20 best movies like Held for Ransom (2000)

A teenage boy discovers the perpetrators of several brutal kidnappings in his home town.

A ransom scheme turns into a nightmare for a group of kidnappers who become victims of a horrifying secret that must be paid every spring.

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

When a rich man's son is kidnapped, he cooperates with the police at first but then tries a unique tactic against the criminals.

Gene Watson is a public accountant who arrives on a train at Union Station in Los Angeles, accompanied by his 6-year-old daughter Lynn. Because of his ordinary looks, he is approached by a pair of sinister people named Smith and Jones.

After a perverted impulse drives them to kill, Alice and her boyfriend, Luc, drag the body into the woods, only to find themselves hopelessly lost – much like the fairy-tale plight of Hansel and Gretel. Starving and with no hope of being found, they chance upon a dilapidated cottage where a hulking man takes them prisoner and proceeds to feed Luc's sexual appetite.

Charlie, a former mobster, is abducted by five privileged young men desperate to raise a $2 million ransom to save the sister of a friend. As Charlie plays mind games, however, his captors splinter -- each wondering whether one of their own had a hand in the crime.

The Zero Hour tells the story of the La Parca (Zapata 666), a fearsome assassin who is forced to kidnap a private clinic to save the love of his life, Ladydi (Amanda Key). They soonreached the police and a media circus with them, who make our character into a national hero.La Parca finds that saving the life of Ladydi be difficult, but escaped with his followers will be an almost impossible task. Time starts to run out, and what seemed like a perfect plan will end in a frantic ending where La Parca is forced to confront past mistakes, and discover that their worst enemies are closer than he imagined.

Without the security of the job he wants or the future he dreamed of, Paul Dynan plans the perfect crime to help his struggling family – abduct the socialite children of three wealthy men and collect a ransom of $3-million dollars. Over the course of one long night, Paul and his accomplices hold the rich kids hostage awaiting the ransom with little idea of the secrets that will surface between the fathers when they are forced to choose between their children and their money.

The anomalous heat wave overwhelms everything, forcing everyone to reverse the pace of life: only during the hours of darkness it is possible to work, move, survive. And it is precisely in the middle of the night that Samantha emerges from the darkness that had swallowed her. A thirteen year old kidnapped and long held prisoner, Sam is now suddenly free and, traumatized and wounded, is hospitalized in a hospital room. Next to her, Dr. Green (Dustin Hoffman), an extraordinary profiler. Green in fact does not hunt monsters in the outside world, but in the minds of the victims. Because it is inside the memories of Sam that the clues able to lead to the capture of his jailer are hidden: the Man of the Labyrinth. But Dr. Green is not the only one chasing the monster. There is also Bruno Genko (Toni Servillo), a private investigator with an unexpected talent.

Seventeen years ago, Mike kills a new mother of twin girls and took the babies to a house in the woods, claiming them as his own to appease his wife's desire for kids. 10 years later Stacy flees to her uncle's old secluded cabin in those same woods to escape her abusive boyfriend. There she is haunted by the ghosts of the little girls crying for their mother.

Former Hollywood star Reagan Pearce is kidnapped by two men connected to his past while on location in Louisiana. When he wakes up bound and chained in a rundown shack, he soon discovers the real motives of his captors and finds himself in the middle of a twisted scheme with little chance to survive. With no rescue in sight, Reagan must use every ounce of strength he has left to break free and get his revenge.

A teenage boy is sent to a juvenile reform facility in the wilderness. As we learn about the tragic events that sent him there, his struggle becomes one for survival with the inmates, counselors, and the retired war colonel in charge.

An infamous terrorist has evaded capture for a long time by being extremely clever and ruthless. Things get interesting when he hijacks a plane carrying famous security expert John Cutter, who isn't about to stand this sort of thing.

A special agent's plans to reconcile with his ex-fiancé are ruined when she boards a private jet that is targeted by hijackers working for the same crime lord that he is chasing.

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.

Two aging film actresses live as virtual recluses in an old Hollywood mansion. Jane Hudson, a successful child star, cares for her crippled sister Blanche, whose career in later years eclipsed that of Jane. Now the two live together, their relationship affected by simmering subconscious thoughts of mutual envy, hate and revenge.

When a mafia accountant is taken hostage on his beat, a police officer – wracked by guilt from a prior stint as a negotiator – must negotiate the standoff, even as his own family is held captive by the mob.

A year after losing his friend in a tragic 4,000-foot fall, former ranger Gabe Walker and his partner, Hal, are called to return to the same peak to rescue a group of stranded climbers, only to learn the climbers are actually thieving hijackers who are looking for boxes full of money.

After a break-in at their house, a couple gets help from one of the cops that answered their call. He helps them install the security system, and begins dropping by on short notice and unofficial patrol, and spends a lot of time discussing the couple's problems with the wife. The husband begins wondering if they're getting too much help.

FBI agent Dennis Quaid tries to catch a serial killer who kidnapped his son.

Armed men hijack a New York City subway train, holding the passengers hostage in return for a ransom, and turning an ordinary day's work for dispatcher Walter Garber into a face-off with the mastermind behind the crime.

Five men heist the Camp Pendleton payroll and kidnap a pilot and his daughter, who are forced to fly them to Mexico. Enroute a double cross has one of the thieves parachute with the loot into an abandoned graveyard surrounded by strange scarecrows. The rest of the team jump after their loot and their former partner. Everything happens during the course of one very dark night.

A rich man's daughter is held captive in an abandoned apartment by two former convicts who abducted her and hold her ransom in exchange for her father's money.

Saturday 24th December 1994. Four GIA terrorists hijack an Air France A300 Airbus at the Algiers airport. The Airbus, bound for Paris, has 227 passengers on board. No one knows exactly what the terrorists’ intentions are, just that they are armed and extremely determined. They demand the liberation of their “brothers in arms” and want the aircraft to take off at once. After very lengthy and intense negotiations between the French and Algerian governments, the plane is finally allowed to leave. There are three main characters at the heart of the action: a member of the GIGN, Carole Jeanton, an ambitious technocrat willing to do anything it takes to achieve personal gain from the events, and Yahia Abdallah, a determined jihadist who grew up in the slums of Algiers and was being manipulated by an obscure GIA envoy, Ali Touchent.

Three soldiers get trapped in an elevator when terrorists set off a dirty bomb. But when White escapes, her world turns upside down as she realizes nothing is what it seems.

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 Jack's personal life, everything Jack holds dear is suddenly at stake.

Haunted by memories of his ex-girlfriend Alice, a heartbroken Billy returns home to Northern Virginia seeking solace from old friends. But what he finds there is more disconcerting: his best friend Stanley has become unstable, mysterious and withdrawn from those around him. Billy teams up with another old friend to find out what's going on and as they probe Stanley's recent activities, their friend's behaviour seems more and more bizarre and frightening.

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.

"To Catch a Killer" tells the true gruesome story of John Wayne Gacy - a good friend and helpful neighbour, a great child entertainer, a respectful businessman, and a violent serial killer who raped and murdered over 30 young boys.

Communication is the key to the survival for nine strangers who have been kidnapped by a masked gunman and told that one of them will die every ten minutes until they discover how they are all connected. Who of the nine lives and who dies?

Two leading computer scientists work toward their goal of Technological Singularity, as a radical anti-technology organization fights to prevent them from creating a world where computers can transcend the abilities of the human brain.

Three girls discover that two men are willing to do anything to impress Mother and what impresses Mother is watching her sons commit acts of rape and murder. Now these women are prisoners and lowered to pawns in the game of checkers between two dim wits and their Maniac Mommy and the question becomes, can any of them escape, alive?

An oil drilling team struggles to survive after a plane crash strands them in the wilds of Alaska. Hunting them is a pack of wolves that sees them as intruders.

The savage murders of three young children sparks a controversial trial of three teenagers accused of killing the kids as part of a satanic ritual.

May Munro is a woman obsessed with getting revenge on the people who murdered her parents when she was still a girl. She hires Ray Quick, a retired explosives expert to kill her parent's killers. When Ned Trent, embittered ex-partner of Quick's is assigned to protect one of Quick's potential victims, a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues.

Jessica and Dave along with three other young couples are kidnapped in Griffith Park by unseen Abductors and must fight to escape certain death only to discover the world will never be the same.

Private investigator Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife.

A secretary is found dead in a White House bathroom during an international crisis, and Detective Harlan Regis is in charge of the investigation. Despite resistance from the Secret Service, Regis partners with agent Nina Chance. As political tensions rise, they learn that the crime could be part of an elaborate cover-up. Framed as traitors, the pair, plus Regis' partner, break into the White House in order to expose the true culprit.

Veronica, the new girl in town, is lured into the woods by a group of senior boys looking to make her a victim. But the boys don't know that Veronica's been trained to handle herself in surprisingly lethal ways.

A courier for a local crime lord must deliver a mysterious package while being chased by a horde of unusual gangsters.

When housewife Frances Hannon is abducted and buried alive, detective Madeline Foster is brought in. With only 24 hours before Frances' oxygen runs out, Madeline pursues the trail laid by a killer calling himself Harry Houdini. After capturing him, Madeline brings Harry back to the police station, but is unable to get him to confess where Frances is buried. As time runs down, Harry gets inside the head of unstable, alcoholic Madeline.

Young Emily Walton, who has suffered from psychosomatic blindness ever since the car accident that took her mother's life, must summon every instinct at her disposal to protect herself and her loved ones from a mysterious intruder

A doctor of Indian origin returning to Mumbai from London is forced to participate in a terrorist plot.

A group of five mountaineers are hiking and climbing in the Scottish Highlands when they discover a young Serbian girl buried in a small chamber in the wilderness. They become caught up in a terrifying game of cat and mouse with the kidnappers as they try to get the girl to safety.

6 strangers are kidnapped and through governmental technology have proof they have all killed before and are told 5 will die this night, one may walk, and the six have 2 hours to decide who gets to live.

Ex-government operative Bryan Mills finds his life is shattered when he's falsely accused of a murder that hits close to home. As he's pursued by a savvy police inspector, Mills employs his particular set of skills to track the real killer and exact his unique brand of justice.

After dating a wonderful man, Hope comes back home, sees her daughter Jennifer and goes to sleep. She wakes-up in the woods with a psychopath...

Driving to a weekend getaway, a car breakdown strands young couple Don and Nancy (David James Elliot and Heather Marsden) while passing through a small, rural Louisiana town. Finding the couple on the roadside, the towns inhospitable Sheriff Taylor (Jeff Fahey) tells them therell be no one to repair their car before morning. He directs them to a nearby motel for the night run by Carter (Michael Madsen). Checking into the seedy, rundown establishment, Don and Nancy have no way of knowing how this place deals with outsiders. Badge aside, the Sherriff answers to Carter, as do a gang of twisted, masked kidnappers, torturers, and killers. By the time Don and Nancy realize whats happening, its too late to flee. They must fight to survive the night, or be the next victims of the Terror Trap...

Terrorists hijack a 747 inbound to Washington D.C., demanding the the release of their imprisoned leader. Intelligence expert David Grant (Kurt Russell) suspects another reason and he is soon the reluctant member of a special assault team that is assigned to intercept the plane and hijackers.