, realistic, tense, emotional, serious, sincere, social, grindhouse, cerebral, rough
Similar in 75%
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 90%
Riot (1969)
Plot Summary:
A riot in a state prison is staged to cover up an escape attempt, during which many inmates and guards are killed. Shot on location at Arizona State Prison.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 636
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, psychotronic
Similar in 86%
McVicar (1980)
Plot Summary:
John McVicar was a London Bad Boy. he graduated to armed bank robbery and was Britain's "Public Enemy No. 1". He was captured and put into a high security prison. Will even the highest security prison be able to hold him? This is the true story of his life, his criminal exploits and his eventual rehabilitation.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, independent film, cult film
Similar in 75%
Animal Factory (2000)
Plot Summary:
A young man goes to prison and a tough, older convict takes him under his wing as a mentor.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, bleak, atmospheric, harsh, disturbing, intense, serious, rough, cult classic
Similar in 82%
Shiner (2000)
Plot Summary:
The past catches up with a ruthlessly ambitious boxing promoter.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: tense, suspenseful, rough, realistic, neo noir, serious, independent film
Similar in 77%
Played (2006)
Plot Summary:
An examination of the malevolent London underworld with it's despicable criminal underground. Ray (Mick Rossi) just finished an eight year prison sentence after getting set up. Now he is back on the streets to settle the score.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, suspenseful, realistic, freeze frame
Similar in 76%
Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017)
Plot Summary:
After working as a drug courier and getting into a brutal shootout with police, a former boxer finds himself at the mercy of his enemies as they force him to instigate violent acts that turn the prison he resides in into a battleground.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 73000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: suspense, disturbing, tense, rough, psychological, exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, crime thriller
Similar in 82%
The Escapist (2002)
Plot Summary:
Denis Hopkins, a pilot, lives with his pregnant wife Valerie and has a comfortable lifestyle. When a gang of criminals led by the sadistic Ricky Barnes breaks into his home, he offers whatever the criminals want to protect his wife and unborn child, but the evil Ricky kills Valerie anyway. Their baby is saved, and later Barnes is arrested and sentenced to life in the maximum security prison, Sullen Voe. Denis fakes his own suicide, then assaults a police car in order to get himself arrested and sent to prison with the intention of tracking down and killing Ricky Barnes. He does not reveal his true name and is called John "What" by the prisoners and guards. Denis escapes from successive prisons, forcing his eventual transfer to Sullen Voe. When he reaches his objective, Ricky Barnes schedules a confrontation, but things do not quite turn out the way Denis had expected.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, tense, serious, rough
Similar in 79%
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 89%
Shoot on Sight (2007)
Plot Summary:
Tariq Ali, a Muslim police officer of Scotland Yard, is asked to hunt-down suspected suicide-bombers against the backdrop of July 7 bombings in London. Tariq's task gets complicated as an innocent Muslim is killed by the commando shooters of Scotland Yard. On the other hand, Tariq - a British citizen is himself a suspect in the eyes of his boss, despite his long service in the Scotland Yard.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: rough, suspenseful, disturbing, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Midnight Express (1978)
Plot Summary:
Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of Turkey. The Turkish courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than 30 years in prison. Hayes has two opportunities for release: the appeals made by his lawyer, his family, and the American government, or the "Midnight Express".
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 87000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: disturbing, realistic, suspense, depressing, psychological, serious, tense, controversial, grim, bleak
Similar in 90%
Son of a Gun (2014)
Plot Summary:
Locked up for a minor crime, 19 year old JR quickly learns the harsh realities of prison life. Protection, if you can get it, is paramount. JR soon finds himself under the watchful eye of Australia's most notorious criminal, Brendan Lynch, but protection comes at a price.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Australia, UK, Canada
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: tense, stylized, exciting, suspenseful, neo noir, surprise ending, noir, bloody, suspense, crime drama
Similar in 79%
Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
Plot Summary:
Escape from Alcatraz tells the story of the only three men ever to escape from the infamous maximum security prison at Alcatraz. In 29 years, the seemingly impenetrable federal penitentiary, which housed Al Capone and "Birdman" Robert Stroud, was only broken once - by three men never heard of again.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 145000
Genere: Action, Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: suspense, atmospheric, suspenseful, realistic, exciting, motivational, inspirational, neo noir, non fiction, crime drama