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Movies like Cape Fear

Key Features:
Psychological thriller, Stalker, Revenge, Legal drama, Moral ambiguity, Family in peril, Cat and mouse, Violence-high, Suspense, Fear, Paranoia, Justice, Corruption
Tone:
serious, suspense-driven, gritty
Target Audience:
Thriller enthusiasts, Suspense fans, Viewers seeking intense experiences, Those interested in psychological dramas
Emotional Arc:
['Anxiety → Dread → Terror']

Cape Fear

1962-04-12
Cape Fear Poster - Find Similar Movies

Sam Bowden witnesses a rape committed by Max Cady and testifies against him. When released after 8 years in prison, Cady begins stalking Bowden and his family but is always clever enough not to violate the law.

Genres
Thriller, Drama
Cast
Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen, Martin Balsam, Lori Martin, Jack Kruschen, Telly Savalas, Barrie Chase, Paul Comi, John McKee
Crew
J. Lee Thompson, James R. Webb
Rating
7.4(601 votes)
Cape FearCape Fear
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Cape Fear
Cape Fear(1991)
7.249

Sam Bowden is a small-town corporate attorney. Max Cady is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, Bible-quoting, psychotic rapist. What do they have in common? 14 years ago, Sam was a public defender assigned to Max Cady's rape trial, and he made a serious error: he hid a document from his illiterate client that could have gotten him acquitted. Now, the cagey Cady has been released, and he intends to teach Sam Bowden and his family a thing or two about loss.



Ricochet
Ricochet(1991)
6.1

An attorney is terrorized by the criminal he put away years ago when he was a cop.



Under Suspicion
6.1

A lawyer is asked to come to the police station to clear up a few loose ends in his witness report of a foul murder. "This will only take ten minutes", they say, but it turns out to be one loose end after another, and the ten minutes he is away from his speech become longer and longer.



Criminal Law
5.549

Ben Chase is an on-the-rise Boston attorney currently defending a wealthy client in a high-profile murder case. Martin Thiel is the wealthy young man on trial for a particularly brutal murder. The verdict sets Thiel free. Within 24 hours another grizzly and all-too-familiar murder has taken place with striking similarities to the first crime. Chase inexplicably agrees to act as his defense attorney; but this time it will be to gather evidence that will put away his client for good.



The Killer Is Loose
6.616

A savings-and-loan bank is robbed; later, a police wiretap identifies meek bank teller Leon Poole as the inside man. In capturing him, detective Sam Wagner accidentally kills Poole's young wife, and at his trial Poole swears vengeance against Wagner. Poole begins his plans to get revenge when he escapes his captors.



Runaway Jury
6.9

After a workplace shooting in New Orleans, a trial against the gun manufacturer pits lawyer Wendell Rohr against shady jury consultant Rankin Fitch, who uses illegal means to stack the jury with people sympathetic to the defense. But when juror Nicholas Easter and his girlfriend Marlee reveal their ability to sway the jury into delivering any verdict they want, a high-stakes cat-and-mouse game begins.



Copycat
Copycat(1995)
6.472

An agoraphobic psychologist and a female detective must work together to take down a serial killer who copies serial killers from the past.



Anatomy of a Murder
7.843

Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.



Hangman
Hangman(2015)
4.753

Returning from vacation, the Miller family find their home has been broken into. After cleaning up the mess they continue with their lives, shaking off the feeling of being violated. But little do they know the nightmare has just begun.



Primal Fear
7.656

Defense attorney Martin Vail takes on jobs for money and prestige rather than any sense of the greater good. His latest case involves an altar boy, accused of brutally murdering the archbishop of Chicago. Vail finds himself up against his ex-pupil and ex-lover, but as the case progresses and the Church's dark secrets are revealed, Vail finds that what appeared a simple case takes on a darker, more dangerous aspect.



Reasonable Doubt
5.8

When up-and-coming District Attorney Mitch Brockden commits a fatal hit-and-run, he feels compelled to throw the case against the accused criminal who was found with the body and blamed for the crime. Following the trial, Mitch's worst fears come true when he realizes that he acquitted a guilty man, and he soon finds himself on the hunt for the killer before more victims pile up.



Jagged Edge
6.3

After a wealthy heiress is murdered in her beach house, her devastated husband becomes the prime suspect. He hires a lawyer who hasn’t taken a criminal case in years, and as they work together, a complicated romance develops amidst the trial.



Murder in the First

A young, inexperienced public defender is assigned to defend an inmate accused of committing murder while behind bars.



Fair Game
Fair Game(1995)
5.1

Max Kirkpatrick is a cop who protects Kate McQuean, a civil law attorney, from a renegade KGB team out to terminate her



Bad Samaritan
6.738

A thief makes a disturbing discovery in the house where he breaks in. Later, when he returns to the same house with his partner in crime, things are no longer how he expected.



Rampage
Rampage(1987)
5.9

Liberal district attorney decides to seek the death penalty for a man who slaughtered a family at Christmastime, then drank their blood. He escapes, though, and starts killing again.



Witness to Murder
6.2

A woman fights to convince the police that she witnessed a murder while looking out her bedroom window.



Witness for the Prosecution

An ailing barrister agrees to defend a man in a sensational murder trial where the unconvincing testimony of the defendant's wife becomes a subject of confusion.



Charley Varrick
7.3

Charley Varrick robs a bank in a small town with his friends, but instead of obtaining a small amount of money, they discover they stole a very large amount of money belonging to the mob. Charley must now come up with a plan to not only evade the police but the mob as well.



Manhunter
Manhunter(1986)
7

FBI Agent Will Graham, who retired after catching Hannibal Lecter, returns to duty to engage in a risky cat-and-mouse game with Lecter to capture a new killer.



...And Justice for All

An ethical Baltimore defense lawyer disgusted with rampant legal corruption is forced to defend a judge he despises in a rape trial under the threat of being disbarred.



The Desperate Hours
6.997

Escaped convicts terrorize a suburban family they're holding hostage.



The Prowler
6.8

Los Angeles, California. A cop who, unhappy with his job, blames others for his work problems, is assigned to investigate the case of a prowler who stalks the home of a married woman.



The Trials of Cate McCall

In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.



Felon
Felon(2008)
7.1

A family man convicted of killing an intruder must cope with life afterward in the violent penal system.



Maigret Sets a Trap

Four women were murdered, each was knifed and, though they had their clothes torn, they weren't molested. As the famed police inspector Jules Maigret pieces the clues together, he comes to realize that for the elusive man that he suspects to be unmasked, he has to set him a trap.



The Skeptic
5.3

After the mysterious death of his Aunt, a confirmed skeptic lawyer, Bryan Becket, dismisses reports that her house is haunted and moves in. Immediately occurrences begin he cannot explain. And beyond the occurrences there is something about the house which gnaws at Becket - some strange connection he senses he has with the house's past. Soon, the haunting turns personal.



No Good Deed
5.936

Terri is a devoted wife and mother of two, living an ideal suburban life in Atlanta when Colin, a charming but dangerous escaped convict, shows up at her door claiming car trouble. Terri offers her phone to help him but soon learns that no good deed goes unpunished as she finds herself fighting for survival when he invades her home and terrorizes her family.



Hounded
Hounded(2022)
5.25

A stately home robbery takes an evil turn one night when a gang of young thieves are caught by the owners of the house and then hunted across the estate for the proprietor's entertainment.



A Time to Kill
7.4

A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.



The Judge
The Judge(2014)
7.328

A successful lawyer returns to his hometown for his mother's funeral only to discover that his estranged father, the town's judge, is suspected of murder.



Rear Window
8.3

A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.



Cry Danger
6.604

After serving five years of a life sentence, Rocky Mulloy hopes to clear his friend who's still in prison for the same crime.



Hannibal
Hannibal(2001)
6.8

After having successfully eluded the authorities for years, Hannibal peacefully lives in Italy in disguise as an art scholar. Trouble strikes again when he's discovered leaving a deserving few dead in the process. He returns to America to make contact with now disgraced Agent Clarice Starling, who is suffering the wrath of a malicious FBI rival as well as the media.



The Firm
The Firm(1993)
6.7

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 more sinister side of his company. Then, two Associates are murdered. The FBI contact him, asking him for information and suddenly his life is ruined. He has a choice - work with the FBI, or stay with the Firm. Either way he will lose his life as he knows it. Mitch figures the only way out is to follow his own plan...



Firewall
Firewall(2006)
5.834

State-of-the-art security system creator Jack Stanfield has cemented his reputation as a man who's thought of everything. But when a criminal finds a way into his personal life, everything Jack holds dear is suddenly at stake.



The Hunter
5.9

During his long career, bounty hunter Ralph "Papa" Thorson has caught over 5,000 criminals. Now, while he is working on apprehending fugitives in Illinois, Texas and Nebraska, he himself is being hunted by a psychotic killer.



Shepherds and Butchers

A lawyer takes on a case of a prison guard in South Africa who is traumatized by the executions he's witnessed.



Vertigo
Vertigo(1958)
8.155

A retired San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.



Compulsion
7.1

Two close friends' plan to execute a flawless crime is crushed when one of them inadvertently leaves his glasses at the crime scene.



Poison
Poison(1951)
7.2

Paul Braconnier and his wife Blandine only have one thing in mind: to find a way to kill each other without risk. After listening to a radio show, Paul decides to go to Paris to meet a famous lawyer in the acquittal of the murderers. He tells the lawyer that he killed his wife. The lawyer asks Paul to reconstruct the circumstances of the drama. Without knowing it, he explains, in spite of himself, the way for Paul to murder his wife by putting the odds on his side to avoid death penalty or even be released...



Wait Until Dark
7.3

After a flight back home, Sam Hendrix returns with a doll he innocently acquired along the way. As it turns out, the doll is actually stuffed with heroin, and a group of criminals led by the ruthless Roat has followed Hendrix back to his place to retrieve it. When Hendrix leaves for business, the crooks make their move -- and find his blind wife, Susy, alone in the apartment. Soon, a life-threatening game begins between Susy and the thugs.



Psycho
Psycho(1960)
8.421

When larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious Bates Motel, where manager Norman Bates cares for his housebound mother.



Dolores Claiborne
7.3

Dolores Claiborne was accused of killing her abusive husband twenty years ago, but the court's findings were inconclusive and she was allowed to walk free. Now she has been accused of killing her employer, Vera Donovan, and this time there is a witness who can place her at the scene of the crime. Things look bad for Dolores when her daughter Selena, a successful Manhattan magazine writer, returns to cover the story.



Nightwatch
6

A law student takes a job as a night watchman at a morgue and begins to discover clues that implicate him as the suspect in a series of murders.



Dead Calm
Dead Calm(1989)
6.6

An Australian couple takes a sailing trip in the Pacific to get over the recent loss of their son. While on the open sea, they come across a sinking ship with one survivor who is not at all what he seems.



The Silence of the Lambs

Clarice Starling is a top student at the FBI's training academy. Jack Crawford wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder and cannibalism. Crawford believes that Lecter may have insight into a case and that Starling, as an attractive young woman, may be just the bait to draw him out.



The Hitcher II: I've Been Waiting

A sadistic serial killer terrorizes a couple driving on a rural highway in Texas while killing numerous people and framing them for his killings.



The Silencing
6.426

A reformed hunter becomes involved in a deadly game of cat and mouse when he and the local sheriff set out to track a vicious killer who may have kidnapped his daughter years ago.



Return to Innocence

A searing legal drama that centers on a highly credentialed child psychologist whose life is shattered when he's accused of sexually assaulting a young boy he's been treating.



Straw Dogs
7.148

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 ostracized by the brutish men of the village, including Amy's old flame, Charlie. Eventually the taunts escalate.



Psycho II
Psycho II(1983)
6.5

Norman Bates is declared sane and released from the facility in which he was being held, despite the complaints of Lila Loomis, sister of his most famous victim. Is he really cured, or will he kill again?



Strangled
Strangled(2016)
6.4

A psychotic killer is on the prowl, who continues to slaughter young women while an innocent man is wrongly accused and sentenced for crimes he could never have committed. A determined detective arrives on the scene and soon becomes obsessed with the case while under pressure from the prosecutor to see a man hang.



Small Crimes
5.383

A disgraced former cop, fresh off a six-year prison sentence for attempted murder, returns home looking for redemption but winds up trapped in the mess he left behind.



Scar
Scar(2007)
4.4

Joan Burrows returns to her hometown for her niece's graduation, only to be confronted by the serial killer she thought she offed years ago -- after he kidnapped and tormented her and her best friend.



I.T.
I.T.(2016)
5.414

Mike Regan is a successful, self-made man who has it all: a gorgeous wife, a beautiful teenage daughter and a sleek, state-of-the-art “smart home”. But he soon finds himself in a deadly, high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse when his I.T. consultant, Ed, starts using his skills to stalk Mike’s daughter and endanger his family, his business, and his life. In a world where there is no privacy, and personal secrets can go viral by the click of a mouse, Mike needs to rely on his old connections to defeat a new kind of nemesis.



Unhinged
Unhinged(2020)
6.4

Rachel is a divorced single mother whose bad day gets even worse. She's running late to drop her son off at school when she honks her horn impatiently at a fellow driver during rush-hour traffic. After an exchange of words, she soon realizes that the mysterious man is following her and her young son in his truck. A case of road rage quickly escalates, at horrifyingly psychotic proportions, into full-blown terror as Rachel discovers the psychopath's sinister plan for revenge. He is single-mindedly determined to teach her a deadly lesson.



Boy Missing
6.485

When her son's alleged kidnapper is released for lack of solid evidence, a reputable and well-known attorney takes matters into her own hands with unintended and spectacularly disastrous consequences.



The Marsh King's Daughter

Helena, a woman living a seemingly ordinary life, hides a dark secret—her father is the infamous 'Marsh King', the man who kept her and her mother captive in the wilderness for years. After a lifetime of trying to escape her past, Helena is forced to face her demons when her father unexpectedly escapes from prison.



The Chase
The Chase(1994)
5.8

Jack Hammond is sentenced to life in prison, but manages to escape. To get away from the police he takes a girl as hostage and drives off in her car. The girl happens to be the only daughter of one of the richest men in the state. In a while the car chase is being broadcast live on every TV-channel.



A Murder of Crows
6.1

In the wake of a career-ending scandal, disgraced lawyer Lawson Russell moves to Key West, where he befriends aging novelist Christopher Marlowe. After letting Russell borrow his latest manuscript, Marlowe dies of a heart attack. When Russell publishes the dead man's manuscript under his own name, he makes the best-seller list—and unwittingly becomes the prime suspect in the investigation of a grisly multiple homicide.



Sleuth
Sleuth(1972)
7.675

A man who loves games and theater invites his wife's lover to meet him, setting up a battle of wits with potentially deadly results.



Red Dragon
7

Former FBI Agent Will Graham, who was once almost killed by the savage Hannibal 'The Cannibal' Lecter, now has no choice but to face him again, as it seems Lecter is the only one who can help Graham track down a new serial killer.



Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

A newspaper publisher, wanting to prove a point about the insufficiency of circumstantial evidence, talks his possible son-in-law Tom into a hoax in an attempt to expose ineptitude of the city's hard-line district attorney. The plan is to have Tom plant clues leading to his arrest for killing a female nightclub dancer. Once Tom is found guilty, he is to reveal the setup and humiliate the DA.



Shoot Out
Shoot Out(1971)
6.361

Clay Lomax, a bank robber, gets out of jail after an 7 year sentence. He is looking after Sam Foley, the man who betrayed him. Knowing that, Foley hires three men to pay attention of Clay's steps. The things get complicated when Lomax, waiting to receive some money from his ex-lover, gets only the notice of her death and an 7 year old girl, sometimes very annoying, presumed to be his daughter.



Bunny Lake Is Missing

A woman reports that her young daughter is missing, but there seems to be no evidence that she ever existed.



The Gingerbread Man
5.574

A successful Savannah defense attorney gets romantically involved with a sexy, mysterious waitress troubled by psychopaths and dark family secrets.



Jaws
Jaws(1975)
7.681

When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town's chief of police, a young marine biologist, and a grizzled shark hunter embark on a desperate quest to kill the beast before it strikes again.



The Fugitive
7.5

Wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife and sentenced to death, Richard Kimble escapes from the law in an attempt to find the real killer and clear his name.



Victim
Victim(1961)
7.5

A web of blackmail and murder attracts the attention of a barrister with a seemingly idyllic life, threatening to derail his career on the path of success.



Cobra
Cobra(1986)
6.2

A tough-on-crime street cop must protect the only surviving witness to a strange murderous cult with far reaching plans.



Fatal Attraction
6.8

A married man's one-night stand comes back to haunt him when that lover begins to stalk him and his family.



Wild Things
6.361

When teen-socialite Kelly Van Ryan and troubled bad girl Suzie Toller accuse guidance counselor Sam Lombardo of rape, he's suspended by the school, rejected by the town, and fighting to get his life back. One cop suspects conspiracy, but nothing is what it seems...



Judgment Night
6.5

Four young friends, while taking a shortcut en route to a local boxing match, witness a brutal murder which leaves them running for their lives.



Shocker
Shocker(1989)
5.567

About to be electrocuted for a catalog of heinous crimes, the unrepentant Horace Pinker transforms into a terrifying energy source. Only young athlete Jonathan Parker, with an uncanny connection to him through bizarre dreams, can fight the powerful demon.



Tailgate
Tailgate(2019)
6.122

A cocksure, road-raging family man finds himself pursued and terrorized by the vengeful van driver he chooses to tailgate.



Law Abiding Citizen

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.



10 to Midnight
6.2

Warren Stacy, an office equipment repairman, begins murdering women after they reject his advances. To minimize the evidence, Stacy always kills while naked, wearing nothing but gloves, and further evades the law with his strong alibis. Veteran detective Leo Kessler is convinced of Stacy's guilt and begins using questionable methods to catch him.



12 Angry Men
8.549

The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open and shut case soon becomes a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other.



Coogan's Bluff
6.3

Coogan, an Arizona deputy sheriff goes to New York to pick up a prisoner. While escorting the prisoner to the airport, he escapes and Coogan heads into the city to recapture him.



The Life of David Gale

A man against capital punishment is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row.



Psycho
Psycho(1998)
5.1

A young female embezzler arrives at the Bates Motel, which has terrible secrets of its own.



Just Cause
6.2

A Harvard professor is lured back into the courtroom after twenty-five years to take the case of a young black man condemned to death for the horrific murder of a child.



True Crime
6.5

Boozer, skirt chaser, careless father. You could create your own list of reporter Steve Everett's faults but there's no time. A San Quentin Death Row prisoner is slated to die at midnight – a man Everett has suddenly realized is innocent.



Suspect
Suspect(1987)
6.6

When a Supreme Court judge commits suicide and his secretary is found murdered, all fingers point to Carl Anderson, a homeless veteran who's deaf and mute. But when public defender Kathleen Riley is assigned to his case, she begins to believe that Anderson may actually be innocent. Juror Eddie Sanger, a Washington lobbyist, agrees, and together the pair begins their own investigation of events.



SK1
SK1(2015)
6.869

The hunt, capture and trial of Guy Georges, one of France's most notorious serial killers.



Fracture
Fracture(2007)
7.263

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 cat-and-mouse is played out, each must manipulate and outwit the other.



Experiment in Terror

A man with an asthmatic voice telephones and assaults clerk Kelly Sherwood at home and coerces her into helping him steal a large sum from her bank.



The Mean Season
6.23

A routine investigation of a shocking murder takes a bizarre twist when the killer contacts the reporter and appoints him his personal spokesman. As the killer's calls and clues increase, the reporter is lured into a deadly trap.



The Trial
The Trial(1962)
7.4

The surreal tale of an unassuming man who is accused of a never-specified crime and shambles through bizarre encounters to escape this nightmare.



Absolute Power
6.653

A master thief coincidentally is robbing a house where a murder—in which the President of the United States is involved—occurs in front of his eyes. He is forced to run, while holding evidence that could convict the President.



Hangman
Hangman(2017)
5.819

A homicide detective teams up with a criminal profiler to catch a serial killer whose crimes are inspired by the children's game, Hangman.



Extremities
6.116

A woman escapes from the man who is about to rape her, but leaves her purse behind. Afraid that her attacker might come after her, she goes to the police, but with no proof of the incident, they can do nothing. In fact, the man does use the information in her bag and comes to her apartment with the intent of rape, but she sprays him in the face with insect repellent, and then holds him captive. She is then faced with deciding whether to go to the police who might not believe her and release him, or to kill him.



Desperation
5.5

When a sheriff arrests a writer, a family, a couple, and a hitchiker and throws them in a jail cell in the deserted town of Desperation, they must fight for their lives.



Backtrack
Backtrack(2015)
5.771

Troubled psychotherapist Peter Bowers is suffering from nightmares and eerie visions. When he uncovers a horrifying secret that all of his patients share, he is put on a course that takes him back to the small hometown he fled years ago. There he confronts his demons and unravels a mystery 20 years in the making.



Spellbinder
5.8

After leaving work one night, Los Angeles attorney Jeff Mills and his colleague rescue a young, beautiful woman from an abusive boyfriend. Jeff soon becomes romantically involved with her and embroiled in the web of intrigue that follows her, despite a string of ominous happenstances and repeated warnings from his secretary.



The Accused
7.1

Out drinking one night after a fight with her boyfriend, three men brutally rape Sarah Tobias in a bar while people watch and cheer. District Attorney Kathryn Murphy takes the case; however, she allows the rapists to receive a mild sentence. A distraught Sarah decides to seek punishment for the men who witnessed and encouraged the rape. To get justice, Sarah must take the stand and revisit the night of her attack.



Crime Wave
7.1

Reformed parolee Steve Lacey is caught in the middle when a wounded former cellmate seeks him out for shelter. The other two former cellmates then attempt to force him into doing a bank job.



Surveillance
6

An FBI agent tracks a serial killer with the help of three of his would-be victims - all of whom have wildly different stories to tell.

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