Best tv shows like Cruel Summer
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
An unconventional thriller that takes place over three summers — 1993-95 — in a small Texas town when a beautiful popular teen, Kate, is abducted and, seemingly unrelated, a girl, Jeanette, goes from being a sweet, awkward outlier to the most popular girl in town and, by ’95, the most despised person in America.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: psychological thriller, tense, enigmatic, captivating, suspense, intellectual, thrilling, anthology, queer cinema
Best tv shows and movies like Cruel Summer (2021):
Similar in 78%
Search Party (2016)
Plot Summary:
A dark comedy about four self-absorbed twenty-somethings who become entangled in an ominous mystery when a former college acquaintance suddenly disappears.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, semi serious, funny, neo noir, dark comedy, psychological thriller, queer cinema
Similar in 86%
I Know Who You Are (2017)
Plot Summary:
A man ends up in hospital after a car accident. He does not remember his name, but it is soon discovered he is a famous attorney. To make things worse, the police start to suspect him of having murdered his missing niece.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Mystery, Thriller
Country: Spain
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, suspenseful, psychological, sincere, realistic, enigmatic, suspense, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 85%
Vanished (2006)
Plot Summary:
Vanished is an American serial drama television series produced by 20th Century Fox. The series premiered on August 21, 2006 on Fox and its last episode aired on November 10, 2006. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, the series begins with the sudden disappearance of the wife of a Georgia senator, which is quickly revealed to be part of a wider conspiracy. The family of the missing woman, a pair of FBI agents, a journalist and her lover/cameraman, are all drawn into an evolving mystery with political and religious undertones. The show was created by CSI writer Josh Berman, and executive produced by Mimi Leder, who is also directed the show, and Paul Redford. On October 26, 2006, USA Today reported that the planned 22-episode series was ordered to be wrapped up after the 13th episode. The story arc of finding Sara Collins was to be concluded, with the mystery of a larger conspiracy left dangling in the event the series was extended. On November 16, 2006, Fox confirmed that the show would end after a final episode in December. On December 8, 2006, the final episode of Vanished appeared online. The production team was told a few months before the show was taken off the air to at least reveal Sara's fate by the 13th episode, but none of the other plotlines were resolved.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, realistic, exciting, tense, captivating, cerebral
Similar in 77%
Equinox (2020)
Plot Summary:
Haunted by visions after her sister vanished with her classmates 21 years before, Astrid begins an investigation that uncovers the dark, eerie truth.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Denmark
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: suspense, suspenseful, psychological, tense, captivating, disturbing, thrilling
Similar in 77%
Requiem (2018)
Plot Summary:
In 1994, a toddler disappeared from a small Welsh village, never to be seen again. 23 years later, in London, the mother of rising cello star Matilda Gray commits suicide, without apparent reason. Among her possessions, Matilda discovers tantalising evidence, linking her mother to the Welsh girl's disappearance all those years ago.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: psychological thriller, psychological, suspense, serious, suspenseful, captivating, surreal, atmospheric, dark, lovecraft
Similar in 85%
Echoes (2022)
Plot Summary:
Identical twins Leni and Gina have secretly switched places for years. But when one sister disappears, both of their lives start to fall apart.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Australia, USA
Duration: 326 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, dramatic, captivating, realistic, suspense, psychological thriller
Similar in 90%
Homecoming (2018)
Plot Summary:
Heidi Bergman is a caseworker at Homecoming, a Geist Group facility helping soldiers transition to civilian life. Years later she has started a new life, living with her mother and working as a waitress, when a Department of Defense auditor questions why she left the Homecoming facility. Heidi quickly realizes that there's a whole other story behind the story she's been telling herself.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, enigmatic, suspense, suspenseful, psychological thriller, psychological, clever, anthology, sitcom, queer cinema
Similar in 78%
Surface (2022)
Plot Summary:
A traumatic head injury leaves Sophie with extreme memory loss. In her quest to put the pieces of her life back together—with help from her husband and friends—Sophie begins to question the truth behind her picture-perfect life.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 48 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 89%
The Age Of Anger (2022)
Plot Summary:
Manu Ríos, Amaia Aberasturi, Daniel Ibáñez, Carlos Alcaide star in this new fiction that portrays current adolescence based on the thriller to address the complexities that affect a new generation of young people.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 262
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Spain
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, queer cinema
Similar in 82%
The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)
Plot Summary:
After an au pair’s tragic death, Henry Wingrave hires a young American nanny to care for his orphaned niece and nephew who reside at Bly Manor with the estate’s chef Owen, groundskeeper Jamie and housekeeper, Mrs. Grose. But all is not as it seems at the manor, and centuries of dark secrets of love and loss are waiting to be unearthed in this chilling romance. At Bly Manor, dead doesn’t mean gone.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 124000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 494 min
Plot tags: gothic, dark fantasy, enigmatic, gothic horror, psychological, psychological horror, scary, emotional, tense, suspense
Similar in 81%
Outer Range (2022)
Plot Summary:
A rancher fighting for his land and family stumbles upon an unfathomable mystery at the edge of Wyoming’s wilderness, forcing a confrontation with the Unknown in ways both intimate and cosmic in the untamable American West.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: suspense, enigmatic, captivating, disturbing, psychological, powerful, thrilling, neo western
Similar in 85%
Chance (2016)
Plot Summary:
San Francisco-based forensic neuropsychiatrist Eldon Chance reluctantly gets sucked into a violent and dangerous world of mistaken identity, police corruption and mental illness.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: neo noir, psychological, psychological thriller, tense, suspense, enigmatic, captivating, detective, interesting
Similar in 88%
Twisted (2013)
Plot Summary:
A one-hour mystery full of twists and turns that follows Danny Desai, a charismatic 16-year-old with a troubled past who returns to his hometown after spending five years in juvenile detention. Immediately branded an outcast, Danny attempts to reconnect with his two childhood best friends, Jo and Lacey. But when a fellow student is found dead in her home, Danny instantly becomes the prime suspect and town spirals into a frenzy of suspicion and mystery. Jo and Lacey must decide if their childhood friend is unforgivable, or if he's really a victim being persecuted for his own twisted secrets.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, serious, enigmatic, suspense, detective, teen, realistic, odd
Similar in 86%
Grand Army (2020)
Plot Summary:
Five students at the largest public high school in Brooklyn take on a chaotic world as they fight to succeed, survive, break free and seize the future.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags: thought provoking, captivating, cute, emotional, entertaining, queer cinema
Similar in 79%
Vanished by the Lake (2015)
Plot Summary:
Homicide Detective Lise returns to her hometown for the first time since a local tragedy shattered her teens. Tragedy strikes again when a teenage girl vanishes under circumstances that mirror the disappearance of Lise's two best friends, Ana and Marion, fifteen years earlier: an unsolved case. Convinced there is a connection, Lise is determined to find the missing girl and answers to the past.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 571
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: France
Duration: 52 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, enigmatic, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, detective
Similar in 86%
One of Us Is Lying (2021)
Plot Summary:
The story of what happens when five high schoolers walk into detention and only four make it out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: suspense, disturbing, tense, captivating
Similar in 85%
Klangor (2021)
Plot Summary:
A desperate father looks for his missing daughter.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 836
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Poland
Duration: 57 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 90%
The Drowning (2021)
Plot Summary:
Since losing her son eight years ago, Jodie has been rebuilding her life but when she catches sight of Daniel, she is convinced she has found her missing son.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 178 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, detective, thrilling, surprise ending
Similar in 79%
The 12 from Oldenheim (2017)
Plot Summary:
Follow the lives of the inhabitants of Oldenheim, an ancient Dutch village where families have lived for generations. The terror is great when the inhabitants of the village are confronted with a series of mysterious disappearances.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 951
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: tense, enigmatic, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, atmospheric, crime drama, thrilling
Similar in 80%
Wayward Pines (2015)
Plot Summary:
Imagine the perfect American town... beautiful homes, manicured lawns, children playing safely in the streets. Now imagine never being able to leave. You have no communication with the outside world. You think you're going insane. You must be in Wayward Pines.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 59000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: tense, mind bending, serious, captivating, psychological thriller, exciting, retro, surprise ending, thought provoking, mysterious
Similar in 85%
T@gged (2016)
Plot Summary:
t@gged is a modern day thriller that explores the terrifying risks of social media in a world of anonymity.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 18 min
Plot tags: suspense, suspenseful, tense, enigmatic, captivating, disturbing, neurotic, psychological thriller
Similar in 83%
Pretty Little Liars (2010)
Plot Summary:
Based on the Pretty Little Liars series of young adult novels by Sara Shepard, the series follows the lives of four girls — Spencer, Hanna, Aria, and Emily — whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their queen bee, Alison. One year later, they begin receiving messages from someone using the name "A" who threatens to expose their secrets — including long-hidden ones they thought only Alison knew.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 176000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 44 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, serious, realistic, teen, soap opera, slasher, saga, relaxing, thrilling, teen horror
Similar in 90%
Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists (2019)
Plot Summary:
In Beacon Heights, a seemingly perfect town, a group of three college friends struggle with the stress of being overachievers. In the aftermath of the town’s first murder, each Perfectionist hides behind a secret, a lie and an alibi.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: surprise ending, tense, enigmatic, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 89%
The Leftovers (2014)
Plot Summary:
When 2% of the world's population abruptly disappears without explanation, the world struggles to understand just what they're supposed to do about it. The drama series 'The Leftovers' is the story of the people who didn't make the cut. Based on the bestselling novel by Tom Perrotta, 'The Leftovers' follows Kevin Garvey, a father of two and the chief of police in a small New York suburb, as he tries to maintain some semblance of normalcy when the notion no longer applies.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 109000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: captivating, mind bending, offbeat, serious, touching, stylized, surreal, psychological thriller, apocalyptic, spooky
Similar in 76%
Channel Zero (2016)
Plot Summary:
Inspired by Brian Russell’s Creepypasta tale, Channel Zero: No-End House tells the story of a young woman named Margot Sleator, who visits the No End House, a bizarre house of horrors that consists of a series of increasingly disturbing rooms. When she returns home, Margot realizes everything has changed.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 44 min
Plot tags: anthology, suspense, enigmatic, spooky, tense, disturbing, brutal, mysterious, surreal, mumblecore
Similar in 75%
Little Fires Everywhere (2020)
Plot Summary:
The intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and an enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives. Explore the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, the ferocious pull of motherhood – and the danger in believing that following the rules can avert disaster.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 53000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 463 min
Plot tags: suspense, social, captivating, psychological, intellectual, novela, pink cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 78%
Behind Her Eyes (2021)
Plot Summary:
A single mother enters a world of twisted mind games when she begins an affair with her psychiatrist boss while secretly befriending his mysterious wife.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 72000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 298 min
Plot tags: enigmatic, twist ending, tense, captivating, mystical, suspense, twisted, psychological, dark, thrilling
Similar in 76%
Twin Peaks (1990)
Plot Summary:
The body of Laura Palmer is washed up on a beach near the small Washington state town of Twin Peaks. FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper is called in to investigate her strange demise only to uncover a web of mystery that ultimately leads him deep into the heart of the surrounding woodland and his very own soul.
IMDB Rating: 8.8
IMDB Votes: 211000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 1505 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, psychological, enigmatic, suspenseful, mind bending, neo noir, surreal, offbeat, captivating, gloomy
Similar in 77%
Severance (2022)
Plot Summary:
Mark leads a team of office workers whose memories have been surgically divided between their work and personal lives. When a mysterious colleague appears outside of work, it begins a journey to discover the truth about their jobs.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 181000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags: breathtaking, captivating, tense, experimental, philosophical, semi serious, intellectual, apocalyptic, sitcom, deep
Similar in 88%
The Society (2019)
Plot Summary:
When everyone else mysteriously vanishes from their wealthy town, the teen residents of West Ham must forge their own society to survive.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 35000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 58 min
Plot tags: suspense, ambiguous ending, mysterious, captivating, emotional, apocalyptic, sitcom, anime, teen, queer cinema