Best movies like The Mean Season
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A routine investigation of a shocking murder takes a bizarre twist when the killer contacts the reporter and appoints him his personal spokesman. As the killer's calls and clues increase, the reporter is lured into a deadly trap.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: neo noir, retro, spectacular, scary, psychological, tense, atmospheric, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Best tv shows and movies like The Mean Season (1985):
Similar in 85%
Freeway (1988)
Plot Summary:
A deeply-disturbed priest goes on a murderous night-time rampage across America's highways.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 529
Genere: Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: neo noir, independent film, psychological, tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 87%
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 78%
A Place in the Sun (2012)
Plot Summary:
A Swedish family found murdered in her home on the Costa del Sol in southern Spain - all except the 16-year-old daughter, who has disappeared. At first the police believe that there is a burglary gone wrong, but the more crime examined, the more remarkable it becomes. When the burglars also found dead paralyzed the entire investigation. The offense sends a shockwave that shakes, and even on the crime-ridden Costa del Sol.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Sweden
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, realistic, psychological
Similar in 88%
Deadline (2001)
Plot Summary:
The Victoriastadium is totally destroyed in a bomb attack and Christina Furhage, head-responsible for the Olympic Games in Stockholm, dies with it. Why did someone destroy the stadium and why is Christina murdered? The police desperately seek for clues that will lead them to the perpetrator but without any luck. As the Olympic Games draws near the situation becomes more desperate. Annika Bengtzon, a reporter for Kvällsposten, se a connection that no one else sees and without understanding it she starts a carousel that in the end will threaten her own life.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Sweden
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, psychological, serious, suspenseful, realistic
Similar in 77%
Out of the Dark (1988)
Plot Summary:
An employee at a telephone fantasy service helps hunt for the killer preying on her silken-voiced colleagues.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: slasher, psychological, realistic, suspenseful, rough, neo noir, erotic, independent film, scary, serious
Similar in 77%
Duress (2009)
Plot Summary:
Haunted with nightmares of his wife's recent suicide and struggling to mend the relationship with his only daughter, Richard is caught as a witness to the violence of Abner Solvie. He finds himself at the mercy of a charismatic killer and plagued by his involvement in the city's recent murders. As Abner's new found protégé, Richard is forced to adopt the mind of his sociopathic mentor in order to protect the one he loves. Richard must decide if he's willing to kill in order to keep his daughter alive.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, captivating, psychological, suspense, rough, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
The First Deadly Sin (1980)
Plot Summary:
A serial killer is stalking New York. Inspector Edward X. Delaney is an NYPD detective, nearing retirement, who is trying to put together the pieces of the case. Are the victims somehow linked? What does the brutal method of death signify?.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: suspense, realistic, suspenseful, rough, serious, neo noir, surprise ending, slasher, independent film, detective
Similar in 84%
Annika Bengtzon: Crime Reporter (2012)
Plot Summary:
The Swedish tabloid Kvällspressen has set their crime reporter, Annika Bengtzon, to monitor a complex murder case. The victim is a colleague and the only witness is a 15-year-old boy. Bengtzons inquiries may be an unexpected turn when the tracks leading to a 40 year attack on an airbase.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Sweden
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, serious, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 78%
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 80%
The River Murders (2011)
Plot Summary:
The sins of the past are not forgotten in this chilling suspense thriller. When the first body was discovered, it seemed a coincidence. But now homicide detective Jack Verdon has cause to worry: the victims of a series of brutal sex murders are all his former girlfriends. Suspected by the FBI agent who’s taken over the case and suspended by his captain, Jack must work outside the law if he’s to find the killer, save his future and protect what’s left of his past.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, suspenseful, neo noir, realistic
Similar in 75%
Try to Remember (2004)
Plot Summary:
Fifteen years after a murderer is convicted he is released and all the witnesses against him begin to be murdered.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 408
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, serious, realistic, scary, tense, mind bending, suspenseful
Similar in 76%
Annika Bengtzon: Crime Reporter - Lifetime (2012)
Plot Summary:
When David Lindholm, Sweden's most famous police officer, found shot in bed identifies herself quickly with his young wife Julia. Julia is threatened with life imprisonment for murder, both her husband and her missing four year old son Alexander. However, Julia refuse. It was not her. There was another woman who shot her husband and kidnapped her son. While life is falling apart around Annika digs herself deeper into the murdered police's violent past.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Sweden
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, serious, realistic, disturbing, tense, captivating, suspense
Similar in 87%
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 86%
Relentless (1989)
Plot Summary:
Two Los Angeles police detectives, cynical veteran Malloy and cocky rookie Dietz, hunt for a serial killer, an ex-cop named Taylor, whom randomly chooses his victims from a phone directory.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, exciting, suspenseful, suspense, detective, slasher, neo noir, independent film, rough, serious
Similar in 85%
San Franpsycho (2006)
Plot Summary:
Two detectives hunt a serial killer who is sending cryptic messages about his crimes to a local reporter.
IMDB Rating: 2.5
IMDB Votes: 719
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, suspenseful, scary, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 81%
The Prodigy (2005)
Plot Summary:
"The Prodigy" tells the story of small-time enforcer Truman Fisher's vicious conflict with a sadistic assassin who has chosen the unwilling Truman to be his successor. The assassin, who goes by the alias Rains and whose exploits have become the source of legend among Truman's underworld colleagues, drives Truman, through the pressure of constant violence and grief, to understand his own capacity for both bloodshed and compassion. Ultimately this reveals to Truman that he as with all of us, must find our place in this world or as Rains would say "our place in this grand design." This action begins quickly as Truman meets with a turncoat from a rival gang. This tense showdown erupts quickly into mayhem, when Rains makes his unexpected entrance. In the wake of the ensuing bloodbath, Truman is forced to reevaluate his own role in the small, violent world he inhabits, suddenly aware that there are larger powers at work which he does not understand.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 921
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, suspenseful, suspense, independent film, serious, realistic, surprise ending
Similar in 77%
Curse of the Zodiac (2007)
Plot Summary:
Genre guru Ulli Lommel (THE BOOGEYMAN, BTK KILLER) directs this horror film about the infamous Zodiac killer. Though decades have passed since the multiple murderer held the state of California hostage with fear, the mystery of his identity has never been solved.
IMDB Rating: 1.3
IMDB Votes: 931
Genere: Crime, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: scary, psychological, serious, suspenseful, mockbuster, psychological thriller
Similar in 82%
Tightrope (1984)
Plot Summary:
Wes Block is a detective who's put on the case of a serial killer. His victims are young and pretty women, which he rapes and murders. The murders are getting personal when the killer chooses victims who are acquaintances of Block. Even his daughters are threatened.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, suspenseful, detective, sexual, intense, neo noir, suspense, sexy, tricky
Similar in 84%
Night Game (1989)
Plot Summary:
A police detective tracks a serial killer who is stalking young women on a beach front after each game that a baseball pitcher wins.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: slasher, detective, independent film, rough, offbeat, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 89%
Freeway Killer (2010)
Plot Summary:
For years he terrorized California motorists as he rode the endless highways searching for his next victim. The discarded bodies turned up beaten, sexually assaulted and horribly mutilated. Deceptively charming and intelligent, the scheming murderer easily avoided police at first. But as police closed in and the killer’s pattern grew more erratic, the only question was how many more will die?.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, scary, mind bending, realistic
Similar in 86%
Kemper (2008)
Plot Summary:
A film based on the true story of Ed Kemper, a serial killer who murdered ten in Santa Cruz, CA during the late sixties and early seventies.
IMDB Rating: 3.0
IMDB Votes: 599
Genere: Crime, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, slasher, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, scary
Similar in 89%
The Killing Game (2011)
Plot Summary:
Eve Duncan is contacted, 10 years after the disappearance and murder of her 7-year-old daughter Bonnie, by a man claiming to be her killer. Taunted by his clues about Bonnie's case and his threats to kill again, she throws herself into her career as a forensic sculptor and works to close the case.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 629
Genere: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, serious, realistic
Similar in 77%
Cyrus (2010)
Plot Summary:
A small independent news crew investigates a series of unexplained disappearances in a small Midwestern county. They find themselves interviewing a man who possesses an all too intimate knowledge of the details of "The County Line Cannibal" - Cyrus. Based on a true story.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, bleak, serious, slasher, grindhouse, psychological horror, mockumentary, scary, tense
Similar in 89%
Boston Strangler: The Untold Story (2008)
Plot Summary:
Boston Strangler: The Untold Story is an intense true-crime thriller about Albert De Salvo, a wise cracking, small time criminal with an unrelenting sex drive, who ultimately falsely confesses to being the strangler that wreaked havoc in Boston during the early sixties. Guided by his manipulative cell mate, who knows more about the murders than he reveals, they devise a plan to gain all of the notoriety from the killings and the money from the reward. Meanwhile, Detective John Marsden, searches out the truth certain that they were not committed by one man. Fighting the bureaucracy of the day, Marsden lets his emotions get the best of him as he follows the trail of the murders.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 759
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: scary, psychological, serious, rough, realistic, suspense, spooky, suspenseful
Similar in 82%
Son of Sam (2008)
Plot Summary:
This chilling tale recounts the late 70's in New York City, when a serial killer on the loose dubbed "Son of Sam" creates havoc. When arrested, "Son of Sam" tells police he was influenced by a satanic cult. New York would never be the same.
IMDB Rating: 1.8
IMDB Votes: 469
Genere: Crime, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, suspenseful, psychological thriller, slasher
Similar in 86%
Breakdown (1997)
Plot Summary:
When his SUV breaks down on a remote Southwestern road, Jeff Taylor lets his wife, Amy, hitch a ride with a trucker to get help. When she doesn't return, Jeff fixes his SUV and tracks down the trucker -- who tells the police he's never seen Amy. Johnathan Mostow's tense thriller then follows Jeff's desperate search for his wife, which eventually uncovers a small town's murderous secret.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 60000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: suspense, psychological, suspenseful, road movie, psychological thriller, tense, scenic, intense, neo noir, scary
Similar in 90%
Gone but Not Forgotten (2005)
Plot Summary:
An Oregon woman vanishes. In her wake remains a single black rose & a note reading gone but not forgotten. Now a man stands accused: a private eye has gone missing: a detective knows more than she lets on: & a tough female attorney has entered a web of duplicity revenge & multiple murder.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 705
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, psychological, serious, suspenseful
Similar in 89%
The Zodiac (2005)
Plot Summary:
An elusive serial killer known as the Zodiac terrorizes the San Francisco Bay in the late 1960s, while detectives aim to stop him before he claims more victims. Based on a true story.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 158 min
Plot tags: rough, psychological, bleak, scary, serious, suspenseful, neo noir, detective, independent film, realistic
Similar in 86%
The Gray Man (2007)
Plot Summary:
Early 20th century. Albert Fish, a seemingly benevolent father and grandfather who reared his family by himself after his wife deserted them, turns out to be a serial child molester and murderer. Based on a true story.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 79%
Manhunter (1986)
Plot Summary:
FBI Agent Will Graham, who retired after catching Hannibal Lecktor, returns to duty to engage in a risky cat-and-mouse game with Lecktor to capture a new killer.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 79000
Genere: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: neo noir, psychological thriller, suspenseful, suspense, detective, tense, scary, psychological, atmospheric, creepy