Prison Crime movies

Vibe

Realistic Claustrophobic Relentless Measured Oppressive

Overview

Henri “Papillon” Charrière, a safecracker from the Parisian underworld, is wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the penal colony of French Guiana, where he forges a strong friendship with Louis Dega, a counterfeiter who needs his protection.

Themes

Survival under confinement, Fragile alliances, Isolation and endurance, Resilience under duress, Wrongful conviction, System injustice

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Vibe

Realistic Tense Claustrophobic Brutal Bleak

Overview

A newly-released prison gangster is forced by the leaders of his gang to orchestrate a major crime with a brutal rival gang on the streets of Southern California.

Themes

Prison survival pressures, Gang loyalty and betrayal, Family protection versus crime, Violence escalation and consequence, Institutional surveillance and control, Identity through adaptation and alias

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Vibe

Immersive Tense Dynamic Claustrophobic Atmospheric

Overview

Ren Amari is the driven inventor of a revolutionary new drug. OtherLife expands the brain's sense of time and creates virtual reality directly in the user's mind. With OtherLife, mere seconds in real life feel like hours or days of exciting adventures. As Ren and her colleagues race around the clock to launch OtherLife, the government muscles in to use the drugs as a radical solution to prison overcrowding. They will create virtual cells where criminals serve long sentences in just minutes of real time. When Ren resists, she finds herself an unwilling guinea pig trapped in a prison cell in her mind. She must escape before she descends into madness, and then regain control of OtherLife before others suffer the same fate.

Themes

Time manipulation ethics, Memory as reality, Corporate control of science, Confinement by technology, Overpopulation pressure, Government use of science

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Vibe

Realistic Tense Claustrophobic Brutal Atmospheric

Overview

Locked up for a minor crime, 19 year old JR quickly learns the harsh realities of prison life. Protection, if you can get it, is paramount. JR soon finds himself under the watchful eye of Australia's most notorious criminal, Brendan Lynch, but protection comes at a price.

Themes

Loyalty under threat, Protection dynamics in prison, Deception among criminals, Risk and reward in heists, Power hierarchies within gangs, Betrayal as leverage

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Vibe

Tense Dry Clinical Intense Nerve-wracking

Overview

A woman turns to prescription medication as a way of handling her anxiety concerning her husband's upcoming release from prison.

Themes

Deception and manipulation, Stock manipulation via insider trading, Sleepwalking and fraud, Cover-up and deception, Romance and betrayal in clinical relationships, Professional reputation

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Vibe

Tense Claustrophobic Brutal Relentless Fast-paced

Overview

A career criminal nabbed by Mexican authorities is placed in a tough prison where he learns to survive with the help of a 9-year-old boy.

Themes

Deception and manipulation, Loyalty under pressure, Institutional corruption, Power dynamics in confinement, Prison economy, Survival through alliances

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Vibe

Realistic Tense Raw Bleak Relentless

Overview

After 10 years in prison, Driver is now a free man with a single focus - hunting down the people responsible for brutally murdering his brother.

Themes

Revenge against the system, Double-cross and betrayal, Prisoner origins and vengeance, Hitman pursuit and danger, Police mistrust and pursuit, Secrets and cover-ups

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Vibe

Realistic Tense Raw Claustrophobic Clinical

Overview

Russian inmate Boyka, now severely hobbled by the knee injury suffered at the end of Undisputed 2. No longer the feared prison fighter he was, he has declined so far that he is now good only for cleaning toilets. But when a new prison fight tournament begins - an international affair, matching the best fighters from prisons around the globe, enticing them with the promise of freedom for the winner - Boyka must reclaim his dignity and fight for his position in the tournament.

Themes

Power dynamics in confinement, Profit-driven competition, Trust forged under stress, Deception in sport, Coercive system, Resilience under restraint, International rivalry

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Vibe

Realistic Tense Claustrophobic Bleak Procedural

Overview

Sentenced to six years in prison, Malik El Djebena is alone in the world and can neither read nor write. On his arrival at the prison, he seems younger and more brittle than the others detained there. At once he falls under the sway of a group of Corsicans who enforce their rule in the prison. As the 'missions' go by, he toughens himself and wins the confidence of the Corsican group.

Themes

Manipulation and control, Loyalty under pressure, Prison faction power, Illiteracy as vulnerability, Protection through violence, Outside criminal networks

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Vibe

Tense Raw Claustrophobic Cynical Surreal

Overview

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.

Themes

Isolation and confinement, Violence as spectacle, Authority and control, Art as outlet, Blurred lines between crime and performance, Body as shield

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