Best movies like The Zodiac
Last updated March 2024
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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
Best tv shows and movies like The Zodiac (2005):
Similar in 87%
The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)
Plot Summary:
A Texas Ranger hunts for a hooded serial killer terrorizing the residents of a small town, set in 1946 Arkansas. Loosely based on a true story.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: slasher, scary, rough, realistic, serious, suspenseful, grindhouse, creepy, bloody, dark
Similar in 75%
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 88%
Like Minds (2006)
Plot Summary:
A forensic psychologist must determine if a minor should be charged with murder.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Australia, UK
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: suspense, psychological, realistic, suspenseful, serious, detective, dark, independent film
Similar in 87%
After Alice (2000)
Plot Summary:
A washed-up detective discovers his own psychic ability when assigned to investigate a serial murder case. The killer has a deranged obsession with the novel "Alice in Wonderland." As the psychopath's bloody reign of terror continues, the cop spirals deeper and deeper into the case where the horrors of the past and present come together.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, Germany, Canada
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, suspenseful, enigmatic, surprise ending, detective
Similar in 81%
Calendar Girl Murders (1984)
Plot Summary:
Millionaire Richard Trainor is celebrating the fact that his new calendar featuring twelve nude woman is a huge success. However the party is ruined when Miss January is pushed off a building and later on that night Miss February is knifed to death. Policeman Lieutenant Dan Stoner is assigned to the case and he immediately strikes a friendship with photographer Cassie Bascomb. While Dan investigates the case Cassie is attacked. What connection is she to the case and will the killer be caught before he/she reached Miss December.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 934
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: slasher, scary, tense, rough, mind bending, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, detective
Similar in 81%
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 86%
The Factory (2012)
Plot Summary:
An obsessed cop is on the trail of a serial killer prowling the streets of Buffalo, N.Y. but when his teenage daughter disappears, he drops any professional restraint to get the killer.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: France, Canada, USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, exciting, rough, realistic, scary, serious, psychological, suspense, psychotronic, crime drama
Similar in 86%
Nightstalker (2002)
Plot Summary:
A stylish horror film based on the life of Richard Ramirez, aka the Nightstalker, who terrorized people in Los Angeles during the 1980s.
IMDB Rating: 3.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: suspense, slasher, scary, rough, bleak, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, realistic, detective
Similar in 84%
Nightwatch (1997)
Plot Summary:
A law student, who takes a job as a night watchman at a morgue, begins to discover clues that implicate him as the suspect of a series of murders.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: scary, suspenseful, suspense, atmospheric, psychological, rough, neo noir, detective, psychological thriller, surreal
Similar in 84%
Starkweather (2004)
Plot Summary:
In 1958 Nebraska 19 year old garbageman Charles Starkweather goes on a murder spree with his 14 year old girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate killing 11 people in three months, introducing America to spree killing.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 861
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, detective, road movie
Similar in 81%
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 84%
Zodiac Killer (2005)
Plot Summary:
A young man who works at a nursing home uses the legendary Zodiac killer's M.O. to kill people who neglect their elderly relatives.
IMDB Rating: 2.1
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: slasher, rough, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, suspense, scary, bleak
Similar in 80%
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 79%
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 90%
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 79%
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 88%
The Boston Strangler (1968)
Plot Summary:
Boston is being terrorized by a series of seemingly random murders of women. Based on the true story, the film follows the investigators path through several leads before introducing the Strangler as a character. It is seen almost exclusively from the point of view of the investigators who have very few clues to build a case upon.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, disturbing, rough, suspense, detective, suspenseful, slasher, psychosexual thriller, retro
Similar in 78%
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 87%
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 81%
The Alphabet Killer (2008)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of double killings occurring in Rochester, NY during the 80’s and the troubled police officer determined to solve them, with or without the help of her department.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, suspenseful, psychological thriller, suspense, crime thriller, twisted, slasher
Similar in 81%
B.T.K. Killer (2005)
Plot Summary:
Veteran Boogey Man and Zodiac Killer director Ulli Lommel continues his long tradition of delivering tense thrills with this relentless look at the life of the elusive, Kansas-based serial killer known to authorities only as "B.T.K." before his arrest.
IMDB Rating: 1.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, scary, bleak, realistic, slasher
Similar in 87%
The Night Stalker (2016)
Plot Summary:
An account of serial killer Richard Ramírez and his rampage in California during the mid-1980s.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 897
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, rough, suspense, slasher, suspenseful, psychological horror, psychotronic
Similar in 89%
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 80%
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 79%
The Watcher (2000)
Plot Summary:
FBI agent Joel Campbell, burnt-out and shell-shocked after years spent chasing serial killers, flees L.A. to begin a new life for himself in Chicago. But five months later, Joel's best laid plans are abruptly cut short when his new hometown becomes the setting for some particularly gruesome murders--murders that could only have been committed by one man: David Allen Griffin. One of Joel's most elusive and cunning nemeses, Griffin has followed his former pursuer to Chicago in order to play a sadistic game of cat and mouse. Taunting Joel with photographs of his intended victims and leaving his crime scenes meticulously free of clues in order to keep the police at bay, Griffin derives as much pleasure out of watching Joel react to every movement as watching his victims die. But when Griffin moves into Joel's inner circle, Joel must quickly find some way to stop him before someone close to him becomes the next one to die.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 28000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada, Vietnam
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: suspense, psychological, suspenseful, scary, rough, slasher, serious, realistic, neo noir, independent film
Similar in 90%
Citizen X (1995)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of a Russian serial killer who, over many years, claimed victim to over 50 people. His victims were mostly under the age of 17. In what was then a communists state, the police investigations were hampered by bureaucracy, incompetence and those in power. The story is told from the viewpoint of the detective in charge of the case.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, History, Thriller
Country: USA, Hungary
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: detective, suspense, tense, suspenseful, psychological, intense, factual, serious, realistic, grim
Similar in 88%
The Crimson Rivers (2000)
Plot Summary:
Two French policemen, one investigating a grisly murder at a remote mountain college, the other working on the desecration of a young girl's grave by skinheads, are brought together by the clues from their respective cases. Soon after they start working together, more murders are committed, and the pair begin to discover just what dark secrets are behind the killings.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 65000
Genere: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: tense, suspenseful, serious, suspense, detective, psychological, rough, sexy, enigmatic, atmospheric
Similar in 79%
Copycat (1995)
Plot Summary:
An agoraphobic psychologist and a female detective must work together to take down a serial killer who copies serial killers from the past.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 64000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: psychological thriller, suspense, psychological, tense, detective, suspenseful, sexy, slasher, scary, creepy
Similar in 90%
Zodiac (2007)
Plot Summary:
The true story of the investigation of the "Zodiac Killer", a serial killer who terrified the San Francisco Bay Area, taunting police with his ciphers and letters. The case becomes an obsession for four men as their lives and careers are built and destroyed by the endless trail of clues.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 584000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 157 min
Plot tags: suspense, atmospheric, tense, neo noir, stylized, twist ending, suspenseful, psychological, rough, detective
Similar in 79%
The Bone Collector (1999)
Plot Summary:
Rookie cop, Amelia Donaghy reluctantly teams with Lincoln Rhyme – formerly the department's top homicide detective but now paralyzed as a result of a spinal injury – to catch a grisly serial killer dubbed 'The Bone Collector'. The murderer's special signature is to leave tantalizing clues based on the grim remains of his crimes.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 182000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: suspense, psychological thriller, suspenseful, tense, psychological, detective, surprise ending, clever, neo noir, bad ending