Movies Like Vermin of the Vortex

If you liked Vermin of the Vortex (1996), a movie directed by George Kuchar, 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
Bronson (2009)
★ 6.9/10
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.
2
The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015)
★ 6.8/10
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…
3
Hardball (2001)
★ 6.5/10
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
4
Poor Cow (1967)
★ 6.4/10
Joy lives a life filled with bad choices. At a young age, she marries and has a child–with an abusive thief who quickly ends up incarcerated. Left alone, she takes up with the guy's mate, another thief, who seems to…
5
Girl in the Basement (2021)
★ 7.6/10
Sara is a teen girl who is looking forward to her 18th birthday to move away from her controlling father Don. But before she could even blow out the candles, Don imprisons her in the basement of their home.
6
Brute Force (1947)
★ 7.3/10
Timeworn Joe Collins and his fellow inmates live under the heavy thumb of the sadistic, power-tripping guard Captain Munsey. Only Collins' dreams of escape keep him going, but how can he possibly bust out of Munsey's…
7
Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
★ 7.1/10
A prisoner leads his counterparts in a protest for better living conditions which turns violent and ugly.
8
Caught (1949)
★ 6.6/10
Wide-eyed and poor young Leonora weds an obsessive millionaire named Ohlrig, but the marriage is loveless. Even worse, Ohlrig seems to have manic, violent tendencies. Eventually, young Leonora escapes her unhappy life…
9
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
★ 7/10
The story of two radically different men thrown together in a Latin American prison cell. One is Valentin, a journalist being tortured for his political beliefs. The other is Molina, a gay window-dresser who fills…
10
What Maisie Knew (2013)
★ 7.1/10
In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new…
11
Lion Fist (2026)
★ 7.2/10
Martial arts fighter Joe goes to prison for four years and takes his wife's blame for a drug bust. After his release, he learns that his son needs expensive surgery because of a life-threatening tumor. Joe's only…
12
McQueen (2018)
★ 7.4/10
Alexander McQueen's rags-to-riches story is a modern-day fairy tale, laced with the gothic. Mirroring the savage beauty, boldness and vivacity of his design, this documentary is an intimate revelation of McQueen's own…
13
The Dreadful (2026)
★ 5.9/10
In medieval England, Anne and her domineering mother-in-law Morwen struggle to survive on the outskirts of society. But when a man from Anne's past returns from war, a curse begins to take shape through a mysterious…
14
13th (2016)
★ 7.8/10
An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.
15
Love Me Love Me (2026)
★ 6.1/10
After her brother's death, June moves to Milan for a fresh start, finding comfort in Will, the perfect honor student at her new international school. But when his troubled best friend James—hiding a dangerous life in…
16
Sing Sing (2024)
★ 7.4/10
Divine G, imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn't commit, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other incarcerated men in this story of resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art.
17
O.G. (2018)
★ 5.9/10
Louis Menkins is five weeks away from being released after 26 years in prison. He is faced with the decision to put his own release at risk in order to protect a young man named Beecher from growing gang controversies.
18
Carnage (2011)
★ 7.2/10
Two pairs of parents hold a cordial meeting after their sons are involved in a fight, though as their time together progresses, increasingly childish behavior throws the discussion into chaos.
19
Curly Sue (1991)
★ 6.4/10
Bill is a penniless drifter who scams strangers out of just enough money to feed himself and his partner in crime, an orphan girl known as Curly Sue. Bill and Curly Sue target Grey, a yuppie lawyer, but their con takes…
20
Ararat (2002)
★ 6.1/10
Interrogated by a customs officer, a young man recounts how his life was changed during the making of a film about the Armenian genocide.