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Movies like Apt Pupil

Key Features:
Nazi occupation, Psychological manipulation, Moral corruption, Coming-of-age, Dark secret, Power dynamics, Guilt, Obsession, Hidden identity, Thriller, Disturbing themes, Cat and mouse, Violence-moderate
Tone:
serious, suspense-driven, gritty
Target Audience:
Fans of psychological thrillers, Viewers interested in dark themes, Those who appreciate suspenseful narratives, Audiences seeking thought-provoking stories
Emotional Arc:
Curiosity → Dread → Moral Decay

Apt Pupil

1998-10-23
Apt Pupil Poster - Find Similar Movies

One day in 1984, Todd Bowden, a brilliant high school boy fascinated by the history of Nazism, stumbles across an old man whose appearance resembles that of Kurt Dussander, a wanted Nazi war criminal. A month later, Todd decides to knock on his door.

Genres
Drama, Thriller
Cast
Brad Renfro, Ian McKellen, Bruce Davison, Elias Koteas, Joe Morton, Jan Tříska, Michael Byrne, Heather McComb, Ann Dowd, Joshua Jackson
Crew
Brandon Boyce, Bryan Singer
Rating
6.5(690 votes)
Apt PupilApt Pupil
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Found
Found(2012)
6.4

Marty is the ideal fifth grader—he gets good grades, listens to his teachers and doesn't start trouble in class. But a darkness is beginning to fall over Marty's life, the kids at school won't stop picking on him, his parents just don't seem to understand him, and now Marty must grapple with a terrible secret that threatens to destroy life as he knows it—his big brother is a serial killer.



Assassination of a High School President

After the theft of copies of SAT exams from a principal's office, teenage reporter Bobby Funke sets out to unmask the thief. Bobby prints an article fingering Class President Paul Moore as the thief, shredding the youth's reputation. But as Bobby gets to know Paul's girlfriend, Francesca, he comes to realize he was wrong about Paul, so he sets out to unmask the true culprit.



Good
Good(2008)
6.1

When John Halder's latest novel is enlisted by powerful political figures in the Nazi party to push their agenda, his career and social standing instantly advance. But after learning of the Reich's horrific plans for the future and the devastating effects they will have on people close to him, John must decide whether or not to take a stand and risk losing everything.



Bad Education
7.4

An examination on the effect of Franco-era religious schooling and sexual abuse on the lives of two longtime friends.



Armageddon Time
6.448

In 1980, Queens, New York, a young Jewish boy befriends a rebellious African-American classmate to the disapproval of his privileged family and begins to reckon with growing up in a world of inequality and prejudice.



Keith
Keith(2008)
7.042

Natalie is high school royalty, but her queen bee status falls apart when she falls for the new guy at school. Although Keith ignores her at first, they soon become friends -- even though Natalie suspects that Keith has something to hide. As the free-spirited Keith shows Natalie how to embrace what life offers, they grow closer -- until a secret tests the bounds of their relationship



Black Island
5.894

The dark secrets of a seemingly peaceful island threaten to swallow up an orphaned student when he grows close to a mysterious new teacher.



November Criminals
5.3

When Addison investigates the murder of his friend Kevin with the help of Phoebe, they discover that the truth is darker than they had ever imagined.



Natural Selection
5.3

Tyler is a young man who is desperately seeking direction from a world that seems to have abandoned him. Searching for answers he looks to his new friend Indrid who appears to have it all figured out.



Look Away
Look Away(2018)
6.524

A timid and socially alienated 17-year-old high school student's life is turned upside down when she switches places with her sinister mirror image.



Asylum
Asylum(2008)
4.1

The teenager Madison McBride is traumatized by the loss of her deranged father when she was nine years old and the suicide of her beloved brother Brandon one year ago. She decides to join the Richard Miller University, where Brandon committed suicide, to overcome her demons. While walking to her dorm, she meets the weird janitor Wilbur Mackey that tells her that the place is haunted.



WarGames
WarGames(1983)
7.069

High school student David Lightman has a talent for hacking. But while trying to hack into a computer system to play unreleased video games, he unwittingly taps into the Department of Defense's war computer and initiates a confrontation of global proportions. Together with his friend and a wizardly computer genius, David must race against time to outwit his opponent and prevent a nuclear Armageddon.



Evil
Evil(2003)
7.3

Stockholm, in the 1950s. Erik is expelled from the local school for getting into one brawl too many. To protect Erik from his violent stepfather’s reaction to his expulsion, Erik's mother arranges for Erik to spend a year at Stjärnsberg Boarding School, the only school willing to accept him. This is Erik's last chance to graduate to Upper School and he promises his mother, for his and her sake, to do all he can to stay out of trouble.



Dead Poets Society
8.3

At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.



Sanctuary
Sanctuary(2015)
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Summer 1968. 14-year-old Wolfgang is deported from his family in the secluded Church Welfare Institution sanctuary. One thing is clear for Wolfgang: His yearning for freedom, he will not soon buried in the bog.



After the Dark
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Class of 1984
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Before the Fall
7

In 1942, Friedrich Weimer's boxing skills get him an appointment to a National Political Academy (NaPolA) – high schools that produce Nazi elite. Over his father's objections, Friedrich enrolls. During his year in seventh column, Friedrich encounters hazing, cruelty, death, and the Nazi code. His friendship with Albrecht, the ascetic son of the area's governor, is central to this education.



Paper Towns
6.2

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge, he follows. After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Quentin arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Quentin soon learns that there are clues, and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer Quentin gets, the less he sees of the girl he thought he knew.



The Faculty
6.6

When some very creepy things start happening around school, the kids at Herrington High make the chilling discovery that confirms their worst suspicions: their teachers really are from another planet!



Stonehearst Asylum
6.9

An Oxford Medical School graduate takes a position at a mental institution and soon becomes obsessed with a female mental patient, but he has no idea of a recent and horrifying staffing change.



Pathology
Pathology(2008)
5.7

Medical student Ted Grey graduates at the top of his class and quickly joins an elite pathology program, whose top students invite him into their circle. There he uncovers a gruesome secret: They play a game in which one tries to commit the perfect, undetectable murder, then the others compete to determine the victim's cause of death.



An Affair
An Affair(2018)
5.4

A newly appointed teacher finds herself being followed, and soon discovers that one of her own students is obsessed with her.



The Perfection
6.446

When troubled musical prodigy Charlotte seeks out Elizabeth, the new star pupil of her former school, the encounter sends both musicians down a sinister path with shocking consequences.



Detachment
7.617

A chronicle of three weeks in the lives of several high school teachers, administrators and students through the eyes of substitute teacher, Henry Barthes. Henry roams from school to school, imparting modes of knowledge, but never staying long enough to form any semblance of sentient attachment.



Deep End
Deep End(1971)
7

London, England. Mike, a fifteen-year-old boy, gets a job in a bathhouse, where he meets Susan, an attractive young woman who works there as an attendant.



Young Törless
6.5

At an Austrian boys' boarding school in the early 1900s, shy, intelligent Törless observes the sadistic behavior of his fellow students, doing nothing to help a victimized classmate—until the torture goes too far. Adapted from Robert Musil's acclaimed novel, Young Törless launched the New German Cinema movement and garnered the 1966 Cannes Film Festival International Critics' Prize for first-time director Volker Schlöndorff.



Godless Youth
6.2

German students compete to enter one of the country's elite schools.



Playback
Playback(2012)
4.2

While digging into their town's infamous past, a group of high school students unwittingly unlock an even darker secret. Now, an evil spirit has been awakened and will stop at nothing to find his true heir.



Apt
Apt(2006)
5.7

A young woman's curiosity propels her to investigate a series of strange deaths in her neighborhood.



There's Someone Inside Your House

As the countdown to graduation begins, students at Osborne High are being stalked by a maniac intent on exposing their darkest secrets to the entire town, terrorizing victims while wearing a life-like mask of their own face. With a mysterious past of her own, Makani and her friends must discover the killer's identity before they become victims themselves.



The Innocents
7.5

A young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted by ghosts and that the children are being possessed.



Lesson of the Evil
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Seiji Hasumi is a popular English teacher in a private high school. He is also a violent and sociopathic killer who concocts an extreme plan to deal with the rise of bullying and bad behavior among the student body.



TÁR
TÁR(2022)
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As celebrated conductor Lydia Tár starts rehearsals for a career-defining symphony, the consequences of her past choices begin to echo in the present.



School's Out
6

Pierre Hoffman joins a prestigious school as a substitute teacher and soon notices, among some of his students, an unjustified hostility and a spark of violence in their eyes. Is it because the unspeakable tragedy they have just experienced? Is it because they seem to be extraordinarily gifted children? Is it because they have lost all hope for the future? From curiosity to obsession, Pierre will try to unlock their secret.



The Prodigy
6.2

A mother concerned about her young son's disturbing behavior thinks something supernatural may be affecting him.



Grimm Love
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In Germany, as graduate student Katie Armstrong researches cannibal killer Oliver Hagen for her thesis, she becomes obsessed with her subject and ultimately plunges into a lifestyle similar to Hagen's and the thousands of people like him.



The Offence
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A burned-out British police detective finally snaps while interrogating a suspected child molester.



The Holy Boy
7.4

A PE teacher moves to a isolated mountain village where the people appear to live in unshakeable serenity, but soon stumbles across a disturbing ritual. Once a week, the locals are freed of their pain by a lonely boy born with the power to heal one's soul just by hugging them. Trying to rescue him from this madness, the man unleashes his dark side.



The Hunt
The Hunt(2012)
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A teacher lives a lonely life, all the while struggling over his son’s custody. His life slowly gets better as he finds love and receives good news from his son, but his new luck is about to be brutally shattered by an innocent little lie.



Cutting Class
5.009

High school student Paula Carson's affections are being sought after by two of her classmates: Dwight, the "bad boy", and Brian, a disturbed young man who has just been released from a mental hospital where he was committed following the suspicious death of his father. Soon after being released, more murders start happening. Is Brian back to his old tricks, or is Dwight just trying to eliminate the competition?



The Marc Pease Experience

Former high school musical star, Marc Pease, finds himself still living in the past, eight years after graduating.



Orphan
Orphan(2009)
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After losing their baby, a married couple adopt 9-year old Esther, who may not be as innocent as she seems.



Afterschool
5.5

A prep-school student accidentally films the drug-related deaths of two classmates, then is asked to put together a memorial video.



Harrison Bergeron
6.7

"All men are not created equal. It is the purpose of the Government to make them so." This is the premise of the Showtime film adaption of Kurt Vonnegut's futuristic short story Harrison Bergeron. The film centers around a young man (Harrison) who is smarter than his peers, and is not affected by the usual "Handicapping" which is used to train all Americans so everyone is of equal intelligence.



Better Off Dead...
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High school student Lane Meyer sinks into suicidal depression when his girlfriend dumps him for jock Roy Stalin, the high school ski racing champion. Meanwhile, he has to deal with his eccentric family, a tenacious paperboy and an obnoxious neighbor whose mother is hosting a beautiful French exchange student named Monique.



Belzebuth
Belzebuth(2019)
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While leading a police investigation of a massacre in a public school at the border of Mexico and U.S.A, special Agent Emanuel Ritter links this strange case to the coming and rising of the ancient demon Belzebuth. But in order to stop the trail of upcoming infanticides, Ritter shall have to confront himself before dealing with the forces of good and evil.



Bent
Bent(1997)
6.8

Max is a handsome young man who, after a fateful tryst with a German soldier, is forced to run for his life. Eventually Max is placed in a concentration camp where he pretends to be Jewish because in the eyes of the Nazis, gays are the lowest form of human being. But it takes a relationship with an openly gay prisoner to teach Max that without the love of another, life is not worth living.



Bloody Moon
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After being released from a mental asylum, a disfigured man becomes obsessed with a student at his sister’s boarding school while grappling with his dark past.



Crazy
Crazy(2000)
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Benjamin, a 16-year-old with lousy grades, switches to a boarding school in order to eventually reach grammar school. Adjusting to his new environment is difficult as he has to struggle with being a teen... specially when he falls in love to the school's dream girl, Malen.



The Awakening
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In post–War England, a writer and sometime-ghost hunter investigates a reported haunting at a boys boarding school.



Possum
Possum(2018)
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A disgraced children's puppeteer returns to his childhood home and is forced to confront his wicked stepfather and the secrets that have tortured him his entire life.



Molly Maxwell
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At Phoenix Progressive School, students take notes lying on parlor couches and are encouraged to explore their gifts through electives like break-dancing and graphic-novel writing. In the midst of all this liberal pedagogy and budding talent, Molly Maxwell feels unexceptional, until she falls for her attractive English teacher, Ben.



The Manhattan Project
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A gifted high school student steals plutonium from the secret nuclear weapons facility in his home town in order to construct his own nuclear bomb, win a national science fair, and expose the government's secrets.



Imperium
Imperium(2016)
6.471

Nate Foster, a young, idealistic FBI agent, goes undercover to take down a radical white supremacy terrorist group. The bright up-and-coming analyst must confront the challenge of sticking to a new identity while maintaining his real principles as he navigates the dangerous underworld of white supremacy. Inspired by real events.



The United States of Leland

A withdrawn young man, Leland Fitzgerald is imprisoned for the murder of a mentally disabled boy, who also happened to be the brother of his girlfriend, Becky. As the community struggles to deal with the killing, Pearl Madison, a teacher at the prison, decides to write about Leland's case. Meanwhile, others affected by the murder, including Becky and her sister, Julie, must contend with their own problems.



Cooties
Cooties(2014)
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A mysterious virus hits an isolated elementary school, transforming the kids into a feral swarm of mass savages. An unlikely hero must lead a motley band of teachers in the fight of their lives.



Fateless
Fateless(2005)
6.891

A Hungarian youth comes of age at Buchenwald during World War II. György Köves is 14, the son of a merchant who's sent to a forced labor camp. After his father's departure, György gets a job at a brickyard; his bus is stopped and its Jewish occupants sent to camps. There, György find camaraderie, suffering, cruelty, illness, and death. He hears advice on preserving one's dignity and self-esteem. He discovers hatred. If he does survive and returns to Budapest, what will he find? What is natural; what is it to be a Jew? Sepia, black and white, and color alternate to shade the mood.



The Good Neighbor
6.208

Two high school filmmakers decide to create the illusion of a haunting on an unsuspecting neighbor.



Elephant
Elephant(2003)
7

Several ordinary high school students go through their daily routine as two others prepare for something more malevolent.



The Barber
5.621

Eugene is a small town barber, beloved by the local community, but hiding a deadly secret. John is hunting for a serial killer not to expose him but to learn the business! They form a twisted bond and turn the town upside down as Eugene teaches John to kill.



Asylum
Asylum(1972)
6

A young psychiatrist applies for a job at a mental asylum and must pass a test by interviewing four patients. He must figure out which of the patients, is in fact, the doctor that he would be replacing if hired.



L.I.E.
L.I.E.(2001)
6.8

With his mother dead and his father busy at work, Howie feels adrift in his New York suburb. He and his friend Gary spend their time burglarizing their neighbors' homes — until they make the mistake of robbing the house of Big John, a macho former Marine who is also an unrepentant pedophile. He propositions Howie, who declines, but the two eventually develop an unlikely and dangerous friendship.



The Good Son
6.775

A young boy stays with his aunt and uncle, and befriends his cousin who's the same age. But his cousin begins showing increasing signs of psychotic behavior.



The Wave
The Wave(2008)
7.485

A school teacher discusses types of government with his class. His students find it too boring to repeatedly go over national socialism and believe that dictatorship cannot be established in modern Germany. He starts an experiment to show how easily the masses can become manipulated.



Vampire
Vampire(2011)
6

An outwardly normal schoolteacher preys on suicidal women to slake his overwhelming thirst for human blood.



Class Enemy
6.7

Relations between the students and the new teacher of German are extremely tense. When one female student commits suicide, her schoolmates blame the teacher for her death. An awareness that things are not quite so black and white comes too late.



Boarding School
6.328

When troubled 12-year-old Jacob Felsen is sent away to boarding school, he enters every kid’s worst nightmare: a creepy old mansion, deserted except for six other teenage misfits and two menacing and mysterious teachers. As events become increasingly horrific, Jacob must conquer his fears to find the strength to survive.



Alena
Alena(2015)
5.66

When Alena arrives at her new elite boarding school, Filippa and the other girls start to harass her. But Alena’s best friend Josefin won’t let her take anymore beating. If she won’t strike back, Josefin will do it for her. Hard.



Abduction
Abduction(2011)
5.85

For many years, Nathan Harper has had the uneasy feeling that life with his family isn't quite what it seems. As he draws closer to uncovering the truth, he is hunted by assassins, forcing him to flee with his neighbor, Karen, the only person he can trust.



The Teachers' Lounge
7.237

When one of her students is suspected of theft, teacher Carla Nowak decides to get to the bottom of the matter. Caught between her ideals and the school system, the consequences of her actions threaten to break her.



The Bridge
7.5

A group of German boys are ordered to protect a small bridge in their home village during the waning months of the second world war. Truckloads of defeated, cynical Wehrmacht soldiers flee the approaching American troops, but the boys, full of enthusiasm for the "blood and honor" Nazi ideology, stay to defend the useless bridge. The film is based on a West German anti-war novel of the same name, written by Gregor Dorfmeister.



Armand
Armand(2024)
6.376

Armand, a 6-year-old boy, is accused of crossing boundaries against his best friend at elementary school. While no one knows what actually happened between the two boys, the incident triggers a series of events, forcing parents and school staff into a captivating battle of redemption where madness, desire and obsession arise.



Biloxi Blues
6.237

A Jewish teenager sets three goals: lose his virginity, become a writer, and survive World War II.



Blame
Blame(2018)
6.578

A drama teacher's taboo relationship with an unstable student strikes a nerve in her jealous classmate, sparking a vengeful chain of events within their suburban high school that draws parallels to "The Crucible".



The Butcher Boy
6.8

Francie and Joe live the usual playful, fantasy filled childhoods of normal boys. However, with a violent, alcoholic father and a manic depressive, suicidal mother the pressure on Francie to grow up are immense. When Francie's world turns to madness, he tries to counter it with further insanity, with dire consequences.



Election
Election(1999)
6.9

Tracy Flick is running unopposed for this year’s high school student election. But Jim McAllister has a different plan. Partly to establish a more democratic election, and partly to satisfy some deep personal anger toward Tracy, Jim talks football player Paul Metzler to run for president as well.



The Hole
The Hole(2001)
6.207

Four teenagers at a British private school secretly uncover and explore the depths of a sealed underground hole created decades ago as a possible bomb shelter.



The Painted Bird
7.079

After losing his parents, a young Jewish boy wanders Eastern Europe, seeking refuge during World War II.



Let's Be Evil
4.2

A woman enters an underground bunker where gifted children use augmented reality technology to wreak havoc.



Boy A
Boy A(2008)
7.109

Freed after a lengthy term in a juvenile detention center, convicted child killer Jack Burridge finds work as a deliveryman and begins dating co-worker Michelle. While out on the road one day, Jack notices a distressed child, and, after reuniting the girl with her family, becomes a local celebrity. But when a local newspaper unearths his past, Jack must cope with the anger of citizens who fear for the safety of their children.



The Wave
The Wave(1981)
6.9

A teacher conducts an experiment in an American high school where students learn how easy it is to be seduced by the same social forces which led to the horrors of Nazi Germany.



Michael
Michael(2011)
6.8

Although to the outside world he seems like the a perfectly normal insurance broker, Michael secretly keeps a 10-year-old boy, Wolfgang locked in a room in his soundproof basement.



Prince of Darkness
6.8

A priest discovers an ancient canister containing a strange liquid in an abandoned church. When a group of graduate students and scientists are tasked with studying it, they unknowingly unleash an evil force waiting to destroy all of humanity.



Joker: Folie à Deux

While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur Fleck not only stumbles upon true love, but also finds the music that's always been inside him.



Assassination Classroom

A mysterious creature destroys 70% of the moon. The creature then warns that if he is not destroyed by March of next year, Earth will be next. The creature also demands that he becomes the homeroom teacher for 3rd grade E class at Kunugigaoka Junior High School. The government is powerless to say no. The creature then becomes the homeroom teacher of 3rd grade E class which consists of failed students including Nagisa Shiota. The creature is called Teacher Koro. Meanwhile, the government requests that the students try to kill Teacher Koro even though he possesses super powers. The government offers a 10 billion yen reward for whomever successfully kills him. The students are confused by the situation, but decide to kill Teacher Koro. When their class begins with Teacher Koro, the students finds themselves having a good time with their new teacher.



The School for Good and Evil

Best friends Sophie and Agatha navigate an enchanted school for young heroes and villains — and find themselves on opposing sides of the battle between good and evil.



A Clockwork Orange
8.181

In a near-future Britain, young Alexander DeLarge and his pals get their kicks beating and raping anyone they please. When not destroying the lives of others, Alex swoons to the music of Beethoven. The state, eager to crack down on juvenile crime, gives an incarcerated Alex the option to undergo an invasive procedure that'll rob him of all personal agency. In a time when conscience is a commodity, can Alex change his tune?



The Elementary School

The time is 1945-46. 10 year old Eda and his friend Tonda live in a small village outside Prague. In school, their class is so wild and indisciplined that their teacher quits and is replaced by the militant Igor Hnidzo. He is very strict – but also very fair. His weakness though, is his interest in young women.



Heathers
Heathers(1988)
7.3

A girl who halfheartedly tries to be part of the "in crowd" of her school meets a rebel who teaches her a more devious way to play social politics: by killing the popular kids.



Cracks
Cracks(2009)
6.6

Jealousy flares after the headmistress of an elite boarding school for girls becomes obsessed with a new student.



Daydream Nation
5.747

Forced to move to a boring backwater town, a teenager embarks on affairs with a teacher and a stoner classmate.



The Privilege
5.2

A wealthy teen and his friends attending an elite private school uncover a dark conspiracy while looking into a series of strange supernatural events.



The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser

The film follows Kaspar Hauser, who lived the first seventeen years of his life chained in a tiny cellar with only a toy horse to occupy his time, devoid of all human contact except for a man who wears a black overcoat and top hat who feeds him.



The Swan
The Swan(2023)
6.8

Two large, ignorant bullies ruthlessly pursue a small, brilliant boy in this young adult Roald Dahl short story.



Sometimes They Come Back

Desperate for a job to help him support his family, Jim Norman takes a position teaching high school in the town where his brother was murdered in front of him by teenage bullies twenty-seven years before. The teens who committed the crime are long dead, but now the kids in Jim's new class keep dying and being replaced by new students who look like the deceased hoodlums.



Enemy
Enemy(2014)
6.854

A mild-mannered college professor discovers a look-alike actor and delves into the other man's private affairs.



Class of Nuke 'Em High

The pupils at a high school next to a nuclear power plant start acting and looking strange after buying contaminated drugs from a plant worker.



Allied
Allied(2016)
6.801

In 1942, an intelligence officer in North Africa encounters a female French Resistance fighter on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. When they reunite in London, their relationship is tested by the pressures of war.

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