20 best movies like Body Heat (1981)

List of the best movies like Body Heat (1981): Hotel Noir, Body Double, I Wake Up Screaming, Rushlights, A Perfect Murder, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Cassandra's Dream, Forever Mine, Sea of Love, Palmetto.

Tags: movies similar to Body Heat (1981) - full list

Markimdb: 5.5
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime, film noir
CountryUSA

Los Angeles, 1958: a detective holes up in a downtown hotel awaiting killers to come get him. During the course of one night he will meet various occupants of the hotel and the truth of how he came to be in his present situation will be revealed.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
CountryUSA
Duration01:54

After losing an acting role and his girlfriend, Jake Scully finally catches a break: he gets offered a gig house-sitting in the Hollywood Hills. While peering through the beautiful home's telescope one night, he spies a gorgeous blonde dancing in her window. But when he witnesses the girl's murder, it leads Scully through the netherworld of the adult entertainment industry on a search for answers -- with porn actress Holly Body as his guide.

Markimdb: 7.2
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime, detective, film noir
CountryUSA
Duration01:22

A young promoter is accused of the murder of Vicky Lynn, a young actress he "discovered" as a waitress while out with ex-actor Robin Ray and gossip columnist Larry Evans.

Markimdb: 5.8
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime
CountryUSA

Young lovers Billy and Sarah journey from L.A. to Texas with plans to make a false claim to the valuable assets left behind by a dead friend. But when their voyage brings them to Tremo, Texas, they find a bizarre and sinister world awaiting them.

Markimdb: 6.6
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:47

Millionaire industrialist Steven Taylor is a man who has everything but what he craves most: the love and fidelity of his wife. A hugely successful player in the New York financial world, he considers her to be his most treasured acquisition. But she needs more than simply the role of dazzling accessory.

Markimdb: 6.6
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime
CountryWest Germany, USA
Duration01:56

This remake of the 1946 movie of the same name accounts an affair between a seedy drifter and a seductive wife of a roadside cafe owner. This begins a chain of events that culminates in murder. Based on a novel by James M. Cain.

Markimdb: 6.7
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime
CountryUSA, United Kingdom, France
Duration01:48

The tale of two brothers with serious financial woes. When a third party proposes they turn to crime, things go bad and the two become enemies.

Markimdb: 5.3
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime
CountryUnited Kingdom, Canada, USA
Duration01:55

A hotel cabana boy falls for the wife of a powerful politico. But when she confesses to the affair, her husband determines to end it forever.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime
CountryUSA, Canada
Duration01:53

Seen-it-all New York detective Frank Keller is unsettled - he has done twenty years on the force and could retire, and he hasn't come to terms with his wife leaving him for a colleague. Joining up with an officer from another part of town to investigate a series of murders linked by the lonely hearts columns he finds he is getting seriously and possibly dangerously involved with Helen, one of the main suspects.

Markimdb: 6.1
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime, detective
CountryGermany, USA
Duration02:02

A recently released ex-con gets involved in a fake kidnapping scheme that turns very real.

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

Matt Lee Whitlock, respected chief of police in small Banyan Key, Florida, must solve a vicious double homicide before he himself falls under suspicion. Matt Lee has to stay a few steps ahead of his own police force and everyone he's trusted in order to find out the truth.

Markimdb: 7.1
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime, detective
CountryUSA
Duration02:10

Marnie is a beautiful kleptomaniac who is in love with businessman Mark Rutland. Marnie who is a compulsive thief is being watched by her new boss Mark who suspects her of stealing from him and thus decides to blackmail her in the most unusual way. A psychological thriller from Alfred Hitchcock based on a novel of the same name by Winston Graham.

Markimdb: 5.6
Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
CountryUSA, Germany, France
Duration02:01

Lee Blanchard and Bucky Bleichert are former boxers-turned-cops in 1940s Los Angeles and, when an aspiring young actress turns up dead, Blanchard and Bleichert must grapple with corruption, narcissism, stag films and family madness as they pursue the killer.

Markimdb: 5.7
Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
CountryUSA
Duration01:41

As investigative reporter Ward Jansen and his partner Yardley Acheman chase a sensational, career-making story with the help of Ward's younger brother Jack and sultry death-row groupie Charlotte Bless, the pair tries to prove violent swamp-dweller Hillary Van Wetter was framed for the murder of a corrupt local sheriff.

Markimdb: 5.4
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama
CountryUSA

A passionate filmmaker creating a film based upon a true crime casts an unknown mysterious young woman bearing a disturbing resemblance to the femme fatale in the story. Unsuspectingly, he finds himself drawn into a complex web of haunting intrigue: he becomes obsessed with the woman, the crime, her possibly notorious past, and the disturbing complexity between art and truth. From the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina to Verona, Rome, and London, new truths are revealed and clues to other crimes and passions, darker and even more complex, are uncovered.

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: 6.5
    Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:05

    The beautiful Mrs. Paradine is accused of poisoning her older, blind husband. She hires married Anthony Keane as her lawyer and when he begins to fall in love with her, she encourages him.

    Markimdb: 6.4
    Genrethriller, drama, crime
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:38

    Federal agent Alexandra Barnes believes that Catherine Petersen is a serial killer who marries rich men and then murders them for their money. But since Catherine is seemingly a master of disguise and has multiple identities, Alexandra can't prove anything with conventional detective work. With no other option, she goes undercover, pursuing the same man as Catherine, and hoping that Catherine will slip up and reveal her true identity.

    Markimdb: 6.9
    Genrethriller, drama, crime
    CountryUSA, Canada
    Duration01:50

    A young short-con grifter suffers both injury and the displeasure of reuniting with his criminal mother, all the while dating an unpredictable young lady.

    Markimdb: 7.4
    Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime, detective, film noir
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:53

    A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband.

    Markimdb: 5.9
    Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime
    CountryUnited Kingdom, Canada, USA
    Duration01:35

    Cynical hit man Mick is tiring of his job and asks his boss George for time off. However, George gives him the assignment of his life, prompting Mick's soul-searching to reach new heights. Mick is asked to kill sultry Fiona, who owes George money and claims she wants to die. But as Mick spends time with her, he finds himself falling for her.

    Markimdb: 6.4
    Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:10

    A loner moves in to a small Texas town, finds himself a job, and sets about plotting to rob the local bank.

    Markimdb: 7.1
    Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
    CountryUSA, United Kingdom, France
    Duration02:07

    Handsome, unflappable U.S. Congressman Stephen Collins is the future of his political party: an honorable appointee who serves as the chairman of a committee overseeing defense spending. All eyes are upon the rising star to be his party's contender for the upcoming presidential race. Until his research assistant/mistress is brutally murdered and buried secrets come tumbling out.

    Markimdb: 7.4
    Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:52

    A sheltered Amish child is the sole witness of a brutal murder in a restroom at a Philadelphia train station, and he must be protected. The assignment falls to a taciturn detective who goes undercover in a Pennsylvania Dutch community. On the farm, he slowly assimilates despite his urban grit and forges a romantic bond with the child's beautiful mother.

    Markimdb: 7.1
    Genrethriller, drama, crime
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:45

    Following a series of drug deals and murders, three criminals -- Fantasia, Ray Malcolm and Pluto -- travel from Los Angeles to Houston, finally arriving in a small Arkansas town to go into hiding. Two detectives from the LAPD, who are already on the case, contact the town's sheriff, Dale Dixon, to alert him of the fugitives' presence in the area. Underestimating Dixon, the criminals have no idea what they are about to face.

    Markimdb: 7.1
    Genrethriller, crime, detective
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:54

    A high-priced call girl is forced to depend on a reluctant private eye when she is stalked by a psychopath.

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

    When a promised job for Texan Michael fails to materialise in Wyoming, Mike is mistaken by Wayne to be the hitman he hired to kill his unfaithful wife, Suzanne. Mike takes full advantage of the situation, collects the money and runs. During his getaway, things go wrong, and soon get worse when he runs into the real hitman, Lyle.

    Markimdb: 6.2
    Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime, detective
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:03

    Uncle John revolves around the struggle to keep a mysterious disappearance unsolved

    Markimdb: 8
    Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime, film noir
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:37

    Jeff Bailey seems to be a mundane gas station owner in remote Bridgeport, CA. He is dating local girl Ann Miller and lives a quiet life. But Jeff has a secret past, and when a mysterious stranger arrives in town, Jeff is forced to return to the dark world he had tried to escape.

    Markimdb: 6.7
    Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:16

    Spike Lee's take on the "Son of Sam" murders in New York City during the summer of 1977 centering on the residents of an Italian-American South Bronx neighborhood who live in fear and distrust of one another.

    Markimdb: 7.2
    Genrethriller, drama, crime
    CountryUSA, Germany
    Duration01:48

      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.

      Markimdb: 5.9
      Genreaction, thriller, melodrama, drama, adventure, crime
      CountryUSA
      Duration02:08

      She was a beautiful fugitive. Fleeing from corruption. From power. He was a professional athlete past his prime. Hired to find her, he grew to love her. Love turned to obsession. Obsession turned to murder. And now the price of freedom might be nothing less than their lives.

      Markimdb: 7.5
      Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime
      CountryFrance
      Duration01:21

      A French man spies on a lovely younger woman across the way. When he's spotted by the woman shortly after being questioned by the police about a local murder, the man's simple life becomes more complicated.

      Markimdb: 6.1
      Genrethriller, drama, crime
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:33

      25 year-old Dwayne McLaren, a former athlete turned auto mechanic, dreams of getting out of tiny Cut Bank, Montana the coldest town in America. But his effort to do so sets in moton a deadly series of events that change his life and the life of the town forever...

      Markimdb: 7.7
      Genrethriller, melodrama, crime, detective
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:00

      Two teenage boys secretly meet up in a cabin, bear witness to a shooting and barely escape with their lives. Desperate to keep their relationship a secret and in fear of being found by the perpetrator, they remain silent but soon learn that what has been seen cannot be unseen -- and when you witness a horrible event, it changes everything.

      Markimdb: 6.7
      Genrethriller, drama, crime
      CountryUSA, France
      Duration01:50

      How can a split-second decision change your life? While investigating noises in his house one balmy Texas night in 1989, Richard Dane puts a bullet in the brain of low-life burglar Freddy Russell. Although he’s hailed as a small-town hero, Dane soon finds himself fearing for his family’s safety when Freddy’s ex-con father, Ben, rolls into town, hell-bent on revenge.

      Markimdb: 6.8
      Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:49

      Richard spots a man dumping a body, and decides to expose the man he thinks is the culprit with his friend Alex Cutter.

      Markimdb: 7.8
      Genredrama, crime, detective, film noir
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:37

      Two hit men walk into a diner asking for a man called "the Swede". When the killers find the Swede, he's expecting them and doesn't put up a fight. Since the Swede had a life insurance policy, an investigator, on a hunch, decides to look into the murder. As the Swede's past is laid bare, it comes to light that he was in love with a beautiful woman who may have lured him into pulling off a bank robbery overseen by another man.

      Markimdb: 8
      Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:20

      Two young men strangle their "inferior" classmate, hide his body in their apartment, and invite his friends and family to a dinner party as a means to challenge the "perfection" of their crime.

      Markimdb: 6.5
      Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime
      CountryFrance
      Duration01:29

      In Paris, the international police force and the Russian mafia are chasing Anthony Zimmer, an intelligent man responsible for laundry of dirty money in France. Zimmer had extensive plastic surgery, and his new face and voice are completely unknown. The only means to reach Zimmer is through his beloved mistress Chiara, who is under surveillance of the police and the mobsters. While traveling by train to the country nearby Nice, the common man François Taillandier, who has the same body shape of Zimmer, is select by Chiara as if he were Zimmer and used as a bait to lure those that are pursuing her. When Taillandier is chased by the professional Russian killers, he runs the French police when the real situation begins to be disclosed to him. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

      Markimdb: 7.6
      Genremelodrama, drama, crime, detective, film noir
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:35

      After a woman shoots a man to death, a damning letter she wrote raises suspicions.

      Markimdb: 7.2
      Genreaction, thriller, melodrama, drama, crime
      CountryUnited Kingdom, USA
      Duration02:09

      Terry Noonan returns home to New York's Hells Kitchen after a ten year absence. He soon hooks up with childhood pal Jackie who is involved in the Irish mob run by his brother Frankie. Terry also rekindles an old flame with Jackie's sister Kathleen. Soon, however, Terry is torn between his loyalty to his friends and his loyalties to others.

      Markimdb: 7.5
      Genrethriller, drama, crime, film noir
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:28

      Burt Lancaster plays Steve Thompson, a man who seals his dark fate when he returns to Los Angeles to find his ex-wife Anna Dundee (Yvonne DeCarlo) eager to rekindle their love against all better judgement. She encourages their affair but then quickly marries mobster Slim Dundee (Dan Duryea). To deflect suspicion of the affair, Steve Thompson leads Dundee into a daylight armored-truck robbery.

      Markimdb: 5.3
      Genrethriller, drama, crime
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:47

      Someone does a nasty hatchet job on a San Francisco big shot and the Assistant D.A. takes charge of the investigation. Through a web of blackmail and prostitution involving the Governor, an old lover of the law man emerges as a prime suspect and he has to deal with his personal feelings as well as the case.

      Markimdb: 6.5
      Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
      CountrySpain, USA
      Duration01:39

      A man with the ability to enter peoples' memories takes on the case of a brilliant, troubled sixteen-year-old girl to determine whether she is a sociopath or a victim of trauma.

      Markimdb: 7.2
      Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
      CountryUSA

      A year after Sheila is killed in a hit-and-run, her multimillionaire husband invites a group of friends to spend a week on his yacht playing a scavenger hunt-style mystery game. The game turns out to be all too real and all too deadly.

      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: 7.3
      Genrethriller, melodrama, crime
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:49

      Corky, a tough female ex-convict working on an apartment renovation in a Chicago building, meets a couple living next door, Caesar, a paranoid mobster, and Violet, his seductive girlfriend, who is immediately attracted to her.

      Markimdb: 6.4
      Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime, detective
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:38

      Bobby Earl is facing the electric chair for the murder of a young girl. Eight years after the crime he calls in Paul Armstrong, a professor of law, to help prove his innocence. Armstrong quickly uncovers some overlooked evidence to present to the local police, but they aren't interested - Bobby was their killer.

      Markimdb: 6.1
      Genrehorror, thriller, melodrama, drama, crime, detective
      CountryUSA

      Crystal and her boyfriend Leo embark on a tense and mysterious road trip through the desolate yet hauntingly beautiful landscape of central Florida.




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