Movies like The Promise 1999

If you like "The Promise" you are looking for tense, serious and realistic movies about / with abusive relationship, murder, family relations, life is a bitch, injustice, danger and family problems themes of Drama 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.
The Promise (1999)
 6.1
 227
The Promise (1999)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story: Lisa's husband, Bill, abuses her. With her sister's encouragement, she takes their three kids and leaves her husband. Bill keeps interfering with Lisa's attempts at a new life. She gets an order of protection against him, but the police can't do anything else to help her. One night Bill breaks into Lisa's apartment and shoots her. As she dies in the hospital, Lisa asks her sister to promise to take care of her three children. The sister takes the kids into her home, but Bill is still on the loose, an ever present threat.
Style: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Plot: abusive relationship, murder, family relations, life is a bitch, injustice, danger, family problems, starting over, child in peril, family in danger, woman in danger, hopes, domestic disturbance, death, hospital, domestic violence, mother daughter relationship, husband wife relationship, death of mother, promise, death of sister, sister sister relationship, loss of mother, loss of sister, domestic abuse ...
Time: 90s, 20th century
Place: usa

Movie in categories

Most similar movies to The Promise

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out realistic, serious, tense and suspenseful films with plots about family relations, family problems, life is a bitch, parents and children, danger, hopes and youth mostly in Drama, Biography and Crime genres. Some movies like The Promise: If Someone Had Known (1995), Black and Blue (1999), Stolen Child (2012), White Water (2015), The World Made Straight (2015). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
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If Someone Had Known (1995)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min.
Story: A young wife and mother is abused by her husband and keeps the secret from her friends and family.
Style: tense, serious, realistic, emotional, detective
Plot: abusive husband, abusive relationship, abused woman, murder, abuse, obsession, dead man, police arrest, husband wife relationship, father dislikes daughter's boyfriend, domestic violence, teenage daughter ...
Time: 20th century, 90s
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 6.1
 571
Black and Blue (1999)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story: After a woman's husband beats and abuses her, she and her son join the witness protection program and move away secretly.
Style: tense, serious, realistic, psychological, suspenseful ...
Plot: domestic violence, kidnapped, hostage, abuse, abusive relationship, obsession, battered wife, abusive husband, family relations, family problems, witnessing a crime, hopes ...
Time: 90s, 20th century
Place: florida, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
46%
 5.1
 312
Stolen Child (2012)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min.
Story: Amanda and Jason are happy marriage now, after years of frustration have finally managed to take a beautiful girl from a country in Eastern Europe through an international adoption agency. But when the doctor will perform a DNA test to small, finds ...
Style: realistic, serious, suspenseful, tense
Plot: adoption, kidnapping, kidnapped child, uncover truth, investigation, suspicion, couples, family problems, family relations, life is a bitch, danger, dishonesty ...
Time: 21st century
⇓ similarity ⇓
29%
 7.0
 214
White Water (2015)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min.
Story: White Water is the story of a 7 year-old black kid in segregated 1963 Opelika, Alabama who becomes obsessed with the desire to taste the water from the "white's only" drinking fountain and sets out on a quest to do the unthinkable: ...
Style: touching, suspenseful, sentimental, serious, realistic
Plot: missing child, young heroes, danger, youth, racism, society, family problems, parents and children, discrimination, interracial relations, family relations, life is a bitch ...
Time: 20th century, 60s
Place: alabama, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
28%
Movie in collections
The World Made Straight (2015)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min.
Story: In a rural Appalachian community haunted by the legacy of a Civil War massacre, a rebellious young man struggles to escape the violence that would bind him to the past.
Style: serious, realistic, captivating, tense, neo noir ...
Plot: civil war, starting over, haunted by the past, social relations, life is a bitch, friendship, danger, family relations, hopes, youth, coming of age, massacre ...
Time: 70s, 20th century
Place: north carolina, usa, appalachia
⇓ similarity ⇓
27%
Her Desperate Choice (1996)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min.
Story: Despite allegations of sexual abuse against her ex-husband, Jody (Faith Ford) has lost a custody battle for Samantha (Hanna Hall) and faces a choice of turning her daughter over to him, or taking flight and risking kidnapping charges. Pursued by ...
Style: tense, realistic, serious, rough, suspenseful ...
Plot: on the run, private investigator, youth, age difference, child abuse, mother daughter relationship, fugitive, divorced parents, small town, private detective, veterinarian, support ...
Time: 20th century, 90s
Place: massachusetts
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure (1989)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story: Based on the true story of baby Jessica McClure who fell into a drain pipe in her back yard while playing. She was stuck in the pipe about 20 to 30 feet down and it took rescuers 58 hours to get her out. There was fear that if they shook the earth ...
Style: emotional, tense, realistic, serious, suspenseful
Plot: isolation, daring rescue, heroes, twins, confined, babies and infants, escapades, danger, mother daughter relationship, baby, police, trapped ...
Time: 80s
Place: austin texas, texas, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
 4.5
 45
Sous X (2015)
Genre: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 99 min.
Story: Jean-Jacques spent 9 years in prison for robbery. When he comes out, he finds the neighborhood where he grew up but things have changed ... The country is in crisis, the young people are holding the business and his old friends are urging him to ...
Style: serious, realistic, suspenseful, tense
Audience: boys' night
Plot: starting over, going straight, hopes, gang, life is a bitch, urban ghetto, father son relationship, danger, violent content, gangster, ghetto
Time: 21st century
Place: france, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
Movie in collections
Menendez: A Killing in Beverly Hills (1994)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 240 min.
Story: About the 1989 murders of Carolco Entertainment chairman, Jose Menendez, and his wife, Kitty, who were killed by their sons, Lyle and Erik, in Beverly Hills, allegedly for a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
Style: serious, realistic, bleak
Plot: courtroom, murder, family problems, family relations, parents and children, siblings relations, dysfunctional family, courtroom drama, legal, life is a bitch, false accusation, brother brother relationship ...
Time: 20th century, 80s
Place: los angeles, usa, beverly hills, california
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
A Long Way Home (2003)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story: Family members struggle to heal their emotional wounds after an incident of sexual abuse.
Style: touching, sincere, emotional, realistic, contemplative ...
Plot: psychiatrist, haunted by the past, dysfunctional family, sexual abuse, domestic disturbance, redemption, life is a bitch, family in crisis, hopes, parents and children, family problems, estrangement ...
Time: 21st century
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
Fifteen and Pregnant (1998)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story: Based on a true story, 15 year old Tina Spangler discovers she is pregnant. Her choices are abortion, adoption, or a lonely, exhausting life as a single parent. Abandoned by her boyfriend, she turns to her mother. Tina discovers although it has torn ...
Style: realistic, serious, touching, emotional, psychological ...
Audience: teens
Plot: pregnancy, teenage pregnancy, family problems, lifestyle, teenage life, family in crisis, hopes, parent child relationship, sister sister relationship, youth, family relations, husband wife relationship ...
Time: 20th century, 90s
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
Dancing in the Dark (1995)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story: Anna Forbes suffers an attack and sexual abuse by her father-in-law. But when she overcomes her fear and tells her husband Mark what happened he does not believe her, choosing instead to believe his father who denies everything. As Anna becomes ...
Style: tense, talky, thought provoking, realistic, serious ...
Plot: legal action, mental institution, false accusation, father in law daughter in law relationship, sexual content, dedicated lawyer, rehabilitation, hopes, danger, rivalry, dishonesty, legal ...
Time: 90s
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
Deep in My Heart (1999)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 89 min.
Story: In this made-for-tv movie, an adopted woman decides to find her birth mother. Her search leads her to a shocking discovery that she has to face and why her upbringing was not an easy one.
Style: serious, realistic, touching, emotional
Plot: dilemma, mixed race, women, parents, parenting, custody, interracial, interracial relations, interracial rape, strong female presence, society, life is a bitch ...
Time: 20th century, 90s, 60s
Place: usa, wisconsin
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
Have You Seen My Son (1996)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story: A woman fears for her son's health when her ex-husband kidnaps him.
Style: serious, realistic, tense, rough, suspenseful
Plot: kidnapping, missing child, parents and children, obsessive quest, couple relations, confined, family problems, family relations, ex husband ex wife relationship, child custody, father son relationship, marriage ...
Time: 90s
Place: mexico, oregon, latin america
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
Harrison Montgomery (2008)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story: In a rundown apartment complex in San Francisco's Tenderloin, a septuagenarian seer is waiting for his final message. For decades the eccentric recluse has chronicled the phrases of the Wheel of Fortune and deciphered their hidden meaning - the ...
Style: serious, emotional, sincere, touching, independent film ...
Plot: elderly, lifestyle, friendship, follow your dream, family problems, life is a bitch, hopes, buddies, love and romance, danger, poverty, single parent ...
Time: 21st century
Place: san francisco, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
 4.3
 725
Five Thirteen (2013)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story: In this tension-packed thriller, brothers Mike and Tre set out in search of better lives, trying to leave their demons behind for good. After being released from prison for a crime he didn't commit, Mike's only care in the world is to ...
Style: suspenseful, serious, realistic, tense, independent film
Audience: boys' night
Plot: starting over, going straight, hopes, family relations, parents and children, released from prison, father daughter relationship, false accusation, life is a bitch, brother brother relationship, violent content, siblings relations ...
Time: 21st century
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
22%
When Andrew Came Home (2000)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min.
Story: A mother searches for five years to find her kidnapped son in this fact-based drama. Unexpectedly the boy is found, but the reunion is not as she hoped. She now has to deal with five years of abuse that the boy suffered at the hands of his ...
Style: touching, realistic, serious, emotional, sad
Plot: kids in trouble, kidnapping, coming of age, family in crisis, dysfunctional family, parents and children, captivity, family problems, estrangement, danger, confined, hopes ...
Time: 90s
⇓ similarity ⇓
22%
Dance with the One (2010)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min.
Story: Nate's little brother and hippie dad depend on him for literally everything, but the well-meaning, small time pot dealer Nate wants nothing more than to run away with Nikki, the love of his life, and get out of Texas.
Style: realistic, tense, suspense, captivating, exciting ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: drug dealing, haunted by the past, danger, family problems, family relations, teenage life, save the day, on the run, drug dealer, rivalry, mob boss, love ...
Time: 21st century
Place: usa, texas
⇓ similarity ⇓
22%
Movie in collections
Miracle on Interstate 880 (1993)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 90 min.
Story: A man attempts to rescue people trapped on the I-880 bridge after the top half collapses during the 1989 San Francisco earthquake.
Style: realistic, serious, suspenseful, emotional
Plot: disaster, heroic mission, escapades, survival, rescue, danger, heroes, child in peril, car crash, hospital, news report, profanity ...
Time: 80s, 20th century, year 1989
Place: san francisco, california, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
21%
 6.4
 177
Courage (1986)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 150 min.
Story: A mother in Queens, New York, is so angered when she discovers that her son is a drug addict that she becomes an undercover agent for the DEA to clean up the drug trade in her neighborhood. Based on a true story.
Style: uplifting, serious, realistic, emotional
Plot: family relations, undercover, drug abuse, family problems, life is a bitch, drug dealing, law enforcement, hopes, human spirit, society, parents and children, working undercover ...
Time: 20th century, 80s
Place: new york, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
21%
 5.0
 712
Held Hostage (2009)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min.
Story: Michelle a single mother is kidnapped by three masked men and held hostage until she is forced to rob a bank which is the only option she has to saving her only child's life while they are both wired to explode.
Style: psychological, serious, suspenseful, rough, tense ...
Plot: confined, heist, woman in danger, danger, single parent, unlikely criminals, isolation, crime gone awry, parents and children, bank, kidnapping, child in peril ...
Time: 21st century
⇓ similarity ⇓
21%
For the Love of a Child (2006)
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 80 min.
Story: 1959, support from US troops based in Asia and later from the Sates enables two actresses to start a charity for mixed-race 'orphans' who are locally neglected as outcasts. Thus originates Childhelp, which later runs multi-disciplinary ...
Style: touching, disturbing, rough, realistic, serious ...
Plot: child abuse, orphan, rescue, danger, life is a bitch, dysfunctional family, parents and children, selflessness, family relations, family problems, adoption, abuse ...
Time: 60s, 20th century, 50s
⇓ similarity ⇓
21%
 6.2
 753
Unwed Father (1997)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story: 9 months after a drunken sexual encounter, a young man winds up raising a baby on his own.
Style: serious, realistic, thought provoking
Audience: teens
Plot: single father, babies and infants, adoption, teen social issues, couples, environmentalism, family relations, family problems, love and romance, music band, youth, hopes ...
Time: 20th century, 90s
Place: texas
⇓ similarity ⇓
20%
 5.9
 276
Getting Out (1994)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story: Breaking out of prison with a child in her womb and a dream of a normal existence, Arlene Holsclaw (Rebecca De Mornay) resolves to get a job and lead a good, Christian life. But the ghosts from her past -- including an ex-boyfriend (Rob Knepper) who ...
Style: tense, realistic, serious, gloomy, rough ...
Plot: prison, family life, custody, parents and children, family problems, family relations, life is a bitch, society, hopes, going straight, strong female presence, physical abuse ...
Time: 90s
⇓ similarity ⇓
20%
 5.6
 1K
Copperhead (2013)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story: A family is torn apart during the American Civil War.
Style: realistic, tense, touching, serious, captivating
Plot: american civil war, anti war, family life, society, life is a bitch, farm, civil war, danger, relationships, intrigue, family relations, wartime life
Time: 19th century
Place: usa, new york
⇓ similarity ⇓
20%
 5.5
 209
Morning (2010)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story: Five days in the life of an American couple immediately following the accidental death of their child. An every day story of tragedy, loss, acceptance, hope and renewal. 'Morning' follows the divergent paths of Mark (Leland Orser) and ...
Style: emotional, touching, serious, realistic, independent film ...
Plot: family relations, couples, family problems, starting over, redemption, human spirit, hopes, couple relations, family in crisis, death in the family, death of child, dealing with death ...
Time: 21st century
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
20%
 7.6
 80
3:13 (2014)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min.
Story: From living a normal life to surviving homelessness in the city of Miami, Peter is a victim of the turbulent U.S. recession during late 2000's. A drama based on true events.
Style: serious, realistic, bleak, thought provoking
Plot: life is a bitch, life turned upside down, social misfits, family relations, misfit, unemployment, society, family problems, homelessness, character change, unfulfillment, disorder ...
Time: 2000s, 21st century
Place: miami, usa, florida
⇓ similarity ⇓
20%
Just Ask My Children (2001)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story: Based on the true story of a modern-day witch hunt, in which a couple is falsely accused and imprisoned for molesting their own children.
Style: disturbing, thought provoking, serious, emotional, sad ...
Plot: fighting the system, false accusation, courtroom drama, family problems, injustice, life is a bitch, legal, legal action, dishonesty, parents and children, plaintiff, trial ...
Time: 80s, 20th century, 90s
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
20%
 6.1
 1K
90 Minutes (2012)
Genre: Drama
Country: Norway
Duration: 88 min.
Story: Director Eva Sørhaug (Cold Lunch) reveals the rage and violence lurking beneath seemingly tranquil domesticity in her bold and uncompromising sophomore feature.
Style: tense, disturbing, bleak, contemplative, serious ...
Plot: family problems, family relations, danger, violence spree, domestic disturbance, divorce, domestic violence, violent content, under the surface, breaking point, rape, women ...
Time: 21st century
Place: europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
19%
Cries from the Heart (1994)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story: A drama directed by Michael Switzer.
Style: realistic, serious, captivating, uplifting, touching ...
Plot: autism, mentally challenged, children, youth, sexual abuse, child molester, family problems, power relations, family relations, misfit, life is a bitch, mute or deaf ...
Time: 20th century, 90s
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
19%
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