Best movies like The Tale of Sweeney Todd
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The fictional tale of the murderous 19th century barber (Ben Kinglsey) who sold his kills to a neighboring butcher (Joanna Lumley) for her renowned meat pies. A young innocent (Selina Boyack) and the dashing inspector (Campbell Scott) who tries to solve the murders are also thrown into the mix.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 840
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Ireland, USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: tense, atmospheric, serious, realistic, suspenseful, black comedy, dark comedy
Best tv shows and movies like The Tale of Sweeney Todd (1997):
Similar in 75%
The Spreading Ground (2000)
Plot Summary:
Veteran Detective Ed Delopre (Dennis Hopper) and partner Mike McGivern (Fredric Forrest) have their hands full when they hit the pavement in search of a dangerous killer with five dead bodies already on his record. The mayor, in a rush to see peace restored in her city, makes a deal with the mob instead of waiting for Delopre and McGivern's results. Now that both sides of the law are involved in the killer's capture, the city is turned upside down.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 543
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, suspenseful, stylized, detective, mind bending, realistic
Similar in 77%
Dark Honeymoon (2008)
Plot Summary:
Dark Honeymoon follows a man who marries a seductive woman after a brief and passionate relationship. During their honeymoon, on the Pacific coast, terrible truths unfold as those around them die mysterious deaths.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 551
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: slasher, realistic, suspenseful, scary, tense, serious, surprise ending, erotic, queer horror
Similar in 79%
The Cohasset Snuff Film (2012)
Plot Summary:
In 2009, the small town of Cohasset, Massachusetts was rocked with tragedy. A 17-year-old high school senior named Collin Mason murdered three classmates. All the murders were videotaped and uploaded to the Internet via bit torrent sites and for three days, the world viewed the murders of these three innocent teens. Through legal action, the parents of the victims were able to remove all footage from the Internet and the town tried to save face by pretending it never happened. Bootleg copies of this footage are still passed around and downloaded through illegal means. The impact of this video is still being felt in Cohasset today. The video has become infamous, and is now referred to as The Cohasset Snuff Film.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 692
Genere: Crime, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, suspenseful, mockumentary, tense, bloody, disturbing, controversial, scary, serious
Similar in 82%
Roman (2006)
Plot Summary:
Roman (Lucky McKee) is a lonely young man who yearns to find love, happiness and companionship. Tormented by his ungrateful co-workers and trapped in a life of tedium as a welder in a local factory, Roman's one pleasure is his obsession with the elusive beauty (Kristen Bell) who lives in another apartment in his building complex. When a chance encounter with the young woman goes horribly wrong, a moment of frenzied desperation triggers a chilling turn of events leading to the girl's murder. As he teeters between deranged fantasy and cold reality, Roman's struggle to hide his grisly secret is further complicated by an eccentric neighbor named Eva (Nectar Rose) who develops an unlikely attraction to Roman and forces herself into his dark and tortured world.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: suspense, psychological, serious, suspenseful, independent film, realistic, surprise ending, black comedy, dark comedy
Similar in 82%
The Road (2011)
Plot Summary:
A 12 year old cold case is reopened when three teens are missing in an old abandoned road where a gruesome murder is left undiscovered for three decades.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Philippines
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, suspenseful, scary, psychological, slasher, detective, creepy, terrifying, unpredictable
Similar in 89%
Sketches of a Strangler (1978)
Plot Summary:
An art student living with his sister is actually a maniac strangling dancers and prostitutes. One victim's sister starts looking for him.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 50
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: slasher, grindhouse, independent film, psychological, mind bending, serious, realistic, suspenseful, sexual, sexy
Similar in 83%
Killer by Nature (2010)
Plot Summary:
The troubled teenager Owen Whitmore has a sleep disorder and occasionally sleepwalks. Owen is having therapy sessions with Dr. Katherine Ramos. Having just joined the medical school, he has to move to another town, but he is divided between the college and his sweetheart, Maggie. His parents Leona and Walter Whitmore are very worried about him. When Owen has violent dreams, Dr. Ramos decides to consult with Dr. Jonas Julian, a specialist in dream analysis and sleep disorders. Meanwhile, people are protesting in front of the Townsend State Prison where the infamous serial killer Dr. Eugene "Mean Gene" Branch will be executed. Dr. Eugene is the son of another serial-killer and had performed sadistic medical experiments on his victims. Out of the blue, Marcia Freeman who went missing, is found dead in precisely the way that Owen saw in his dreams - the murder set up as if carried out by Dr. Branch.
IMDB Rating: 3.6
IMDB Votes: 327
Genere: Adventure, Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, serious, suspenseful, captivating, realistic, independent film, slasher
Similar in 82%
Dead Connection (1994)
Plot Summary:
After a series of murders in motel rooms are connected, a cop, Dickson, heads out on the trail to find a serial killer. He discovers that he signs the motel guest-books with the names of boxers, and hence gets a lead on him. However, when he just fails to catch up arrest him, the chase becomes personal.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 587
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: detective, independent film, tense, rough, mind bending, serious, realistic, suspenseful, sexual, neo noir
Similar in 78%
Soft for Digging (2001)
Plot Summary:
A man wanders into the woods in search of his cat and witnesses a murder.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 580
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 74 min
Plot tags: scary, serious, atmospheric, realistic, suspenseful, spooky
Similar in 77%
Natural Enemy (1996)
Plot Summary:
William McNamara plays a young man who was given away by his mother at birth, seeking revenge on her for abandoning him.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 669
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, suspenseful, serious, realistic, disturbing, weird
Similar in 83%
The Prophet's Game (2000)
Plot Summary:
The Prophet has arrived in the ultimate playing ground... Los Angeles. It has taken an innocent childhood game and twisted it into a deadly match of wits, where the only prize is survival. Moving from city to city, The Prophet lures unsuspecting contestants into solving the riddles it supplies. If the contestants are wrong, somebody dies... somebody famous.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, disturbing, psychological, bleak, realistic, suspense, serious
Similar in 85%
Jack Rises (2013)
Plot Summary:
A London detective tracking a serial killer finds the killers "truth or die" methods take him to New York to solve the case.
IMDB Rating: 3.6
IMDB Votes: 600
Genere: Crime, Horror, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, suspense, realistic, detective
Similar in 89%
Jack the Ripper (1976)
Plot Summary:
A serial killer whose mother was a prostitute starts killing streetwalkers as a way of paying back his mother for her abuse.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Switzerland, West Germany, Spain
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: bleak, scary, rough, serious, suspenseful, slasher, psychotronic, retro, detective, period piece
Similar in 85%
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1982)
Plot Summary:
Times are hard in 1846 London and one must make do. Nellie Lovett adds something extra to the meat pies she peddles on Fleet Street. The secret ingredient: freshly murdered victims of her partner in crime, barber Sweeney Todd. Composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim refashions a macabre tale into a musical masterwork in this dazzling performance of the 1979 Broadway hit originally staged by Harold Prince. In her Tony-winning role, Angela Lansbury plays Nellie. George Hearn turns his stage role of twisted Sweeney into an Emmy-winning triumph. The score coils around itself in every-tightening spirals. The lines ripple with black humor and madness. Enter Sweeney's tonsorial parlor. Attend the tale.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Musical, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: gothic, offbeat, horror musical, scary, tense, rough, serious, suspenseful, culinary, black comedy
Similar in 88%
Sweeney Todd (2006)
Plot Summary:
A BBC adaptation of the Victorian "penny dreadful" tale of 18th century "demon barber" Sweeney Todd, of Fleet Street, who cuts the throats of unsuspecting clients in his London shop.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: gothic, atmospheric, enigmatic, stylized, suspenseful, disturbing, suspense, gothic horror, psychological, tense
Similar in 76%
The Detective 2 (2011)
Plot Summary:
Mysteries keep revolving around Tam’s life.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 582
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, serious, suspenseful, stylized, tense, rough
Similar in 87%
One on One (2014)
Plot Summary:
On May 9th, a female high school student was brutally murdered. There are 7 suspects and 7 shadows that terrorize them. Who are they and which one of them is you?.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, psychological, suspense, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 82%
Deer Crossing (2012)
Plot Summary:
The film centers around retired police detective Derrick Stanswood (Mann), who is called by a successful doctor about an unsolved case involving his wife Maggy (Cottrel) and their son, Cole (newcomer Kevin Fennell). Chasing after loose ends in a backward rural town, Derrick has no idea that Maggy has been held captive for the past eight years by farmer Lukas Walton (K.J. Linhein, "Jebediah"), who is raising Cole as his own son in a wrongful world that holds its own horrors (http://mrpotent.com/deerCrossing/).
IMDB Rating: 3.2
IMDB Votes: 444
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, tense, suspense, captivating, rough, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 84%
Junkyard Dog (2010)
Plot Summary:
A gritty psychological-horror-thriller that delves the demented mind of a cannibalistic serial rapist who kidnaps his tenth victim in as many months on Halloween night.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 792
Genere: Crime, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, scary, realistic, suspense, detective, independent film, slasher
Similar in 84%
Bone Daddy (1998)
Plot Summary:
Doctor Palmer, a former pathologist, wrote a fictional book based on his real cases. In the book, the madman gets caught, but in reality he is still uncaught. After the book is released, Palmer's editor is kidnapped. Palmer soon is sent a present containing a page of his book, and a bone from his editor. Together with the police, Palmer tries to find his editor, who might still be alive. In addition, his own son becomes one of the main suspects. Written by Julian Reischl.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Horror, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, perverse, independent film, scary, bleak
Similar in 88%
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 84%
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 76%
When the Bough Breaks (1994)
Plot Summary:
A police detective investigates the apparent serial killing of several children which is linked to an institutionalized, autistic child.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: scary, rough, psychological, serious, tense, suspenseful, psychological thriller, independent film
Similar in 90%
Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield (2007)
Plot Summary:
Inspired by the true story of one of the most gruesome killers in American history. Now, years after inspiring "Psycho's" Norman Bates, "The Silence Of The Lambs'" Buffalo Bill and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre's" Leatherface, the story of real life serial killer Ed Gein is told once again. Nicknamed "The Butcher Of Plainfield," Gein was responsible for a rash of gory murders that sent shock waves through his rural Wisconsin town, and across America, in the late 1950's. Prepare to enter the evil mind and twisted world of "The Butcher Of Plainfield.".
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: disturbing, scary, rough, serious, slasher, suspenseful, suspense, realistic
Similar in 77%
Beautiful & Twisted (2015)
Plot Summary:
Following the murder of hotel heir Ben Novack Jr., police focus their investigation on his wife, Narcy.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful
Similar in 76%
Thorne: Scaredycat (2010)
Plot Summary:
D.I. Tom Thorne's latest case puts him on the hunt for not one, but two serial killers, who seem to be working together, yet killing separately.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, detective, crime drama, gloomy
Similar in 79%
The Gunman (2004)
Plot Summary:
When Detective Ben Simm's wife is killed, he has to learn to be both father and mother to his little girl while searching for a Vigilante that has his own sense of justice.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 465
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: disturbing, tense, serious, suspenseful, independent film, bleak, realistic
Similar in 85%
Pavement (2002)
Plot Summary:
Samuel Browne is a tracker in Alaska. When his sister meets a grisly death in San Francisco, he goes there to hunt her killer. As more murders occur, police investigator Buckley Clarke reluctantly joins forces with Sam. The brass are convinced this is a serial killer choosing victims at random, but Sam and Buckley discover a pattern involving health personnel who work in neonatal intensive care. Doctors aren't supposed to play god, but someone's decision years before has driven a killer over the brink. Can they find him?.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 997
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Africa, Germany
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, bleak, realistic
Similar in 82%
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 87%
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Plot Summary:
The infamous story of Benjamin Barker, a.k.a Sweeney Todd, who sets up a barber shop down in London which is the basis for a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett. Based on the hit Broadway musical.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 383000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Musical, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: gothic, atmospheric, gothic horror, dark fantasy, suspense, offbeat, period piece, gloomy, disturbing, visual