Movies like Ransom! (1956)
The best movies like Ransom! (1956) are Experiment in Terror (1962), The Collector (1965) and Cape Fear (1962). If Ransom! hooked you with its crime and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHigh and Low (1963)8.4/10 from 1,235 votes
- NewestAnimals (2026)Released 2026
Experiment in Terror (1962)
A man with an asthmatic voice telephones and assaults clerk Kelly Sherwood at home and coerces her into helping him steal a large sum from her bank.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Collector (1965)
A man kidnaps a woman and holds her hostage just for the pleasure of having her there.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCape Fear (1962)
Sam Bowden witnesses a rape committed by Max Cady and testifies against him. When released after 8 years in prison, Cady begins stalking Bowden and his family but is always clever enough not to violate the law.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCash on Demand (1961)
A charming but ruthless criminal holds the family of a bank manager hostage as part of a cold-blooded plan to steal £90,000.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Whisper Man (2026)
When his young son vanishes, a widower enlists help from his estranged father, a retired detective who put away the serial killer now linked to the case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Yakuza (1974)
When George Tanner does business with high-ranking Yakuza Tono, Tono kidnaps his daughter, and George summons his old friend, private eye Harry Kilmer, to Japan to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJohn Q (2002)
John Quincy Archibald is a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and then finds out he cannot receive a transplant because HMO insurance will not cover it. Therefore, he decides to take a hospital full of patients hostage until the hospital puts his son's name on the donor's list.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDead Man's Wire (2026)
In 1977, former real estate developer Tony Kiritsis puts a dead man's switch on himself and the mortgage banker who did him wrong, demanding $5 million and a personal apology.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnimals (2026)
When the son of an L.A. mayoral candidate is kidnapped, he and his wife have a few hours to come up with the ransom payment. With most of their money spent on his political campaign, they have to get their hands dirty and expose a side of their lives they never intended to see the light of day.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this'R Xmas (2001)
A New York drug dealer is kidnapped, and his wife must try to come up with the money and drugs to free him from his abductors before Christmas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Betrayed (2008)
Kidnappers force a young mother to recover money stolen by her shady husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Way of the Gun (2000)
Two criminal drifters without sympathy get more than they bargained for after kidnapping and holding for ransom the surrogate mother of a powerful and shady man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDogville (2003)
A woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small Colorado community in exchange for labor, but when a search visits the town, she learns that their support has a price.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPanic Room (2002)
Trapped in their New York brownstone's panic room, a hidden chamber built as a sanctuary in the event of break-ins, newly divorced Meg Altman and her young daughter Sarah play a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with three intruders - Burnham, Raoul and Junior - during a brutal home invasion. But the room itself is the focal point because what the intruders really want is inside it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisExtortion (2017)
A doctor desperately tries to save his wife and their 5 year old son after their vacation in the Bahamas takes an unexpected turn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrisoners (2013)
After his six-year-old daughter is abducted, a desperate father takes justice into his own hands when he loses faith in the detective leading the investigation, setting both men on a collision course as the search descends into obsession and moral compromise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTrapped (2002)
Held hostage in different cities after their daughter is kidnapped by a master extortionist, a desperate couple must find a way to outsmart a seemingly foolproof plot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll the Money in the World (2017)
The story of the kidnapping of 16-year-old John Paul Getty III and the desperate attempt by his devoted mother to convince his billionaire grandfather Jean Paul Getty to pay the ransom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Entitled (2011)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPalmetto (1998)
After being released from prison on a bum charge, Harry Barber is out for payback to regain his lost two years. He's hired by Mrs. Malroux to fake the kidnapping of her stepdaughter (the daughter of a dying millionaire). He discovers that he is being set up on multiple levels and will soon face a longer sentence if he doesn't prove the truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChangeling (2008)
Los Angeles, 1928. When single mother Christine Collins leaves for work, her son vanishes without a trace. Five months later, the police reunite mother and son. But when Christine suspects that the boy returned to her isn't her child, her quest for truth exposes a world of corruption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCleveland Abduction (2015)
A single mother becomes Ariel Castro's first kidnapping victim, and finds herself trapped in his home with two other women for 11 years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBreaking In (2018)
Shaun Russell takes her son and daughter on a weekend getaway to her late father's secluded, high-tech vacation home in the countryside. The family soon gets an unwelcome surprise when four men break into the house to find hidden money. After managing to escape, Shaun must now figure out a way to turn the tables on the desperate thieves and save her captive children.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHigh and Low (1963)
A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTraitor (2008)
When straight arrow FBI agent Roy Clayton heads up the investigation into a dangerous international conspiracy, all clues seem to lead back to former U.S. Special Operations officer Samir Horn.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDon't Say a Word (2001)
When the daughter of a psychiatrist is kidnapped, he is horrified to discover that the abductors' demand is that he break through to a young woman, suffering from PTSD, who knows a secret six digit code number.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisProof of Life (2000)
When Peter Bowman, an American engineer working in a South American country, is captured by anti-government forces, the rebels learn his identity and demand $5 million for his safe return. However, his US employer is on the verge of insolvency and will not provide the ransom. Peter's wife Alice is forced to deal with the matter on her own and she retains the services of freelance professional hostage negotiator Terry Thorne.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this3000 Miles to Graceland (2001)
It was an ingenious enough plan: rob the Riviera Casino's count room during an Elvis impersonator convention. But Thomas Murphy decided to keep all the money for himself and shot all his partners, including recently-freed ex-con Michael Zane. With $3.2 million at stake, the Marshals Service closing in, Michael must track down Murphy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisRoom of Death (2007)
While on a joyride with the headlights turned off, two men hit and kill another man carrying a satchel full of money. The two men decide to take the money and throw the body into a pond and bury the money in a coal hill. The next morning the police discover the body of a kidnapped 12-year blind girl, Melody, in a warehouse near the site of the hit-and-run. They determine that the kidnapper saw the girl's father bringing the ransom to him and also witnessed the hit-and-run and the men stealing the ransom.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Ransom!?
The closest matches to Ransom! are Experiment in Terror (1962), The Collector (1965) and Cape Fear (1962). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Ransom!?
People who watched Ransom! most often go on to Experiment in Terror (1962), The Collector (1965) and Cape Fear (1962).
What is the highest-rated movie like Ransom!?
High and Low (1963), rated 8.4/10 by 1,235 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Ransom!?
Animals (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Ransom!?
Yes: Experiment in Terror (1962), The Collector (1965) and Cape Fear (1962).
How are movies similar to Ransom! chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Ransom!, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.