20 best movies like The Principal (1987)


List of the best movies like The Principal (1987): Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, Savage Streets, Judgment Night, Class of 1999 II - The Substitute, Wicked Blood, We Die Young, Shopping, Out for Justice, Boy Wonder, Murphy's Law.

Tags: movies similar to The Principal (1987) - full list

Markimdb: 5.5
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:37

After saving a Black Panther from some racist cops, a black male prostitute goes on the run from "the man" with the help of the ghetto community and some disillusioned Hells Angels.

Markimdb: 6.2
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:33

A teenage vigilante seeks revenge on a group of violent thugs who raped her handicapped sister and murdered her best friend.

Markimdb: 6.6
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryJapan, USA
Duration01:45

While racing to a boxing match, Frank, Mike, John and Rey get more than they bargained for. A wrong turn lands them directly in the path of Fallon, a vicious, wise-cracking drug lord. After accidentally witnessing Fallon murder a disloyal henchman, the four become his unwilling prey in a savage game of cat & mouse as they are mercilessly stalked through the urban jungle in this taut suspense drama

Markimdb: 4.3
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryCanada
Duration01:27

In the original movie, the cyborg-teachers were all destroyed. Well that's what we thought, but there's one more rogue military robot out there determined to clean up the education system.

Markimdb: 5.4
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:32

Hannah and Amber Baker are trapped in a dark Southern underworld of violence, drugs and bikers. Both live in fear of their "Uncle Frank" Stinson, the ruthless leader of a crime organization.

Markimdb: 5.2
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA, Bulgaria
Duration01:59

Lucas, a 14-year-old boy inducted into the gang life in Washington D.C., is determined that his 10-year-old brother won't follow the same path. When an Afghanistan war veteran comes into the neighborhood, an opportunity arises.

Markimdb: 5.4
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUnited Kingdom, Japan
Duration01:46

A dark, hip, urban story of a barren and anonymous city where the underclass' sport of choice is ram-raiding. An exciting game in which stolen cars are driven through shop windows to aid large-scale looting before the police arrive. For Tommy, it's a business, but for Billy and Jo, it's a labour of love. As the competition between Tommy and Billy grows more fierce, the stakes become higher and the "shopping" trips increasingly risky.

Markimdb: 6.1
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:31

Gino Felino (Steven Seagal) is an NYPD detective from Brooklyn who knows everyone and everything in his neighborhood. Killing his Partner was someone's mistake, because he's now Out For Justice.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:33

A young Brooklyn boy witnesses the brutal murder of his mother and grows up obsessed with finding her killer. Thus begins his life as a quiet, straight-A student by day and a self-appointed hero at night. But what is a real hero? And who decides what is right or wrong? As the boundaries blur, Sean's dual life wears on his psyche and his two worlds careen dangerously close to colliding. Like a graphic novel you can't put down, Boy Wonder challenges morality, distorting perceptions of what is right and what is justified, as it races to its shocking conclusion.

Markimdb: 5.9
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime, detective
CountryUSA
Duration01:40

A tough police detective escapes from custody after being framed and arrested for the murder of his ex-wife, and must now find the real killer and prove his innocence.

Markimdb: 6.7
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:28

A group of Chicago mob ruthless enforcers are sent to Kansas City to settle things with the owner of a slaughterhouse who has taken money that is not his to keep.

Markimdb: 5.3
Genreaction, thriller, comedy, drama, crime
CountryUSA, Japan
Duration01:44

Rita Rizzoli is a narcotics cop with a plethora of disguises. When a drug shipment is hijacked, the thieves don't know that the drug is unusually pure and packs of 'Fatal Beauty' begin turning up next to too many dead bodies. Mike works for the original owner of the drugs and tries to tell himself that since he does not handle the drugs, he is 'clean'. Mike becomes Rita's constant companion.

Markimdb: 5.6
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA, France
Duration01:31

A young drug dealer watches as his high-rolling life is dismantled in the wake of his cousin's murder, which sees his best friend arrested for the crime.

Markimdb: 6
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUnited Kingdom, USA
Duration01:33

A gang of four professional criminals kidnaps a wealthy teenage girl from an airport in Paris in a meticulous plan to extort money from the girl's wealthy father. Holding her prisoner in an isolated beach house, the gang's scheme runs perfectly until their personal demons surface and lead to a series of betrayals.

Markimdb: 5.7
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA

A violent street gang, the Rebels, rule the streets of Gary, Indiana. The Rebels shoot Marvin Bookman, a store-keeper, for giving the police information about a drive-by shooting they committed. Marvin's son, former NFL star John who created the Rebels, returns to Gary to be with his father and, with a little help from his friends, to destroy the Rebels his way.

Markimdb: 4.8
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA, Canada
Duration01:35

Paul Kersey is back at working vigilante justice when when his fiancée, Olivia, has her business threatened by mobsters

Markimdb: 5.6
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:28

A drug kingpin's return home touches off a turf war.

Markimdb: 6.7
Genreaction, thriller, melodrama, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration02:00

A confident young cop is shown the ropes by a veteran partner in the dangerous gang-controlled barrios of Los Angeles, where the gang culture is enforced by the colors the members wear.

Markimdb: 5.6
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration02:25

Wanted by the mafia, a New York City bike messenger escapes into the world of parkour after meeting a beautiful stranger.

Markimdb: 5.4
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA

A group of high school students, led by a rich boy Derek, is sick of school violence and decides to become underground vigilantes named "Brotherhood of Justice". It starts with the idea "watching people", but things quickly get out of control. "Brotherhood of Justice" turns out another gang of violence. Derek wants to stop it but it is too late, so he takes responsibility for it and gives himself to the law.

Markimdb: 3.9
Genrefantastic, action, thriller, comedy, drama, crime
CountryUnited Kingdom
Duration01:34

Mo Ali’s futuristic knife-crime drama brings the dystopian environment of CHILDREN OF MEN and DISTRICT 13 to London’s East 17. SHANK delivers a ruthless vision of forthcoming urban life, where guns have been superseded by knives and are fiercely wielded by aimless youths. Amidst the chaos is the Paper Chazers gang, a rare morally conscious group who trade scavenged food for money. After Chazers gang member, Junior (Kedar Williams-Stirling), witnesses his brother, murder he must decide whether to get revenge of stick to the gangs moral code... In this superbly paced and artistic film, present-day social issues, and murky city streets, provide a perfect canvas for imagination and action.

Markimdb: 8
Genreaction, thriller, drama, short, crime
CountryUSA, Germany
Duration00:10

Frank Castle is staying in a bad neighborhood, where he encounters a gang that terrorizes its residents.

Markimdb: 4.8
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:26

Ray Liotta (Goodfellas) delivers an intense, electrifying performance in this explosive follow-up to the gritty urban crime thriller Street Kings. Liotta plays Detroit detective Marty Kingston, the leader of an undercover narcotics team, whose members are being systematically murdered one by one. To solve the brutal killings, Kingston joins forces with a cocky, young homicide detective. But neither of them is prepared for the shocking corruption their investigation will uncover — stunning secrets that will set both men on a violent collision course with betrayal and vengeance.

Markimdb: 5.3
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA, Canada
Duration01:40

Coming together to solve a series of murders in New York City are a DEA agent whose family was slain as part of a conspiracy and an assassin out to avenge her sister's death. The duo will be hunted by the police, the mob, and a ruthless corporation.

Markimdb: 7.3
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountrySouth Korea
Duration02:37

The region where the borders of North Korea, China, and Russia come together, forms a sort of modern day wild west, where more than half of the population relies on illegal activity in order to survive. In Yanbian, on the Chinese side of the border, Gu-nam wiles away his days driving a cab and spends his nights getting drunk and gambling. His wife went to Seoul to work and send back money, but it’s been months since he has heard from her. When local crime lord Myun offers to erase Gu-nam’s debts in exchange for a contract killing in Seoul, Gu-nam reluctantly accepts.

Markimdb: 6.1
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryItaly, USA
Duration01:35

A Los Angeles detective is sent to New York where he must solve a case involving an old Sicilian Mafia family feud.

Markimdb: 6.1
Genreaction, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:49

An Indian Vietnam veteran trains five street punks in the Everglades to fight vice in Miami.

Markimdb: 6.4
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:49

Jimmie Rainwood was minding his own business when two corrupt police officers (getting an address wrong) burst into his house, expecting to find a major drug dealer. Rainwood is shot, and the officers frame him as a drug dealer. Rainwood is convicted of drug dealing, based on the perjured evidence of a police informant. Thrown into a seedy jail, fighting to prove his innocence is diffucult when he has to deal with the realities of prison life, where everyone claims they were framed.

Markimdb: 7.7
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:33

A murderous thug shoots his way to the top of the mobs while trying to protect his sister from the criminal life.

Markimdb: 6
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:34

In the wilderness of British Columbia, two hunters are tracked and viciously murdered by Aaron Hallum. Former Special Operations instructor, L.T. Bonham is approached and asked to apprehend Hallum, his former student, who has 'gone rogue' after suffering severe battle stress from his time in Kosovo.

Markimdb: 6.2
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime, detective
CountryUSA
Duration01:55

Erin Bell is an LAPD detective who, as a young cop, was placed undercover with a gang in the California desert with tragic results. When the leader of that gang re-emerges many years later, she must work her way back through the remaining members and into her own history with them to finally reckon with the demons that destroyed her past.

Markimdb: 6
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime, detective
CountryUSA
Duration01:50

Danny is a young cop partnered with Nick, a seasoned but ethically tainted veteran. As the two try to stop a gang war in Chinatown, Danny relies on Nick but grows increasingly uncomfortable with the way Nick gets things done.

Markimdb: 6.6
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:37

A gangster, Nino, is in the Cash Money Brothers, making a million dollars every week selling crack. A cop, Scotty, discovers that the only way to infiltrate the gang is to become a dealer himself.

Markimdb: 6
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:49

Hardened criminal Maggie Hayward's consistent violence, even in police custody, ends in the execution chamber. However, top-secret US government agent 'Bob' arranges a staged death, so Maggie can be elaborately trained as a phantom killer and subdued into obedience.

Markimdb: 5.1
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:42

Remake of the British classic. Jack Carter, a mob enforcer living in Las Vegas, travels back to his hometown of Seattle for his brother's funeral. During this visit, Carter realizes that the death of his brother was not accidental, but a murder. With this knowledge, Carter sets out to kill all those responsible.

Markimdb: 4.3
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:30

A gritty coming of age thriller about a young girl sent to juvenile prison for the murder of her abusive step father. The film follows Anna Nix's journey into the dark world of an all girls jail where she discovers complex relationships, drugs, mental illness and her eventual search for redemption.

Markimdb: 4.3
Genreaction, thriller, comedy, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:35

A young detective goes undercover at an elite private school to destroy an international stolen car ring.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genreaction, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:31

A tough gang of teenage girls are looking for love and fighting for turf on the mean streets of the city! Bad girls to the core, these impossibly outrageous high school hoodlums go where they want ... and create mayhem wherever they go!

Markimdb: 5.8
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:37

An ex-convict (Tyrese) gets tangled up with a gang after his car is hijacked with his son inside.

Markimdb: 5.5
Genreaction, drama, crime
CountryUSA, Germany
Duration02:11

1950s New York City. A bad and bloody gang war is about to erupt on the dysfunctional streets of Brooklyn. The Deuces at war with the vicious Vipers. Scott Kalvert directs this tale of lust, drugs, mayhem and madness during one hot summer on the streets of New York.

Markimdb: 5.2
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:36

Danny O'Brien is back in action fighting the notorious Simon Moon, also known as The Terror. Three years earlier O'Brien had single-handedly captured The Terror and was called Hero by the people of L.A. Now Simon has escaped and has started killing women again, and O'Brien is the only man who can stop him.

Markimdb: 6.4
Genreaction, thriller, melodrama, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:42

Two corrupt cops have a successful, seemingly perfect money making scheme- they sell drugs that they seize from dealers, kill the dealers, and blame the crimes on street gangs. Their scheme is going along smoothly until they kill an undercover DEA agent posing as a dealer, and then try to cover-up their crime.

Markimdb: 7.5
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:37

Sobering and incisive, this cautionary drama centers on a street tough 18-year-old facing a moral quandary while trying to turn his life around.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:41

A vending machine robbery by small time thief and drug addict Bobbie (Vincent Kartheiser) goes badly awry, and his friends contact street-wise thief and part-time druggie Mel (James Woods) to patch him up.Recognizing a kindred spirit, Mel befriends Bobbie and his girlfriend Rosie (Natasha Gregson Wagner), inviting them to join him and his long-suffering girlfriend Sid (Melanie Griffith) on a drug robbery which should set them up for life. The seemingly simple robbery is a great success, but the sale of the drugs afterward fails badly, and Mel and Bobbie are shot.The four take refuge with the Reverend, who charges them half of their haul from the robbery to care for them. In a desperate attempt to recover their losses, Mel involves the crew in a disastrous, ill-advised jewellery robbery, and they become caught up in a web of violence that rapidly spirals out of control.

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: 6.7
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:45

Nick Hume is a mild-mannered executive with a perfect life, until one gruesome night he witnesses something that changes him forever. Transformed by grief, Hume eventually comes to the disturbing conclusion that no length is too great when protecting his family.

Markimdb: 6.4
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:31

Roy and Bo leave their small town the weekend after graduation for a short road trip to LA. Soon, they find themselves lashing out and leaving a trial of bodies behind them. The violence escalates throughout.

Markimdb: 6.3
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:35

College student Jake Lo is pursued by smugglers, mobsters and crooked federal agents after he witnesses a murder by a Mafia kingpin.

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: 6.2
Genreaction, thriller, drama, adventure, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:36

Mason is a man down on his luck with nothing to lose when he's approached to lead a group of wealthy hunters on an expedition in the Pacific Northwest. But things get really twisted when Mason discovers the group isn't after wild animals -- they're after him.




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