Best tv shows like Bangkok Hilton
Last updated March 2024
Looking for tv shows similar to Bangkok Hilton? Contribute your insights to direct others toward tv series and films you've already seen that might similarly enthrall them. Aid in enlarging the circle of people referring videos amongst each other. We encourage your engagement!
Plot Summary:
The story of Kat Stanton (Kidman), an Australian woman searching for her father who, whilst travelling back from London to Australia via Thailand, makes friends with Arkie Ragan (Ehlers), a photographer. Kat is tricked into carrying some luggage through Thai customs for Arkie, only for the police to find drugs in his bag. Kat is sentenced to spend time in the horrific "Bangkok Hilton" prison, where she makes friends with fellow inmate Mandy Engels (Smithers), who has been sentenced to death. Whilst she endures the terrible conditions inside, Kat's lawyer Richard Carlisle (Weaving) and ex-patriot Hal Stanton (Elliott) battle with the authorities to have her freed.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Australia
Duration: 270 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, rough, detective, disturbing
Best tv shows and movies like Bangkok Hilton (1989):
Similar in 86%
Nightmare in Badham County (1976)
Plot Summary:
Two UCLA coeds have engine trouble in small Southern town. When they spurn the local sheriff's advances he arranges for them to be taken to the women's prison on trivial charges (the judge is a cousin), where they must endure atrocities at the hands of the administrators of the prison and the prison guards.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 664
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: crying, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, psychotronic, independent film
Similar in 81%
Adam's Woman (1970)
Plot Summary:
Adam is a young American wrongly accused of being an accomplice to murder while on shore leave in Liverpool. He is sentenced to death by hanging but the sentence is commuted to twenty years in a convict settlement in Australia.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 193
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic
Similar in 81%
Billionaire Boys Club (1987)
Plot Summary:
The Billionaire Boys Club is based on the true story of Joe Hunt (Nelson), a shady investor who built an empire on B.S back in the early 80s. Known as the BBC, the story involves a couple of guys recruited into Hunt's company on the promise of making millions. However, everytime Hunt's lapdogs think his boss has used his cleverness to make them filthy rich, they instead find themselves with financial losses. Trying to recoup a mounting pile of debt made from giant b.s. deals, the ruthless Hunt involves select members of the BBC to aid in the worst of crimes to get what they want. But, a few, scared of how far Hunt will go, try to stop Hunt's brutal reign of terror possibly before real damage begins.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 943
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 200 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic
Similar in 83%
Return to Eden (1983)
Plot Summary:
Stephanie Harper is rich but insecure 40 year old heiress with two failed marriages behind her. Stephanie believes that she has found true love with tennis pro Greg Marsden, but after the wedding, Greg promptly begins an affair with Stephanie’s best friend Jilly Stewart. Whilst on their honeymoon, Greg pushes Stephanie into a crocodile-infested swamp, and he and Jilly watch as she is apparently mauled to death. However, Stephanie miraculously survives and goes to an island clinic where she meets Dr. Dan Marshall, a brilliant plastic surgeon who uses his talents to repair her face and body. Using her new identity and fortune, she plots her revenge on Greg and Jilly and aims to take back what is rightfully hers.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: Australia, USA
Duration: 267 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, relaxing, suspenseful, rough, soap opera
Similar in 77%
Brokedown Palace (1999)
Plot Summary:
Best friends Alice and Darlene take a trip to Thailand after graduating high school. In Thailand, they meet a captivating Australian man, who calls himself Nick Parks. Darlene is particularly smitten with Nick and convinces Alice to take Nick up on his offer to treat the two of them to what amounts to a day trip to Hong Kong. In the airport, the girls are seized by the police and shocked to discover that one of their bags contains heroin.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: suspense, suspenseful, intense, thought provoking, serious, captivating, emotional, political thriller, touching, depressing
Similar in 85%
Black Mama White Mama (1973)
Plot Summary:
When two troublemaking female prisoners (one a revolutionary, the other a former harem-girl) can't seem to get along, they are chained together and extradited for safekeeping. The women, still chained together, stumble, stab, and cat-fight their way across the wilderness, igniting a bloody shootout between gangsters and a group of revolutionaries.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Philippines, USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, realistic, rough, serious, psychotronic, psychological, slasher, cult classic, independent film, exciting
Similar in 78%
Prisoner (2008)
Plot Summary:
Story of a Japanese man falsely imprisoned in Thailand who attempts to escape from jail.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 16
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: thought provoking, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 76%
Better Man (2013)
Plot Summary:
The remarkable life and death of Van Nguyen, a Vietnamese Australian man who was convicted of drug trafficking in Singapore and executed for his crime in 2005.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 237
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration:
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, bleak, thought provoking
Similar in 88%
Lust for Freedom (1987)
Plot Summary:
A former female cop is framed by corrupt police, acting in collusion with the local judge, and has to fight her way out of the pen, alone, against tough inmates, and the people in charge.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 545
Genere: Drama, Thriller, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing, independent film, cult film
Similar in 89%
A Letter from Death Row (1998)
Plot Summary:
A psychological thriller that takes you through the mind of convicted killer, Michael Raine, and his experiences on death row. Was he guilty of killing his girlfriend or was he a victim of a conspiracy to frame him for a crime he didn't commit? As the story unfolds Jessica Foster, an assistant to the Governor of Tennessee begins to interview Raine while on death row, claiming that she's writing a book about the inmates. Through various circumstances, Raine puts two and two together and builds a case that he believes can prove his innocence...or does he? Ms. Foster is the only one on the 'outside" who can give Raine a voice, but is she working for those who framed him? As time draws near to the date of his execution, in his most desperate hour Raine finds the missing pieces to the puzzle to prove his innocence, but is it too late...? Was this story told from Raine's point of view or from the book writers or from yours, the viewer - you decide.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 638
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, tense, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 88%
Capadocia (2008)
Plot Summary:
Capadocia is a Mexican HBO Latin America television series. It started on March 2, 2008 and its second season was planned for 2010.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 706
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 86%
Buried (2003)
Plot Summary:
Buried is a British television drama series, produced by World Productions for Channel 4 and originally screened in 2003. The programme starred Lennie James as Lee Kingley, who is serving a long prison sentence in order to protect a member of his family from a violent criminal. Critically well-received, the programme won the Best Drama Series category at the British Academy Television Awards in 2004.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 193
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, suspenseful, thought provoking, bleak, captivating, realistic
Similar in 82%
Girls in Prison (1994)
Plot Summary:
Framed for the murder of a record company president in 1952 Hollywood, young, aspiring singer Aggie O'Hanlon is sentenced to life in prison and tries to adjust to her life life behind bars in a hellish womens prison where she is befriended by other "lifer" inmates who help her out when Aggie finds herself marked for murder by an unknown source who thinks she knows more about the murder than she does.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 678
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, psychotronic, erotic, campy
Similar in 90%
The Caged Heart (1984)
Plot Summary:
Conflict between a hardened prison inmate and a ruthless prison guard.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 286
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: neo noir, tense, atmospheric, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 82%
Blind Injustice (2005)
Plot Summary:
A blind woman finds herself the target of an attacker again after the person originally convicted of her rape is found to be innocent of the crime.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 236
Genere: Thriller, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense
Similar in 89%
Assault at West Point: The Court-Martial of Johnson Whittaker (1994)
Plot Summary:
The story of Johnson Whittaker, one of the first African-American cadets admitted to West Point. Tied down and beaten by his fellow cadets.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 572
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic
Similar in 89%
Last Dance (1996)
Plot Summary:
Upon taking a new job, young lawyer Rick Hayes is assigned to the clemency case of Cindy Liggett, a woman convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. As Hayes investigates the background for her case, the two begin to form a deep friendship, while all the while the date for her execution draws nearer.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: emotional, talky, intense, tense, serious, suspenseful, suspense, erotic, detective, black and white
Similar in 82%
Guilt by Association (2002)
Plot Summary:
Life is good for Susan, her two children and new boyfriend Russell. But life abruptly changes when she discovers her perfect boyfriend is a drug dealer. Realising the danger this could bring to her family she tells him to leave. Suddenly her house is raided and Susan is arrested as a co-conspirator in Russell's drug business. Her situation goes from bad to worse when she finds herself behind bars with violent criminals. How will she ever prove her innocence when the system seems against her? Guilt By Association is a disturbing story based on true events.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 490
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, realistic, disturbing, thought provoking, bleak, serious, crying
Similar in 90%
Interrogation (1989)
Plot Summary:
In Stalinist Poland, cabaret singer Tonia decides to spend the evening drinking with a group of friends. The next morning, she awakes to find that, for reasons unknown to her, she has been jailed as a political prisoner. As prison officials interrogate, torture and humiliate her, she fights for survival and to maintain her innocence by refusing to sign a false confession. As her years of imprisonment pass, her relationship with her captors grows more complicated.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Poland
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, bleak, realistic, disturbing, controversial, thinking, serious, banned
Similar in 90%
The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant (2005)
Plot Summary:
A young woman is transported to the New South Wales penal colony in 1788.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Australia, UK
Duration: 480 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, captivating, suspense, historical drama, road movie, costume drama, period drama, tragic
Similar in 89%
Murder in the First (1995)
Plot Summary:
Inspired by a true story. A petty criminal sent to Alcatraz in the 1930s is caught attempting to make an escape. As punishment he is put in solitary confinement. The maximum stay is supposed to be 19 days, but Henri spends years alone, cold and in complete darkness, only to emerge a madman and soon to be a murderer. The story follows a rookie lawyer attempting to prove that Alcatraz was to blame.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, France
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: suspense, dramatic, emotional, depressing, sincere, dark, period piece, crime drama, historical drama, suspense thriller
Similar in 83%
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%
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 82%
Locked Up (2015)
Plot Summary:
Set up to take the blame for corporate fraud, young Macarena Ferreiro is locked up in a high-security women's prison surrounded by tough, ruthless criminals in this tense, provocative Spanish thriller.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Spain
Duration: 53 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, rough, disturbing, clever, suspenseful, queer cinema
Similar in 80%
Wentworth (2013)
Plot Summary:
Bea Smith is locked up while awaiting trial for the attempted murder of her husband and must learn how life works in prison. A modern adaptation and sequel of the iconic Prisoner series.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Australia
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, suspenseful, rough, bleak, erotic, sexy, dark, dramatic, thrilling
Similar in 76%
Mean Dog Blues (1978)
Plot Summary:
Former TV documentary filmmaker Mel Stuart tries to inject an acceptable degree of verisimilitude in Mean Dog Blues. A victim of circumstance, country and western musician Paul Ramsey (Gregg Henry) finds himself on a Southern chain gang. Captain Omar Kinsman (George Kennedy) snarls a lot as the obligatory sadistic prison guard, but the film's real villains are Victor and Donna Lacey (William Windom and Tina Louise) as the Bonnie-and-Clyde couple who get Henry into trouble. Listed as editor is Housley Stevenson, the son of the late Hollywood character-actor Onslow Stevens.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 289
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, independent film, tense, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 86%
Tangier (2006)
Plot Summary:
In August 1996, bus drivers Marcel Van Loock and Wim Moreels are apprehended by the Moroccan Customs for drug trafficking. Inside their bus, hidden behind a false compartment, they have discovered 700 pounds of hashish. Although the owner of the bus company is arrested as well and makes a full confession clearly indicating that both drivers were unaware of the hidden drugs, the Moroccan judge sentences both men to 5 years in the Moroccan prison of Tangiers. Nothing could have prepared the two men for life inside a Moroccan prison. Without food, clothes or medical care, they must learn how to take care of themselves to survive their stay in prison. Corrupt guards, corrupt lawyers and judges, a consul who doesn't care and frequent beatings are only part of the terrible prison. Meanwhile their families at home are left without any information, any help or any hope - finding out that their own government doesn't care for Belgian people in prisons abroad.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, tense, bleak, realistic
Similar in 80%
Black August (2007)
Plot Summary:
The last 14 months of George Jackson's life was an existence under subjective and objective conditions in California's industrial prison complex. George Jackson would spend 11 years in jail (7 of which were in solitary confinement) for a $70 gas station robbery crime in 1960. He was 18 years of age when the sentence of one year-to-life was handed down to him.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 302
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: rough, thought provoking, serious, realistic, political
Similar in 84%
Prison Break (2005)
Plot Summary:
Due to a political conspiracy, an innocent man is sent to death row and his only hope is his brother, who makes it his mission to deliberately get himself sent to the same prison in order to break the both of them out, from the inside out.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 569000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 44 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, suspenseful, serious, rough, realistic, crime drama, thrilling, clever, enigmatic
Similar in 87%
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Plot Summary:
Framed in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.
IMDB Rating: 9.3
IMDB Votes: 28000000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags: clever, inspirational, touching, twist ending, sentimental, uplifting, emotional, philosophical, suspense, serious