Best movies like The Sentinel
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies like The Sentinel? Contribute your knowledge to guide others to movies and tv series you've watched previously that might interest them as well. Facilitate widening the network of individuals introducing videos to each other. We value your involvement!
Plot Summary:
After spending some time with his diplomat father in Germany, a young French medical student returns by train to Paris to resume his studies. He is puzzled by the harsh treatment he receives from customs at the border but doesn't begin to understand why until he gets home and discovers a mummified head in his luggage. He suspects that someone at customs put it there, but is not sure. Instead of reporting the meandering body part, he decides to investigate it using the tools he has as a medical student. It appears to be the head of a Russian who died somewhere in Asia.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 904
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: controversial, anthology, psychological, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, gloomy, weird
Best tv shows and movies like The Sentinel (1992):
Similar in 88%
Paris Belongs to Us (1961)
Plot Summary:
A young woman joins a theatrical troupe where she slowly believes that the director is involved with a secret group and that he is in grave danger.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: metafiction, psychological, tense, atmospheric, mind bending, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 84%
The Demon (1978)
Plot Summary:
When Sokichi stops providing his long-time lover Kikuyo enough money to pay for the care of their three young children, Kikuyo leaves the children with Sokichi - and his very surprised and angry wife Oume - and disappears.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 940
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: slasher, erotic, psychological, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, sexual, crying, sexy
Similar in 80%
The President's Mistress (1978)
Plot Summary:
When Ben investigates the mysterious death of his sister, he is unaware that he is opening up a web of political intrigue. Ed Murphy, the White House Chief of Staff, becomes embroiled in a struggle to save the President from a humiliating scandal.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 179
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 88%
The Mole (2011)
Plot Summary:
Pawel, a Polish man in his early 30s, makes a living with his father Zygmunt importing second-hand clothing from the North of France to Southern Poland. On his way back from one of regular "business trips", Pawel is shocked to discover his father's picture on the cover of a Polish tabloid newspaper. The headline "traitor" is written next to his name. Zygmunt is a genuine hero of the struggle against totalitarianism and a recognized member of the "Solidarnosc" labor movement of the 80s. But now, Zygmunt is suddenly accused by the paper of having acted as a secret informer called THE MOLE by the communist regime.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 785
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Poland, France
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, serious, suspenseful, political thriller, captivating, political
Similar in 76%
Merci pour le Chocolat (2000)
Plot Summary:
A mystery set in the environs of Lausanne concerning several plots which wind their way through the elegant homesteads of a couple of well-heeled French-Swiss denizens. Mika is the couture-attired, oh-so-perfect head of Muller Chocolates--a company that manufactures Swiss chocolates. Andre is her suave, concert pianist husband whose first wife died years ago in a mysterious car accident. When Jeanne, a beautiful young woman, enters the home of Mika and Andre, raising questions about her possible relationship to the family, tensions mount, alliances shift, and all the while, Mika prepares and faithfully serves her special recipe for hot chocolate each evening.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: France, Switzerland
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: psychological, enigmatic, tense, suspenseful, art house, neo noir, slasher, anthology, clever, serious
Similar in 78%
The Pact of Silence (2003)
Plot Summary:
Everyone has a secret. Twins Sarah and Gaëlle near 25; for ten years, Sarah has been a fundamentalist Carmelite in a Brazilian convent, and Gaëlle has been in prison for a heinous crime. Sarah comes to the attention of Fr. Joachim, a priest and physician; he can find no cause for her debilitating abdominal pain. When Sarah and he are transferred to Paris, Joachim looks for Gaëlle, now on probation and finding no respite from society's approbation. An enterprising reporter is digging into Gaëlle's life, the mother superior of Sarah's convent hovers over her, and Joachim investigates the phenomenon of twin's symmetry. Is there any release from the past?.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, realistic, suspenseful, tense, serious, surprise ending
Similar in 89%
Wetherby (1985)
Plot Summary:
The mysterious death of an enigmatic young man newly arrived in the suburb of Wetherby releases the long-repressed, dark passions of some of its residents.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, mind bending, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 85%
Nobody's Life (2002)
Plot Summary:
It all began with a little white lie.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Spain
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, serious, captivating, realistic, sexual, crying, sexy
Similar in 85%
Love Thy Neighbor (2006)
Plot Summary:
Plagued by flashbacks of a violent home invasion, Laura Benson is on the brink of a nervous breakdown. Looking for a fresh start, she and her husband sell their house and relocate to a seemingly idyllic gated community. But, little do the Bensons know, evil not only dwells in the neighborhood...it lives next door. As strange and terrifying events unfold, Laura doesn't know whether her sinisterly sweet neighbor is to blame, if she's been targeted for revenge...or if she's losing her mind.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 713
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, serious, suspenseful, realistic
Similar in 84%
The Serpent's Egg (1977)
Plot Summary:
The Serpent's Egg follows a week in the life of Abel Rosenberg, an out-of-work American circus acrobat living in poverty-stricken Berlin following Germany's defeat in World War I.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: West Germany, USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: philosophical, mind bending, psychedelic, political, suspense, political thriller, surreal, art house, psychological, atmospheric
Similar in 85%
The Quarry (1998)
Plot Summary:
This thriller investigates the mysterious assassination of a gay pastor in rural South Africa. Without witnesses or explanations, the crime appears to the police and others as a jigsaw puzzle without enough pieces. The police then suspect and arrest people based on the usual prejudices, black and coloured people who plant marijuana in this case. Meanwhile, the true assassin not only goes his way unpunished from the very beginning, but becomes one of the rural town's most respected citizens. The sheriff at one point does begin having certain suspicions, and from there on the bulk of the plot is played out. The location is a very arid part of South Africa, so with so much desert rock, there are bound to be quarries. Some may reveal important secrets.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 192
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Belgium, France, Netherlands, Spain
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: independent film, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, gloomy, suspense, crying
Similar in 76%
Red Lights (2004)
Plot Summary:
A cross-country trip turns out to be a nightmare for a troubled couple.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: suspense, disturbing, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, neo noir, transgressive, psychological, sexual
Similar in 81%
Irresistible (2006)
Plot Summary:
A wife and mother is consumed by the thought that her husband's co-worker is trying to win him away from her and their family.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Australia
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: scary, serious, psychological, tense, suspenseful, slasher, surprise ending, crying
Similar in 90%
Skin of Man, Heart of Beast (1999)
Plot Summary:
After fifteen years of absence, a man returns to his family. Five-year-old Aurelie watches the stranger arrive and develops an immediate affinity with him. Her older sister, however, is very suspicious of the intruder and certain that misfortune will follow. The adults see nothing, but struggle with all their might when tragedy strikes. Naturally, the two girls bear the brunt of the impact. The film is an homage to the distant and primitive world of childhood, which shapes each of us.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 295
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, suspenseful, fairy tale
Similar in 75%
Comedy of Innocence (2000)
Plot Summary:
Today, Camille turns nine. He had sworn that on his 9th birthday he would show his parents the videos he was shooting on the side - the tail of a cat scampering away, a window, and a veiled woman's face - an intriguing picture... Later that day, Camille's mother, Ariane, meets up with her son in the park. The boy appears perturbed. He is leaning against a tree, eyes cast down. He says that now he wants to return to his "real home" and his "real mother.".
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 938
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, psychological, atmospheric, realistic, suspenseful, talky
Similar in 85%
Class Trip (1998)
Plot Summary:
A schoolboy Nicholas always worries about something. When he goes on a school skiing trip, all his visions and nightmares take him over.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: France
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: controversial, psychological, atmospheric, serious, realistic, suspenseful, gloomy, fairy tale, crying, hood
Similar in 88%
Innocent Lies (1995)
Plot Summary:
In September 1938 a British detective comes to a small French coastal town in order to investigate the death of a colleague. Prime suspects are the members of English aristocratic family with plenty of skeletons in the closet. This is a loose adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel Towards Zero.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, France
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: realistic, tense, mind bending, serious, suspenseful, erotic, crying, detective, mysterious, sensual
Similar in 81%
Coma (1978)
Plot Summary:
A young woman doctor discovers something sinister going on in her hospital. Relatively healthy patients are having 'complications' during simple operations and ending up in comas. The patients are then shipped off to an institute that looks after them. The young doctor suspects there is more to this than meets the eye.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, suspense, psychological, neo noir, scary, atmospheric, captivating, medical horror, creepy, psychotronic
Similar in 77%
A Few Days in September (2006)
Plot Summary:
1 September 2001. Elliot, an American C.I.A. agent holding top secret information on the immediate future of the world, disappears. His sole aim was to meet his daughter Orlando, whom he abandoned ten years before. Irène, a French agent who used to work with him, and David, his adoptive son, will help him and lead the girl to her father. Chased by William Pound, a strangely poetic psycho, they will defy the dangers of international espionage from Paris to Venice and finally get to Elliot on 11 September 2001.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Italy, France, Portugal
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, serious, political thriller, tense
Similar in 76%
The Patriots (1994)
Plot Summary:
Ariel, un jeune Juif français, décide de quitter sa famille pour partir en Israël et devenir un agent du Mossad, les services secrets israéliens. En participant à des missions à Paris, Tel Aviv et Washington, il sera initié à l'art délicat de la manipulation.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 76%
Bad Timing (1980)
Plot Summary:
Alex Linden is a psychiatrist living in Vienna who meets Milena Flaherty though a mutual friend. Though Alex is quite a bit older than Milena, he's attracted to her young, carefree spirit. Despite the fact that Milena is already married, their friendship quickly turns into a deeply passionate love affair that threatens to overtake them both. When Milena ends up in the hospital from an overdose, Alex is taken into custody by Inspector Netusil.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: controversial, erotic, disturbing, art house, non-linear, psychological, atmospheric, sexual, scary, noir
Similar in 80%
Mr. Klein (1976)
Plot Summary:
Paris, 1942. Robert Klein cannot find any fault with the state of affairs in German-occupied France. He has a well-furnished flat, a mistress, and business is booming. Jews facing discrimination because of laws edicted by the French government are desperate to sell valuable works of art - and it is easy for him to get them at bargain prices. His cosy life is disrupted when he realizes that there is another Robert Klein in Paris - a Jew with a rather mysterious behaviour. Very soon, this homonymy attracts the close - and menacing - attention of the police on the established art trader.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller, War
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: slasher, art house, insightful, psychological, atmospheric, mind bending, serious, realistic, suspenseful, contemplative
Similar in 82%
The Unfaithful Wife (1969)
Plot Summary:
Insurance executive Charles suspects his wife Hélène of playing the field, so he has a private detective locate his wife's lover, author Victor Pegala. Confronting Victor, Charles tries to adopt an air of indifference, but the conversation ends with the husband bludgeoning the author to death and then calmly disposing of the evidence. When Hélène is questioned about Victor's murder, she discovers on her own that her husband is guilty. Instead of turning him in, Hélène is so thrilled that Charles cares so deeply about her that she is more in love with him than ever before.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, suspenseful, suspense, cynical, neo noir, psychological thriller, anthology, cute, twisted
Similar in 76%
Legacy (2013)
Plot Summary:
Set in the 1970s London during the height of the Cold War when a young spy discovers the disturbing truth about his father's complex past. Based on Alan Judd's 2001 novel Legacy, the second in the Thoroughgood series after 1981's A Breed Of Heroes (adapted by the BBC in 1994). As the three day week, petrol rationing and industrial strife plunge Britain into a state of emergency, MI6 trainee spy Charles Thoroughgood is asked to reconnect with an old university friend, Russian diplomat Viktor Koslov, with a view to 'turning' him. Viktor has his own agenda, though, and reveals a shocking truth about Charles's own family that threatens to derail him, both personally and professionally. He is catapulted into a dangerous personal odyssey to uncover the truth but finds himself drawn into a lethal KGB plot to mount an attack within the UK. His life is further complicated by a relationship with the wife of another agent, which forces him to realise that betrayal can take many forms.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 461
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, tense, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
Death in Granada (1996)
Plot Summary:
A journalist starts an investigation into the disappearance of famed poet and political agitator, Garcia Lorca, who disappeared in the early days of the Spanish Civil War in the the 1930's.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Spain, France, Puerto Rico, USA
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, gloomy, crying, independent film
Similar in 81%
Enigma (1982)
Plot Summary:
Five highly-trained KGB agents are sent to the west to assassinate several Soviet dissidents. In order to stop the diabolical plot, an American agent must infiltrate Soviet intelligence and obtain information from a Russian computer.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, France
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, intense, serious, realistic, political, political thriller, independent film, exciting, romantic, atmospheric
Similar in 88%
Page Eight (2011)
Plot Summary:
Page Eight is lovingly turned, with elegant writing, a flawless cast and a heartfelt message from writer/director David Hare about the danger zone where spies and politicians meet. The tension builds gently as we follow the fortunes of Johnny Worricker, a jazz-loving charmer who works high up at MI5 as an intelligence analyst. It’s a part made for Bill Nighy and he purrs out bon mots with a weary panache that women 20 years younger find irresistible. One such is his neighbour, Nancy Pierpan (Rachel Weisz), in a Battersea mansion block. The question for Johnny is whether her interest in him is genuine or hides something darker. As his boss (Michael Gambon) puts it: “Distrust is a terrible habit.” Questions of trust, honour and friendship rumble through the play. The characters exchange oblique repartee as a plot about a damning dossier unwinds. It’s not to be missed.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: political thriller, tense, serious, realistic, political, captivating, psychological, exciting, sincere, suspense
Similar in 88%
Topaz (1969)
Plot Summary:
A French intelligence agent becomes embroiled in the Cold War politics first with uncovering the events leading up to the 1962 Cuban Missle Crisis, and then back to France to break up an international Russian spy ring.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: suspense, tense, suspenseful, psychological, political thriller, enigmatic, psychological thriller, exciting, retro, art house
Similar in 83%
The Lives of Others (2006)
Plot Summary:
A tragic love story set in East Berlin with the backdrop of an undercover Stasi controlled culture. Stasi captain Wieler is ordered to follow author Dreyman and plunges deeper and deeper into his life until he reaches the threshold of doubting the system.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 405000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Germany, France
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: political thriller, gloomy, tense, political, atmospheric, sincere, suspense, breathtaking, harsh, bleak
Similar in 87%
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
Plot Summary:
In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet mole within his former colleagues at the heart of MI6.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 210000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, France, Germany, USA
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: suspense, clever, tense, confusing, bleak, non-linear, atmospheric, thought provoking, period piece, political