Best movies like The Formula
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A detective uncovers a formula that was devised by the Nazis in WW II to make gasoline from synthetic products, thereby eliminating the necessity for oil--and oil companies. A major oil company finds out about it and tries to destroy the formula and anyone who knows about it.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: West Germany, USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, neo noir, eighties
Best tv shows and movies like The Formula (1980):
Similar in 76%
Order of Death (1983)
Plot Summary:
A New York policeman imprisons and tortures an admitted cop-killer, but finds the tables turned when his victim refuses to break and in fact urges more punishment.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: Italy
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: suspense, neo noir, psychological thriller, tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, poliziottesco
Similar in 81%
The White Lioness (1996)
Plot Summary:
In Cape Town, a police inspector named September color discovers that the dreaded Mabasha, hired murderer, is in talks with a right-wing organization. In Skåne, southwest of Sweden, is given to the real estate agent Louise Åkerblom by missing and the case is assigned to Inspector Wallander. Just start research supposedly empty building explodes. An unusual weapon, a transmitter Russian and index finger of a man of color are found in the wreckage of the building.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 625
Genere: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Sweden, Denmark, Norway
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, rough, mind bending, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 76%
Storage (2009)
Plot Summary:
Working at an underground city storage facility, a young man discovers evidence of a murder and vows to bring the killer to justice.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 759
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: Australia
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, captivating, psychological, suspense, rough, realistic, suspenseful, interesting
Similar in 87%
Varg Veum - Woman in the Fridge (2008)
Plot Summary:
An international oil drilling company hires private investigator Varg Veum to find their missing systems designer, Arne Samuelsen. Varg discovers the headless body of a woman jammed into the fridge in Arne's apartment - and is promptly knocked unconscious. When he wakes up the body is gone and the Police has arrived.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: Norway
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, psychological, suspense, detective, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 87%
Down and Dangerous (2013)
Plot Summary:
An inventive and resourceful cocaine smuggler defends his trade against violent rival traffickers, a monstrous and vengeful killer, and the DEA agents who want to lock him up – all while falling for a stunningly beautiful woman with a taste for danger.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 907
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, tense, captivating, suspense, independent film, exciting, realistic
Similar in 82%
Lonely Street (2008)
Plot Summary:
Bubba Mabry, a gullible private detective, becomes the prime suspect in a tabloid reporter's murder after being hired to snoop on him by a mysterious celebrity.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 575
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, suspenseful, semi serious, detective
Similar in 82%
The Amateur (1981)
Plot Summary:
A researcher for the CIA who convinces his superiors to send him to the eastern bloc in order to avenge the murder of his wife by enemy agents discovers a web of deception underneath his wife's death.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 889
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: political thriller, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, surprise ending, suspense
Similar in 81%
Soul Assassin (2001)
Plot Summary:
Kevin Burke a young executive for a multinational investment bank, is a rising star in the Rotterdam office. Rewarded for his perceptive eye and mastery of foreign languages, Kevin receives the promotion he has been working for - a coveted spot on the company's internal security team. Trained by the enigmatic Mr. Ficks to protect the firm's employees in volatile, third world markets, Kevin thinks he has a shield for every arrow. And this makes him feel safe, or at least "safer" than he's felt since his father's mysterious death. Karl Jorgensen, the Managing Director of the bank, is Kevin's boss and surrogate father. He has mentored Kevin over the years, which makes his biological son, Karl Jorgensen Junior, visibly jealous. Jorgensen brushes off the "sibling rivalry", but clearly favors Kevin, molding him into a confident, young man. It is this confidence that gives Kevin the courage he needs to propose to the woman he loves.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Thriller, Action
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, stylized, suspense, political, realistic
Similar in 86%
To Seduce an Enemy (2003)
Plot Summary:
Yuki (Theresa Mak) is a celebrity photographer who stumbles upon some unsettling information in this erotic suspense mystery. Two people wind up dead, and Yuki is convinced that a hypnotist is to blame. Now, it's up to Yuki to make the police believe that the improbable suspect really is the murderer before the ruthless killing continues.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 72
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, realistic, sexual, sexy
Similar in 83%
The Underneath (1995)
Plot Summary:
Michael Chambers has come home to Austin, Texas. To the mother who's starting a new life and the brother driven by old jealousies. To the places he remembers and the memories he can't forget. And to Rachel, the woman he married and then betrayed with his passion for gambling. Now she's together with Tommy Dundee, a man no one trifles with. He takes care of her in a way Michael never could, but there's a price for his attention and Rachel knows this. And when Michael devises a plan to get Rachel out from under Tommy's control, they become entangled in a web of intrigue, danger and desire from which no one escapes unscathed.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: neo noir, erotic, suspenseful, stylized, anamorphic, twisted, serious, realistic, surprise ending, independent film
Similar in 81%
The Harvest (1993)
Plot Summary:
A screenwriter is sent to Mexico to develop a story that can be used to wrap up a movie presently in production. Given a very short time allotment, the writer immerses himself in the seamier side of a Mexican beach resort, but soon finds himself involved in a 'body organ for profit' operation. Drugged, he has one of his own kidneys removed, and then, with a woman he isn't sure he can trust, he sets out to expose the ring.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 732
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA, Mexico
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: neo noir, realistic, suspense, independent film, tense, rough, mind bending, serious, suspenseful, psychological
Similar in 82%
The Hidden Child (2013)
Plot Summary:
Erica's parents are killed in a traffic accident. She moves to Fjällbacka and discovers she has a brother.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: Sweden, Germany
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, suspenseful, tense, serious, realistic
Similar in 84%
Varg Veum - The Consorts of Death (2011)
Plot Summary:
Varg Veum investigates the murder of a married couple; prime suspect is the stepson, but Veum does not think he is guilty. Not even when he confesses.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime
Country: Norway
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, tense, realistic, detective
Similar in 85%
Murder at the Presidio (2005)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of the only homicide committed on the famed San Francisco Military base. A military Criminal Investigations Officer goes beyond his orders to get to the facts behind what appears to be a robbery-motivated killing. What he finds may well unravel his damaged mental health.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 678
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, realistic
Similar in 79%
The Wild Card (2004)
Plot Summary:
A young, beautiful wife cheating on her rich, older husband amidst the neon lights of Las Vegas. Four men hired to do a job, but there is a traitor in their midst. Adultery, betrayal, kidnapping and murder lead to the ultimate double cross and no one is innocent in the end. Who will live and who will die... and who is The Wild Card?.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 72
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, suspenseful, realistic
Similar in 88%
Impunity (2014)
Plot Summary:
Investigating the gruesome murder of a cabinet minister's daughter, a special investigator and a local police detective find themselves knee-deep in political corruption and conspiracy, in this sizzling noir thriller set in post-apartheid South Africa.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 43
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: South Africa
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, suspenseful, realistic
Similar in 80%
Bad Bizness (2003)
Plot Summary:
After three women get killed, policewoman gets involved in the underworld of drugs and pornographic movies, when she starts investigating the case.
IMDB Rating: 3.2
IMDB Votes: 577
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, serious, realistic, independent film, rough, hood, sexploitation film
Similar in 83%
Varg Veum - Yours 'till Death (2008)
Plot Summary:
Private eye Varg Veum is on a routine mission searching for his client Jonas Andresen's stolen car. The car is found having been used in a brutal robbery and not long after that the client himself turns up dead.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Norway, Denmark
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, tense, realistic, neo noir, detective, serious
Similar in 90%
The Cradle Will Fall (2004)
Plot Summary:
The suicide of a pregnant woman begins to look like murder and a county prosecutor is called in to investigate.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 355
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, serious, mind bending, realistic, suspenseful, crying
Similar in 79%
Deepwater (2005)
Plot Summary:
A drifter comes to the town of Deepwater and is seduced into a twisted game of deceit and murder.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, realistic, mindfuck, tense, rough, neo noir, independent film, surprise ending
Similar in 90%
American Crime (2004)
Plot Summary:
A young smalltown reporter, Jessie St. Claire, begins investigating a killer stalking his victims making video tapes. This might just be the career opportunity, which she has hoped for. When she herself becomes a target and suddenly disappears, the case attracts a colleague from the nationally syndicated television show "American Crime" as well. Together with Jessie's camera-man and later joined by her producer he tries to solve the mysterious case. Written by Oliver Heidelbach (IMDB).
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: scary, serious, tense, rough, realistic, suspenseful, suspense
Similar in 79%
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 83%
Varg Veum - Sleeping Beauty (2008)
Plot Summary:
After extricating 17-year-old Lisa Halle from a life of prostitution in Copenhagen, private investigator Varg Veum becomes ensnared in a tangle of parental neglect and bad love when he is hired to locate Lisa's boyfriend, Peter Werner.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: Norway, Denmark
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, tense, realistic, neo noir, detective, crime drama
Similar in 78%
Restitution (2011)
Plot Summary:
A true crime writer investigating a small town murder spree uncovers the devastating truth that changes the town forever.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 858
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, tense, captivating, suspense, neo noir, rough, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 80%
True Blue (2001)
Plot Summary:
Rembrandt Macy (Tom Berenger) is a maverick cop assigned to a case where the primary evidence is a woman's hand found in a pond. Investigators identify the dead, and Macy is lead into a young woman's past. Macy's primary path to understanding the victim is through one of her roommates, Nikki. Through Nikki and others, Macy learns of the victim's shady contacts at City Hall, the involvement of a gang of Asian drug runners, and the sordid affairs of one of the city's bigwigs. As Macy begins to understand how all these crimes fit together, he learns that his new friend Nikki is not an innocent bystander.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 905
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, tense, suspense, intense, neo noir, serious, realistic
Similar in 84%
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%
The Gunman (2004)
Plot Summary:
When Detective Ben Simm's wife is killed, he has to learn to be both father and mother to his little girl while searching for a Vigilante that has his own sense of justice.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 465
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: disturbing, tense, serious, suspenseful, independent film, bleak, realistic
Similar in 82%
Caught in the Crossfire (2010)
Plot Summary:
Two detectives investigating a gang-related find themselves targeted by both gang members and crooked cops.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, exciting, serious, hood, tense, captivating, rough, realistic, independent film, non-linear
Similar in 79%
A Crime of Passion (2003)
Plot Summary:
A young heiress has her life turned upside down after her business partner's wife is killed and foul play is suspected.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 350
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, enigmatic, captivating, realistic
Similar in 87%
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
Plot Summary:
A bookish CIA researcher finds all his co-workers dead, and must outwit those responsible until he figures out who he can really trust.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 61000
Genere: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: political thriller, tense, suspense, atmospheric, exciting, suspenseful, political, neo noir, psychological thriller, mysterious