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Movies like The Desperate Hour

Key Features:
Mother-child relationship, Survival, High stakes, Race against time, Emergency response, Small town, Police investigation, Family drama, Trauma
Tone:
serious, suspense-driven, dramatic
Target Audience:
Thrill-seekers, Parents, Fans of suspense, Viewers interested in social issues
Emotional Arc:
Anxiety → Desperation

The Desperate Hour

2022-02-17
The Desperate Hour Poster - Find Similar Movies

A woman desperately races to save her child after police place her hometown on lockdown due to an active shooter incident.

Genres
Thriller
Cast
Naomi Watts, Colton Gobbo, Sierra Maltby, Michelle Johnston, Woodrow Schrieber, David Reale, Jason Clarke, Debra Wilson, Christopher Marren, Joshua Bowman
Crew
Chris Sparling, Phillip Noyce
Rating
6(460 votes)
The Desperate HourThe Desperate Hour
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Desperate Hours
5.386

An escaped con, on the run from the law, moves into a married couple's house and takes over their lives.



Desperate Measures

San Francisco police officer Frank Connor is in a frantic search for a compatible bone marrow donor for his gravely ill son. There's only one catch the potential donor is convicted multiple murderer Peter McCabe who sees a trip to the hospital as the perfect opportunity to get what he wants most: freedom. With McCabe's escape, the entire hospital becomes a battleground and Connor must pursue and, ironically, protect the deadly fugitive who is his son's only hope for survival.



The Desperate Hours
6.997

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



Setback
Setback(2011)
8.4

A race against time between a man whose son requires urgent treatment and a stockbroker who suddenly lost his investors' money and ruined his own family.



Run Hide Fight
6.6

A 17-year-old girl uses her wits, survival skills, and compassion to fight for her life, and those of her fellow classmates, against a group of live-streaming school shooters.



Cellular
Cellular(2004)
6.389

A young man receives an emergency phone call on his cell phone from an older woman. She claims to have been kidnapped – and the kidnappers have targeted her husband and child next.



Mother
Mother(2017)
6.913

An everyday conversation between Marta and her mother turns into a tragic race against the clock when Marta receives a phone call from Iván, her six-year-old son, who is on holiday in France with his father.



Carjacked
Carjacked(2011)
5.165

A single mom and her child are carjacked by a bank robber who has no intention of letting them go.



Kidnap
Kidnap(2017)
6.236

A mother (in her Minivan) stops at nothing to recover her kidnapped son.



The Deep End
6.2

With her husband Jack perpetually away at work, Margaret Hall raises her children virtually alone. Her teenage son is testing the waters of the adult world, and early one morning she wakes to find the dead body of his gay lover on the beach of their rural lakeside home. What would you do? What is rational and what do you do to protect your child? How far do you go and when do you stop?



Quantum Apocalypse
3.8

A group of talented but rebellious 'rock-star scientists' find themselves in a race against time to save Earth when a comet makes an unexpected turn towards our blue planet where all life may cease to exist within days if our small town heroes fail to find a solution.



Countdown
Countdown(2016)
5.092

A madman captures a young boy and rigs him with explosives. Ray Fitzpatrick, still haunted by the loss of his own son, will defy orders to stop the clock and save a life



Nick of Time
6.2

An ordinary man is suddenly forced into a plot to kill a politician in exchange for his kidnapped daughter's freedom.



Desperate Riders
5.6

After Kansas Red rescues young Billy from a card-game shootout, the boy asks Red for help protecting his family from the outlaw Thorn, who’s just kidnapped Billy’s mother, Carol. As Red and Billy ride off to rescue Carol, they run into beautiful, tough-as-nails Leslie, who’s managed to escape Thorn’s men. The three race to stop Thorn’s wedding to Carol with guns a-blazing - but does she want to be rescued?



Rogue Hostage
5.6

A former Marine races against time to save a group of hostages -- including his young daughter and a congressman — when armed militants take over his stepfather's store.



STRAW
STRAW(2025)
7.812

What will be her last straw? A devastatingly bad day pushes a hardworking single mother to the breaking point — and into a shocking act of desperation.



F
F(2010)
6.106

A group of teachers must defend themselves from a gang of murderous kids when their school comes under siege after hours.



Don't. Get. Out!
6.3

Taking his kids to school with the car, Berlin real estate developer Karl gets a call from a blackmailer: If he doesn’t pay up, the car will blow up. A deadly race against time begins.



Detention
Detention(2003)
4.419

A heroic high school teacher leads a band of students trapped in school by violent drug-runners.



Monolith
Monolith(2016)
5.334

A mother and her son plan a surprise visit to Los Angeles to see her husband/his father. Halfway there they get into a terrible accident in the middle of nowhere and now must fight to survive.



In Syria
In Syria(2017)
6.469

A mother attempts to keep her family safe as war rages and a sniper lies in wait outside her home.



Adrenaline
5.943

A female FBI agent holidaying in Eastern Europe with her family gets her life upside down when her daughter is kidnapped. She has to team up with a criminal on the run to save her daughter before time runs out.



The Slender Thread
7.118

Alan is a Seattle college student volunteering at a crisis center. One night when at the clinic alone, a woman calls up the number and tells Alan that she needs to talk to someone. She informs Alan she took a load of pills, and he secretly tries to get help. During this time, he learns more about the woman, her family life, and why she wants to die. Can Alan get the cavalry to save her in time before it's too late?



Survive the Night
4.8

A disgraced doctor and his family are held hostage at their home by criminals on the run, when a robbery-gone-awry requires them to seek immediate medical attention.



The Quake
The Quake(2018)
6.7

A geologist races against time to save his estranged wife and two children when a devastating earthquake strikes Oslo, Norway.



Hours
Hours(2013)
6.6

A father struggles to keep his infant daughter alive in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.



Heist
Heist(2015)
6.142

A father is without the means to pay for his daughter's medical treatment. As a last resort, he partners with a greedy co-worker to rob a casino. When things go awry they're forced to hijack a city bus.



2012
2012(2009)
5.864

Dr. Adrian Helmsley, part of a worldwide geophysical team investigating the effect on the earth of radiation from unprecedented solar storms, learns that the earth's core is heating up. He warns U.S. President Thomas Wilson that the crust of the earth is becoming unstable and that without proper preparations for saving a fraction of the world's population, the entire race is doomed. Meanwhile, writer Jackson Curtis stumbles on the same information. While the world's leaders race to build "arks" to escape the impending cataclysm, Curtis struggles to find a way to save his family. Meanwhile, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes of unprecedented strength wreak havoc around the world.



The Wolf Hour
5.3

Once a known counterculture figure, June E. Leigh now lives in self-imposed exile in her South Bronx apartment during the incendiary '77 Summer of Sam. When an unseen tormentor begins exploiting June's weaknesses, her insular universe begins to unravel.



M.O.M. Mothers of Monsters

A distraught mother suspects her teenage son is a psychopath who may shoot up his high school, but when he outsmarts the mental healthcare system she is forced to take matters into her own hands.



Daylight
Daylight(1996)
6.1

A group of armed robbers fleeing the police head for the New Jersey Tunnel and run right into trucks transporting toxic waste. The spectacular explosion that follows results in both ends of the tunnel collapsing and the handful of people who survived the explosion are now in peril. Kit Latura is the only man with the skill and knowledge to lead the band of survivors out of the tunnel before the structure collapses.



Freerunner
4.5

With a ticking bomb locked to his neck, a young freerunner races against the clock and all types of baddies to get from one end of the city to the other to save himself and his girlfriend.



13 Minutes
5.9

As a new day begins in the small American town of Minninnewah, the residents start their day as ordinary as the next. Mother Nature, however, has other plans for them. Inhabitants have just 13 minutes to seek shelter before the largest tornado on record ravages the town, leaving them struggling to protect their loved ones and fighting for their lives. Left to deal with the aftermath, four families must overcome their differences and find strength in each other in order to survive.



10.0 Earthquake
4.9

Los Angeles is about to be hit by a devastating earthquake, and time is running out to save the city from imminent danger.



The Clinic
5.514

While traveling across country with her fiancé, Beth wakes alone in an isolated clinic to a mother's worst nightmare. Just how far will she go to save her child?



Panic Room
6.8

Trapped in their New York brownstone's panic room, a hidden chamber built as a sanctuary in the event of break-ins, newly divorced Meg Altman and her young daughter Sarah play a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with three intruders - Burnham, Raoul and Junior - during a brutal home invasion. But the room itself is the focal point because what the intruders really want is inside it.



Trapped
Trapped(2002)
6.2

When their daughter is abducted by experienced kidnappers, the Jennings turn the tables on their seemingly fool-proof plan.



Line of Duty
5.88

Frank Penny is a disgraced cop looking for a shot at redemption. When the police chief's 11-year-old daughter is abducted, Frank goes rogue to try and save her. But to find the girl, Frank will need the help of Ava Brooks, whose live-streaming news channel is broadcasting Frank's every move.



Getaway
Getaway(2013)
5

Former race car driver Brent Magna is pitted against the clock. Desperately trying to save the life of his kidnapped wife, Brent commandeers a custom Ford Shelby GT500 Super Snake, taking it and its unwitting owner on a high-speed race against time, at the command of the mysterious villain holding his wife hostage.



Outbreak
Outbreak(1995)
6.6

A deadly airborne virus finds its way into the USA and starts killing off people at an epidemic rate. Col. Sam Daniels' job is to stop the virus spreading from a small town, which must be quarantined, and to prevent an over reaction by the White House.



Miracle Mile
6.878

After 30 years of searching, Harry has finally met the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately, before they even have a chance to go on their first date, Harry intercepts some chilling news: WWIII has begun and nuclear missiles will destroy Los Angeles in less than an hour!



Earth's Final Hours
4.299

After dense matter from an imploded white hole hits Earth, the planet's rotation is devastated. A group of government agents must locate a lost satellite network that is the world's only hope for survival.



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.



Inside
Inside(2016)
4.948

Completely on her own, Sarah spends her time at home, waiting for the approaching birth of her child. But one night, a stranger breaks into her home, ready to snatch her still unborn baby from her.



Contagion
Contagion(2011)
6.6

As an epidemic of a lethal airborne virus - that kills within days - rapidly grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself.



Blood
Blood(2023)
6.413

Jess, a newly separated mother and nurse, moves into her old family farmhouse with Tyler, her teenage daughter, and Owen, her eight-year-old son. One night, the family dog senses something in the woods and runs off to find it. He returns a couple of days later and attacks Owen, savagely biting him before Jess is able to intervene. Owen is rushed to the hospital. His condition worsens, and no one can figure out why... until Jess discovers a disturbing cure...



Sixty Minutes
6.762

Desperate to keep custody of his daughter, a mixed martial arts fighter abandons a big match and races across Berlin to attend her birthday party.



The Trigger Effect
5.7

A blackout leaves those affected to consider what is necessary, what is legal, and what is questionable, in order to survive in a predatory environment.



Silent Hill
6.604

Rose, a desperate mother takes her adopted daughter, Sharon, to the town of Silent Hill in an attempt to cure her of her ailment. After a violent car crash, Sharon disappears and Rose begins a desperate search to get her back. She descends into the center of the twisted reality of a town's terrible secret. Pursued by grotesquely deformed creatures and townspeople stuck in permanent purgatory, Rose begins to uncover the truth behind the apocalyptic disaster that burned the town 30 years earlier.



500 MPH Storm
5.392

When an energy experiment goes haywire, a rash of massive hurricanes rips across North America. A high school science teacher must get his family to safety before the hurricanes merge, creating a "hypercane" with the power to wipe the US off the map.



The Day
The Day(2011)
5.125

Open war against humanity rages. For five survivors – lost and on the run – the pursuit is relentless, the bullets are dwindling and the battle is everywhere. This is a 24-hour look into their lives.



Radioflash
5.092

When a nuclear strike causes an electromagnetic pulse that cuts off all power, water, and communication to the entire western United States, Reese finds herself plunged into an all-too-real fight to survive. As pandemonium grips her city, Reese and her father set out on a desperate journey in search of safety--a perilous trek through a world gone mad where every encounter with a stranger could be your last.



When Time Ran Out...

An active volcano threatens a south Pacific island resort and its guests as a power struggle ensues between the property's developer and a drilling foreman.



The Commuter
6.4

A businessman, on his daily commute home, gets unwittingly caught up in a criminal conspiracy that threatens not only his life but the lives of those around him.



Shut In
Shut In(2016)
5.3

A widowed child psychologist lives in an isolated existence in rural New England. When caught in a deadly winter storm, she must find a way to rescue a young boy before he disappears forever.



Shut In
Shut In(2022)
6.804

A young single mother is held captive along with her two children by a violent ex and must plot their escape before it’s too late.



Panic in the Streets
6.903

A medical examiner discovers that an innocent shooting victim in a robbery died of bubonic plague. With only 48 hours to find the killer, who is now a ticking time bomb threatening the entire city, a grisly manhunt through the seamy underworld of the New Orleans Waterfront is underway.



Hallow Road
6.4

Two parents enter a race against time when they receive a distressing late-night phone call from their daughter after she caused a tragic car accident.



Rattlesnake
5.251

After a mysterious woman saves her daughter from a deadly snakebite, a single mother must repay the debt by killing a stranger before sundown.



Point Blank
6.004

A nurse is forced to spring a wounded murder suspect from the hospital when the man’s brother kidnaps his pregnant wife and wants to make a trade.



A Day and a Half
6.308

In a desperate bid to reunite with his daughter, an armed man bursts into the medical center where his estranged wife works and kidnaps her.



Motherly
Motherly(2022)
6.132

Kate and her daughter Beth live alone in an isolated farmhouse in the woods, but when Kate slowly begins to suspect that something sinister is happening, her motherly instincts are put to the test.



Bullet Train Explosion

When panic erupts on a Tokyo-bound bullet train that will explode if it slows below 100 kph, authorities race against time to save everyone on board.



4 Horsemen: Apocalypse

A small team of scientists must race against time to stop what seems to be a cascade of global disasters signaling the possible apocalypse and end of days.



Breathe
Breathe(2024)
5.671

Air-supply is scarce in the near future, forcing a mother and daughter to fight for survival when two strangers arrive desperate for an oxygenated haven.



Crank
Crank(2006)
6.648

Chev Chelios, a hit man wanting to go straight, lets his latest target slip away. Then he awakes the next morning to a phone call that informs him he has been poisoned and has only an hour to live unless he keeps adrenaline coursing through his body while he searches for an antidote.



Mom and Dad
5.402

In a suburban community, moms and dads, one after the other, mysteriously feel the irresistible impulse to attack and kill their own offspring.



Son
Son(2021)
6.009

When a young boy contracts a mysterious illness, his mother must decide how far she will go to protect him from terrifying forces in her past.



The Time Shifters
5.77

Tom Merrick gets caught up in a time-traveling conspiracy and must set the timeline right before it is irrevocably altered.



4 Minute Mile
5.947

A teenager overcomes odds to run a 4-minute mile race.



The Patriot
5.6

A deadly virus threatens to wipe out an entire Rocky Mountain town, leaving the town doctor to find some way to escape the soldiers who enforce the town's quarantine and devise an antidote. Matters take a more deadly turn after the physician is captured by a dangerously unstable band of militia extremists.



97 Minutes
4.702

A hijacked 767 will crash in just 97 minutes when its fuel runs out. Against the strong will of NSA Deputy Toyin, NSA Director Hawkins prepares to have the plane shot down before it does any catastrophic damage on the ground, leaving the fate of the innocent passengers in the hands of Tyler, one of the alleged hijackers on board who is an undercover Interpol agent - or is he?



Bird Box
Bird Box(2018)
6.827

Five years after an ominous unseen presence drives most of society to suicide, a survivor and her two children make a desperate bid to reach safety.



Altitude
Altitude(2010)
4.7

After a mysterious malfunction sends their small plane climbing out of control, a rookie pilot and her four teenage friends find themselves trapped in a deadly showdown with a supernatural force.



Sudden Death
6

When a man's daughter is suddenly taken during a championship hockey game – with the captors demanding a billion dollars by game's end – he frantically sets a plan in motion to rescue her and abort an impending explosion before the final buzzer.



Midnight Special
6.3

A father and son go on the run after the dad learns his child possesses special powers.



San Andreas Quake
4.2

When a discredited L.A. Seismologist warns of an impending 12.7 earthquake, no one takes her seriously. Now on her own, she races desperately to get her family to safety before the earthquake breaks Los Angeles apart from the mainland.



Clock
Clock(2023)
5.552

On the eve of her 38th birthday, a woman desperately attempts to fix her broken biological clock.



Death Race
6.29

Terminal Island, New York: 2020. Overcrowding in the US penal system has reached a breaking point. Prisons have been turned over to a monolithic Weyland Corporation, which sees jails full of thugs as an opportunity for televised sport. Adrenalized inmates, a global audience hungry for violence and a spectacular, enclosed arena come together to form the 'Death Race', the biggest, most brutal event.



Paradox Effect
5.515

An innocent woman is forced to confront a dangerous kingpin who has kidnapped her young daughter and is holding her for ransom. She teams up with a corrupt Interpol agent, whose son is also being held hostage, to rip off various criminals to raise the ransom to save their offspring. Together they have one hour to save their families from the wrath of bigwig.



Infinite Storm
5.743

One woman's journey for self-discovery and turns into a harrowing tale of survival.



Shockwave: Countdown to Disaster

A stolen seismic weapon is activated in Yemen. A hostage freed there tries in vain to warn against its global effect. It starts seismic activity at the Californian fault line where her daughter and ex are monitoring it. Can they stop it?



Day of the Dead
5.211

When a small Colorado town is overrun by the flesh hungry dead, a small group of survivors try to escape in a last ditch effort to stay alive.



The Mother
6.627

A deadly female assassin comes out of hiding to protect the daughter that she gave up years before, while on the run from dangerous men.



Now or Never
6.1

As a mother, in principle, you do not rob banks. But these days, it can be a solution for the future of your home, and not to give up on your dreams. Playing the thieves can quickly become dangerous and bad encounters can turn into a love story ...



211
211(2018)
5.3

Inspired by one of the longest and bloodiest real-life events in police history, Officer Mike Chandler and a young civilian passenger find themselves under-prepared and outgunned when fate puts them squarely in the crosshairs of a daring bank heist in progress by a fearless team of highly-trained and heavily-armed men.



11/11/11
11/11/11(2011)
3.8

Jack and Melissa are frightened by their son's bizarre and violent behavior; they soon learn that he is the gateway to the Apocalypse, and it will happen on his birthday, 11-11-11.



Knowing
Knowing(2009)
6.2

A teacher opens a time capsule that has been dug up at his son's elementary school; in it are some chilling predictions -- some that have already occurred and others that are about to -- that lead him to believe his family plays a role in the events that are about to unfold.



No Exit
No Exit(2022)
6.9

Stranded at a rest stop in the mountains during a blizzard, a recovering addict discovers a kidnapped child hidden in a car belonging to one of the people inside the building which sets her on a terrifying struggle to identify who among them is the kidnapper.



Labyrinthus
5.8

Frikke, a 14-year-old boy, discovers a sinister computer game that uses real children from his neighbourhood as players. In a race against time Frikke must find the evil creator of this horrible game.



The Lost Bus
7.135

A determined father risks everything to rescue a dedicated teacher and her students from a raging wildfire.



Rabid Dogs
5.5

After a bank job goes badly wrong, three desperate criminals take a young woman and a father and child hostage - it's the beginning of a frantic and violent road trip that not all of them will survive.



Trunk - Locked In
6.063

28-year-old medicine student Malina wakes up disoriented in a locked trunk and realizes, to her horror, that she is missing more than just her memory of what happened. With her phone as the only link to the outside world, the intelligent young woman wages a desperate fight for survival while the vehicle races relentlessly toward a terrible secret.



127 Hours
127 Hours(2010)
7.1

The true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah.



Acceleration
5.5

After being double crossed by his most trusted operative, a ruthless crime lord takes revenge by kidnapping the her son. Overwhelmed with fear, the operative is given one night to make up for her misdeeds by systematically eliminating his enemies. As the hours rush by, the steaks begin to rise and the darkened city streets turn into a brutal and bloody battle ground.



Unthinkable
6.802

The government gets wind of a plot to destroy America involving a trio of nuclear weapons for which the whereabouts are unknown. It's up to a seasoned interrogator and an FBI agent to find out exactly where the nukes are.



G20
G20(2025)
6.458

After the G20 Summit is overtaken by terrorists, President Danielle Sutton must bring all her statecraft and military experience to defend her family and her fellow leaders.



Earthquake
6.1

Various interconnected people struggle to survive when an earthquake of unimaginable magnitude hits Los Angeles, California.



Interceptor
6.066

A U.S. Army Captain uses her years of tactical training to save humanity from sixteen nuclear missiles launched at the U.S. as a violent attack threatens her remote missile interceptor station.

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