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Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey poster

Movies that feel likeBelieve Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey (2018)

On the night she plans on taking her own life, 17-year-old 'Lisa McVey' is kidnapped and finds herself fighting to stay alive and is raped. She manages to talk her attacker into releasing her, but when she returns home, no one believes her story except for one detective, who suspects she was abducted by a serial killer. Based on horrifying true events.

If you loved Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey, the closest films we have are Lilya 4-ever (2002), Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008) and Short Term 12 (2013). All three share Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey's contemplative and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Lantana (2001).

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If Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey hit the spot, these will too

Lilya 4-ever poster
Lilya 4-ever
2002 · dir. Lukas Moodysson
🍅 84%★ 7.8drama · crime

The same two preoccupations: suicide, and a true story

In a struggling post-Soviet community, Lilya a teenage girl is abandoned when her mother moves to the United States with her boyfriend. Facing neglect and poverty, she meets Andrei, who offers her a job in Sweden, giving her hope for a better life — and a journey that will change everything.

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father poster
🍅 94%★ 8.5documentary · crimePrime Video

Contemplative and gritty in the same breath

The difference: Leans further into documentary

In 2001, Andrew Bagby, a medical resident, is murdered not long after breaking up with his girlfriend. Soon after, when she announces she's pregnant, one of Andrew's many close friends, Kurt Kuenne, begins this film, a gift to the child.

Short Term 12 poster
Short Term 12
2013 · dir. Destin Daniel Cretton
🍅 98%★ 7.9dramaPrime Video

Both lean on melancholy more than on drama

Grace, a compassionate young supervisor at a foster care facility, helps at-risk teens. But when a new charge dredges up memories of her own troubled past, Grace's tough exterior begins eroding.

The Celebration poster
The Celebration
1998 · dir. Thomas Vinterberg
🍅 91%★ 8drama

Both are built on the same subject: suicide

The difference: Made in the 1990s, in a different era of the craft

The family of a wealthy businessman gather to celebrate his 60th birthday. During the course of the party, his eldest son presents a speech that reveals a devastating secret that turns the night into a battle of truth and denial.

The Devil All the Time poster
The Devil All the Time
2020 · dir. Antonio Campos
🍅 65%★ 7.1crime · drama · thrillerNetflix

The same preoccupation in both: serial killer

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.

Silent Heart poster
Silent Heart
2014 · dir. Bille August
★ 7.1drama

Tv movie built on stillness, twice over

The difference: Lighter on grit

Three generations of a family gather over a weekend. The sisters Sanne and Heidi have accepted their terminally-ill mother’s desire to die before her disease worsens; but, as the weekend progresses, their mother's decision becomes harder and harder to deal with, and old conflicts come to the surface.

City of Men poster
City of Men
2007 · dir. Paulo Morelli
🍅 74%★ 7.2dramaParamount+

Melancholy crime, and it commits to that

Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.

You Were Never Really Here poster
You Were Never Really Here
2017 · dir. Lynne Ramsay
🍅 89%★ 6.7crime · drama · thrillerPrime Video

Drama with a pulse of grit, in both cases

A traumatized veteran, unafraid of violence, tracks down missing girls for a living. When a job spins out of control, Joe's nightmares overtake him as a conspiracy is uncovered—leading to what may be his death trip or his awakening.

Cool Hand Luke poster
Cool Hand Luke
1967 · dir. Stuart Rosenberg
🍅 100%★ 8drama · crime

Contemplative crime in both cases

When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable will. Luke's bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box," make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers.

Lantana poster
Lantana
2001 · dir. Ray Lawrence
🍅 90%★ 7.2crime · drama · mystery

Both lean on grit more than on tv movie

Plagued with grief over the murder of her daughter, Valerie Somers suspects that her husband John is cheating on her. When Valerie disappears, Detective Leon Zat attempts to solve the mystery of her absence. A complex web of love, sex and deceit emerges -- drawing in four related couples whose various partners are distrustful and suspicious about each other's involvement.

Charley Varrick poster
Charley Varrick
1973 · dir. Don Siegel
🍅 82%★ 7.5crime · thriller · drama

Drama built on melancholy, twice over

Charley Varrick robs a bank in a small town with his friends, but instead of obtaining a small amount of money, they discover they stole a very large amount of money belonging to the mob. Charley must now come up with a plan to not only evade the police but the mob as well.

Side Effects poster
Side Effects
2013 · dir. Steven Soderbergh
🍅 82%★ 7thriller · crime · dramaPrime VideoParamount+

Both know what they want from crime

A woman turns to prescription medication as a way of handling her anxiety concerning her husband's upcoming release from prison.

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The best-reviewed films that share Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey’s defining feeling.