Movies like Primal Fear

If you like "Primal Fear" you are looking for surprise ending, psychological and twist ending movies about / with twists and turns, mental illness, court, plot twist, murder, corruption and psychopath themes of Crime, Drama and Mystery genre shot in USA.
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.
Primal Fear (1996)
 7.7
 228K
Primal Fear (1996)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min.
Story: An arrogant, high-powered attorney takes on the case of a poor altar boy found running away from the scene of the grisly murder of the bishop who has taken him in. The case gets a lot more complex when the accused reveals that there may or may not have been a 3rd person in the room. The intensity builds when a surprise twist alters everyone's perception of the crime.
Style: surprise ending, psychological, twist ending, neo noir, tense, suspenseful, clever, atmospheric, intense, rough ...
Plot: twists and turns, mental illness, court, plot twist, murder, corruption, psychopath, lawyer, courtroom, legal investigation, psychology, courtroom drama, split personality, manipulation, suspense, court case, hotshot lawyer, psychiatrist, murder trial, serial killer, revenge, amnesia, dissociative identity disorder, insanity, bishop ...
Time: future, 90s, 20th century, 1990s
Place: chicago illinois, usa

Movie in categories

Most similar movies to Primal Fear

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out intense, interesting, suspenseful and serious films with plots about twists and turns, suspense, corruption, murder mystery, secrets, investigation and murder mostly in Thriller, Drama and Mystery genres. Some movies like Primal Fear: Fracture (2007), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), The Life of David Gale (2003), The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), Taking Lives (2004). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
 7.2
 210K
Fracture (2007)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 113 min.
Story: A husband is on trial for the attempted murder of his wife, in what is seemingly an open/shut case for the ambitious district attorney trying to put him away. However, there are surprises for both around every corner, and, as a suspenseful game of ...
Style: psychological, twist ending, intellectual, serious, clever ...
Plot: twists and turns, suspense, lawyer, courtroom drama, manipulation, murder mystery, adultery, investigation, murder, obsession, police investigation, guilt ...
Time: 21st century
Place: los angeles, usa, california
⇓ similarity ⇓
97%
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min.
Story: FBI trainee, Clarice Starling ventures into a maximum-security asylum to pick the diseased brain of Hannibal Lecter, a psychiatrist turned homicidal cannibal. Starling needs clues to help her capture a serial killer. But her Faustian relationship ...
Style: psychological, suspenseful, scary, tense, dark ...
Audience: chick flick
Plot: serial killer, psychopath, investigation, murder, suspense, psychology, cannibalism, kidnapping, murder investigation, mind game, brutality, fbi ...
Time: 20th century, 90s
Place: usa, maryland, chicago illinois, memphis, baltimore ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
The Life of David Gale (2003)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, Germany, Spain, USA
Duration: 130 min.
Story: A man against capital punishment is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row.
Style: thought provoking, surprise ending, twist ending, rough, serious ...
Plot: suspense, investigation, suicide, death row, death sentence, fighting the system, death, reporter, activist, murder, professor, twists and turns ...
Time: 21st century
Place: texas, austin texas, houston texas, usa, spain ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min.
Story: A lawyer conducts business from the back of his Lincoln town car while representing a high-profile client in Beverly Hills.
Style: clever, serious, captivating, psychological, twist ending ...
Audience: girls' night
Plot: lawyer, courtroom, court, twists and turns, murder, legal, courtroom drama, legal investigation, hotshot lawyer, arrest, suspense, betrayal ...
Time: 2010s, 21st century
Place: los angeles, usa, california, beverly hills, san francisco
⇓ similarity ⇓
82%
Movie in collections
corruption movies
5408
psychopath movies
4526
lawyer movies
3242
courtroom movies
1510
 6.2
 92K
Taking Lives (2004)
Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 103 min.
Story: Recruited to assist Montreal police in their desperate search for a serial killer who assumes the identities of his victims, FBI profiler Illeana Scott knows it's only a matter of time before the killer strikes again. Her most promising lead is ...
Style: twist ending, surprise ending, suspenseful, scary, psychological ...
Plot: serial killer, twists and turns, murder investigation, dangerous attraction, strong female lead, fatal attraction, murder mystery, tough girl, suspense, psychopath, police investigation, female agent ...
Time: 2000s, 80s, year 2004, year 1983, 21st century
Place: usa, canada, montreal, pennsylvania
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 6.4
 28K
Just Cause (1995)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min.
Story: Bobby Earl is facing the electric chair for the murder of a young girl. Eight years after the crime he calls in Paul Armstrong, a professor of law, to help prove his innocence. Armstrong quickly uncovers some overlooked evidence to present to the ...
Style: rough, tense, psychological, suspenseful, twist ending ...
Audience: girls' night
Plot: serial killer, death row, prison, psychopath, murder, twists and turns, legal, investigation, courtroom, lawyer, legal investigation, police brutality ...
Time: 90s, 20th century, 80s
Place: florida, new jersey, harvard university, usa, miami ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 8.6
 1.7M
Se7en (1995)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min.
Story: Two homicide detectives are on a desperate hunt for a serial killer whose crimes are based on the "seven deadly sins" in this dark and haunting film that takes viewers from the tortured remains of one victim to the next. The seasoned Det. ...
Style: suspenseful, surprise ending, disturbing, scary, neo noir ...
Audience: chick flick
Plot: serial killer, investigation, twists and turns, psychopath, police, psychology, insanity, police investigation, murder, suspense, killings, sin ...
Time: 90s, 20th century
Place: los angeles, usa, new york
⇓ similarity ⇓
73%
 6.5
 201K
Secret Window (2004)
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story: Mort Rainey, a writer just emerging from a painful divorce with his ex-wife, is stalked at his remote lake house by a psychotic stranger and would-be scribe who claims Rainey swiped his best story idea. But as Rainey endeavors to prove his ...
Style: psychological, twist ending, surprise ending, tense, atmospheric ...
Plot: psychology, insanity, twists and turns, suspense, split personality, losing-it hero, isolation, nervous breakdown, murder, macabre, writer's life, mental illness ...
Time: 21st century
Place: mississippi, usa, tennessee, new york state
⇓ similarity ⇓
86%
Movie in collections
 6.8
 139K
The Firm (1993)
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 154 min.
Story: Mitch McDeere is a young man with a promising future in Law. About to sit his Bar exam, he is approached by 'The Firm' and made an offer he doesn't refuse. Seduced by the money and gifts showered on him, he is totally oblivious to the ...
Style: suspenseful, tense, clever, psychological, serious ...
Audience: girls' night
Plot: lawyer, law firm, fbi, mafia, suspense, corruption, murder, legal, conspiracy, surveillance, courtroom, moral dilemma ...
Time: 90s, 20th century
Place: tennessee, usa, memphis, boston, louisiana ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
86%
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 106 min.
Story: Held in an L.A. interrogation room, Verbal Kint attempts to convince the feds that a mythic crime lord, Keyser Soze, not only exists, but was also responsible for drawing him and his four partners into a multi-million dollar heist that ended with an ...
Style: surprise ending, neo noir, twist ending, mind bending, confusing ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: twists and turns, plot twist, heist, master criminal, criminal, manipulation, organized crime, gangsters, suspense, interrogation, investigation, deception ...
Time: 20th century, year 1981, 80s, 90s
Place: new york, los angeles, hungary, turkey, manhattan new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
85%
Presumed Innocent (1990)
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min.
Story: Life takes a nasty twist for D.A. Rusty Sabich when the woman he has been romantically involved with is murdered. He is assigned to investigate the case, but is soon charged with the murder.
Style: surprise ending, suspenseful, tense, sexy, tricky ...
Audience: adult
Plot: courtroom drama, courtroom, lawyer, murder, mistress, infidelity, investigation, twists and turns, court, legal, suspense, murder mystery ...
Time: 80s, 20th century
Place: michigan, detroit
⇓ similarity ⇓
80%
 8.2
 1.3M
Shutter Island (2010)
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 138 min.
Story: World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by his troubling visions and also by a mysterious doctor.
Style: psychological, surprise ending, twist ending, confusing, atmospheric ...
Audience: chick flick, adult
Plot: twists and turns, investigation, mental illness, insanity, suspense, plot twist, psychology, paranoia, psychiatrist, mental institution, memory, isolation ...
Time: year 1954, 1940s, year 1945, 20th century, year 1952 ...
Place: boston
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.3
 152K
Mr. Brooks (2007)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story: A psychological thriller about a man who is sometimes controlled by his murder-and-mayhem-loving alter ego.
Style: psychological, tense, serious, melancholic, intense ...
Plot: serial killer, psychopath, police investigation, murder, suspense, split personality, imaginary friend, maniac, macabre, double life, investigation, secret ...
Time: 21st century
Place: usa, oregon, portland oregon
⇓ similarity ⇓
82%
 6.6
 76K
Kiss the Girls (1997)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min.
Story: Forensic psychologist Alex Cross travels to North Carolina and teams with escaped kidnap victim Kate McTiernan to hunt down "Casanova," a serial killer who abducts strong-willed women and forces them to submit to his demands. The trail ...
Style: twist ending, suspenseful, tense, surprise ending, serious ...
Audience: teens, girls' night
Plot: serial killer, psychopath, kidnapping, woman in danger, suspense, police investigation, twists and turns, violence against women, investigation, murder, forensics, profiler ...
Time: 90s, 20th century
Place: los angeles, usa, washington d.c., north carolina, california
⇓ similarity ⇓
75%
 7.9
 464K
Mystic River (2003)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 138 min.
Story: A story about friendship and loyalty, guilt and vengeance, and the fateful affect the past has on the present.
Style: psychological, depressing, emotional, twist ending, tense ...
Audience: chick flick
Plot: vengeance, loss of child, murder, suspense, sexual abuse, childhood, murder mystery, investigation, police investigation, child abuse, death in the family, revenge ...
Time: 70s, 20th century, 60s, 21st century
Place: massachusetts, usa, boston
⇓ similarity ⇓
82%
 7.7
 554K
Zodiac (2007)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 157 min.
Story: The true story of the investigation of the "Zodiac Killer", a serial killer who terrified the San Francisco Bay Area, taunting police with his ciphers and letters. The case becomes an obsession for four men as their lives and careers are ...
Style: atmospheric, tense, stylized, suspenseful, psychological ...
Audience: chick flick
Plot: serial killer, investigation, murder, murder mystery, journalism, suspense, maniac, paranoia, killings, police, uncover truth, mind game ...
Time: 70s, 60s, 20th century, year 1969, year 1971 ...
Place: san francisco, california, usa, sacramento california, oakland california
⇓ similarity ⇓
71%
 6.6
 11K
Suspect (1987)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min.
Story: When a Supreme Court judge commits suicide and his secretary is found murdered, all fingers point to Carl Anderson (Liam Neeson), a homeless veteran who's deaf and mute. But when public defender Kathleen Riley (Cher) is assigned to his case, ...
Style: suspenseful, tense, intense, psychological, talky ...
Audience: girls' night
Plot: courtroom drama, lawyer, murder mystery, courtroom, murder, legal investigation, suspense, twists and turns, court, mute or deaf, false accusation, manipulation ...
Time: 80s, 20th century
Place: usa, washington d.c., vietnam
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.1
 192K
Side Effects (2013)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story: A woman turns to prescription medication as a way of handling her anxiety concerning her husband's upcoming release from prison.
Style: psychological, surprise ending, serious, tricky, captivating ...
Audience: date night, chick flick
Plot: mental illness, depression, suspense, psychiatrist, murder, twists and turns, patient, deception, mental institution, life turned upside down, conspiracy, sleepwalking ...
Time: future, year 2004, 2010s, 21st century
Place: new york, usa, manhattan new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
75%
Movie in collections
 6.3
 45K
High Crimes (2002)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min.
Story: A female attorney learns that her husband is really a marine officer awol for fifteen years and accused of murdering fifteen civilians in El Salvador. Believing her husband when he tells her that he's being framed as part of a U.S. Military ...
Style: clever, twist ending, suspenseful, serious, surprise ending ...
Audience: girls' night, chick flick, adult
Plot: lawyer, twists and turns, army investigation, murder, military, court, fbi, false accusation, suspense, marines, life turned upside down, fighting the system ...
Time: year 1988, 21st century
Place: san francisco, latin america, usa, los angeles, mexico
⇓ similarity ⇓
67%
 7.3
 254K
Identity (2003)
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story: Complete strangers stranded at a remote desert motel during a raging storm soon find themselves the target of a deranged murderer. As their numbers thin out, the travelers begin to turn on each other, as each tries to figure out who the killer is.
Style: twist ending, suspenseful, scary, surprise ending, mind bending ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: serial killer, mental disorder, suspense, murder mystery, psychology, investigation, murderer, murder, stranded, twists and turns, split personality, mental illness ...
Time: 2000s, 21st century
Place: nevada, usa, florida
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 8.1
 998K
Gone Girl (2014)
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 149 min.
Story: With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.
Style: psychological, surprise ending, clever, twist ending, suspenseful ...
Audience: chick flick, teens, girls' night, date night, boys' night
Plot: twists and turns, suspense, missing person, investigation, infidelity, murder mystery, marriage, manipulation, psychology, adultery, missing wife, disappearance ...
Time: 2000s, 2010s, year 2012, 21st century
Place: usa, manhattan new york city, new york, missouri, st. louis missouri
⇓ similarity ⇓
83%
Double Jeopardy (1999)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany, Canada
Duration: 105 min.
Story: A woman framed for her husband's murder suspects he is still alive; as she has already been tried for the crime, she can't be re-prosecuted if she finds and kills him.
Style: suspenseful, rough, tense, realistic, serious ...
Audience: chick flick, girls' night
Plot: twists and turns, false accusation, vengeance, suspense, wrongful conviction, prison, courtroom, murder, revenge, manipulation, lawyer, wrongful arrest ...
Time: 90s, 20th century
Place: new orleans, san francisco, seattle, southern usa, georgia
⇓ similarity ⇓
67%
The Girl on the Train (2016)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, India
Duration: 112 min.
Story: Rachel Watson, devastated by her recent divorce, spends her daily commute fantasizing about the seemingly perfect couple who live in a house that her train passes every day, until one morning she sees something shocking happen there and becomes ...
Style: psychological, twist ending, suspenseful, tricky, intense ...
Audience: chick flick, girls' night
Plot: train, suspense, infidelity, police investigation, adultery, obsession, psychopath, murder mystery, blackout, flashback, ex husband ex wife relationship, investigation ...
Time: 2010s, 21st century
Place: new york, london, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
67%
Movie in collections
 7.7
 270K
A Few Good Men (1992)
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 138 min.
Story: When cocky military lawyer Lt. Daniel Kaffee and his co-counsel, Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway, are assigned to a murder case, they uncover a hazing ritual that could implicate high-ranking officials such as shady Col. Nathan Jessep.
Style: tense, realistic, serious, tricky, clever ...
Audience: girls' night, date night
Plot: courtroom, lawyer, courtroom drama, military, justice, court, u.s. navy, marines, suspense, army investigation, court martial, suicide ...
Time: 20th century, 90s
Place: washington d.c., cuba, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
56%
 6.5
 16K
Jagged Edge (1985)
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story: San Francisco heiress Page Forrester is brutally murdered in her remote beach house. Her husband Jack is devastated by the crime but soon finds himself accused of her murder. He hires lawyer Teddy Barnes to defend him, despite the fact she ...
Style: suspenseful, tense, neo noir, psychological, serious ...
Audience: girls' night
Plot: courtroom, lawyer, court, legal, murder, courtroom drama, twists and turns, suspense, surveillance, women, murder mystery, guilt ...
Time: 20th century, 80s
Place: usa, san francisco
⇓ similarity ⇓
50%
 5.9
 15K
Final Analysis (1992)
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min.
Story: Barr is a psychiatrist who falls in love with the sister of one of his clients. She's beautiful and married to a gangster. She hates her husband but is unable to escape from him.
Style: neo noir, suspenseful, sexy, serious, atmospheric ...
Audience: girls' night
Plot: psychiatrist, murder, extramarital affair, lust, doctor patient relationship, betrayal, lighthouse, femme fatale, gangsters, manipulation, courtroom, abusive husband ...
Time: 90s
Place: san francisco, usa, california
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 138 min.
Story: Three detectives in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slayings of the patrons at an all-night diner.
Style: neo noir, tense, captivating, clever, atmospheric ...
Plot: police corruption, corruption, murder, murder mystery, police detective, police, justice, organized crime, fighting the system, gang, dangerous attraction, police brutality ...
Time: 50s, 1930s, 20th century
Place: los angeles, california, usa, arizona
⇓ similarity ⇓
80%
 6.7
 69K
The Client (1994)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min.
Story: A street-wise kid, Mark Sway, sees the suicide of Jerome Clifford, a prominent Louisiana lawyer, whose current client is Barry 'The Blade' Muldano, a Mafia hit-man. Before Jerome shoots himself, he tells Mark where the body of a Senator is ...
Style: realistic, suspenseful, serious, tense, touching ...
Audience: kids, family outing, girls' night
Plot: lawyer, suspense, mafia, witness protection, twists and turns, lawyers and clients, witnessing a crime, conspiracy, investigation, boy, court, courtroom ...
Time: 90s, 20th century
Place: new orleans, tennessee, san francisco, memphis, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.2
 300K
Insomnia (2002)
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 118 min.
Story: Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen.
Style: atmospheric, neo noir, psychological, dark, suspenseful ...
Plot: police investigation, small town, murder, investigation, character study, investigator, police, suspense, police corruption, snow, guilt, murderer ...
Time: 2000s, 21st century
Place: alaska, los angeles, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 6.4
 46K
Blood Work (2002)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min.
Story: Still recovering from a heart transplant, a retired FBI profiler returns to service when his own blood analysis offers clues to the identity of a serial killer.
Style: suspenseful, tense, twist ending, rough, serious ...
Plot: serial killer, murder mystery, murder, suspense, twists and turns, conspiracy, psychopath, investigation, police investigation, police corruption, revenge, brutality ...
Time: 2000s
Place: california, los angeles
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%