Best movies like Watchtower
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Orphan Mike O'Conner was abused from age three by his own dad, fled to Chicago to start a rock band but got dragged in bad mates' crime and convicted under probation. Mike's sister, Kate, managed to get him released and employed as assistant lighthouse guard under Adam Terrell, an author on sabbatical. However, Adam is murdered by serial killer Art Stoner, who takes Adam's place and identity. Art himself is the traumatized son of a prostitute, abandoned by the father, who had to watch his mother 'working' and got beaten, as if responsible, whenever her 'clients' hit her. 'Adam' seems to work out as Mike's substitute father, smacking him at worst, but their past starts catching up and Art being seen in action as Kate's lover poisons the triangle dramatically.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 812
Genere: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, tense, captivating, independent film, psychological thriller, psycho film
Best tv shows and movies like Watchtower (2001):
Similar in 83%
No One Sleeps (2000)
Plot Summary:
San Francisco is preparing for the premiere of a new staging of the Puccini opera, Turandot. The passionate story of the Chinese princess Turandot, and the mysterious three riddles which are the key to her heart, are on the lips of opera buffs throughout the city. At the same time, a serial killer is haunting the gay bars of the city and is killing HIV positive long-term survivors. Stefan, a young gay East German medical student, arrives in the city for a medical congress and is following the trail of his dead father, a once high ranking AIDS researcher in the East. Stefan is investigating whether the HIV virus was an incremental result of secret human experiments that were conducted in US prisons in the seventies - a thesis of the Berlin professor Jakob Segal, which was spread by state agents of former East Germany. Secret lists involving these biological experiments are rumored to have surfaced in San Francisco.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 315
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: Germany
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film, mind bending, crying, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 89%
Annie's Garden (1997)
Plot Summary:
In front of his 15-year-old son, a father loses his temper and strikes his younger daughter, thinking she's trying to run away from him. Jump ahead ten years: the dad is dead, the mom is gone, and the son, Luke, is raising his now grown sister, Annie. He's overprotective, and she seems blood simple, a coquette and an innocent. He runs the diner in town, and one day, Lisa, a callow writer-to-be, comes through from Manhattan, keeping a journal, looking for interesting people. She takes a shine to Annie and then to the muscular and well-read Luke. But what is their secret, how many of the townsfolk are in on it, and what will Lisa do when it all becomes clear?.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 321
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: independent film, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 90%
The Grief Tourist (2012)
Plot Summary:
JIM TAHANA doesn't leave much of an impression when he passes you by. But look closer and you'll sense his hunger - the deep hunger of an insatiable American soul - always scanning to devour something - anything that might fill the searing, unexplained void within him. Jim obsesses over the hobby that has been part of his DNA since he was a young boy: grief tourism - the act of traveling with the intent to visit places of tragedy or disaster. Every year his week-long vacations from work are spent going to grief tourist locations in the lives of different serial killers he is fascinated with. This years obsession is Carl Marznap, a mass murder from New Orleans, Louisiana. But this trip is no ordinary vacation as Jim's rancid sexual impulses and weakening grip on reality deteriorate into a violent despair that will ultimately unlock an unspeakable secret festering within him, bringing The Grief Tourist to it's brutal and shocking finale.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: psychological, mind bending, serious, atmospheric, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, grindhouse
Similar in 84%
Purgatory Flats (2003)
Plot Summary:
Driving drunk, Thomas Reed causes a car crash, fatal for his wife, and gets jailed for 5 years. Yet he feels like punishing himself afterward by moving to Californian small town Purgatory Flats, where he works as a humble barman. Suddenly he witnesses a shooting and volunteers to help the wounded Owen Mecklin, whose brothers Dean and Randy drag him further into their own crime life. Owen's sexy wife Sunny seduces 'Doc'. Local detective Travis McGill gets their trail. But treason proves the gravest luring danger.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 431
Genere: Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, realistic
Similar in 90%
Lifebreath (1997)
Plot Summary:
Luke Perry stars in this surprisingly moving adult drama about a devoted husband whose wife (Francie Swift) is dying of cystic fibrosis. Because of her rare blood type, she can't get new lungs, so Perry begins a frantic search to find a donor. Eventually, he becomes so desperate that he starts having an affair with a real-estate agent (Gia Carides) whom he plans to murder because she's a match with Swift and has signed her donor card.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 385
Genere: Drama, Thriller, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, tense, sexy, serious, realistic, suspenseful, sexual, erotic
Similar in 87%
Deadly Betrayal (2003)
Plot Summary:
International reporter Jeff Randal spends half of his time abroad. His wife Donna feels neglected. When their preteen daughter Melinda's hunky teacher Adam Hamilton notices, Donna becomes his hot lover, to her Boston bookstore employer and confident Rosalind Roz's envy. After loosing colleague Lou in Bosnia, traumatized Jeff suddenly stops traveling. Jeff smells a rat. Adam refuses to be dumped and reverts to his youth habit of robbing lovers. Donna finds out but can't tell the adulterous truth. Jeff gets an anonymous video, which starts a vindictive cycle.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 389
Genere: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: tense, sexy, suspenseful, serious, realistic, sexual, erotic
Similar in 78%
Innocents (2000)
Plot Summary:
A traveling cellist gets involved with two disturbed sisters on their way to Seattle to tell their mom that their dad has just passed away. On the way, the two kill a judge and a few others unknown to the cellist. Eventually he gets pinned for the crimes and is forced to defend himself.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 640
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Germany, Canada, USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, suspenseful, realistic, scary, independent film
Similar in 75%
The Killing Time (1987)
Plot Summary:
After bagging his latest victim, a murderous sociopath (Kiefer Sutherland) decides to steal the dead man's identity and pose as the deputy of a remote coastal town, where the local sheriff (Beau Bridges) and his lover (Camelia Kath) are cooking up a few misdeeds of their own: namely, to kill the mistress's husband (Wayne Rogers) and pin the crime on the fledgling deputy. But in this town of half-truths, nobody's secret is safe.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, realistic, serious, suspenseful, neo noir, independent film, mind bending, eighties
Similar in 84%
Savage Messiah (2002)
Plot Summary:
Savage Messiah is a docudrama about Roch "Moïse" Thériault, the charismatic former leader of a small religious group based near Burnt River, Ontario, Canada. Between 1977 and 1989 he held sway over as many as 12 adults and 26 children. He used all of the nine women as concubines, and probably fathered most of the children in the group. During his reign, Thériault mutilated several members. His major crime was to kill Solange Boilard, his legal wife, by disembowelment while trying to perform surgery on her. He was arrested for assault in 1989, and convicted of murder in 1993. Along with Clifford Olsen and Paul Bernardo, Thériault is considered one of Canada's most notorious criminals.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada, UK
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, disturbing, rough, suspense, tense, serious, realistic
Similar in 81%
The Barber (2014)
Plot Summary:
Eugene is a small town barber, beloved by the local community, but hiding a deadly secret. John is hunting for a serial killer not to expose him but to learn the business! They form a twisted bond and turn the town upside down as Eugene teaches John to kill.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, suspenseful, realistic, suspense, grindhouse, independent film
Similar in 76%
Without Evidence (1995)
Plot Summary:
It is based on the true story of Michael Francke, who was the Head of Corrections for the state of Oregon before being murdered. Just before his murder, Francke visits his brother and informs him of a drug ring involving his prison colleagues. When Michael is killed, his brother begins his own investigation into the murder, leading him to more lies and deceit.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Thriller, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: spectacular, independent film, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 75%
Out of the Black (2001)
Plot Summary:
Two brothers struggle to uncover the truth behind the mining accident that killed their father and bankrupted the town.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 367
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, tense, suspense, talky
Similar in 77%
Deep Dark Canyon (2013)
Plot Summary:
Bloom Towne is a small-town sheriff under the thumb of the well-established, deeply influential Mayor Dick Cavanaugh's family. When Bloom's two teenage sons, Nate and Skylar accidentally shoot and kill Dick during a deer-hunt, Bloom's long-held allegiance to the reigning Cavanaugh clan is tested. Skylar (still a minor) decides to take the wrap for his older brother Nate, claiming he fired the fatal shot. The Cavanaugh family's quick retaliation sends Skylar on his way to county jail, soon to be tried as an adult. Desperate and guilt-ridden, Nate breaks Skylar out of jail and sets off a chain of lawless acts, which send them deep into the woods and on the run. Bloom's choice between the law and his sons leads to revelations of old family secrets that threaten to destroy everything he loves.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspenseful, tense, captivating, suspense, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 88%
Fatal Trust (2006)
Plot Summary:
After the father of her kid son Sam was killed by an escaped psychiatric patient, Kate decides it's time for a new chapter in her life. She moves to the town where her former lover Tom lives and now works in the sheriff's department, and slowly gets intimate again with the sensitive, caring gentleman. Professionally she becomes the secretary of Dr. Mark Lucas, the respected local physician. In time she starts to take an old man's warnings against the doctor seriously, starts to believe that he may systematically have a hand in a suspicious number of old patients dying shortly after contact with him and tries to prove her theory.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 533
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 78%
Blood Crime (2002)
Plot Summary:
For burned-out Seattle cop Daniel Pruitt, a camping trip turns hellish when his wife, Jessica, is savagely attacked in the forest. En route to the hospital, the Pruitts collide with a semi, and Jessica identifies the driver as her assailant. Enraged, Pruitt pummels the man. Once at the ER, however, she changes her mind and names a male nurse as her attacker. But before Pruitt can make amends, he learns that his victim, the son of Sheriff Morgan McKenna, is dead.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 670
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense
Similar in 89%
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%
1313: Wicked Stepbrother (2011)
Plot Summary:
Jarrod is horrified to learn that a faceless killer is celebrating his birthday by filling his mansion with the corpses of his closest friends.
IMDB Rating: 2.4
IMDB Votes: 145
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: scary, serious, realistic, suspenseful, surprise ending, homoerotic, tense, slasher, independent film, campy
Similar in 86%
Rushlights (2013)
Plot Summary:
Young lovers Billy and Sarah journey from L.A. to Texas with plans to make a false claim to the valuable assets left behind by a dead friend. But when their voyage brings them to Tremo, Texas, they find a bizarre and sinister world awaiting them.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: neo noir, serious, tense, captivating, exciting, suspense, rough, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 84%
Tucked Away (2007)
Plot Summary:
On the surface, Ray Ryan has it all. He's a successful advertising executive with a new promotion. He has a nice home and a beautiful fiancée. Underneath it all is a dark secret he's finding harder to hide. Ray's nightmares are giving way to visions of his abusive father, unlocking a suppressed violence he's unable to control. When ray brutally assaults a man in a parking lot, it leads to an investigation by an aging detective with a connected past. Neither is prepared as the secrets begin to unfold over a thirty-year-old murder they've both struggled to keep buried.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 29
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 76%
Last Screening (2011)
Plot Summary:
Sylvain, a film-obsessed 31-year-old, lives in the basement of a small art-house theater where he works as a programmer, projectionist and cashier. Each night, after the last showing, he goes out for a murderous ritual.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 354
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: tense, suspenseful, psychological, captivating, scary, bleak, serious, realistic, slasher
Similar in 89%
Breakout (2013)
Plot Summary:
A pair of criminals try to track down the kids who witnessed them commit a murder in the woods.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, suspenseful, realistic, exciting, captivating, cliffhanger
Similar in 82%
Complicity (2000)
Plot Summary:
Local journalist, Cameron Colley writes articles that are idealistic, from the viewpoint of the underdog. A twisted serial killer seems to have some motives. His brutal murders are also committed on behalf of the underdog. The stories begin to merge and Cameron find himself inextricably and inextricably implicated by the brutal killer. The arms dealer that Cameron plans to expose is found literally 'disarmed' before he can put pen to paper. The brewery chief, loathed by Cameron, who sold up at the expense of his workers, finds himself permanently unemployable. The police are convened of Cameron's guilt and so are half his friends and colleagues. Cameron is forced to employ all his investigative skills to find the real killer and his motive.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 897
Genere: Thriller, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, tense, bleak, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 88%
Kept (2001)
Plot Summary:
Dead bodies are piling up, and the leads the two LA homicide cops have point to Barbara, business manager for a successful architectural firm she runs with her husband Lance. The dead men were interns at the firm, and each of them was Barbara's lover (kept in a classy flat she owns and observed via closed-circuit TV by the applauding Lance). Kyle is Barbara's latest intern and lover, and he may be in danger. He also starts to fall in love with Barbara, and the feeling may be mutual. In the background are Erin, Lance and Barbara's myopic administrative assistant, and Tony, Kyle's one-time roommate who also knows Barbara. Can the cops solve this before too many more die?.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 337
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: detective, psychological, exciting, tense, suspense, suspenseful, touching, bleak, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 81%
Under Still Waters (2008)
Plot Summary:
A young married couple encounters a stranger who threatens their marriage and their lives.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 803
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspenseful, tense, serious, realistic, psychological thriller, independent film
Similar in 85%
Born Bad (2011)
Plot Summary:
A young woman (Bonnie Dennison) falls for a mysterious man (Michael Welch) who reveals his dark side.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, suspenseful, exciting, crime drama
Similar in 83%
Ladies Night (2005)
Plot Summary:
Insurance investigators track a serial killer who seduces women with access to big bucks, convinces them to embezzle, then kills them.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 197
Genere: Thriller, Drama, Crime
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, cynical, realistic
Similar in 86%
Sliver (1993)
Plot Summary:
A woman moves into an apartment in Manhattan and learns that the previous tenant's life ended mysteriously after they fell from the balcony.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexy, suspenseful, psychological, psychological thriller, sensual, psychosexual thriller, serious, exciting, anamorphic
Similar in 89%
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 80%
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 77%
Single White Female 2: The Psycho (2005)
Plot Summary:
A warped woman takes deadly measures to help a new roommate get rid of her problems.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: suspense, psychological, serious, suspenseful, tense, disturbing, captivating, psychological thriller, realistic, psychotronic