MesmeroWatch list, 0 saved

Movie
Poster for An American Crime

An American Crime

2007 · 97 min

A harrowing, suffocating plunge into real-life cruelty that leaves you shaken and heartbroken long after it ends.

Tagline
The true story of a child's punishment that became a woman's crime.
Overview
The true story of suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her Indiana home during the 1960s.

Search YouTube for the trailer

Stream in the UK
  • Amazon Prime Video
More options Data from JustWatch
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • bleakstrength 3 of 3
  • darkstrength 3 of 3
  • tensestrength 2 of 3
  • melancholicstrength 2 of 3
Pacing
slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
demanding, 4 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • violence
  • guilt
  • isolation
  • family
  • justice
Places
  • suburbs
  • home
Era
period
Audience
adult
Form
  • true story
Content intensity
  • Gore mild
  • Language mild
  • Violence strong
  • Sex strong
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action1
Horror7
Humour0
Realism9
Romance0
Tension9
Darkness10
Complexity5
Emotional weight10

More like this

Titles like An American Crime

Movie

The Girl Next Door

2007

A relentlessly grim and upsetting watch that lingers on cruelty and helplessness, leaving a heavy, haunting aftertaste.

Bleak, dark, slow-burn · about violence and guilt · true story

Via
  • bleak
  • dark
  • violence
  • guilt
  • true story
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
demanding
Runtime
91 min
Details In your watch list
The Girl Next DoorHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

Prisoners

2013

A relentless, grim descent into desperation and moral compromise that keeps you tightly wound and uneasy throughout.

Bleak, dark, slow-burn

Via
  • bleak
  • dark
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
demanding
Runtime
153 min
Details In your watch list
PrisonersHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

1974

A grimy, sun-scorched descent into rural dread that tightens like a wire and leaves you rattled and exhausted.

Bleak, dark, slow-burn · about violence and isolation

Via
  • bleak
  • dark
  • violence
  • isolation
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
engaged
Runtime
83 min
Details In your watch list
The Texas Chain Saw MassacreHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

Fjord

2026

A patient, quietly suffocating chamber drama where cultural and religious friction curdles into institutional dread, leaving you uneasy long after.

Dark, tense, slow-burn · about isolation and family · true story

Via
  • dark
  • tense
  • isolation
  • family
  • true story
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
demanding
Runtime
146 min
Details In your watch list
FjordHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

The Odyssey

2026

A vast, brooding voyage through myth and memory, grand in scale yet heavy with guilt and longing.

Dark, tense · about guilt and family

Via
  • dark
  • tense
  • guilt
  • family
Pacing
measured
Attention
engaged
Runtime
173 min
Details In your watch list
The OdysseyHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

Girl in the Basement

2021

A suffocating, joyless watch that traps you in a young woman's long captivity, leaving a heavy, lingering sense of dread.

Bleak, dark · about isolation and family · true story

Via
  • bleak
  • dark
  • isolation
  • family
  • true story
Pacing
measured
Attention
engaged
Runtime
88 min
Details In your watch list
Girl in the BasementHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

Bedevilled

2010

A suffocating, slow-building pressure that turns unbearable cruelty into a bloody, sorrowful reckoning you can't look away from.

Bleak, dark, slow-burn · about violence and guilt

Via
  • bleak
  • dark
  • violence
  • guilt
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
demanding
Runtime
117 min
Details In your watch list
BedevilledHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

The Witch

2015

A slow, suffocating plunge into Puritan paranoia and dread, where every whisper and shadow feels like a threat.

Bleak, dark, slow-burn · about guilt and isolation

Via
  • bleak
  • dark
  • guilt
  • isolation
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
demanding
Runtime
92 min
Details In your watch list
The WitchHidden from your suggestions.
TV series

DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story

2022

A grim, unsettling true-crime drama that lingers on systemic failures and human suffering, leaving a heavy, haunting impression.

Bleak, dark, slow-burn · about violence and isolation · true story

Via
  • bleak
  • dark
  • violence
  • isolation
  • true story
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
demanding
Seasons
1
Details In your watch list
DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer StoryHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

Pearl

2022

A sun-drenched Technicolor dream curdling into something deeply unsettling, with a mesmerizing performance holding you in queasy, mounting dread.

Dark, melancholic, slow-burn · about isolation and family

Via
  • dark
  • melancholic
  • isolation
  • family
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
engaged
Runtime
102 min
Details In your watch list
PearlHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

Martyrs

2008

An unrelenting descent into suffering and transcendence that is harrowing, disturbing, and emotionally devastating.

Bleak, dark, slow-burn · about violence

Via
  • bleak
  • dark
  • violence
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
demanding
Runtime
99 min
Details In your watch list
MartyrsHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

The Hunt

2012

A slow, suffocating watch that tightens around you as a kind community turns cold and cruel.

Bleak, dark, slow-burn · about isolation and family

Via
  • bleak
  • dark
  • isolation
  • family
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
demanding
Runtime
116 min
Details In your watch list
The HuntHidden from your suggestions.

Where to watch in the UK

Stream
  • Amazon Prime Video
Free
  • Tubi TV
  • Amazon Prime Video Free with Ads
  • Plex
  • Amazon MX Player

Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres
crime, drama, horror
Directed by
Tommy O'Haver
Written by
Irene Turner, Tommy O'Haver
Starring
Catherine Keener, Elliot Page, James Franco, Bradley Whitford, Ari Graynor, Nick Searcy, Michael O'Keefe, Romy Rosemont
Music
Alan Ari Lazar
Cinematography
Byron Shah
Runtime
97 min
Country
United States of America
Languages
English

TMDBIMDbLetterboxdWikipediaWikidata