Best movies like The Judge and the Assassin
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies like The Judge and the Assassin? Share your insights to help others to tv shows and films 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:
France, 1893. Joseph Bouvier attempts to shoot his love who refused to marry him and to commit suicide. Upon release from the filthy asylum where he was placed, with bullets still remaining in his head, he wanders the country roads and rapes and murders many teenagers over years. The judge Rousseau captures him, but to serve his ambition seeks to avoid that Bouvier is simply declared insane.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, History
Country: France
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: anthology, psychological, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, crying, freeze frame, period drama
Best tv shows and movies like The Judge and the Assassin (1976):
Similar in 88%
The Dominici Affair (1973)
Plot Summary:
In August 1952, a family of British tourists is found by the roadside in Haute Provence, brutally murdered. In the ensuing, very public, investigation a local landowner, 75 year old Gaston Dominici, is arrested for the murders, having been denounced by his sons. Under police interrogation, Dominici confesses to have killed the family and it looks certain that he will be charged, tried and sentenced to death. But then the case begins to collapse. The old man retracts his confession and the lack of evidence against him becomes apparent….
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 724
Genere: Crime, Drama, History
Country: France, Italy, Spain
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: tense, sincere, serious, realistic, factual
Similar in 80%
The Clockmaker of St. Paul (1974)
Plot Summary:
Lyons, France. Michel Descombes is a watchmaker who lives alone with his teenage son Bernard. When the police visits and informs him that Bernard killed a man and is on the run with a girl, Michel realizes that he knew far less about his son than he thought.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 78%
Whistle Down the Wind (1961)
Plot Summary:
When an injured wife murderer takes refuge on a remote Lancashire farm, the owner’s three children mistakenly believe him to be the Second Coming of Christ.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: disturbing, touching, serious, crying, allegory, independent film, detective, vintage
Similar in 84%
Diary of a Chambermaid (1964)
Plot Summary:
Celestine has a new job as a chambermaid for the quirky M. Monteil, his wife and her father. When the father dies, Celestine decides to quit her job and leave, but when a young girl is raped and murdered, Celestine believes that the Monteils' groundskeeper, Joseph, is guilty, and stays on in order to prove it. She uses her sexuality and the promise of marriage to get Joseph to confess -- but things do not go as planned.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: bleak, enigmatic, harsh, cynical, political, art house, biting, social, spiritual, artsy
Similar in 90%
La Cérémonie (1995)
Plot Summary:
Sophie, a quiet and shy maid working for the upper-class family Lelievre, hides her illiteracy under the cloak of a perfect household and obedience. She finds a friend in the energetic and uncompromising postmaster Jeanne, who encourages her to stand up against her bourgeois employers. Things start to escalate as the Lelievres find out that Sophie can't read and has brought Jeanne into their house against their wish.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: France, Germany
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, thought provoking, serious, disturbing, art house, clever, neo noir, controversial, psychological thriller, tense
Similar in 76%
Coup de torchon (1981)
Plot Summary:
In 1938 in the french West Africa, Lucien Cordier is a weak and corrupted policeman despised by the local bad boys. His wife is openly cheating on him and he hasn't got any self-respect anymore. But when comes the occasion, his revenge will be terrible.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: offbeat, humorous, dark comedy, neo noir, disturbing, controversial, anthology, black comedy, crime drama, realistic
Similar in 90%
Someone Behind the Door (1971)
Plot Summary:
A brain doctor (Anthony Perkins) with an unfaithful wife (Jill Ireland) brings home an amnesiac (Charles Bronson) and gets him to commit murder.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: slasher, psychological, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, neo noir, psychotronic, poliziottesco
Similar in 78%
The French Detective (1975)
Plot Summary:
When political thugs murder an opponent's volunteer and also kill a cop, chief inspector Verjeat believes the politician who hired them is as guilty as the murderous goon. Verjeat's pursuit of the councilman, Lardatte, gets him a warning from his superiors. When he embarrasses Lardatte while disarming a hostage (the dead volunteer's father), Verjeat is told he's being transferred within a week. He speeds up his hunt for the goon and, with Lefévre, one of his young detectives, he engineers a complicated scheme to buy more time before the transfer. How should Verjeat play out his values of honor and duty?.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: crime drama, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, detective, freeze frame, poliziottesco, french noir
Similar in 75%
The Seventh Juror (1962)
Plot Summary:
In a moment of madness a middle-aged, married and respectable pharmacist kills a young woman who is sun-bathing by a lake. Unable to take in what he has done, he flees from the scene of the crime and behaves as if nothing has happened. Eventually her boyfriend is charged with the crime and, in a strange twist of fate, the killer finds himself serving on the jury.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 942
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: noir, neo noir, psychological thriller, crying, french noir
Similar in 78%
Comedy of Power (2006)
Plot Summary:
A magistrate investigates a corporate executive.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Germany
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, captivating, realistic
Similar in 86%
Story of Women (1988)
Plot Summary:
During World War II, in occupied France, a woman of limited schooling raises two children in a ratty flat.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: anthology, sincere, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing, crying, eighties
Similar in 79%
The Deathmaker (1995)
Plot Summary:
Fritz Haarmann, who has killed at least 27 boys, is questioned by a psychology professor in order to find out whether he is sane and can be held responsible for his crimes. During this interrogation Haarmann reveals his motives and his killing methods.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, serious, bleak, realistic, suspenseful, rough
Similar in 87%
The Child I Never Was (2002)
Plot Summary:
A serial killer dispassionately discusses the nuts and bolts of his grisly avocation, as well as the youthful traumas which helped to mold him into a psychopath, in this disturbing independent drama from Germany, based on the true story of of Germany's most famous child murderer Juergen Bartsch who, between the ages of 15 and 19, abused, tortured and killed four schoolboys in the Ruhr region of Germany from 1962 to 1966.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 638
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, serious, bleak, art house, realistic, gloomy, crying
Similar in 79%
The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case (1976)
Plot Summary:
Fact-based story of the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh Jr., son and namesake of the famed pilot, and ensuing trial of accused and convicted killer, Bruno Hauptmann.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 501
Genere: Crime, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 148 min
Plot tags: rough, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 83%
Violette (1978)
Plot Summary:
Paris, 1933. The daughter of a respectable lower middle class couple, Violette Nozière, leads a disreputable double life. Far from being the innocent 18-year-old her parents mistake her for, she spends her nights with dissolute young men in the less salubrious areas of the city. One day, Violette meets her ideal man, Jean Dabin, but he is a scoundrel who soon begins to extort money from her. When her parents discover that she is stealing from them, Violette finds the tension in their cramped apartment unbearable and she is driven to murder both her parents.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: France, Canada
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: erotic, neo noir, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, tragic
Similar in 80%
Wisconsin Death Trip (1999)
Plot Summary:
Wisconsin Death Trip is an intimate, shocking and sometimes hilarious account of the disasters that befell one small town in Wisconsin during the final decade of the 19th century. The film is inspired by Michael Lesy's book of the same name which was first published in 1973. Lesy discovered a striking archive of black and white photographs in the town of Black River Falls dating from the 1890s and married a selection of these images to extracts from the town's newspaper from the same decade. The effect was surprising and disturbing. The town of Black River Falls seems gripped by some peculiar malaise and the weekly news is dominated by bizarre tales of madness, eccentricity and violence amongst the local population.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, History
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 76 min
Plot tags: disturbing, social, sad, controversial, black and white, independent film, atmospheric, rough, bleak, serious
Similar in 75%
Let Joy Reign Supreme (1975)
Plot Summary:
France, 1719. Louis 14th died four years ago, Philippe d'Orleans is the regent. He is a liberal and a libertine. His right-hand man, Dubois, an atheistic and cupid priest, as libertine as Philippe, tries to take advantage of a little rebellion lead by a Breton squire (Pontallec) and of the famine to become archbishop... Description of the life of the court in this period of transition where the French Revolution smoulders.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: France
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: anthology, historical drama, serious, realistic, weird, period drama
Similar in 88%
Ann Rule Presents: The Stranger Beside Me (2003)
Plot Summary:
While working at a Seattle clinic for women in the 1970s, Ann Rule becomes friends with Ted Bundy. Based on a book by Ann Rule.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, History
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, dark
Similar in 77%
Z (1969)
Plot Summary:
Repression is the rule of the day in this film that skewers Greek governance of the 1960s. Z, a leftist rabble rouser, is killed in what appears to be a traffic accident. But given the political climate, the death of such a prominent activist raises troubling questions. Though it's too late to save Z's life, a postmortem examination suggests that the ruling party was behind his death. As the facts leak out, those who tell the truth pay the price for their honesty.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: France, Algeria
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: political, political thriller, tense, bleak, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, intellectual, neo noir, dark
Similar in 89%
Freeway (1996)
Plot Summary:
Following the arrest of her mother, Ramona, young Vanessa Lutz decides to go in search of her estranged grandmother. On the way, she is given a ride by school counselor Bob Wolverton. During the journey, Lutz begins to realize that Bob is the notorious I-5 Killer and manages to escape by shooting him several times. Wounded but still very much alive, Bob pursues Lutz across the state in this modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, France
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: disturbing, dark comedy, suspenseful, bloody, black comedy, road movie, cult classic, teen, clever, controversial
Similar in 80%
Let Him Have It (1991)
Plot Summary:
In 1950s England, slow-witted Derek Bentley falls in with a group of petty criminals led by Chris Craig, a teenager with a fondness for American gangster films. Chris and Derek's friendship leads to their involvement in the true case which would forever shake England's belief in capital punishment.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, History
Country: UK, France
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: depressing, tense, thought provoking, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, suspenseful, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 89%
SK1 (2014)
Plot Summary:
The hunt, capture and trial of Guy Georges, one of France's most notorious serial killer.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, non-linear
Similar in 87%
The Murder of Mary Phagan (1988)
Plot Summary:
The Murder of Mary Phagan, a 1987 two-part TV miniseries made by Orion Pictures Corporation and distributed by National Broadcasting Company (NBC), is a dramatization of the story of Leo Frank, a factory manager charged and convicted with murdering a 13-year-old girl, a factory worker named Mary Phagan, in Atlanta, Georgia in 1913. The trial was sensational and controversial. After Frank's legal appeals had failed, the governor of Georgia in 1915 commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment. In 1915 Frank was kidnapped from prison and lynched by a small group of prominent men of Marietta, Georgia. The film features Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Rebecca Miller, Charles Dutton, Peter Gallagher, Cynthia Nixon, Dylan Baker, and William H. Macy.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 806
Genere: Crime, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 251 min
Plot tags: tense, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic
Similar in 90%
Changeling (2008)
Plot Summary:
Christine Collins is overjoyed when her kidnapped son is brought back home. But when Christine suspects that the boy returned to her isn't her child, the police captain has her committed to an asylum.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 263000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, History, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: psychological, heartbreaking, sentimental, tense, bleak, disturbing, touching, suspense, detective, emotional
Similar in 87%
In Cold Blood (1967)
Plot Summary:
A 1967 film based on Truman Capote's book of the same name. After a botched robbery results in the brutal murder of a rural family, two drifters elude police, in the end coming to terms with their own mortality and the repercussions of their vile atrocity.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: black and white, disturbing, suspense, neo noir, bleak, tense, controversial, road movie, detective, inspirational
Similar in 85%
Child 44 (2015)
Plot Summary:
Set in Stalin-era Soviet Union, a disgraced MGB agent is dispatched to investigate a series of child murders -- a case that begins to connect with the very top of party leadership.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 75000
Genere: Crime, Drama, History, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Czech Republic, UK, USA, Russia, Romania
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: suspense, suspenseful, detective, serious, intense, factual, tense, scary, retro, political thriller
Similar in 86%
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)
Plot Summary:
A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy, from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 100000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, rough, bleak, suspenseful, psychological thriller, brutal, dark, crime drama, action thriller
Similar in 88%
The Conspirator (2010)
Plot Summary:
Mary Surratt is the lone female charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination trial of Abraham Lincoln. As the whole nation turns against her, she is forced to rely on her reluctant lawyer to uncover the truth and save her life.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Crime, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: political, factual, period piece, emotional, suspense, thought provoking, serious, captivating, historical drama, gothic
Similar in 75%
The Laramie Project (2002)
Plot Summary:
"The Laramie Project" is set in and around Laramie, Wyoming, in the aftermath of the murder of 21-year-old Matthew Shepard. To create the stage version of "The Laramie Project," the eight-member New York-based Tectonic Theatre Project traveled to Laramie, Wyoming, recording hours of interviews with the town's citizens over a two-year period. The film adaptation dramatizes the troupe's visit, using the actual words from the transcripts to create a portrait of a town forced to confront itself.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, bleak, captivating, disturbing, clever, controversial, talky, lgbt cinema, sexual
Similar in 82%
Citizen X (1995)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of a Russian serial killer who, over many years, claimed victim to over 50 people. His victims were mostly under the age of 17. In what was then a communists state, the police investigations were hampered by bureaucracy, incompetence and those in power. The story is told from the viewpoint of the detective in charge of the case.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, History, Thriller
Country: USA, Hungary
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: detective, suspense, tense, suspenseful, psychological, intense, factual, serious, realistic, grim