Thriller films about a hard life

List of the best thriller films about a hard life according to the audience: Nightcrawler, Flight, The Skin I Live In, Trade, The Number 23, Titus, Sleepy Hollow, If These Walls Could Talk, The Next Three Days, A Time to Kill.

In the top there are new films of 2023, a plot description and trailers for films that have already been released.

Markimdb: 7.8
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:58

    When Lou Bloom, desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story. Aiding him in his effort is Nina, a TV-news veteran.

    Markimdb: 7.3
    Genrethriller, drama
    CountryUSA, United Arab Emirates
    Duration02:18

    Commercial airline pilot Whip Whitaker has a problem with drugs and alcohol, though so far he's managed to complete his flights safely. His luck runs out when a disastrous mechanical malfunction sends his plane hurtling toward the ground. Whip pulls off a miraculous crash-landing that results in only six lives lost. Shaken to the core, Whip vows to get sober -- but when the crash investigation exposes his addiction, he finds himself in an even worse situation.

    Markimdb: 7.6
    Genrethriller, drama, crime
    CountrySpain, USA
    Duration02:00

    A brilliant plastic surgeon creates a synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession.

    Markimdb: 7.3
    Genrethriller, drama, crime
    CountryGermany, USA, Mexico
    Duration02:00

    A Texas cop (Kevin Kline), whose own daughter might have been forced into sexual slavery, joins forces with a Mexican youth (Cesar Ramos) to find the boy's sister, who was abducted and forced into prostitution. Meanwhile, a Ukrainian woman who was promised a better life in America also becomes a victim.

    Markimdb: 6.4
    Genrehorror, thriller, drama, crime, detective
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:41

    Walter Sparrow is an animal control officer that becomes obsessed with a mysterious book that seems to be based on his own life. As soon as he opens the book, he notices strange parallels between what he reads and what he's experienced. But now he's worried that a fictional murder might materialize.

    Markimdb: 7.1
    Genrethriller, drama, history
    CountryUnited Kingdom, Italy, USA
    Duration02:42

    Titus Andronicus returns from the wars and sees his sons and daughters taken from him, one by one. Shakespeare's goriest and earliest tragedy.

    Markimdb: 7.3
    Genrehorror, thriller, fantasy, detective
    CountryUSA, Germany
    Duration01:45

    New York detective Ichabod Crane is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of mysterious deaths in which the victims are found beheaded. But the locals believe the culprit to be none other than the ghost of the legendary Headless Horseman.

    Markimdb: 7
    Genrethriller, melodrama, drama
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:35

    Three stories portray women coping with unplanned pregnancies in various social climates, the 1950s, 1970s and 1990s. In 1952 the newly widowed nurse Clare goes and sees a back-street abortionist in order to put an end to her pregnancy. After giving birth to three children, Barbara at last has the realistic hope of finding a job again, but then a new pregnancy thwarts her plans. In 1974 abortion is already legal; however, this fact does not make it any easier for Barbara to take the right decision. In 1996 Christine, a student, consults an abortion clinic to get information on abortion. While doing this, she is being harassed by militant anti-abortionists.

    Markimdb: 7.3
    Genreaction, thriller, melodrama, drama, crime
    CountryUSA, France
    Duration02:13

      A married couple's life is turned upside down when the wife is accused of a murder. Lara Brennan is arrested for murdering her boss with whom she had an argument. It seems she was seen leaving the scene of the crime and her fingerprints were on the murder weapon. Her husband, John would spend the next few years trying to get her released, but there's no evidence that negates the evidence against her. And when the strain of being separated from her family, especially her son, gets to her, John decides to break her out. So he does a lot of research to find a way.

      Markimdb: 7.5
      Genrethriller, drama, crime
      CountryUSA
      Duration02:30

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

      Markimdb: 6.4
      Genrethriller, drama, detective
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:40

      Best friends Alice and Darlene take a trip to Thailand after graduating high school. In Thailand, they meet a captivating Australian man, who calls himself Nick Parks. Darlene is particularly smitten with Nick and convinces Alice to take Nick up on his offer to treat the two of them to what amounts to a day trip to Hong Kong. In the airport, the girls are seized by the police and shocked to discover that one of their bags contains heroin.

      Markimdb: 7.6
      Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
      CountryUnited Kingdom, Canada, USA
      Duration01:40

      A Russian teenager, living in London, dies during childbirth but leaves clues to a midwife in her journal, that could tie her child to a rape involving a violent Russian mob family.

      Markimdb: 7
      Genrethriller, drama, crime
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:56

      John Quincy Archibald is a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and then finds out he cannot receive a transplant because HMO insurance will not cover it. Therefore, he decides to take a hospital full of patients hostage until the hospital puts his son's name on the donor's list.

      Markimdb: 6.5
      Genrethriller, melodrama, drama
      CountryUSA, Germany, Saudi Arabia
      Duration01:41

      A thriller in which a battle of philosophies between a fundamentalist Christian and an atheist escalates into a lethal battle of wills.

      Markimdb: 7.9
      Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
      CountryUSA, Australia
      Duration02:18

      A story about friendship and loyalty, guilt and vengeance, and the fateful affect the past has on the present.

      Markimdb: 8.1
      Genrethriller, drama
      CountryCanada, Republic of Ireland, United Kingdom, USA
      Duration02:32

      Jack is a young boy of 5 years old who has lived all his life in one room. He believes everything within it are the only real things in the world. But what will happen when his Ma suddenly tells him that there are other things outside of Room?

      Markimdb: 6.7
      Genreaction, thriller
      CountryUSA, United Kingdom
      Duration01:35

        A soldier introduces himself to the Peterson family, claiming to be a friend of their son who died in action. After the young man is welcomed into their home, a series of accidental deaths seem to be connected to his presence.

        Markimdb: 7.5
        Genrethriller, drama, crime
        CountryUSA
        Duration02:04

        Doug MacRay is a longtime thief, who, smarter than the rest of his crew, is looking for his chance to exit the game. When a bank job leads to the group kidnapping an attractive branch manager, he takes on the role of monitoring her – but their burgeoning relationship threatens to unveil the identities of Doug and his crew to the FBI Agent who is on their case.

        Markimdb: 8.2
        Genrethriller, drama, detective
        CountryUSA
        Duration02:18

        World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by his troubling visions and also by a mysterious doctor.

        Markimdb: 6.8
        Genrethriller, drama
        CountryDenmark, Sweden
        Duration01:42

        Detectives and best friends Andreas and Simon lead vastly different lives; Andreas has settled down with his beautiful wife and son; while Simon, recently divorced, spends most of his waking hours getting drunk at the local strip club. But all that changes when the two of them are called out to a domestic dispute between a junkie couple, caught in a vicious cycle of violence and drugs. It all looks very routine – until Andreas finds the couple's infant son, crying in a closet. The usually collected policeman finds himself confronted with his own powerlessness and is shaken to his core. As Andreas slowly loses his grip on justice, it suddenly becomes up to the unruly Simon to restore the balance between right and wrong.

        Markimdb: 6.9
        Genrethriller, drama
        CountryUnited Kingdom, Germany, USA
        Duration02:10

          Set against the backdrop of the succession of Queen Elizabeth I, and the Essex Rebellion against her, the story advances the theory that it was in fact Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford who penned Shakespeare's plays.

          Markimdb: 6.6
          Genrethriller, drama
          CountryUSA
          Duration01:54

          After surviving a stabbing by a student, teacher Trevor Garfield moves from New York to Los Angeles. There, he resumes teaching as a substitute teacher. The education system, where violent bullies control the classrooms and the administration is afraid of lawsuits, slowly drives Garfield mad.

          Markimdb: 7
          Genrethriller, drama, crime
          CountryUSA, Canada
          Duration01:56

          Earl Stone, a man in his eighties, is broke, alone, and facing foreclosure of his business when he is offered a job that simply requires him to drive. Easy enough, but, unbeknownst to Earl, he's just signed on as a drug courier for a Mexican cartel. He does so well that his cargo increases exponentially, and Earl hit the radar of hard-charging DEA agent Colin Bates.

          Markimdb: 7.3
          Genrehorror, fantastic, thriller, drama, detective
          CountryUSA, Japan
          Duration02:27

          Though Kevin has evidenced 23 personalities to his trusted psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher, there remains one still submerged who is set to materialize and dominate all the others. Compelled to abduct three teenage girls led by the willful, observant Casey, Kevin reaches a war for survival among all of those contained within him — as well as everyone around him — as the walls between his compartments shatter apart.

          Markimdb: 8.5
          Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
          CountryUSA
          Duration01:53

          Leonard Shelby is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty, however, of locating his wife's killer is compounded by the fact that he suffers from a rare, untreatable form of memory loss. Although he can recall details of life before his accident, Leonard cannot remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he's going, or why.

          Markimdb: 7.3
          Genrethriller, drama, crime
          CountrySouth Korea
          Duration01:54

          A woman subject to mental, physical, and sexual abuse on a remote island seeks a way out.

          Markimdb: 7.7
          Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective, biography, history
          CountryUSA
          Duration02:21

          Christine Collins is overjoyed when her kidnapped son is brought back home. But when Christine suspects that the boy returned to her isn't her child, the police captain has her committed to an asylum.

          Markimdb: 7.6
          Genrethriller, drama, history
          CountryUSA, Germany, India
          Duration02:39

            During the Cold War, the Soviet Union captures U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers after shooting down his U-2 spy plane. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Powers' only hope is New York lawyer James Donovan, recruited by a CIA operative to negotiate his release. Donovan boards a plane to Berlin, hoping to win the young man's freedom through a prisoner exchange. If all goes well, the Russians would get Rudolf Abel, the convicted spy who Donovan defended in court.

            Markimdb: 7.1
            Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
            CountryUSA
            Duration02:03

            Lake Tahoe, 1969. Seven strangers, each one with a secret to bury, meet at El Royale, a decadent motel with a dark past. In the course of a fateful night, everyone will have one last shot at redemption.

            Markimdb: 6.7
            Genrethriller, detective
            CountryRussia, USA, United Kingdom, Cyprus

            Looking to investigate recruitment techniques of ISIS to lure women into Syria, Amy Whitaker, a journalist, creates a Facebook profile of a Muslim convert. When an ISIS recruiter contacts her online character, she experiences the process first hand.

            Markimdb: 7.1
            Genrethriller, drama, crime
            CountryUSA

            In Knockemstiff, Ohio and its neighboring backwoods, sinister characters converge around young Arvin Russell as he fights the evil forces that threaten him and his family.

            Markimdb: 7.7
            Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
            CountryUSA
            Duration02:38

            The true story of the investigation of the "Zodiac Killer", a serial killer who terrified the San Francisco Bay Area, taunting police with his ciphers and letters. The case becomes an obsession for four men as their lives and careers are built and destroyed by the endless trail of clues.

            Markimdb: 6.3
            Genrethriller, drama, crime, biography
            CountryUSA, Netherlands
            Duration01:38

              The New York club scene of the 80s and 90s was a world like no other. Into this candy-colored, mirror ball playground stepped Michael Alig, a wannabe from nowhere special. Under the watchful eye of veteran club kid James St. James, Alig quickly rose to the top... and there was no place to go but down.

              Markimdb: 7.3
              Genrethriller, drama, crime, biography
              CountryUSA, Germany
              Duration01:49

              Aileen Wuornos is an emotionally scarred highway hooker who shoots a sadistic trick who rapes her and ultimately becomes America's first female serial killer.

              Markimdb: 7.6
              Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
              CountryUSA
              Duration01:54

              When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt, Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detectives freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasons - they're not cops and they know the tough neighborhood in which they all live. As the case progresses, Kenzie and Gennaro face drug dealers, gangs and pedophiles. When they are about to solve the case, they are faced with a moral dilemma that tears them apart.

              Markimdb: 6.5
              Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
              CountryUSA, Germany, Canada
              Duration01:45

              A woman framed for her husband's murder suspects he is still alive; as she has already been tried for the crime, she can't be re-prosecuted if she finds and kills him.

              Markimdb: 7.5
              Genrethriller, drama, detective
              CountryUnited Kingdom, USA
              Duration01:52

                After her son Kevin commits a horrific act, troubled mother Eva reflects on her complicated relationship with her disturbed son as he grew from a toddler into a teenager.

                Markimdb: 6.6
                Genreaction, thriller, crime
                CountryUSA
                Duration01:42

                  An ex-cop turned con threatens to jump to his death from a Manhattan hotel rooftop. The NYPD dispatch a female police psychologist to talk him down. However, unbeknownst to the police on the scene, the suicide attempt is a cover for the biggest diamond heist ever pulled.

                  Markimdb: 6.3
                  Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
                  CountryUSA
                  Duration01:55

                  A female attorney learns that her husband is really a marine officer awol for fifteen years and accused of murdering fifteen civilians in El Salvador. Believing her husband when he tells her that he's being framed as part of a U.S. Military cover-up, the attorney defends him in a military court.

                  Markimdb: 7.6
                  Genrethriller, drama, crime
                  CountryUSA
                  Duration02:05

                    This is the story of three gentle persons: Paul Rivers an ailing mathematician lovelessly married to an English émigré, Christina Peck, an upper-middle-class suburban housewife, happily married and mother of two little girls, and Jack Jordan, an ex-convict who has found in his Christian faith the strength to raise a family. They will be brought together by a terrible accident that will change their lives. By the final frame, none of them will be the same as they will learn harsh truths about love, faith, courage, desire and guilt, and how chance can change our worlds irretrievably, forever.

                    Markimdb: 6.8
                    Genrethriller, comedy, drama, crime
                    CountryUSA, Mexico, France

                    Following the arrest of her mother, Ramona, young Vanessa Lutz decides to go in search of her estranged grandmother. On the way, she is given a ride by school counselor Bob Wolverton. During the journey, Lutz begins to realize that Bob is the notorious I-5 Killer and manages to escape by shooting him several times. Wounded but still very much alive, Bob pursues Lutz across the state in this modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.

                    Markimdb: 6.4
                    Genrethriller, crime, detective
                    CountryUSA, Spain, Hungary, Serbia
                    Duration01:50

                    A fictionalized account of the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life, in which the poet is in pursuit of a serial killer whose murders mirror those in the writer's stories.

                    Markimdb: 7.2
                    Genrethriller, drama, history
                    CountryFrance, Italy

                    In 1894, French Captain Alfred Dreyfus is wrongfully convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment at Devil's Island.

                    Markimdb: 8.1
                    Genrethriller, drama, detective
                    CountryUSA
                    Duration02:29

                      With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.

                      Markimdb: 6.9
                      Genrethriller, melodrama, drama
                      CountryUSA
                      Duration01:51

                      Lewis, Sheriff and Tony are three friends vacationing in Malaysia. Sheriff and Tony eventually leave to pursue careers in New York, but Lewis stays behind to work with orangutans. Two years later, Sheriff and Tony learn that, because of their past actions, Lewis has been arrested for drug possession. With Lewis facing a death sentence, the friends are left with a difficult decision: return to Malaysia and split Lewis' sentence, or let him die.

                      Markimdb: 7.7
                      Genrethriller, drama
                      CountrySpain, France, United Kingdom, USA
                      Duration01:37

                      The Machinist is the story of Trevor Reznik, a lathe-operator who is dying of insomnia. In a machine shop, occupational hazards are bad enough under normal circumstances; yet for Trevor the risks are compounded by fatigue. Trevor has lost the ability to sleep. This is no ordinary insomnia...

                      Markimdb: 6.5
                      Genrethriller, melodrama
                      CountryUSA
                      Duration01:48

                      When a willful young man tries to venture beyond his sequestered Pennsylvania hamlet, his actions set off a chain of chilling incidents that will alter the community forever.

                      Markimdb: 7.3
                      Genrehorror, thriller, fantasy, drama, detective
                      CountryUSA, United Kingdom

                      A traumatized, alcoholic Dan Torrance meets Abra, a kid who also has the ability to "shine." He tries to protect her from the True Knot, a cult whose goal is to feed off of people like them in order to remain immortal. Doctor Sleep is a sequel to Stephen King's 1977 novel "The Shining". Doctor Sleep is set several decades after the events of the first "Shining".

                      Markimdb: 6.5
                      Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime
                      CountryUSA
                      Duration01:24

                      While undergoing heart surgery, a man experiences a phenomenon called ‘anesthetic awareness’, which leaves him awake but paralyzed throughout the operation. As various obstacles present themselves, his wife must make life-altering decisions while wrestling with her own personal drama.

                      Markimdb: 7.7
                      Genrethriller, drama, crime, biography
                      CountryUSA, Italy
                      Duration02:10

                      The real-life struggle of an honest New York City cop against a corrupt system.




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