Best tv shows like A Friend of the Family
Last updated March 2024
Looking for tv shows like A Friend of the Family? Leverage your insights to navigate others toward tv series and films you've seen before that they might like also. Help broaden the community of people suggesting videos to each other. We welcome your engagement!
Plot Summary:
The harrowing true story of the Broberg family, whose daughter Jan was kidnapped multiple times over a period of years by a charismatic, obsessed family "friend." The Brobergs — devoted to their faith, family, and community — were utterly unprepared for the sophisticated tactics their neighbor used to exploit their vulnerabilities, drive them apart, and turn their daughter against them. This is the story of how their lives were permanently altered — and how they survived.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 473 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like A Friend of the Family (2022):
Similar in 77%
Vanished Without a Trace (1999)
Plot Summary:
A woman simply refuses to accept the kidnapping of her 13 year old daughter and relentlessly pursues the villain's capture.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 355
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Adam (1983)
Plot Summary:
After their child is abducted, John and Reve Walsh are trying to find him. But, shortly after that, Adam is found dead.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 695
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: depressing, crying
Similar in 85%
Lucan (2013)
Plot Summary:
Drama about infamous aristocrat Lord Lucan, who mysteriously disappeared in 1974 after being accused of murdering his children's nanny.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 740
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 63 min
Plot tags: realistic, tense, serious, captivating, detective, stylized
Similar in 89%
Kidnapped (2006)
Plot Summary:
Kidnapped is an American television drama series from Sony Pictures Television which aired on NBC from September 20, 2006, to August 11, 2007. The series returned on Universal HD in 2008.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, detective, anime
Similar in 76%
Something to Hide (2020)
Plot Summary:
Marriage, family, career, everything in Claude's life is a success. Mayor of his town, he is almost certain to become senator. For his beloved grandson Lucas, life is much less cheerful: his parents are divorcing and he's awkward and ill at ease. One day he accuses his grandfather of rape.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 326
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 52 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 76%
The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe (2022)
Plot Summary:
The extraordinary and compelling story of how John Darwin faked his own death to claim life insurance and avoid bankruptcy will be told in The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe. The drama relates how Anne Darwin's husband, a prison officer, came up with the hare-brained scheme to defraud insurance companies, unbeknownst to their two sons.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 184 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, comedy drama
Similar in 76%
Easy Prey (1986)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story, a serial killer abducts his latest victim from a mall and assaults her. Confused by her atypical reaction, he doesn't kill her, but instead takes her along as he continues on his killing spree. Meanwhile, the authorities debate whether she's a victim or a willing participant.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 242
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: factual
Similar in 79%
Adam: His Song Continues (1986)
Plot Summary:
Follows the true story of John and Reve Walsh who, after their child was murdered, fought to raise national awareness of the problem of missing children.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 234
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, emotional, realistic
Similar in 88%
Amber's Story (2006)
Plot Summary:
This is the tragic and true story of the abduction of Amber Hagerman. Her family and the community's efforts to find her and bring her kidnapper to justice prove to be a groundbreaking movement toward implementing a government-run tracking system.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 565
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, crime drama, tense, detective
Similar in 78%
Cry in the Wild: The Taking of Peggy Ann (1991)
Plot Summary:
True story of a young woman's abduction by a deranged loner that led to the largest manhunt in the history of Pennsylvania.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 535
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
I Know My First Name Is Steven (1989)
Plot Summary:
7-year old Steven Stayner is kidnapped a few days before Christmas by Kenneth Parnell. Under the belief that Parnell has been given legal custody of him, and that his family has moved away, he stays with Parnell for seven years, enduring repetitive sexual abuse the entire time. Finally, at fourteen, he returns home to his family.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, suspenseful, emotional, thought provoking, sad, tense, bleak, serious, realistic
Similar in 83%
An American Crime (2007)
Plot Summary:
The true story of suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her Indiana home during the 1960s.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: disturbing, harsh, serious, bleak, brutal, psychological, suspense, suspenseful, emotional, sad
Similar in 88%
The Burning Bed (1984)
Plot Summary:
An abused battered wife has had enough of husband beating up on her. Everywhere she turns for help, there's not much anyone will do. After he rapes her one night, she sets the bed on fire with him in it asleep.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, non fiction, crime drama, thought provoking, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
Dirty John (2018)
Plot Summary:
Anthology series in which each season is based on a true crime story featuring an epic tale of love gone wrong.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 44 min
Plot tags: meditative, tense, bleak, serious, suspense, melancholic, disturbing, anthology
Similar in 75%
Love, Lies and Murder (1991)
Plot Summary:
This movie, based on the true story, begins with the murder of a housewife. When troubled teenage daughter confesses the crime, it looks like a solved case. But, the investigators are suspicious because of the lack of motive and spend years trying to determine what really happened.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 633
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: detective, rough, mind bending, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 82%
Perfect Murder, Perfect Town: JonBenét and the City of Boulder (2000)
Plot Summary:
About the infamous murder of six year old child beauty pageant contestant JonBenét Ramsey and the hysterical media coverage that made the investigation even more difficult.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 590
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 178 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, realistic, talky, sad, mind bending, adaptation directed by original author
Similar in 82%
Escape at Dannemora (2018)
Plot Summary:
The stranger-than-fiction account of a prison break in upstate New York in the summer of 2015, which spawned a massive manhunt for two convicted murderers who were aided in their escape by a married female prison employee with whom they both became sexually entangled.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 440 min
Plot tags: melancholic, captivating, atmospheric, entertaining, anthology, anime, grindhouse, non fiction, historical drama, interesting
Similar in 90%
Sybil (1976)
Plot Summary:
The true story of a young woman named Sybil, whose childhood was so harrowing to her that she developed at least 13 different personalities.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 198 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, emotional, disturbing, depressing, scary, philosophical, clever, satanic, art house
Similar in 87%
To Catch a Killer (1992)
Plot Summary:
"To Catch a Killer" tells the true gruesome story of John Wayne Gacy - a good friend and helpful neighbour, a great child entertainer, a respectful businessman, and a violent serial killer who raped and murdered over 30 young boys.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 182 min
Plot tags: scary, tense, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, detective
Similar in 79%
Unbelievable (2019)
Plot Summary:
The true story of Marie, a teenager who was charged with lying about having been raped, and the two female detectives who followed a twisting path to arrive at the truth.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 116000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 385 min
Plot tags: detective, serious, crime drama, tense, enigmatic, suspense, social, suspenseful, disturbing, compassionate
Similar in 86%
Trust (2018)
Plot Summary:
The trials and triumphs of one of America’s wealthiest and unhappiest families, the Gettys. Told over multiple seasons and spanning the twentieth century, the series begins in 1973 with the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III, an heir to the Getty oil fortune, by the Italian mafia in Rome.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, rough, anthology, anime
Similar in 84%
The Missing (2014)
Plot Summary:
A gripping anthological relationship thriller series exploring the emotional fallout of a child's abduction not only on the family but on the wider community, told over two time frames.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK, France, Belgium, USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: detective, serious, realistic, emotional, suspenseful, crime drama, tense, captivating, gloomy, psychological thriller
Similar in 89%
Three Girls (2017)
Plot Summary:
The story of three of the children who were victims in the 2012 grooming and sex trafficking case in Rochdale, for which nine men were convicted and sentenced. The drama explores how these girls were groomed, how they were ignored by the authorities directly responsible for protecting them, and how they eventually made themselves heard.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, tense, disturbing, detective
Similar in 90%
Raising Jeffrey Dahmer (2006)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of the mass murderer Jeffrey Dahmer, the events within the family behind, and leading up to, his capture.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 465
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, tense, realistic, disturbing, suspense, non-linear, queer cinema
Similar in 80%
I Am Elizabeth Smart (2017)
Plot Summary:
The story of Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping and captivity, as told from her perspective.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country:
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, factual, dark, suspense, realistic
Similar in 84%
Cleveland Abduction (2015)
Plot Summary:
A single mother becomes Ariel Castro's first kidnapping victim, and finds herself trapped in his home with two other women for 11 years.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, bleak, serious, emotional, disturbing, realistic, dark
Similar in 87%
The Act (2019)
Plot Summary:
Dee Dee Blanchard is overprotective of her daughter, Gypsy, who is trying to escape the toxic relationship she has with her mother. Gypsy's quest for independence opens up a Pandora's box of secrets, which ultimately leads to murder. The stranger-than-fiction true-crime series is based on a 2016 BuzzFeed article that detailed the shocking 2015 crime. Oscar winner Patricia Arquette and Oscar nominee Chloë Sevigny star in the Hulu original series.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 425 min
Plot tags: suspense, disturbing, rough, anthology, thought provoking, psychological, anime, southern gothic, humorous, fun
Similar in 77%
The Girl from Plainville (2022)
Plot Summary:
The controversial case of Michelle Carter, who was convicted in 2017 of involuntary manslaughter for encouraging the suicide of her then-boyfriend via texts and phone calls.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 360 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, semi autobiographical, crime drama, mysterious, queer cinema
Similar in 79%
The Capture of the Green River Killer (2008)
Plot Summary:
A pair of girls seeking adventure beyond the their Western Washington trailer park encounter the area's most ruthless serial killer. Based on Sheriff David Reichert's book, "Chasing the Devil: My Twenty-Year Quest to Capture the Green River Killer".
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, bleak
Similar in 83%
Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey (2018)
Plot Summary:
The disturbing true-story of Lisa McVey, who was abducted in 1984 but later released by her abuser, only to have people question her story.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: suspense, suspenseful, touching, rough, captivating, thought provoking, disturbing, tense