Movies like A History of Violence

If you like "A History of Violence" you are looking for neo noir, harsh and disturbing movies about / with gangster, self defense, revenge, sex scene, violent, small town and mobster themes of Action, Crime and Drama genre shot in USA or Canada.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps: 1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below). 2. Look for them in the presented list.
A History of Violence (2005)
 7.4
 252K
A History of Violence (2005)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada, UK, Germany
Duration: 96 min.
Story: An average family is thrust into the spotlight after the father commits a seemingly self-defense murder at his diner.
Style: neo noir, harsh, disturbing, tense, psychological, realistic, serious, suspense, sexy, intense ...
Audience: date night, manly
Plot: gangster, self defense, revenge, sex scene, violent, small town, mobster, mafia, attempted robbery, organized crime, redemption, twists and turns, female nudity, vigilantism, family relations, robbery, attempted murder, irish mob, diner, waitress, double life, nudity, violence, vengeance, serial killer ...
Time: year 2005, 2000s, 21st century, contemporary
Place: indiana, philadelphia, usa, pennsylvania, canada
Keyword: gangsters, irish, american, attack, bruise, keys

Movie in categories

neo noir movies
3451
gangster movies
5202
harsh movies
4360
indiana movies
365
revenge movies
11313
sex scene movies
8037
violent movies
4116

Most similar movies to A History of Violence

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out realistic, suspense, neo noir and serious films with plots about violence, death, murder, blood, revenge, gangster and pistol mostly in Drama, Crime and Thriller genres. Some movies like A History of Violence: Eastern Promises (2007), Out of the Furnace (2013), Death Wish (1974), Oldboy (2003), Killer Joe (2011). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
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Eastern Promises (2007)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, Canada, USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story: A Russian teenager, living in London, dies during childbirth but leaves clues to a midwife in her journal, that could tie her child to a rape involving a violent Russian mob family.
Style: neo noir, disturbing, serious, tense, suspenseful ...
Plot: gangster, mob boss, russian mafia, prostitution, murder, male nudity, rape, brutality, death in childbirth, child prostitute, investigation, organized crime ...
Time: year 2007, 2000s, 21st century
Place: england, london, st. petersburg russia, europe, scotland yard ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
94%
Out of the Furnace (2013)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 116 min.
Story: Two brothers live in the economically-depressed Rust Belt, when a cruel twist of fate lands one in prison. His brother is then lured into one of the most violent crime rings in the Northeast.
Style: suspenseful, bleak, realistic, neo noir, harsh ...
Audience: boys' night, girls' night, family friendly
Plot: revenge, drug dealer, small town, vigilante, brothers, disappearance, character study, ex convict, vigilantism, going straight, mysterious character, loss of sibling ...
Time: year 2013, 80s, 20th century, 2010s, 2000s ...
Place: usa, new jersey, pittsburgh, pennsylvania, indiana ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 6.9
 44K
Death Wish (1974)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, UK, Italy
Duration: 93 min.
Story: After his wife is murdered by street punks, a pacifistic New York City architect becomes a one-man vigilante squad, prowling the streets for would-be muggers after dark.
Style: controversial, disturbing, grindhouse, tense, intense ...
Audience: boys' night, manly
Plot: vigilante, violence, vigilantism, vengeance, revenge, one man army, police, murder, rape and revenge, home invasion, one against many, gunfight ...
Time: 20th century, 70s
Place: new york, usa, manhattan new york city, arizona, tucson arizona ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 8.3
 630K
Oldboy (2003)
Genre: Action, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 120 min.
Story: With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate businessman seeks revenge on his captors.
Style: bleak, twist ending, intense, psychological, neo noir ...
Audience: adult
Plot: revenge, incest, vengeance, older man younger woman relationship, psychopath, hypnosis, mind game, psychological torture, kidnapping, plot twist, confined, torture ...
Time: year 2003, 80s, distant future, y2k, near future ...
Place: south korea, korea, persia, oceania, east asia ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Movie in collections
disturbing movies
14461
small town movies
5647
mobster movies
1019
mafia movies
2354
 6.7
 83K
Killer Joe (2011)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min.
Story: A cop (Matthew McConaughey) who moonlights as a hit man agrees to kill the hated mother of a desperate drug dealer (Emile Hirsch) in exchange for a tumble with the young man's virginal sister (Juno Temple).
Style: neo noir, disturbing, dark comedy, suspense, surreal ...
Plot: psychopath, murder, hitman, violent, sex, greed, deal, cheating wife, nudity, character study, police detective, family relations ...
Time: year 2011, 21st century
Place: texas, usa, oklahoma, dallas texas
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min.
Story: Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon dead bodies, $2 million and a hoard of heroin in a Texas desert, but methodical killer Anton Chigurh comes looking for it, with local sheriff Ed Tom Bell hot on his trail. The roles of prey and predator blur as the ...
Style: neo noir, suspense, serious, tense, atmospheric ...
Audience: date night, adult
Plot: hitman, psychopath, shooting, desert, serial killer, peril, greed, brutality, human nature, sheriff, death, murder ...
Time: year 2007, 2000s, 20th century, year 1980, 80s
Place: texas, el paso texas, mexico, austin texas, america ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
81%
 7.4
 64K
Straw Dogs (1971)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 113 min.
Story: David Sumner, a mild-mannered academic from the United States, marries Amy, an Englishwoman. In order to escape a hectic stateside lifestyle, David and his wife relocate to the small town in rural Cornwall where Amy was raised. There, David is ...
Style: controversial, bleak, psychological, psychological thriller, disturbing ...
Audience: adult
Plot: sexual abuse, home invasion, rape, rape and revenge, violent, revenge, murder, small town, vigilante, sexual assault, sex, rape turns to consensual sex ...
Time: year 1971, 20th century, 70s
Place: england, cornwall, britain, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Road to Perdition (2002)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story: Mike Sullivan works as a hit man for crime boss John Rooney. Sullivan views Rooney as a father figure, however after his son is witness to a killing, Mike Sullivan finds himself on the run in attempt to save the life of his son and at the same time ...
Style: harsh, atmospheric, visually stunning, bleak, tense ...
Audience: date night
Plot: mafia, vengeance, organized crime, hitman, criminal's revenge, violence, revenge, road trip, murder, on the road, on the run, assassin ...
Time: 1930s, 20th century, 2000s, year 1931, year 2002
Place: illinois, chicago, usa, persia, michigan
⇓ similarity ⇓
83%
Movie in collections
 6.2
 19K
Eye for an Eye (1996)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min.
Story: It's fire and brimstone time as grieving mother Karen McCann takes justice into her own hands when a kangaroo court in Los Angeles fails to convict Robert Doob, the monster who raped and murdered her 17-year-old daughter.
Style: psychological, disturbing, tense, suspenseful, psychological thriller ...
Plot: rape, obsession, murder, vigilante, revenge, vengeance, psychopath, vigilantism, rape and murder, women, haunted by the past, loss of daughter ...
Time: year 1996, 90s
Place: persia, california, los angeles
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.1
 78K
Blue Ruin (2013)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, France
Duration: 90 min.
Story: The quiet life of a beach bum is upended by dreadful news. He sets off for his childhood home to carry out an act of vengeance but proves an inept assassin and finds himself in a brutal fight to protect his estranged family.
Style: neo noir, independent film, atmospheric, tense, suspenseful ...
Plot: vengeance, revenge, vigilante, violence, vigilantism, murder, brutality, violent, storytelling, haunted by the past, car, disorder ...
Time: year 2013, 2010s, 90s, 21st century
Place: virginia, ethiopia, usa, delaware
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.7
 470K
Sicario (2015)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Mexico, Hong Kong
Duration: 121 min.
Story: A young female FBI agent joins a secret CIA operation to take down a Mexican cartel boss, a job that ends up pushing her ethical and moral values to the limit.
Style: suspense, realistic, serious, tense, neo noir ...
Audience: girls' night
Plot: cia, hitman, drug cartel, revenge, swat team, fbi, black ops, fbi agent, drug smuggling, crime boss, organized crime, cia agent ...
Time: 2010s, year 2015, year 2016, 21st century
Place: mexico, usa, texas, el paso texas, tucson arizona ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.8
 699K
Drive (2011)
Genre: Action, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story: A Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman for criminals discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong.
Style: neo noir, atmospheric, tense, serious, intense ...
Audience: boys' night, date night, adult
Plot: car chase, heist, mechanic, danger, tough heroes, lone wolves, organized crime, loner, revenge, chases and races, robbery, character study ...
Time: year 2011, 2010s, 21st century
Place: los angeles, california, iran, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
78%
 7.4
 320K
Nobody (2021)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Japan, China
Duration: 92 min.
Story: Hutch Mansell, a suburban dad, overlooked husband, nothing neighbor — a "nobody." When two thieves break into his home one night, Hutch's unknown long-simmering rage is ignited and propels him on a brutal path that will uncover dark ...
Style: brutal, suspense, action thriller, entertaining, funny ...
Audience: adult
Plot: one man army, tough guy, martial arts, retribution, secret identity, home invasion, revenge, one against many, twists and turns, secret organization, vigilante, vengeance ...
Time: 2020s
Place: america, usa, pentagon
⇓ similarity ⇓
80%
 7.2
 25K
State of Grace (1990)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 134 min.
Story: Terry Noonan returns home to New York's Hells Kitchen after a ten year absence. He soon hooks up with childhood pal Jackie who is involved in the Irish mob run by his brother Frankie. Terry also rekindles an old flame with Jackie's sister ...
Style: neo noir, suspense, tense, intense, atmospheric ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: mafia, organized crime, gangster, gang, irish gangster, homecoming, undercover, friendship, gunfight, st. patrick's day, irish mob, profanity ...
Time: 80s, 90s, 20th century
Place: new york, ireland, manhattan new york city, usa, grand central station manhattan new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.0
 161K
The Drop (2014)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story: Bob Saginowski finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighborhood's past where friends, families, and foes all work together to make a living - no matter the cost.
Style: serious, realistic, tense, suspense, cerebral ...
Audience: girls' night, teens, boys' night
Plot: twists and turns, robbery, fall in love, organized crime, danger, criminal heroes, crime boss, catholic, gangster, mafia, church, criminal's revenge ...
Time: year 2014, 90s, 2010s, 21st century
Place: new york, boston, brooklyn new york city, massachusetts, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.6
 707K
American Psycho (2000)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Horror
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 102 min.
Story: A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.
Style: psychological, psychological thriller, surreal, brutal, stylized ...
Audience: date night, adult
Plot: psychopath, serial killer, insanity, sociopath, satire, dark humor, violence, materialism, psycho killer, mental illness, murder, yuppie ...
Time: year 2000, 80s, 2000s, y2k, year 1987 ...
Place: new york, america, seattle, yale university, manhattan new york city ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 6.7
 63K
The Brave One (2007)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 122 min.
Story: A woman struggles to recover from a brutal attack by setting out on a mission for revenge.
Style: suspense, detective, realistic, serious, melancholic ...
Plot: vigilante, vengeance, vigilantism, woman with a gun, revenge, death, tragedy, loss of loved one, female protagonist, self defense, police station, woman kills a man ...
Time: year 2007, 2000s, 21st century
Place: new york, usa, manhattan new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
75%
 6.6
 115K
Run All Night (2015)
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min.
Story: Brooklyn mobster and prolific hit man Jimmy Conlon has seen better days. Longtime best friend of a mob boss, Jimmy is haunted by the sins of his past—as well as a dogged police detective who’s been one step behind Jimmy for 30 years. But when ...
Style: suspenseful, intense, stylized, tense, realistic ...
Plot: gangster, manhunt, assassin, on the run, murder, redemption, swat team, hitman, father son relationship, organized crime, brutality, mobster ...
Time: 2010s, 21st century
Place: new york, peru, usa, madison square garden manhattan new york city, bronx new york city ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Movie in collections
 7.5
 431K
Collateral (2004)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story: Cab driver Max picks up a man who offers him $600 to drive him around. But the promise of easy money sours when Max realizes his fare is an assassin.
Style: neo noir, clever, tense, suspense, suspenseful ...
Audience: manly, date night, boys' night
Plot: hitman, hostage, taxi driver, taxi, killer, twists and turns, killings, sociopath, assassin, merciless, murderer, nihilism ...
Time: year 2004, 2000s, 21st century
Place: california, los angeles, persia, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
67%
 7.5
 237K
Sleepers (1996)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 147 min.
Story: Two gangsters seek revenge on the state jail worker who during their stay at a youth prison sexually abused them. A sensational court hearing takes place to charge him for the crimes.
Style: disturbing, sadistic, harsh, suspenseful, suspense ...
Audience: family friendly, teens, teen drama
Plot: lawyer, courtroom drama, child abuse, vengeance, friendship, childhood, rape, sexual abuse, haunted by the past, pedophilia, pedophile, murder trial ...
Time: 90s, 60s, 20th century, 80s
Place: new york, usa, madison square garden manhattan new york city, manhattan new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 6.7
 64K
Appaloosa (2008)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Romance, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min.
Story: Two friends hired to police a small town that is suffering under the rule of a rancher find their job complicated by the arrival of a young widow.
Style: suspense, harsh, stylized, serious, realistic ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: old west, native american attack, cowboy, gunfight, friendship, wild west, tough law enforcer, justice, murder, law enforcement, trust, sheriff ...
Time: 19th century, year 2008, 1800s, 1880s
Place: texas, new mexico, iowa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Sleeping with the Enemy (1991)
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story: A young woman fakes her own death in an attempt to escape her nightmarish marriage, but discovers it is impossible to elude her controlling husband.
Style: psychological, suspense, suspenseful, tense, neo noir ...
Audience: chick flick
Plot: obsession, domestic violence, stalking, violent husband, woman in danger, starting over, psychopath, dangerous attraction, haunted by the past, revenge, abusive relationship, obsessive love ...
Time: 90s, 20th century, year 1990
Place: africa, iowa, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 140 min.
Story: A motorcycle stunt rider considers committing a crime in order to provide for his wife and child, an act that puts him on a collision course with a cop-turned-politician.
Style: harsh, captivating, psychological, stylized, neo noir ...
Audience: date night, family friendly
Plot: motorcycle, haunted by the past, bank robbery, corruption, family relations, money problems, robbery, loner, father son relationship, bank robber, parenthood, police ...
Time: year 2012, 2010s, y2k, future, 21st century
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Movie in collections
 7.7
 387K
Man on Fire (2004)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Switzerland, UK, USA, Mexico
Duration: 146 min.
Story: Jaded ex-CIA operative John Creasy reluctantly accepts a job as the bodyguard for a 10-year-old girl in Mexico City. They clash at first, but eventually bond, and when she's kidnapped he's consumed by fury and will stop at nothing to save ...
Style: suspense, tense, brutal, exciting, emotional ...
Audience: manly, chick flick, boys' night, adult
Plot: revenge, kidnapping, vengeance, vigilante, cia, vigilantism, friendship, mercenary, lone hero, redemption, justice, child in peril ...
Time: year 2004, 20th century, 2000s, 21st century
Place: mexico, mexico city, latin america
⇓ similarity ⇓
50%
 7.1
 145K
Payback (1999)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story: With friends like these, who needs enemies? That's the question bad guy Porter is left asking after his wife and partner steal his heist money and leave him for dead -- or so they think. Five months and an endless reservoir of bitterness later, ...
Style: neo noir, suspense, black comedy, exciting, suspenseful ...
Audience: boys' night, adult
Plot: vengeance, money, organized crime, revenge, betrayal, anti hero, mafia, heist, greed, robbery, prostitute, violence ...
Time: future, 70s, 20th century
Place: chicago, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
50%
Only God Forgives (2013)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Denmark, France, USA, Sweden, Belgium, Thailand
Duration: 90 min.
Story: Julian, who runs a Thai boxing club as a front organization for his family's drug smuggling operation, is forced by his mother Jenna to find and kill the individual responsible for his brother's recent death.
Style: neo noir, disturbing, stylized, atmospheric, surreal ...
Plot: vengeance, violence, revenge, surrealism, punishment, drug dealer, violent, muay thai, family relations, owner, criminal heroes, storytelling ...
Time: 2010s, year 2013, future, 21st century
Place: asia, bangkok thailand, thailand
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
A Most Violent Year (2014)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, United Arab Emirates
Duration: 125 min.
Story: A thriller set in New York City during the winter of 1981, statistically one of the most violent years in the city's history, and centered on a the lives of an immigrant and his family trying to expand their business and capitalize on ...
Style: suspense, atmospheric, serious, suspenseful, bleak ...
Plot: oil, american dream, corruption, mafia, organized crime, truck, business ethics, immigrant, power relations, winter, capitalism, business ...
Time: year 2014, 2010s, 20th century, year 1981, 80s
Place: new york, usa, brooklyn new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 6.7
 37K
Cold in July (2014)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA, France
Duration: 109 min.
Story: How can a split-second decision change your life? While investigating noises in his house one balmy Texas night in 1989, Richard Dane puts a bullet in the brain of low-life burglar Freddy Russell. Although he’s hailed as a small-town hero, Dane ...
Style: neo noir, suspenseful, tense, realistic, suspense ...
Plot: twists and turns, investigation, private detective, murder, home invasion, vigilantism, father son relationship, violence, small town, intruder, unlikely partners, vengeance ...
Time: year 2014, 80s, 20th century, year 1989
Place: texas, midwest, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Law Abiding Citizen (2009)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min.
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.
Style: twist ending, suspense, psychological, surprise ending, clever ...
Audience: manly, adult
Plot: vengeance, prison, vigilantism, justice, investigation, master criminal, twists and turns, lawyer, fighting the system, rape and revenge, murder, revenge ...
Time: year 2009, 21st century
Place: philadelphia, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
 6.4
 170K
The Punisher (2004)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 124 min.
Story: When undercover FBI agent Frank Castle's wife and son are slaughtered, he becomes 'the Punisher' -- a ruthless vigilante willing to go to any length to avenge his family.
Style: serious, suspenseful, exciting, stylized, rough ...
Audience: boys' night, manly
Plot: revenge, vengeance, vigilante, lone hero, vigilantism, violence, superhero, tough guy, one man army, comic hero, mafia, tough heroes ...
Time: year 2004, 2000s, year 2003
Place: florida, puerto rico, virginia, miami
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
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