Best tv shows like In Cold Blood
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
At the end of the 1950s, in a more innocent America, the brutal, meaningless slaying of a Midwestern family horrified the nation. This film is based on Truman Capote's hauntingly detailed, psychologically penetrating nonfiction novel. While in prison, Dick Hickock, 20, hears a cell-mate's story about $10,000 in cash kept in a home safe by a prosperous rancher. When he's paroled, Dick persuades ex-con Perry Smith, also 20, to join him in going after the stash. On a November night in 1959, Dick and Perry break into the Holcomb, Kansas, house of Herb Clutter. Enraged at finding no safe, they wake the sleeping family and brutally kill them all. The bodies are found by two friends who come by before Sunday church. The murders shock the small Great Plains town, where doors are routinely left unlocked. Detective Alvin Dewey of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation heads the case, but there are no clues, no apparent motive and no suspects.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, History
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: tense, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing
Best tv shows and movies like In Cold Blood (1996):
Similar in 77%
Harry (2013)
Plot Summary:
Harry is a single story, six-part crime drama series set in Auckland which follows the intense psychological journey of Detective Harry Anglesea.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 252
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: New Zealand
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, suspenseful, detective, tense, gloomy, hardboiled detective, detective series
Similar in 77%
Small Sacrifices (1989)
Plot Summary:
Based on the best-selling true crime book by Ann Rule, the film is about Diane Downs and the attempted murder of her three children.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, History
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 159 min
Plot tags: detective, tense, sincere, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, talky
Similar in 84%
Blue Murder (1995)
Plot Summary:
Detective Sergeant Roger "The Dodger" Rogerson got fame because he knew how to take care of most dangerous and violent criminals. His success was, however, also due to the sinister alliance with violent underworld figures like Neddy Smith who got police protection in exchange for tips and money.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 198 min
Plot tags: slasher, detective, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 90%
Sebastian Bergman (2010)
Plot Summary:
Swedish crime drama series about forensic psychologist Sebastian Bergmann.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 649
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Sweden
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, atmospheric, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized, detective, gloomy
Similar in 88%
The Deathmaker (1995)
Plot Summary:
Fritz Haarmann, who has killed at least 27 boys, is questioned by a psychology professor in order to find out whether he is sane and can be held responsible for his crimes. During this interrogation Haarmann reveals his motives and his killing methods.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, serious, bleak, realistic, suspenseful, rough
Similar in 80%
The Siege at Ruby Ridge (1996)
Plot Summary:
A mini-series dramatization of the controversial 1992 attack by federal agents on the Idaho home of Randy Weaver, a white seperatist. The ten-day siege, begun over a minor gun charge, resulted in the deaths of Weaver's son, wife and dog, and a U.S. Marshall. The incident caused major public outcry against the FBI and U.S. Marshals.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 683
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 192 min
Plot tags: tense, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, controversial
Similar in 76%
Bonnie & Clyde (2013)
Plot Summary:
Bonnie and Clyde is a two-part film about two Depression-era outlaws, starring Emile Hirsch as Clyde Barrow and Holliday Grainger as Bonnie Parker. It is based on the true story of Clyde Barrow, a charismatic convicted armed robber who sweeps Bonnie Parker, an impressionable, petite, small-town waitress, off her feet, and the two embark on one one of most infamous bank-robbing sprees in history.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, History, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 174 min
Plot tags: stylized, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, period drama
Similar in 77%
Appropriate Adult (2011)
Plot Summary:
Dramatisation of the case of serial killers Fred and Rose West, focusing on the way in which they were brought to justice.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 69 min
Plot tags: serious, disturbing, thought provoking, realistic, controversial, detective
Similar in 90%
The Murder of Mary Phagan (1988)
Plot Summary:
The Murder of Mary Phagan, a 1987 two-part TV miniseries made by Orion Pictures Corporation and distributed by National Broadcasting Company (NBC), is a dramatization of the story of Leo Frank, a factory manager charged and convicted with murdering a 13-year-old girl, a factory worker named Mary Phagan, in Atlanta, Georgia in 1913. The trial was sensational and controversial. After Frank's legal appeals had failed, the governor of Georgia in 1915 commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment. In 1915 Frank was kidnapped from prison and lynched by a small group of prominent men of Marietta, Georgia. The film features Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Rebecca Miller, Charles Dutton, Peter Gallagher, Cynthia Nixon, Dylan Baker, and William H. Macy.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 806
Genere: Crime, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 251 min
Plot tags: tense, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic
Similar in 86%
Seduced by Madness: The Diane Borchardt Story (1996)
Plot Summary:
True crime story of a Wisconsin teacher's aide who hired teenaged students to murder her estranged husband.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 401
Genere: Thriller, Drama, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 200 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, gloomy, sexual, sexy
Similar in 86%
Helter Skelter (1976)
Plot Summary:
The investigation of two horrific mass murders leads to the capture and trial of the psychotic pseudo-hippie Charles Manson and his "family".
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 194 min
Plot tags: disturbing, slasher horror, spooky, psychological, tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, talky
Similar in 82%
See No Evil: The Moors Murders (2006)
Plot Summary:
The film is the first known dramatisation of one of the most notorious killing sprees in British history and was made to mark the fortieth anniversary of Hindley and Brady's trial. It was made with the full backing of the victims' families, and was based on two years research, including interviews with detectives, relatives of the murdered children, and Hindley's brother-in-law David Smith.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: serious, disturbing, realistic, suspenseful, detective, rough
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 81%
Fatal Vision (1984)
Plot Summary:
A retiree spends nine years relentlessly seeking to prove that his son-in-law, a former Green Beret Army doctor, murdered his pregnant wife and two children.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, History, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 181 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 81%
Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield (2007)
Plot Summary:
Inspired by the true story of one of the most gruesome killers in American history. Now, years after inspiring "Psycho's" Norman Bates, "The Silence Of The Lambs'" Buffalo Bill and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre's" Leatherface, the story of real life serial killer Ed Gein is told once again. Nicknamed "The Butcher Of Plainfield," Gein was responsible for a rash of gory murders that sent shock waves through his rural Wisconsin town, and across America, in the late 1950's. Prepare to enter the evil mind and twisted world of "The Butcher Of Plainfield.".
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: disturbing, scary, rough, serious, slasher, suspenseful, suspense, realistic
Similar in 89%
B.T.K. Killer (2005)
Plot Summary:
Veteran Boogey Man and Zodiac Killer director Ulli Lommel continues his long tradition of delivering tense thrills with this relentless look at the life of the elusive, Kansas-based serial killer known to authorities only as "B.T.K." before his arrest.
IMDB Rating: 1.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, scary, bleak, realistic, slasher
Similar in 88%
The Murders at White House Farm (2020)
Plot Summary:
Factual drama based on the notorious Whitehouse Farm murders, and the ensuing police investigation and court case.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, History, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 277 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, tense, disturbing, crime drama
Similar in 83%
Code of a Killer (2015)
Plot Summary:
Set in 1984, Code of a Killer is a true story which tells of the discovery of DNA fingerprinting. Detective David Baker leads an investigation of the vicious murders of the two Leicestershire schoolgirls, Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth. Alec Jeffreys at the time was an ambitious scientist who uncovered a remarkable method to read each individual's unique DNA finger print. Convinced the murderer was local, Baker approached Jeffreys to utilise his newly discovered scientific technique as a way to solve the murders. The first ever DNA manhunt and blood testing of many men followed - all in the aid of catching the killer.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 65 min
Plot tags: captivating, tense, serious, exciting, thought provoking, disturbing, detective, crime drama, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 78%
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 90%
The Pembrokeshire Murders (2021)
Plot Summary:
Detective superintendent reopens two unsolved murder cases from the 1980s. Forensic methods link the crimes to a string of burglaries. Steve's team has to find more evidence before the perpetrator is released from prison.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Crime, Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: suspense, disturbing, suspenseful, tense, psychological, detective
Similar in 76%
Five Daughters (2010)
Plot Summary:
Factually-based drama telling the stories of five young women who were tragically murdered in Ipswich in 2006.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 593
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, suspenseful, bleak, captivating, realistic
Similar in 84%
Quirke (2013)
Plot Summary:
A chief pathologist in the Dublin city morgue investigates sudden death victims in the 1950s.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Ireland, UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, bleak, realistic, tense, suspense, detective, crime drama, historical drama, suspenseful, period drama
Similar in 90%
Rillington Place (2016)
Plot Summary:
In 1950, Timothy Evans was hanged for the murder of his baby daughter Geraldine. The police also believed that he had killed his wife Beryl. But to his final moments Evans protested his innocence. Three years later, a gruesome discovery at 10 Rillington Place revealed that his neighbour - star prosecution witness John Reginald Christie knew much more about the sinister goings on in the house. Set in the dark confines of Christie's home, this powerful drama imagines the relationships between Christie, his wife Ethel and the innocent young Evans couple. What twisted influence did Christie hold over the young newly-weds Timothy and Beryl? And how was he able to trick both judge and jury into sending an innocent man to the executioner?.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, History, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 58 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, bleak, dark, melancholic, realistic, detective, costume drama, historical drama
Similar in 88%
In Cold Blood (1967)
Plot Summary:
A 1967 film based on Truman Capote's book of the same name. After a botched robbery results in the brutal murder of a rural family, two drifters elude police, in the end coming to terms with their own mortality and the repercussions of their vile atrocity.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: black and white, disturbing, suspense, neo noir, bleak, tense, controversial, road movie, detective, inspirational
Similar in 89%
The Riverman (2004)
Plot Summary:
A series of interviews are conducted with convicted serial killer Ted Bundy in hopes of gaining insight into the Green River Killer who is terrorizing Seattle.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, mystical, detective, realistic, suspense
Similar in 83%
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 86%
Des (2020)
Plot Summary:
The story of one of the most infamous cases in UK criminal history, that of serial killer Dennis Nilsen. Told through the prism of three men, the series explores the personal and professional consequences of coming into contact with a man like Nilsen.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Crime, Drama, History, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: tense, detective, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, thought provoking, emotional, thrilling, contemplative, moody
Similar in 86%
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 86%
American Crime Story (2016)
Plot Summary:
An anthology series centered around some of history's most famous criminals.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 98000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: anthology, realistic, serious, psychological, feel good, political, suspense, entertaining, detective, mind blowing
Similar in 88%
The Deliberate Stranger (1986)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story, this film depicts the life of Theodore Robert Bundy, the serial killer. In 1974, after having murdered several young women, he leaves Seattle for Utah, where he is a law student and where other girls disappear. It takes the cooperation of a number of police forces to work efficiently on this case. Soon, but not soon enough, the police eliminate endless possibilities and close in on him. Bundy is tried in the media and his good-boy attitude brings him sympathy but also the hatred of many.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 185 min
Plot tags: psychotronic, psychological, tense, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, cult film