Movies Like Acts of Desperation

If you liked Acts of Desperation (2018), a thriller movie directed by Richard Friedman, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Frank and Penelope (2022)
★ 7.3/10Also thriller
A tale of love and violence when a man on his emotional last legs finds a savior seductively dancing in a run-down strip club. And a life most certainly headed off a cliff suddenly becomes redirected - as everything is…
2
Hider in the House (1989)
★ 6.2/10Also thriller
A deranged man hides in the attic of a new house and becomes obsessed with the unsuspecting family that moves in.
3
Chief of Station (2024)
★ 6.3/10Also thriller
After learning that the death of his wife was not an accident, a former CIA Station Chief is forced back into the espionage underworld, teaming up with an adversary to unravel a conspiracy that challenges everything he…
4
Rogue Agent (2022)
★ 6.3/10Also thriller
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
5
Wardriver (2026)
★ 7.4/10Also thriller
He’s a Wardriver: a hacker who steals from banks, not people—until he’s noticed. Now the money turns violent, and the woman caught in it could save him or kill them both.
6
Black Site (2022)
★ 6/10Also thriller
A group of officers based in a labyrinthine top-secret prison must fight for their lives against Hatchet, a brilliant and infamous high-value detainee. When he escapes, his mysterious and deadly agenda has far reaching…
7
Tyler Perry's Duplicity (2025)
★ 6.6/10Also thriller
High-powered attorney Marley faces her most personal case yet when she is tasked with uncovering the truth behind the murder of her best friend Fela’s husband. With the help of her boyfriend – a former cop turned…
8
In Cold Light (2026)
★ 5.9/10Also thriller
Fresh out of prison, Ava's attempt to reclaim her drug operation collapses when she witnesses a brutal crime, forcing her to flee into a nightmarish underworld where allies are scarce and enemies multiply by the minute.
9
Misdirection (2026)
★ 6.2/10Also thriller
A desperate couple have pulled off a string of high-end break-ins to pay off a mob debt. When they attempt to rob their latest victim, they find themselves caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse. The tables are…
10
180 (2026)
★ 5.9/10Also thriller
When an unexpected road rage incident puts his son in critical condition, an enraged father spirals down a dark path of emotional turmoil and vengeance.
11
The Experiment (2010)
★ 6.4/10Also thriller
20 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control.
12
Canary Black (2024)
★ 6.2/10Also thriller
Top level CIA agent Avery Graves is blackmailed by terrorists into betraying her own country to save her kidnapped husband. Cut off from her team, she turns to her underworld contacts to survive and help locate the…
13
Run (1991)
★ 6/10Also thriller
When a law student accidentally kills the son of a mob boss in a fight, he finds himself relentlessly pursued by the mob and the police.
14
Until Death (2007)
★ 5.9/10Also thriller
Anthony Stowe is a dirty cop who is hooked on heroin—and everyone hates him. After a serious accident, he is placed into an induced coma, but emerges from it a better person who wants to put things right.
15
Bad Sister (2015)
★ 6.6/10Also thriller
As a top student at St. Adeline's Catholic Boarding School, Zoe senses that something is not quite right about the school's new nun-- a sense proven to be true when it is revealed the "good' nun is an imposter with a…
16
City of Ghosts (2002)
★ 5.9/10Also thriller
A con man who is on the run from law enforcement in the U.S. travels to Cambodia to collect his share in an insurance scam but discovers more than he bargained for.
17
The Crush (1993)
★ 6.7/10Also thriller
A precocious and obsessive teenager develops a crush on a naive writer with harrowing consequences.
18
Hunting Grounds (2025)
★ 6.9/10Also thriller
Desperate to find refuge for her children, Chloe Marvino runs away from her Mafia tied husband, and finds shelter in a cabin with a recluse drifter named Jake. But as her husband's henchmen draw closer to her, it turns…
19
Stretch (2014)
★ 6.2/10Also thriller
A hard-luck limo driver struggling to go straight and pay off a debt to his bookie takes on a job with a crazed passenger whose sought-after ledger implicates some seriously dangerous criminals.
20
Blood Ties (2013)
★ 6.1/10Also thriller
Two brothers, on either side of the law, face off over organized crime in Brooklyn during the 1970s.