Movies like Heads on Fire
If you like "Heads on Fire" you are looking for psychological thriller, tense and neo noir movies about / with alienation, obsession, moral ambiguity, slow burn, urban, identity crisis and haunting themes of Drama genre shot in West Germany.
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.
Heads on Fire (1989)
Original name: Kopffeuer
Genre: Drama
Country: West Germany
Duration: 85 min.
Story:
Film by Erwin Michelberger.
Style:
psychological thriller, tense, neo noir, suspenseful, ambiguous ending, intense, art house, existential, surreal
Plot:
alienation, obsession, moral ambiguity, slow burn, urban, identity crisis, haunting, minimalism, dark humor, musician, teenage girl, teenage boy, turk, arranged marriage, vandalism, male prostitute, urban setting, abandoned warehouse, psychological drama, dialogue driven, band, turkish
Time:
80s
Movie in categories
Most similar movies to Heads on Fire
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out tense, art house, psychological thriller and existential films with plots about moral ambiguity, urban, slow burn, character study, obsession, identity crisis and minimalism mostly in Drama and Thriller genres. Some movies like Heads on Fire: Level Cross (2024), The Collectress (2008), DeAD (2013), Moon Hotel Kabul (2018), In Darkness (2009). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 116 min.
Story:
In a desolate desert, a reclusive gatekeeper offers refuge to a mysterious woman fleeing a dark past, leading to an unraveling of secrets and shattered realities.
Style:
tense, atmospheric, surreal, psychological thriller, suspense ...
Plot:
desert, isolation, solitude, female protagonist, identity crisis, slow burn, moral ambiguity, minimalism, relationships, malayalam
Similarity:
95%
Genre: Drama
Country: Lithuania
Duration: 84 min.
Story:
Following a traumatic experience, Gaile, a speech therapist, is incapable of feeling any emotion. However, while preparing a video presentation for a scientific conference, she sees herself on screen and is surprised to find suppressed sensations ...
Style:
art house, tense, psychological thriller, dark, noir ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
character study, obsession, female protagonist, alienation, manipulation, experimental narrative, identity crisis, self discovery, moral ambiguity, voyeurism, performance art, urban ...
Place:
lithuania
Similarity:
86%
79
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
Patrick feels absolutely lonely when he decides to search for his supposable genitor after the suicide of his mother. He doesn’t have a plan, a goal or hopes. He just wants to meet the phantom that he thinks is the reason for his mother’s death.
Style:
existential, emotional, melancholic, independent film, art house ...
Plot:
grief, loneliness, isolation, identity crisis, character study, search for father, alienation, minimalism, intimate, regret, male protagonist, urban ...
Similarity:
83%
Genre: Drama
Country: Romania, France
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
Ivan Semciuc (a journalist), is a charismatic man nonetheless guilty of cynicism and lack of compassion. A seemingly meaningless sexual encounter with a translator in a hotel room in Kabul produces a vital revolution in Ivan’s unshakeable ...
Style:
melancholic, existential, art house, surreal, moody
Plot:
death, guilt, loneliness, grief, regret, loss, memory, mourning, hotel, obsession, suicide, mature ...
Place:
bucharest, afghanistan
Similarity:
78%
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: Turkey
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
A drama-thriller centered on an advertising agency employee for whom work is an outlet from his life under his overbearing mother's roof.
Style:
tense, psychological thriller, suspenseful, bleak, intense ...
Plot:
mother son relationship, family drama, character study, overbearing parent, male protagonist, advertising agency, claustrophobia, identity crisis, obsession, moral ambiguity, isolation, slow burn ...
Place:
turkey
Similarity:
73%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 121 min.
Story:
Emotionless hitman Michael meets Jessy, awakening unfamiliar feelings. A mission gone awry forces him to reevaluate his entire existence, challenging his beliefs and way of life.
Style:
tense, crime thriller, intense, dark, noir ...
Plot:
hitman, gangster, urban, moral dilemma, identity crisis, assassin, violence, organized crime, moral ambiguity, underworld, forbidden romance, character study ...
Time:
21st century
Similarity:
70%
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 46 min.
Story:
A squalid encounter has many possibilities. How do they know each other? Is he the criminal or is she? Are they in it together. And can you believe a word they say? Each line and each version presents a new truth. But who is to say which one is real?
Style:
psychological thriller, neo noir, suspenseful, twisted, crime drama ...
Plot:
manipulation, moral ambiguity, mistrust, deception, secret past, identity crisis, confession, interrogation, cat and mouse, false memory, investigation, urban decay ...
Similarity:
69%
Genre: Drama
Country: Czech Republic, Slovakia
Duration: 78 min.
Story:
A wealthy middle-aged man at the airport witnesses a tiny incident involving an unknown, perhaps Arab, young man and airport staff. After the young man is confronted directly at the airport toilets, he feels himself subject to an indefinable but ...
Style:
tense, psychological thriller
Plot:
paranoia, obsession, suspicion, surveillance, cat and mouse, stalking, airport, confrontation, alienation, isolation, moral ambiguity, slow burn ...
Time:
2020s, 21st century
Place:
europe, central europe
Similarity:
68%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 70 min.
Story:
Darren Prager is an aspiring writer who finds himself completely unable to comprehend the intricacies of human behavior. Obsessed with finding the key to understanding the nature of character, he turns a co-worker's family into the unwitting ...
Style:
disturbing, psychological, independent film, tense, experimental ...
Plot:
obsession, voyeurism, ethical dilemma, character study, moral ambiguity, social experiment, manipulation, isolation, male protagonist, identity crisis, experimental narrative, alienation ...
Time:
2000s
Similarity:
66%
Genre: Drama
Country: France, Portugal
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
Pierre, a middle-aged tourist guide, is the victim of a sudden failure : he does not recognize anything about him any longer. He goes back home and in his apartment he finds a mysterious young man who tells him he is here to avenge a young woman who ...
Style:
dramatic, emotional, psychological thriller, tense, suspenseful ...
Plot:
amnesia, identity crisis, responsibility, moral dilemma, character study, guilt, memory loss, moral ambiguity, regret, remorse, existentialism, revenge ...
Place:
portugal
Similarity:
62%
Genre: Drama
Country: Denmark
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
It's a movie about a subject that captivates me. And I can see that it also captivates the world and people and has done it at all times. It is the meeting with the stranger. Why is it so difficult to relate to those who's not like ...
Style:
thought provoking, art house, contemplative, tense, intercultural ...
Plot:
prejudice, xenophobia, social commentary, alienation, immigration, empathy, identity, moral ambiguity, slow burn, urban, psychological drama
Similarity:
60%
Genre: Drama
Country: Estonia
Duration: 81 min.
Story:
A secluded fast food joint next to an empty parking lot, where it's good to go because nobody recognizes you there. On a rainy autumnal day, people show up one after the other – all of them on the verge of a breakdown – or perhaps a ...
Style:
melancholic, independent film, contemplative, existential, art house ...
Plot:
loneliness, empathy, breakdown, character study, rain, trauma, single, transformation, isolation, slow burn, intimate, minimalism ...
Similarity:
58%
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 84 min.
Story:
Twelve-year-old Simone feels painfully disconnected from the world after witnessing the brutal death of her mother. Simone, a solitary multimedia artist in her twenties, is struggling to control her crushing panic attacks and keep her day job in an ...
Style:
psychological, mindfuck, atmospheric, art house, experimental ...
Plot:
trauma, grief, female protagonist, manipulation, memory, alienation, identity crisis, mental illness, haunting, violent death, rehearsal, coming of age ...
Similarity:
57%
Genre: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 91 min.
Story:
A young man named Carlos with a sexual trauma kidnaps a girl that works with him. During the kidnapping the sexual tension and the violence will make the two of them change their point views on life and politics.
Style:
psychological thriller, tense, intense, dark, art house ...
Plot:
kidnapping, sexual tension, manipulation, obsession, moral ambiguity, psychological abuse, abuse, mind game, claustrophobia, violent, confrontation, coercion ...
Similarity:
57%
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 68 min.
Story:
The dark twisted tale of a man who's accused of murdering his girlfriend, told from his shadow's perspective.
Style:
dark, psychological thriller, crime drama, surreal, atmospheric ...
Plot:
guilt, character study, alienation, obsession, mental breakdown, paranoia, isolation, claustrophobia, identity crisis, morality, slow burn, surveillance ...
Similarity:
56%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, France
Duration: 88 min.
Story:
Charlie, a down-on-his-luck loner, crosses paths with a blind homeless man who is his exact double. Perplexed and intrigued by the discovery, Charlie invites the man into his life.
Style:
suspenseful, enigmatic, captivating, suspense, bleak ...
Plot:
doppelganger, striptease, couple relations, lookalikes, misfit, isolation, obsession, identity crisis, dual identity, moral ambiguity, alienation, urban ...
Similarity:
55%
80
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
A hotel. A cliff. Six lost people, looking for something, or looking to lose themselves.
Style:
realistic, serious, psychological, atmospheric, contemplative ...
Plot:
hotel, human nature, haunted by the past, couples, introspection, self discovery, society, isolation, loss, confined, character study, uncertainty ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
england
Similarity:
54%
Genre: Drama
Country: UK, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Duration: 82 min.
Story:
A stranger arrives in Sarajevo and barges into Damir's reclusive world. Little by little she takes over his life. She absorbs his dreams, until finally she threaten his very existence.
Style:
psychological thriller, suspense, tense, dark, surreal ...
Plot:
obsession, isolation, psychological manipulation, character study, privacy invasion, unsettling, slow burn, claustrophobia, symbolism, mental breakdown, possession, nightmare ...
Place:
sarajevo, bosnia herzegovina, bosnia
Similarity:
53%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 64 min.
Story:
Wolfgang follows a ransom note from his supposed illegal kidney donor Irina back to Istanbul, the city which he would love to erase from memory. Donor and recipient collide and struggle for a fair solution after which there is a bitter new beginning
Style:
crime drama, dark, tense, existential, intercultural ...
Plot:
organ trafficking, black market, male protagonist, ethical dilemma, alienation, moral ambiguity, identity crisis, human trafficking, midlife crisis, cat and mouse, revenge, slow burn ...
Place:
istanbul turkey, germany
Similarity:
52%
2K
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
The film revolves around the life of Tarak, a foley artist of Bengali film. Tarak's job is to create ambient sounds for films, but, he gradually gets trapped in his own world, a world full of sound.
Style:
art house, thought provoking, serious, dramatic, melancholic ...
Plot:
character study, obsession, creative process, isolation, alienation, realism, intimate, family conflict, identity crisis, mental health, slow burn, slice of life ...
Place:
kolkata
Similarity:
48%
Genre: Drama
Country: Côte d'Ivoire, Guadeloupe
Story:
A small group of people meet in a guest house lost in the middle of nowhere. Disconnected from everything, each will try to understand his destiny. Trapped by the past, they each have to find the key to their existence, like « shadows walking ...
Style:
melancholic, philosophical, art house, poetic, atmospheric ...
Plot:
destiny, character study, isolation, existentialism, redemption, memory, alienation, secrets, identity, moral ambiguity, haunting, claustrophobia ...
Similarity:
47%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Story:
Maggie is struggling to keep her life together after the death of her mother when her addict brother shows up, forcing her to make sense of a reality that may not be what it seems.
Style:
emotional, melancholic, tense, surreal, intense ...
Plot:
sibling relationship, addiction, grief, family drama, trauma, female protagonist, character study, mourning, family secret, traumatic past, confrontation, identity crisis ...
Similarity:
46%
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 80 min.
Story:
Professor Alberto Sajevo sees a woman walking in downtown Turin and starts following her for days; he finally meets her and they start talking, but they both give fake names. She is not the common secretary she pretends to be, but ex-terrorist Lisa ...
Style:
art house, suspense, existential, psychological thriller, tense ...
Plot:
terrorism, stalking, character study, obsession, guilt, secrets, moral ambiguity, identity, regret, deception, realism, cat and mouse ...
Time:
90s, 70s, 20th century
Place:
italy, turin italy
Similarity:
46%
Movie in collections
607
Genre: Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration: 107 min.
Story:
The enigmatic Isabel decides to rent her belly to give birth to the baby of Sara and Joaquin, a possessive couple obsessed with the idea of starting a family.
Style:
disturbing, captivating, psychological, psychological thriller, suspenseful ...
Plot:
surrogate mother, motherhood, pregnancy, parenthood, single parent, pregnant woman, unsettling, family problems, parents and children, social problems, family relations, husband wife relationship ...
Similarity:
43%
321
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
Months after disappearance, the mother of a missing daughter begins her own increasingly irrational investigation.
Style:
suspenseful, psychological thriller, disturbing, serious, bleak ...
Plot:
investigation, missing daughter, mother love, female nudity, missing person, mother daughter relationship, reality versus fantasy, missing girl, private investigation, mysterious disappearance, missing child, obsession ...
Similarity:
43%
Genre: Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration: 88 min.
Story:
After getting out of jail, where she learned to care for the sick, Alma, an albino woman, is determined to recover at any cost something much more important than her own freedom. In order to do so, Alma must spend her nights taking care of Clemente, ...
Style:
emotional, psychological thriller, melancholic, intense, atmospheric ...
Plot:
fear of death, obsession, female protagonist, compassion, character study, loneliness, moral ambiguity, redemption, domestic drama, manipulation, isolation, slow burn ...
Place:
mexico city
Similarity:
42%
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 47 min.
Story:
A variety of characters reflect on the same moments in time from very different perspectives. Some are tenuous, some are whimsical, some are deadly.
Style:
thought provoking, existential, psychological, art house, experimental ...
Plot:
memory, multiple perspectives, character study, moral ambiguity, everyday life, intimate, slice of life, urban, minimalism, murder, wine, perception
Place:
cannes, iceland
Similarity:
42%
Genre: Drama
Country: Switzerland
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
Currently in post-production. Plot unknown. Unknown plot.
Style:
existential, emotional, independent film, melancholic, atmospheric ...
Plot:
family drama, father son relationship, single father, intimacy, wildlife, isolation, slow burn, chaos, animal attack, identity, survival, haunting ...
Similarity:
42%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 56 min.
Story:
Two symbiotic sociopaths play obscurely deviant mind games with each other while engaging in perversely brutal acts of violence against victims apparently chosen at random
Style:
disturbing, intense, tense, bleak, atmospheric ...
Plot:
violence, working class, class conflict, moral ambiguity, character study, cruelty, celebrity, social commentary, humiliation, obsession, machismo, alienation ...
Time:
90s
Similarity:
42%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 120 min.
Story:
A writer's creations step out of his stories, haunting his reality and demanding justice. As fiction and truth collide, he becomes a prisoner in a terrifying narrative beyond his control.
Style:
psychological horror, psychological thriller, metafiction, mind bending, tense ...
Plot:
obsession, paranoia, mental breakdown, haunting, supernatural, identity crisis, claustrophobia, magic realism, creative block, urban, unreliable narrator
Similarity:
41%
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