Movies like The Ploy (2016)
The best movies like The Ploy (2016) are Nightwatching (2007), The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015) and Fellini's Casanova (1976). If The Ploy hooked you with its drama and history, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRequiem for a Dream (2000)8.0/10 from 11,469 votes
- NewestPASSIONS (2024)Released 2024
- In ItalianFellini's Casanova (1976)Also in Italian
Nightwatching (2007)
An extravagant, exotic and moving look at Rembrandt's romantic and professional life, and the controversy he created by the identification of a murderer in the painting The Night Watch.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Stanford Prison Experiment (2015)
In 1971, Stanford's Professor Philip Zimbardo conducts a controversial psychology experiment in which college students pretend to be either prisoners or guards, but the proceedings soon get out of hand. Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFellini's Casanova (1976)
Imprisoned for practicing black magic, writer and adventurer Giacomo Casanova escapes and wanders Europe, using his fluid sexuality to find his place in life amid a variety of eccentric and strange characters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCaligula (1979)
After the death of the paranoid emperor Tiberius, Caligula, his heir, seizes power and plunges the empire into a bloody spiral of madness and depravity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLust for Life (1956)
An intense and imaginative artist, revered Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh possesses undeniable talent, but he is plagued by mental problems and frustrations with failure. Supported by his brother, Theo, the tormented Van Gogh eventually leaves Holland for France, where he meets volatile fellow painter Paul Gauguin and struggles to find greater inspiration.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPiazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy (2012)
On December 12, 1969, a bomb kills 17 people at the Piazza Fontana national bank in Milan, Italy, marking the beginning of the Years of Lead. Local anarchists are scapegoated for the massacre by police and the media, but a lone prosecutor uncovers a conspiracy of far-right groups, corrupt secret services, and other interests that seek to undermine democracy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like this1900 (1976)
The epic tale of a class struggle in twentieth century Italy, as seen through the eyes of two childhood friends on opposing sides.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLoro (2018)
Internationally released Director's Cut of "Loro 1" and "Loro 2", which were released separately as two movies in Italy. The film talks about the group of businessmen and politicians – the Loro (Them) from the title – who live and act near to media tycoon and politician Silvio Berlusconi in the years between 2006 and 2009.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Devil's Double (2011)
A chilling vision of the House of Saddam Hussein comes to life through the eyes of the man who was forced to become the double of Hussein's sadistic son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRequiem for a Dream (2000)
The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLuckiest Girl Alive (2022)
A successful woman in New York City finds her life upended when she is forced to confront a dark truth that threatens to unravel her meticulously crafted life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnthinkable (2010)
The government gets wind of a plot to destroy America involving a trio of nuclear weapons for which the whereabouts are unknown. It's up to a seasoned interrogator and an FBI agent to find out exactly where the nukes are.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStranger on the Third Floor (1940)
Newspaper reporter Michael Ward plunges into a nightmare of guilt, fearing that his "evidence" has sentenced the wrong man to death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hit (1984)
Ten years after ratting on his old mobster friends in exchange for personal immunity, two hit men drive a hardened criminal to Paris for his execution. However, while on the way, whatever can go wrong, does go wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNatural Born Killers (1994)
Two victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and serial murderers irresponsibly glorified by the mass media.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Boss (1973)
A hitman finds himself embroiled in the middle of a Mafia war between the Sicilians and the Calabrians.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBronson (2009)
A young man who was sentenced to 7 years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending 30 years in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter ego, Charles Bronson.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisConvict (2014)
Set in the dark and old Parramatta prison built by the original convicts our lead character Ray a war veteran finds himself serving 18 months for manslaughter after defending his fiance. He soon realizes that the prison boss has it in for him and does everything possible to break Ray even going after his fiance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Professor (1986)
Young Franco is imprisoned for murder and rises to become the feared and powerful 'Professor', taking control of Naples' underworld from behind bars.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHannibal (2001)
After having successfully eluded the authorities for years, Hannibal peacefully lives in Italy in disguise as an art scholar. Trouble strikes again when he's discovered leaving a deserving few dead in the process. He returns to America to make contact with now disgraced Agent Clarice Starling, who is suffering the wrath of a malicious FBI rival as well as the media.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIndu Sarkar (2017)
Indu’s husband, a government employee, believes in using the state of Emergency to advance his career, but a moral and ideological discrepancy sets her on a own path.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
Ostia (1987)
Ostia is a fascinating short film directed by Julian Cole and produced for the Royal College of Art, which reconstructs the events leading up to the murder of Pier Paolo Pasolini. Ostia relocates the proceedings to London and stars Derek Jarman as Pasolini. The film features an evocative dream sequence which is accompanied by poignant excerpts from Pasolini’s own poetry, as read by Jarman.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
La última y nos matamos (2013)
Adrián is told he suffers a terrible illness and decides to commit suicide, but his father reveals the truth to him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Yahaira: Mis vacaciones (2013)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Den sista mannen (2012)
A story about the last man on earth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Vumarlik (2022)
A man dies and get's send to the afterlife were he finds love and peace in his new life. Takođe jebe lik leš.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Primitive Man's Career to Civilization (1911)
A commissioner's influence causes a savage to buy European clothes and go to church.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Trinity's Triumph (2023)
Three young men enter the seminary and consider becoming priests, guided by the wise and lovable mentor, Monsignor Heck. They must be true to their calling as they make their decision.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
DUCK (installation) (2024)
An installation centred around Rachel Maclean's newest video work, DUCK, framed in a highly synthetic environment with walls of a particularly familiar green colour.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like The Ploy and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Ploy?
The closest matches to The Ploy are Nightwatching (2007), The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015) and Fellini's Casanova (1976). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Ploy?
Start with Nightwatching (2007), the closest match to The Ploy.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Ploy?
Requiem for a Dream (2000), rated 8.0/10 by 11,469 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Ploy?
PASSIONS (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Italian movies like The Ploy?
Yes: Fellini's Casanova (1976), Caligula (1979) and Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy (2012).
How are movies similar to The Ploy chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Ploy, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.