Best movies like Vares: Private Eye
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Vares, a film noir comedy from Finland, is yet another twist on PULP FICTION. And, just in case we miss the similarities of splattered blood mixed with outrageous incidents, the movie explicitly references PULP FICTION and has a comedic scene in which two guys argue about McDonald's hamburgers. Still, VARES - PRIVATE EYE, by director Aleksi Mäkelä, manages to be kind of fun even not especially original. The script has more characters than the screenwriter can handle, leaving the audience frequently confused about who is doing what and why. The two best scenes are one about a wacky wedding and another about a guy who answers a cell phone call while he is busy enjoying the pleasures of a sex parlor.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Finland
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: neo noir, humorous, suspenseful, semi serious, exciting, realistic, talky, stylized, detective
Best tv shows and movies like Vares: Private Eye (2004):
Similar in 76%
The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch (2008)
Plot Summary:
After a powerful billionaire is murdered, his secret adoptive son must race to prove his legitimacy, find his father's killers and stop them from taking over his financial empire.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: France, Belgium, Hong Kong
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, suspenseful, realistic, stylized, entertaining, political thriller, perverse
Similar in 79%
V2: Dead Angel (2007)
Plot Summary:
The tough Detective Vares, get hired by a friend accused of murdering a girl. His job is to find the real killer, but people aren't talking. Before he can get traction another homicide takes place- and things move toward a dire conclusion.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Finland
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
Gutshot Straight (2014)
Plot Summary:
A professional poker player falls deep into underworld when he takes an unexpected wager from a mysterious high roller.
IMDB Rating: 3.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: exciting, humorous, suspenseful, stylized, crime thriller, neo noir, rough, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 81%
The Kiss of Evil (2011)
Plot Summary:
A young college student is found stabbed to death,and private detective Vares life takes an interesting turn when the girls family asks him to investigate the case.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Finland
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, serious, suspenseful, detective
Similar in 80%
Varg Veum - At Night All Wolves Are Grey (2011)
Plot Summary:
Varg Veum investigates a case where his good friend Even, a highly decorated ex-army officer, is falsely accused of bombing Armakon, a weapons storage facility.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: Norway
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, detective
Similar in 87%
Inju: The Beast in the Shadow (2008)
Plot Summary:
The writer and college professor, Alexandre Fayard, researches and gives lectures about the gruesome literary work of the mysterious Japanese writer Shundei Oe, considered by him to be the master of manipulation.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 964
Genere: Mystery, Thriller
Country: France, Japan
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: neo noir, psychological, serious, suspenseful, atmospheric, realistic, stylized
Similar in 87%
Vares: Gambling Chip (2012)
Plot Summary:
Jussi Vares falls in love with a beautiful brunette - only to lose her in a horrible way. After dating Sole a few weeks, her body is found in a bird-watching tower. The investigations come to a standstill, until Vares promises to solve a mystery of messy denunciation letters. Before the letters reveal their secret, a lot of things happen. A gun-for-hire, Stahanov, gets an assignment. Sole's brother finds his wife in the arms of a wrong man and goes on a rampage, accompanied by a black cat. In the end the clues lead to a familiar person and more death in unavoidable.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 666
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Finland
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: semi serious, mind bending, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 86%
The Girl from the Naked Eye (2012)
Plot Summary:
Jake is a driver for a seedy escort service operating out of 'The Naked Eye strip club', he's a street thug type who falls for a witty high-class escort named Sandy. Except one night Sandy is found murdered, the only clues left behind are cell phone calls made the night she died. To avenge Sandy's death Jake must risk everything and walk a bloody path to find her killer.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful, neo noir, captivating, tense, crime drama, independent film, realistic
Similar in 84%
The Liquidator (2011)
Plot Summary:
A highly skilled bodyguard avenging his brother's untimely death uncovers a ring of corruption extending to the highest levels of society and government (IMDb.com).
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 534
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: Kazakhstan
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: exciting, realistic, suspenseful, serious
Similar in 75%
Hit List (1989)
Plot Summary:
A family man (Jan-Michael Vincent) and a mob witness (Leo Rossi) hunt a mob hit man (Lance Henriksen) who has mistakenly kidnapped the family man's son.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 674
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, rough, serious, cult classic, exciting, surprise ending, neo noir, cult film
Similar in 84%
Lonely Street (2008)
Plot Summary:
Bubba Mabry, a gullible private detective, becomes the prime suspect in a tabloid reporter's murder after being hired to snoop on him by a mysterious celebrity.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 575
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, suspenseful, semi serious, detective
Similar in 78%
The Stickup (2002)
Plot Summary:
It's a quiet little town where nothing happens - until the day the bank is hit for half a million dollars of Indian casino money by a thief wearing a clowns mask.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, realistic, stylized, action packed, neo noir, humorous, semi serious, surprise ending
Similar in 78%
The Perfect Murder (1988)
Plot Summary:
Police Inspector Ghote lives a middle-class life in Bombay along with his wife, Pratima. He has been employed with the Bombay Police for many years. He is assigned to investigate the deadly assault on a Parsi man named Perfect, who is the Secretary of Lala Heera Lal, a wealthy man with underworld links. Inspector Ghote commences his investigation and is displeased when his superiors ask him to work with a Swedish Forensic Expert by the name of Axel Svennson.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 326
Genere: Comedy, Thriller, Action, Crime
Country: UK, India
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: multicultural, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, semi serious
Similar in 78%
The Inside Man (1984)
Plot Summary:
In 1981, after the successful test of a submarine tracker device developed by the Swedish scientist Paul Mandell and sponsored by the US government through his representative Miller, his industry is totally burned and the laser device is stolen. Stig Larsson from the Swedish Secret Agency suspects of an inside job and brings the Swedish Marine Thomas Kallin to investigate Paul undercover as his driver. The naive Kallin is double-crossed but continues his investigation while Larsson finds the truth about the heist.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 466
Genere: Mystery, Action, Thriller
Country: Sweden, UK
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: political thriller, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 90%
The Late Show (1977)
Plot Summary:
Over-the-hill gumshoe in Los Angeles seeks to avenge the killing of an old pal, another detective who had gotten himself involved in a case concerning a murdered broad, stolen stamps, a nickel-plated handgun, a cheating dolly, and a kidnapped pussycat.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: neo noir, detective, clever, offbeat, funny, entertaining, slasher, sentimental, touching, humorous
Similar in 80%
Give 'em Hell, Malone (2009)
Plot Summary:
A tough as nails private investigator (Malone) squares off with gangsters and their thugs to protect a valuable secret. Malone goes through hell to protect the information but he dishes some hell as well.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, stylized, semi serious, neo noir, surprise ending, grindhouse, cynical
Similar in 81%
Cold Steel (1987)
Plot Summary:
Detective Johnny Modine gets his Christmas celebration spoiled with news of his father's death, which seems the work of psychopathic junkies.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 909
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, realistic, exciting, serious, suspenseful, neo noir, independent film, fast
Similar in 78%
Detective K: Secret of the Lost Island (2015)
Plot Summary:
A detective investigates a forgery ring in historical Korea. In the 19th year of Jeonjo’s reign, Kim Min, Joseon’s top detective, who used to be a King’s secret messenger, has been banished to a remote island for some unclear reasons. The only visitors are his old partner, Seo-pil and a young girl, who comes every day to ask him to find her younger sibling. In the meantime, Kim Min happens to hear a rumor that bogus silver bars have been being distributed, which awakens his dormant traits as a detective. Hisako, a beautiful, mysterious woman with her identity unknown, continuously interferes the investigation conducted by this excellent pair of detectives.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 623
Genere: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Mystery
Country: South Korea
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: exciting, humorous, semi serious, captivating, entertaining, detective, realistic, suspenseful, stylized, fast
Similar in 76%
Blood Money (2012)
Plot Summary:
Zheng Zhou is the most feared warrior from the Shaolin Dynasty in China. His fighting and weapons skills are legendary. But when his parents are killed and sister kidnapped, he turns to a life of drugs and crime that will almost kill him. With the help of Hong Kong's notorious Dragon Triad syndicate, Colombia's biggest drugs cartel hatches an elaborate plan to traffic two tonnes of crack cocaine through the Port of Miami in America and ultimately into Australia and China. But when the partnership turns sour after the Cartel holds a Triad family member hostage, the Triads recruit Zhou to rescue the girl and kill the Colombians. What ensues is a bloodied street war across three countries. Zhou turns international Hitman with an arsenal of hi-tech surveillance devices, explosives, high powered weaponry and an array of fighting skills dating back fifteen hundred years. But just as Zhou rescues the hostage and takes control of the entire drugs shipment.
IMDB Rating: 3.2
IMDB Votes: 611
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: Australia
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, suspenseful, tense, crime drama, captivating, suspense, rough, realistic
Similar in 78%
Ten 'til Noon (2006)
Plot Summary:
Between 11:50 and 12:00 noon, a crime is commited. In the same ten minute period, we follow the lives of the ten people, all connected to this crime. As we see each person's point of view, we are propelled closer and closer to the truth of what exactly happened...and why.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, realistic, suspenseful, serious, talky, suspense, cynical, non-linear, gloomy
Similar in 78%
The Third Wave (2003)
Plot Summary:
Johan Falk hasn't been working for over a year since he resigned from the police. Most of all he wants to move out to the countryside, but fate has a different thought.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: Sweden, Finland
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, realistic
Similar in 83%
Safehouse (2008)
Plot Summary:
Ex-FBI agent Cooper O'Neil thinks the dangerous times in his life are in the past; that is, until his former partner shows up dead at his marina home. O'Neil's old partner had a coveted thumb drive in his possession when he died, and now the ex-agent is forced back into the life he left behind to keep the thumb drive from the wrong hands.
IMDB Rating: 2.9
IMDB Votes: 182
Genere: Action, Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, independent film, exciting, realistic
Similar in 84%
The Kill Reflex (1989)
Plot Summary:
Williamson plays a cop called 'Soda Cracker', whose partner was killed in a mysterious assassination. He is convinced that the murder was committed by his old enemy, Ivan Moss, played by Bo Svenson. Despite threats from the mob and from the police department, he vows to continue his mission to find the persons responsible for the assassination. Maud Adams plays his new police woman partner, who falls in love with him during their investigations. 'Soda Cracker' also has to deal with the fact that many of the police officers on the squad may be corrupt, and tries to break down the criminal network whilst finding evidence against Ivan Moss.
IMDB Rating: 4.0
IMDB Votes: 326
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 89%
The Naked Face (1984)
Plot Summary:
Chicago psychiatrist Judd Stevens (Roger Moore) is suspected of murdering one of his patients when the man turns up stabbed to death in the middle of the city. After repeated attempts to convince cops Rod Steiger and Elliott Gould of his innocence, Dr.Stevens is forced to go after the real villains himself, and he finds himself up against one of the city's most notorious Mafia kingpins.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, suspenseful, detective, psychological, suspense, grindhouse, cult classic, independent film, surprise ending
Similar in 76%
A Cold Day in August (2003)
Plot Summary:
One day in the life of a hit man, Ronnie, who spends it trying to save the life of fellow hit man, August, who he had brought into the business three years ago. August has become a real problem for some of the bosses around town, and Ronnie will soon find out just what his Frankenstein's monster will cost him.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 644
Genere: Action, Comedy, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: semi serious, humorous, realistic, exciting, tense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 90%
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 77%
Carambole (2005)
Plot Summary:
This film is based upon the book with the same name, by Håkan Nesser, one of Swedens most appreciated "crime-authors".
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 644
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Finland
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense
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Nobel's Last Will (2012)
Plot Summary:
While covering the annual Nobel Banquet for tabloid Kvällspressen, crime reporter Annika Bengtzon witnesses a spectacular murder right in front of her. Two people are shot, one of them the controversial Laureate in Medicine, Aaron Wiesel. Annika is the key witness and is bound by the police not to disclose anything she has seen. A terrorist group with connections to the Middle East quickly admits responsibility for the murder. International press is all over the story, as are the police.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Sweden
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, suspenseful, tense, captivating, suspense, neo noir
Similar in 80%
Bad Country (2014)
Plot Summary:
When Baton Rouge police detective Bud Carter busts contract killer Jesse Weiland, he convinces Jesse to become an informant and rat out the South's most powerful crime ring.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, neo noir, detective
Similar in 86%
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