Best movies like The Killing of John Lennon
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The film follows the travels and accounts of Mark Chapman (Jonas Ball) and gives the watcher an insight into his mind. It starts with him in Hawaii and how he does not fit in with anyone including his job; family; friends etc. He says he is searching for a purpose in his life and that it has no direction. He seeks refuge in the public library where he finds the book, 'The Catcher in the Rye'. He becomes obsessed with the book and believes that he himself is the protaganist in the book, Holden Caulfield. He believes the ideas in the book reflect his own personal life and how he does not fit in anywhere and he reads it constantly. He then finds another book in the library about The Beatles singer John Lennon and begins a personal hatred for him.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspenseful, disturbing, serious, realistic, independent film, gloomy
Best tv shows and movies like The Killing of John Lennon (2006):
Similar in 82%
Our Children (2012)
Plot Summary:
Young and full of life, Murielle (Emilie Dequenne, Rosetta) has a promising future ahead of her when she meets and falls head over heels for Mounir (Tahar Rahim, A Prophet). A wedding soon follows, and the happy couple quickly set about preparing to make a family. However, with family come ties, and none come as tight as that between Mounir and his adoptive father (Niels Arestrup, A Prophet, Sarah's Key). As Murielle continues to bring new life into the family, frictions between Mounir and Doctor Pinget reach boiling point. Helpless to extract her husband and children from the wealthy nest that Doctor Pinget has provided for them, Murielle is drawn into an unhealthy family dynamic. There is only one way out of this nightmare, and for Murielle all sense of reasoning begins to abandon her.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: disturbing, serious, realistic, sincere, psychological, sexy, sad, tense, gloomy
Similar in 81%
Dream Lover (1986)
Plot Summary:
After she's been attacked in her apartment, Cathy starts reliving the event in her dreams. She seeks help at a sleep disorder research center, but in doing so she encounters some unexpected results.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 636
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: scary, psychological, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 84%
Il capitano: A Swedish Requiem (1991)
Plot Summary:
The film is based on a true occurrence in Sweden in 1988. A Finish couple murdered a young boy and his parents when they prevented the theft of the son's bicycle. The film tries to describe the relationship between the dominant Jari, who calls himself "Il Capitano", and his more mature "soldier" Minna, that develops into mutual dependence.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 892
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Sweden, Finland, Germany
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 75%
The Boys (1998)
Plot Summary:
Brett Sprague is a violent and psychopathic man, who is released on parole after serving a sentence for assault. As he returns to his family house and we watch him and his brothers, Stevie and Glenn, for the next 24 hours, it becomes clear this day will not end well.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: disturbing, grindhouse, independent film, psychological, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, rough, thought provoking
Similar in 90%
King of the Jungle (2000)
Plot Summary:
Seymore is a young man with the mind of a child. He loves three things in life: basketball, sneaking out for cigarettes, and his mother. But all life's simple pleasures are brutally torn from him when he witnesses his mother gunned down by a neighborhood punk. Now Seymore must overcome the child within as he rises up to fight for some kind of justice. It's a fight that will take him out into the streets where there are few friends and many enemies -- and one of them is a killer who wants him silenced.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 590
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, tense, disturbing, independent film, bleak, realistic, suspenseful, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Citizen Gangster (2011)
Plot Summary:
Based on a real WWII vet and family man turned bank robber. Disillusioned by his post war circumstances, Eddie Boyd is torn between the need to provide for his young family and an unfulfilled dream to head to Hollywood to become a star. He discovers a way to do both, robbing banks Hollywood style, but his dream leads him down a path of danger and tragedy.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, realistic, stylized, depressing, neo noir, melancholic, intelligent, interesting
Similar in 83%
Kojak: Ariana (1989)
Plot Summary:
One of Kojak's old enemies uses Ariana, a young Greek girl, as bait to trap the legendary New York detective. Meanwhile, Kojak finds himself a brash young associate.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 186
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: rough, clever, serious, realistic, suspenseful, witty, detective
Similar in 85%
State of Mind (2003)
Plot Summary:
Reeling from the discovery of her husband's adultery, Grace moves back to her family home with her son. Amidst all this emotional turmoil, forensic psychologist Grace is asked by police to determine the guilt or innocence a man who killed his wife.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 163
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, mind bending, realistic
Similar in 79%
Guilty Hearts (2002)
Plot Summary:
Quiet and unassuming church organist Jenny Moran is depressed with her marriage to working-class Matt and leaves him. Jenny begins an affair with the manipulative and charming Dr. Stephen Carrow, who is also deacon of her church and a married man. Someone kills Carrow's wife after she learns of the affair between Jenny and her husband. The murderer is caught and confesses, but that confession leads to new lies which tear apart Jenny Moran's life.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 202
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 81%
Early One Morning (2011)
Plot Summary:
Monday morning. Paul Wertret, 50, heads off to his job as a manager at the International Credit and Trade Bank. He arrives at 8 o'clock on the dot, as usual. He enters a meeting room, takes out a gun and kills two of his bosses. Then he locks himself in his office. As he waits for the inevitable police assault, this ordinary man looks back over his life and the events that led him to commit such an act.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 580
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, serious, sincere, tense, bleak, realistic, non-linear, gloomy
Similar in 90%
Dance with a Stranger (1985)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman hanged in Britain, Mike Newell's Dance With a Stranger (1985) concentrates on Ellis's (Richardson) short-lived relationship with motor-racing driver David Blakely (Rupert Everett).
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: disturbing, independent film, neo noir, psychological, touching, serious, realistic, reflective, tense, light
Similar in 86%
Reservation Road (2007)
Plot Summary:
Two fathers' lives intersect when one of them is involved in a terrible and sudden hit-and-run car accident that leaves the other's son dead. In response, the two men (Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Ruffalo) react in unexpected ways as a reckoning looms in the near future.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, intense, suspenseful, bleak, emotional, depressing, disturbing, independent film, twisted
Similar in 81%
The Hours of the Day (2003)
Plot Summary:
Abel lives with his mother in a small town on the outskirts of Barcelona. His life, grey and boring, is based on the small family business, his mother's house, his girlfriend's bed, and the town bars. However under an appearance of quiet and gentle man, Abel hides a dark and morbid personality.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 670
Genere: Drama, Crime
Country: Spain
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, psychological, tense, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing, slow cinema, aesthetic, contemplative
Similar in 85%
In the Best of Families: Marriage, Pride & Madness (1994)
Plot Summary:
After a very messy divorce, a man starts suspecting his ex-wife and her new boyfriend of various crimes.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 372
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 200 min
Plot tags: tense, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 76%
She Made Them Do It (2013)
Plot Summary:
"She Made Them Do It" follows the twisted life of Sarah Pender (Jenna Dewan-Tatum) a charismatic, intelligent young woman who would become one of the country’s most sought after fugitives.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, serious, realistic, suspenseful, crime drama, crime thriller
Similar in 85%
Dancing in the Dark (1986)
Plot Summary:
Via the New York Times: "To all outward appearances, Edna Cormick (Martha Henry) is the perfect housewife.... She's married to a man who'll stand up in public and say, "This is my wife," so that there'll be no confusion as to who she is. Edna has no identity without Harry, an ambitious, successful salesman who seems to love and care for Edna long after other men might become worried about her housewifely obsessions... Edna is reviewing her life - in neatly chronological flashbacks - from the room in the psychiatric hospital where she's been confined ever since Harry's sudden death.".
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 100
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, serious, realistic, suspenseful, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 76%
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 84%
Rivals (2000)
Plot Summary:
A teenage girl becomes entangled in a volatile relationship with a pair of high-school lovers.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 594
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, psychological, suspense, dark, teen, mind bending, realistic
Similar in 80%
Execution of Justice (1999)
Plot Summary:
The story of an assassin who killed a mayor in the 1970's in what was known as the "Twinkie Defense".
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 274
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, controversial, surprise ending, queer cinema
Similar in 87%
Chapter 27 (2007)
Plot Summary:
The movie takes place in the three days leading up to Lennon's murder and is intended to be an exploration of Chapman's psyche, without putting substantial emphasis on the murder. The title "Chapter 27" suggests a continuation of J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, which has 26 chapters, and which Chapman was carrying when he shot Lennon. Chapman was obsessed with the book, to the point.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, History
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, psychological, suspenseful, disturbing, psychological thriller, emotional, creepy, cult classic, historical drama
Similar in 80%
The Burning Bed (1984)
Plot Summary:
An abused battered wife has had enough of husband beating up on her. Everywhere she turns for help, there's not much anyone will do. After he rapes her one night, she sets the bed on fire with him in it asleep.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, non fiction, crime drama, thought provoking, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
The Pastor's Wife (2011)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of Matthew Winkler, a beloved minister who, in 2006, was found shot and killed in his Selmer, Tennessee home, his wife and young daughters missing. Authorities soon zeroed in on Matthew's wife, Mary, as the prime suspect in the murder. After her capture, the residents of Selmer were left to wonder what would drive Mary to shoot her husband in the back as he slept. They would get their answers during her trial, when what went on behind the closed doors of this seemingly perfect family was revealed for all to see.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 571
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, serious, realistic, detective
Similar in 80%
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%
The Onion Field (1979)
Plot Summary:
Greg Powell, a disturbed ex-con, recruits Jimmy Youngblood (Smith) a petty thief, as partner in crime. Powell panics when they two of are pulled over by two cops for tail lights. Powell decides to kidnap the cops and Smith goes along with his crazy scheme. They drive out to a deserted onion field in Bakersfield, where one cop is killed and the other escapes. The film explores the consequences.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: neo noir, atmospheric, psychological, realistic, rough, serious, disturbing, detective, bleak, emotional
Similar in 75%
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 89%
Bundy: An American Icon (2009)
Plot Summary:
Bundy, starring Corin Nemec in the title role and co-starring Kane Hodder, details the dark psyche and previously unexplored motivations of the man who became known as one of the most notorious serial killers to leave behind a legacy of evil.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 922
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, slasher, suspenseful, disturbing, scary, realistic
Similar in 78%
Ed Gein (2000)
Plot Summary:
The true story of Edward Gein, the farmer whose horrific crimes inspired Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Silence of the Lambs. This is the first film to Gein's tormented upbringing, his adored but domineering mother, and the 1957 arrest uncovered the most bizarre series of murders America has ever seen.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, rough, suspenseful, slasher, suspense, dark, psychological horror, scary, serious
Similar in 81%
Bonded by Blood (2010)
Plot Summary:
In 1995, drug suppliers and career criminals Tony Tucker, Patrick Tate and Craig Rolfe were blasted to death by a shot gun whilst waiting in a Range Rover in Rettendon, Essex. The film charts their rise to become the most prolific dealers and feared criminals in the south of England, maintaining the hold on their empire with fear and violence until their untimely death.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, suspenseful, realistic
Similar in 81%
Raising Jeffrey Dahmer (2006)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of the mass murderer Jeffrey Dahmer, the events within the family behind, and leading up to, his capture.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 465
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, tense, realistic, disturbing, suspense, non-linear, queer cinema
Similar in 82%
The Case of the Hillside Stranglers (1989)
Plot Summary:
The true chilling story of the "two of a kind", killing cousins Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi, better known as the Hillside Stranglers, is told in this TV drama.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 754
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful