Best movies like The Spider's Stratagem
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Athos Magnani, a young researcher, returns to Tara, where his father was killed before his birth, at the request of Draifa. The father, also named Athos Magnani and looking exactly like the son, was killed by a fascist in 1936 -- or so says Draifa (his mistress), the town statue, and everyone in town. As the son untangles the web of lies this story is constructed from, he finds himself ensnared in the same web.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Italy
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: metafiction, psychological, atmospheric, serious, realistic, surreal, contemplative, talky, stylized, non-linear
Best tv shows and movies like The Spider's Stratagem (1970):
Similar in 81%
The Stratosphere Girl (2004)
Plot Summary:
In this imaginative independent drama, Angela (Chloé Winkel) is a French art student living in Germany who loves to draw comics and creates elaborate tales drawn in a soft and romantic style. One night, Angela meets Yamamoto (Jon Yang), a club DJ from Japan, who invites her to come to Tokyo with him. Infatuated with Yamamoto, Angela impulsively agrees, and is soon sharing an apartment with a handful of Western expatriates who work at a nightclub where Japanese businessmen drink, sing karaoke, and date the "hostesses" for a fee.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Germany, Switzerland, UK, Italy, Netherlands
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, atmospheric, mind bending, realistic, suspenseful, stylized, contemplative
Similar in 84%
Traitorous Prince (1994)
Plot Summary:
Guan Jian wants to report the murder of his father who died 10 years ago. The alleged murderer whom Guan Jian accuses of the crime is his own mother.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 256
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, sincere, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, suspense, crying, rough
Similar in 85%
Mystification (2010)
Plot Summary:
An expelled university student investigates the suicide of Witkacy and tries to prove that the famous artist is still alive.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 292
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Poland
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, stylized
Similar in 88%
The Driver's Seat (1974)
Plot Summary:
A woman flies to Rome on a reckless quest, not for love but for death.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 934
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Italy, West Germany
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: avant garde, psychological, tense, mind bending, offbeat, serious, realistic, suspenseful, surreal, cult film
Similar in 85%
Zift (2008)
Plot Summary:
Moth is freed on parole after spending time in prison on wrongful conviction of murder. Jailed shortly before the Bulgarian communist coup of 1944, he now finds himself in a new and alien world - the totalitarian Sofia of the 60s. His first night of freedom draws the map of a diabolical city full of decaying neighborhoods, gloomy streets and a bizarre parade of characters.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: Bulgaria
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: neo noir, atmospheric, bleak, realistic, dark comedy, psychological, neo western, tense, rough, thought provoking
Similar in 86%
Track 29 (1988)
Plot Summary:
Years after a desperate teenage Linda gives up her baby for adoption, she finds herself face-to-face with Martin, a young man claiming to be her long-lost son. Linda embraces Martin and in him finds a welcome reprieve from her unhappy marriage to the neglectful Henry. But soon Martin grows violent and becomes obsessed with Henry -- a philandering man whose only offspring is an expansive model train set that devours his waking hours.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: erotic, grindhouse, psychological, atmospheric, mind bending, serious, realistic, surreal, disturbing, non-linear
Similar in 78%
The Legend of Kaspar Hauser (2012)
Plot Summary:
Arriving on a deserted beach in the Mediterranean sea, in a time and a place unspecified, Kaspar Hauser is forced to confront the evil of a Grand Duchess who feels threatened by the power she exercises over the community.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Italy
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: surreal, experimental, atmospheric, serious, stylized, captivating, psychedelic, realistic, aesthetic, informative
Similar in 79%
Ten Days Wonder (1971)
Plot Summary:
Anthony Perkins, a young sculptor with a weird penchant for waking up in strange hotels with his memory wiped clean and bloodied hands, invites a former professor (Michel Piccoli) to the Gatsby-like provincial manor presided over by his powerful tycoon father (Orson Welles). Welcomed by Welles' young wife (Marlene Jobert), Piccoli soon finds a nest of rats beneath the bourgeoisie voluptuousness -- a clan bound in a circle of illicit romance, blackmail, faked burglaries and, of course, murder.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 969
Genere: Mystery, Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, atmospheric, mind bending, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, contemplative
Similar in 79%
Kissed by Winter (2005)
Plot Summary:
Following her son's death, Victoria moves to a small community to work as a doctor at the local clinic. She attempts to forget and move on with her life but finds it impossible when a local boy is found dead in the snow and Victoria must tell the boy's parents. Police quickly explains it as an accident but Victoria finds that there is something strange about the whole affair.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 800
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Norway
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, enigmatic, disturbing, sexy, twisted, sincere, touching, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 89%
Oedipus Rex (1967)
Plot Summary:
In pre-war Italy, a young couple have a baby boy. The father, however, is jealous of his son - and the scene moves to antiquity, where the baby is taken into the desert to be killed. He is rescued, given the name Edipo (Oedipus), and brought up by the King and Queen of Corinth as their son. One day an oracle informs Edipo that he is destined to kill his father and marry his mother. Horrified, he flees Corinth and his supposed parents - only to get into a fight and kill an older man on the road.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, Morocco
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: disturbing, controversial, psychedelic, spiritual, epic, neorealism, tense, atmospheric, bleak, serious
Similar in 86%
The Bride Wore Black (1968)
Plot Summary:
Julie Kohler is prevented from suicide by her mother. She leaves the town. She will track down, charm and kill five men who do not know her. What is her goal ? What is her purpose?.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: neo noir, noir, stylized, dark comedy, retro, anthology, art house, postmodern, perverse, psychological
Similar in 89%
Like a Cast Shadow (2015)
Plot Summary:
Sibylle, a pragmatic architect, mother and wife, witnesses a suicide of a woman her age while on vacation in Italy. Devastated by this incident, it causes the perception of her life and her family to change. Something inside of her has been set in motion that seems to endanger everything which she has defined herself by.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 89
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Germany
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: contemplative, psychological, atmospheric, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 78%
Hukkle (2002)
Plot Summary:
Using almost no dialogue, the film follows a number of residents (both human and animal) of a small rural community in Hungary - an old man with hiccups, a shepherdess and her sheep, an old woman who may or may not be up to no good, some folk-singers at a wedding, etc. While most of the film is a series of vignettes, there is a sinister and often barely perceptible subplot involving murder.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Mystery, Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, psychological, atmospheric, realistic, serious, dark comedy, confusing, dark, disturbing, art house
Similar in 75%
The Girl by the Lake (2007)
Plot Summary:
A cop investigates the murder of a beautiful teen girl left naked by a lake.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Italy
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: scary, rough, serious, mind bending, realistic, suspenseful, sincere, dark, detective, twisted
Similar in 80%
The Other Side of Sleep (2011)
Plot Summary:
Loosely inspired by the director’s own memory of a girl’s disappearance from her village, the film follows Arlene (Antonia Campbell-Hughes), a young factory worker living alone in a rural Irish community.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 223
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Ireland, Netherlands
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: tense, surreal, atmospheric, serious, suspenseful, captivating, offbeat, realistic, gloomy, crying
Similar in 84%
At the Gate of the Ghost (2011)
Plot Summary:
Adapted from Japanese film called Rashomon, U Mong Pa Meung (The Outrage) takes place in a wood during Thai’s Lanna period where a mysterious murder happens. The story is told through three witnesses: a young monk, woodcutter and undertaker.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 406
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Thailand
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspenseful, atmospheric, mind bending, serious, realistic, non-linear
Similar in 79%
We Still Kill the Old Way (1967)
Plot Summary:
A leftist professor wants the truth about two men killed during a hunting party; but the mafia, the Church and corrupt politicians don't want him to learn it.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: Italy
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: poliziottesco, neo noir, tense, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 83%
The Missing Gun (2002)
Plot Summary:
In this tense thriller, Ma Shan (Wen Jiang) is a Chinese police detective who awakes one morning after a night of heavy drinking at his sister's wedding reception to discover that his gun has been stolen. Since only police officers are allowed to carry firearms, Ma Shan is alarmed about the deadly possibilities of the theft, and he sets out to find his weapon; however, the memories of Ma Shan's friends are as hazy as his own regarding the wedding, and no one can tell who drove him home. The situation comes to a head when Ma Shan's former girlfriend arrives in town for a visit and is soon found shot dead with the bullets matching those used in his gun.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: China
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, tense, neo noir, crying
Similar in 76%
The Long Absence (1961)
Plot Summary:
The Long Absence (French: Une aussi longue absence) is a 1961 French film directed by Henri Colpi. It tells the story of Therese (Alida Valli), a café owner mourning the mysterious disappearance of her husband sixteen years earlier. A tramp arrives in the town and she believes him to be her husband. But he is suffering from amnesia and she tries to bring back his memory of earlier times.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 967
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 75%
Interstate 84 (2000)
Plot Summary:
When a body is found floating in an upstate New York river, hard-drinking cop Joe Weldon is left with few clues. After uncovering the man's identity - an enigmatic simpleton named Hap - Weldon is led to the crooked hustler who took advantage of Hap and the disturbed, young punk who tormented him. A tale of personal demons, shattered lives, and ultimate redemption.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 273
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, tense, touching, suspenseful, contemplative, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 82%
Into the White Night (2010)
Plot Summary:
A pawn shop owner in Osaka is murdered, but due to a lack of conclusive evidence the police lists the man's death as a suicide. Detective Sasagaki, who investigated the case, can't forget the dark eyes of the main suspect's daughter Yukiho and the pawn shop owner's son Ryouji. As time goes by, more mysterious deaths surround Yukiho & Ryouji. Detective Sasagaki still unable to let go of the pawn shop owner case discovers startling details about Yukiho and Ryouji.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 490
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 149 min
Plot tags: tense, atmospheric, serious, psychological, captivating, twisted, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 90%
Godspeed (2009)
Plot Summary:
Joseph McKelheer and Cory Knauf (The Hamiltons, The Violent Kind) star in this intense thriller set in the lingering light of the Alaskan midnight sun. Charlie Shepard, a modern day faith healer with a small flock of believers, is stunned when his family is brutally murdered. Six months later a young, mysterious girl (Courtney Halverson) appears and becomes the link to his family's killing and the murderers themselves, ultimately leading to violent consequences for all.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 558
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, psychological, captivating, rough, serious, suspenseful, stylized, independent film, suspense
Similar in 78%
Quo Vadis, Baby? (2005)
Plot Summary:
A private detective investigates her sister's suicide 16 years earlier.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Italy
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, realistic, suspenseful, neo noir, detective
Similar in 82%
Sandra (1965)
Plot Summary:
Sandra comes back to Volterra, in Tuscany, the little town where she spent her childhood. She is with her American husband, Andrew. She wishes to pay homage to her father who died in Auschwitz where she was still a little child. In Volterra, Andrew meets for the first time Gianni, Sandra's brother. He soon realizes that Sandra and Gianni have a secret since their childhood. (IMDb).
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: neo noir, psychological, atmospheric, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Agnes of God (1985)
Plot Summary:
When a dead newborn is found, wrapped in bloody sheets, in the bedroom wastebasket of a young novice, psychiatrist Martha Livingston is called in to determine if the seemingly innocent novice, who knows nothing of sex or birth, is competent enough to stand trial for the murder of the baby.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, intense, suspenseful, serious, realistic, talky, slasher, clever, contemplative
Similar in 86%
L'Immortelle (1963)
Plot Summary:
A sad man meets a beautiful, secretive woman who may or may not be involved in some conspiracy ring dealing in kidnapped women used as prostitutes. After several days of their sadly passionate relationship she disappears. The sad man is unable to locate her as all the local Turkish people pretend not to remember any such woman. He suddenly finds her again (she finds him?) and before she can explain her disappearance she is killed in a car crash while he is in the passenger seat. He replays the accident over and over in his mind trying to remember how she died if he caused the accident himself by grabbing the wheel.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: France, Italy, Turkey
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: surreal, mind bending, psychedelic, experimental, avant garde, psychological, atmospheric, offbeat, serious, realistic
Similar in 87%
The Conformist (1970)
Plot Summary:
A weak-willed Italian man becomes a fascist flunky who goes abroad to arrange the assassination of his old teacher, now a political dissident.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France, West Germany
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: political, art house, breathtaking, visual, neo noir, philosophical, cerebral, psychological, atmospheric, bleak
Similar in 77%
Skeletons in the Closet (2001)
Plot Summary:
A father suspects his son to be a murderer...or is he just paranoid and trying to cover up his own past which involves his wife being killed in a fire?.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 712
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: psychological, bleak, serious, suspenseful, realistic
Similar in 83%
Awakened (2013)
Plot Summary:
Samantha believes that her father murdered her mother. In her exhausting search for the truth about her young mother's untimely death 14 years earlier, Samantha receives help from beyond the grave.
IMDB Rating: 3.4
IMDB Votes: 480
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, suspenseful, suspense, psychological, captivating, independent film, psychotronic
Similar in 90%
Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
Plot Summary:
Takes place in a chateau, an ambiguous story of a man and a woman who may or may not have met last year at Marienbad.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: surreal, mind bending, psychological, atmospheric, philosophical, visual, experimental, non-linear, talky, black and white