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The Experiment poster

Movies that feel likeThe Experiment (2001)

20 volunteers agree to take part in a seemingly well-paid experiment advertised by the university. It is supposed to be about aggressive behavior in an artificial prison situation. A journalist senses a story behind the ad and smuggles himself in among the test subjects. They are randomly divided into prisoners and guards. What seems like a game at the beginning soon turns into bloody seriousness.

If you loved The Experiment, the closest films we have are The Silence (2010), 36th Precinct (2004) and Red Rock West (1993). All three share The Experiment's tense and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Neighboring Sounds (2012).

🍅 72% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Oliver Hirschbiegelcontemplativetensegritty
6 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Criterion Channel

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See it on the Mood Map

If The Experiment hit the spot, these will too

The Silence poster
The Silence
2010 · dir. Baran bo Odar
🍅 87%★ 6.9crime · thriller · drama

One thread runs through both: rape

The difference: Sits closer to crime than The Experiment does

13-year-old Sinikka vanishes on a hot summer night. Her bicycle is found in the exact place where a girl was killed 23 years ago. The dramatic present forces those involved in the original case to face their past.

36th Precinct poster
36th Precinct
2004 · dir. Olivier Marchal
🍅 100%★ 7.1crime · drama · thriller

The same mix in both: stillness, then tension

The difference: Critics rated this one higher still

In Paris, two cops are competing for the vacant job of chief of police, in the middle of the search for a gang of violent thieves. The movie is directed by Olivier Marchal, a former police officer who spent 12 years with the French police before creating this story, taken in part from real events of the 1980s.

Red Rock West poster
Red Rock West
1993 · dir. John Dahl
🍅 95%★ 7crime · thriller

Gritty thriller, and it commits to that

The difference: Easier on the stillness than The Experiment

When a promised job for Texan Michael fails to materialize 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.

Infernal Affairs poster
Infernal Affairs
2002 · dir. Alan Mak Siu-Fai
🍅 94%★ 8drama · thriller · crimeMax

Contemplative drama in both cases

Chan Wing Yan, a young police officer, has been sent undercover as a mole in the local mafia. Lau Kin Ming, a young mafia member, infiltrates the police force. Years later, their older counterparts, Chen Wing Yan and Inspector Lau Kin Ming, respectively, race against time to expose the mole within their midst.

The Yellow Sea poster
The Yellow Sea
2010 · dir. Na Hong-jin
🍅 88%★ 7.3drama · thriller · crime

Drama built on tension, twice over

A Korean man in China takes an assassination job in South Korea to make money and find his missing wife. But when the job is botched, he is forced to go on the run from the police and the gangsters who paid him.

Holy Spider poster
Holy Spider
2022 · dir. Ali Abbasi
🍅 82%★ 7.3thriller · drama · crime

Both keep coming back to the same thing: journalist

The difference: Made in the 2020s, in a different era of the craft

A journalist descends into the dark underbelly of the Iranian holy city of Mashhad as she investigates the serial killings of sex workers by the so called "Spider Killer", who believes he is cleansing the streets of sinners.

The Unjust poster
The Unjust
2010 · dir. Ryoo Seung-wan
★ 6.5crime · thrillerNetflix

Thriller with a pulse of grit, in both cases

An honest cop has to compromise with his principles when he is told to find a scapegoat for a high-profile serial killer case in exchange for a big promotion.

Neighboring Sounds poster
Neighboring Sounds
2012 · dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho
🍅 91%★ 7.1thriller · drama · crime

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

An independent private security firm arrives at a middle-class neighborhood in Recife, Brazil.

Irreversible poster
Irreversible
2002 · dir. Gaspar Noé
🍅 60%★ 7.3drama · thriller · crime

Common ground: rape

A woman’s lover and her ex-boyfriend take justice into their own hands after she becomes the victim of a rapist. Because some acts can’t be undone. Because man is an animal. Because the desire for vengeance is a natural impulse. Because most crimes remain unpunished.

Traffic poster
Traffic
2000 · dir. Steven Soderbergh
🍅 93%★ 7.5thriller · drama · crime

Tense thriller, and it commits to that

An exploration of the United States of America's war on drugs from multiple perspectives. For the new head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the war becomes personal when he discovers his well-educated daughter is abusing cocaine within their comfortable suburban home. In Mexico, a flawed, but noble policeman agrees to testify against a powerful general in league with a cartel, and in San Diego, a drug kingpin's sheltered trophy wife must learn her husband's ruthless business after he is arrested, endangering her luxurious lifestyle.

Easy Money poster
Easy Money
2010 · dir. Daniel Espinosa
🍅 85%★ 6.7drama · thriller · crime

Both work the same grit

When JW becomes a drug runner in order to maintain his double life, his fate becomes tied to two other men: Jorge, a fugitive on the run from both the Serbian mafia and the police, and mafia enforcer Mrado, who is on the hunt for Jorge.

Layer Cake poster
Layer Cake
2004 · dir. Matthew Vaughn
🍅 81%★ 7.2drama · thriller · crime

Cut from the same drama cloth

When a seemingly straight-forward drug deal goes awry, XXXX has to break his die-hard rules and turn up the heat, not only to outwit the old regime and come out on top, but to save his own skin...

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The best-reviewed films that share The Experiment’s defining feeling.