Movies Like

A Prophet (2009)

7.6 1.7K votes

Genre: Crime, Drama

Country: France, Italy

Duration: 155 min.

Audience: R

Story: Sentenced to six years in prison, Malik El Djebena is alone in the world and can neither read nor write. On his arrival at the prison, he seems younger and more brittle than the others detained there. At once he falls under the sway of a group of Corsicans who enforce their rule in the prison. As the 'missions' go by, he toughens himself and wins the confidence of the Corsican group.

Plot: prison, muslim, gangster, arabian, protection, money, murder, mafia, ...

Cast

Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos

Milton Gonu00e7alves

Ivan de Almeida

Au00edlton Grau00e7a

Carandiru (2003)

7.6 617 votes

Genre: Drama

Country: Brazil, Argentina

Duration: 145 min.

Audience: R

Story: When a doctor decides to carry out an AIDS prevention program inside Latin America’s largest prison: the Casa de Detenção de São Paulo - Carandiru, he meets the future victims of one of the darkest days in Brazilian History when the State of São Paulo’s Military Police, with the excuse for law enforcement, shot to death 111 people. Based on real facts and on the book written by Dráuzio Varella.

Plot: prison, police brutality, attempted murder, carandiru massacre, sao paulo, brazil, doctor

Cast

Romi Park

Kana Hanazawa

Deadman Wonderland (2011) TV Show

7.5 491 votes

Genre: Action, Animation, Science Fiction

Country: Japan

Seasons: 1

Episodes: 12

Audience: TV-MA

Story: Ganta is the only survivor after a mysterious man in red slaughters a classroom full of teenagers. He's framed for the carnage, sentenced to die, and locked away in the most twisted prison ever built: Deadman Wonderland. And then it gets worse.

Plot: prison, post-apocalyptic future, dystopia, supernatural, revenge, gore, survival, conspiracy, ...

Cast

Sean Connery

Harry Andrews

Ian Bannen

Alfred Lynch

The Hill (1965)

7.5 253 votes

Genre: Drama, War

Country: United Kingdom, United States of America

Duration: 123 min.

Audience: NR

Story: North Africa, World War II. British soldiers on the brink of collapse push beyond endurance to struggle up a brutal incline. It's not a military objective. It's The Hill, a manmade instrument of torture, a tower of sand seared by a white-hot sun. And the troops' tormentors are not the enemy, but their own comrades-at-arms.

Plot: prison, libya, sadism, africa, heat, british army, sahara desert, military prison, ...

Time: world war ii, 1940s

Place: north africa

Cast

Lee Young-ae

Choi Min-sik

Kwon Yea-young

Kim Si-hoo

Lady Vengeance (2005)

7.5 2.0K votes

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Country: South Korea

Duration: 115 min.

Audience: R

Story: Released after being wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for 13 years, a woman begins executing her elaborate plan of retribution.

Plot: prison, women's prison, revenge, vengeance, waiting for revenge

Cast

Jose Coronado

Hugo Silva

Belu00e9n Rueda

Aura Garrido

The Body (2012)

7.5 1.4K votes

Genre: Mystery, Thriller

Country: Spain

Duration: 107 min.

Audience: 15

Story: A woman’s body disappears mysteriously from the morgue without a trace. Police inspector Jaime Peña investigates the strange occurrence with the help of Álex Ulloa, the widower of the missing woman.

Plot: prison, infidelity, identity, poison, detective, morgue, femme fatale, love, ...

Cast

Sylvester Stallone

Richard Crenna

Brian Dennehy

Bill McKinney

First Blood (1982)

7.5 7.0K votes

Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller

Country: United States of America, Netherlands Antilles

Duration: 93 min.

Audience: R

Story: When former Green Beret John Rambo is harassed by local law enforcement and arrested for vagrancy, he is forced to flee into the mountains and wage an escalating one-man war against his pursuers.

Style: absurd

Plot: prison, guerrilla warfare, dying and death, vietnam veteran, hero, police brutality, sheriff, escape, ...

Time: vietnam war

Place: vietnam

Cast

Burt Lancaster

Karl Malden

Thelma Ritter

Neville Brand

Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)

7.5 343 votes

Genre: Crime, Drama, History

Country: United States of America

Duration: 147 min.

Audience: NR

Story: After killing a prison guard, convict Robert Stroud faces life imprisonment in solitary confinement. Driven nearly mad by loneliness and despair, Stroud's life gains new meaning when he happens upon a helpless baby sparrow in the exercise yard and nurses it back to health. Despite having only a third grade education, Stroud goes on to become a renowned ornithologist and achieves a greater sense of freedom and purpose behind bars than most people find in the outside world.

Plot: prison, prisoner, rebel, difficult childhood, human animal relationship, alcatraz prison, ornithology, biography, ...

Lost Highway (1997)

7.5 3.0K votes

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Country: France, United States of America

Duration: 134 min.

Audience: R

Story: A tormented jazz musician finds himself lost in an enigmatic story involving murder, surveillance, gangsters, doppelgängers, and an impossible transformation inside a prison cell.

Plot: prison, pornography, jealousy, dreams, dual identity, nightmare, police, sexual frustration, ...

Walk the Line (2005)

7.5 3.2K votes

Genre: Drama, Music, Romance

Country: Germany, United States of America

Duration: 136 min.

Audience: PG-13

Story: A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.

Plot: prison, adultery, concert, music record, country music, guitar, loss of loved one, marriage, ...

Time: 1960s

Place: germany

Cast

Joe Pesci

Marisa Tomei

Ralph Macchio

Mitchell Whitfield

My Cousin Vinny (1992)

7.5 1.9K votes

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Country: United States of America

Duration: 119 min.

Audience: R

Story: Two carefree pals traveling through rural Alabama on their way back to college are mistakenly arrested and charged with murder. Fortunately, one of them has a cousin who's a lawyer - Vincent Gambini, a former auto mechanic from Brooklyn who has just passed his bar exam after his sixth try. When he arrives with his leather-clad girlfriend to try his first case, it's a real shock - for him and the Deep South!

Style: nostalgic, absurd

Plot: prison, small town, court case, court, southern usa, alabama, suspicion, cousin, ...

Cast

James Cagney

Horst Buchholz

Pamela Tiffin

Arlene Francis

One, Two, Three (1961)

7.5 424 votes

Genre: Comedy

Country: United States of America

Duration: 109 min.

Audience: NR

Story: In Cold War-era West Berlin, American Coca-Cola executive C.R. 'Mac' MacNamara is tasked with playing babysitter to his boss' spoiled 17-year-old daughter Scarlett, who proves more difficult than anticipated when she reveals that she is pregnant by a Communist.

Plot: prison, capitalist, berlin, germany, capitalism, clerk, pregnancy, soviet union, ...

Time: cold war

Cast

Demet Evgar

Ceren Moray

Nursel Ku00f6se

Kenan Ece

The Yard (2018) TV Show

7.5 62 votes

Genre: Crime, Drama

Country: Turkey

Seasons: 3

Episodes: 44

Audience: TV-MA

Story: After a fateful domestic clash, a devoted mother finds herself in prison and fighting to survive in hopes of reuniting with her daughter.

Plot: prison, women's prison, remake

Cast

Kevin Spacey

Kate Winslet

Laura Linney

Rhona Mitra

The Life of David Gale (2003)

7.4 2.2K votes

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Country: Germany, United Kingdom

Duration: 130 min.

Audience: R

Story: A man against capital punishment is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row.

Plot: prison, journalist, death penalty, professor, death row, interview, murder, reporter, ...

Place: texas

Cast

Moritz Bleibtreu

Christian Berkel

Justus von Dohnu00e1nyi

Maren Eggert

The Experiment (2001)

7.4 1.2K votes

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Country: Germany

Duration: 120 min.

Story: 20 volunteers agree to take part in a seemingly well-paid experiment advertised by the university. It is supposed to be about aggressive behavior in an artificial prison situation. A journalist senses a story behind the ad and smuggles himself in among the test subjects. They are randomly divided into prisoners and guards. What seems like a game at the beginning soon turns into bloody seriousness.

Style: absurd

Plot: prison, journalist, rape, prisoner, experiment, based on novel or book, authority, prison cell, ...

Cast

Brad Davis

Irene Miracle

Bo Hopkins

Paolo Bonacelli

Midnight Express (1978)

7.4 1.9K votes

Genre: Crime, Drama

Country: United Kingdom, United States of America

Duration: 121 min.

Audience: R

Story: Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of a country. The courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than 30 years in prison. Hayes has two opportunities for release: the appeals made by his lawyer, his family, and the American government, or the "Midnight Express".

Style: suspenseful

Plot: prison, airport, drug smuggling, escape, court, attempt to escape, based on true story, prison guard, ...

Time: 1970s

Cast

Jamie Foxx

Gerard Butler

Colm Meaney

Bruce McGill

Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

7.4 5.7K votes

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Country: United Kingdom, United States of America

Duration: 109 min.

Audience: R

Story: A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free. He targets not only the killer but also the district attorney and others involved in the deal.

Plot: prison, assassin, philadelphia, pennsylvania, bomb, secret passage, deal, investigation, ...

Sing Sing (2024)

7.4 370 votes

Genre: Drama

Country: United States of America

Duration: 107 min.

Audience: R

Story: Divine G, imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn't commit, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other incarcerated men in this story of resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art.

Plot: prison, based on novel or book, male friendship, based on true story, wrongful imprisonment, sing sing, african american, pathetic, ...

Cast

Susan Sarandon

Sean Penn

Robert Prosky

Raymond J. Barry

Dead Man Walking (1995)

7.3 1.5K votes

Genre: Drama

Country: United States of America, United Kingdom

Duration: 122 min.

Audience: R

Story: A death row inmate turns for spiritual guidance to a local nun in the days leading up to his scheduled execution for the murders of a young couple.

Plot: prison, death penalty, right and justice, rape, rage and hate, unsociability, court case, court, ...

Cast

Mike Myers

Eddie Murphy

Cameron Diaz

Julie Andrews

Shrek 2 (2004)

7.3 13.5K votes

Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family

Country: United States of America

Duration: 92 min.

Audience: PG

Story: Happily ever after never seemed so far far away when a trip to meet the in-laws turns into a hilariously twisted adventure for Shrek and Fiona. With the help of ever-faithful Donkey, Shrek takes on the potion-brewing Fairy Godmother, pompous Prince Charming, and infamous ogre-killer Puss In Boots.

Style: philosophical, romantic

Plot: prison, princess, magic, kingdom, fairy tale, liberation, transformation, honeymoon, ...

🏷 Best Prison Movies & TV Shows - Page 3 - Full Archive