Best movies like Chowchilla
26 children, buried alive. A shocking tale of escape and survival.
A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Chowchilla Starring Ellie Mae Louise Smith, Alexander Ray, Taylor Box, Tate McMillan, and more. If you liked Chowchilla then you may also like: The Veil, Nature Unleashed: Volcano, Wheels of Terror, The Quiet Ones, Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.
Go behind the headlines to explore the strangest mass kidnapping in history, with exclusive interviews from those who lived through it.
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Nature Unleashed: Volcano
While on assignment covering a volcanic eruption journalist Russell Woods' life is shattered when his wife is killed in the ensuing carnage. Grieving he travels to the small village in Italy where she was born. There he is followed by a curious young girl Angela whom the townspeople believe is cursed by the devil. Despite their warnings he feels a strange connection to her and believes her odd behaviour is somehow linked to the death of his wife. But when things turn otherworldly Russell realises that bigger events are unfolding. Something supernatural has come to this small village and Angela is the key.
Wheels of Terror
A small town is terrorized by an unknown stranger who kidnaps and abuses little girls. When her only child is kidnapped right in front of her, the school bus driver begins the desperate chase to catch the criminal.
The Quiet Ones
A young man's rapid descent into madness fueled by memories of a distant past of painful family experiences. Main character Michael Rose believes a normal relationship in the form of a blossoming new love interest may save him from his own demons, only to find that recurring nightmares and memories of the past are too strong for any one love to quiet.
Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer
British documentarian Nick Broomfield creates a follow-up piece to his 1992 documentary of the serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a highway prostitute who was convicted of killing six men in Florida between 1989 and 1990. Interviewing an increasingly mentally unstable Wuornos, Broomfield captures the distorted mind of a murderer whom the state of Florida deems of sound mind -- and therefore fit to execute. Throughout the film, Broomfield includes footage of his testimony at Wuornos' trial.
Dirty Harry
When a madman dubbed 'Scorpio' terrorizes San Francisco, hard-nosed cop, Harry Callahan – famous for his take-no-prisoners approach to law enforcement – is tasked with hunting down the psychopath. Harry eventually collars Scorpio in the process of rescuing a kidnap victim, only to see him walk on technicalities. Now, the maverick detective is determined to nail the maniac himself.
Darkness Falls
A vengeful spirit has taken the form of the Tooth Fairy to exact vengeance on the town that lynched her 150 years earlier. Her only opposition is the only child, now grown up, who has survived her before.
California Straight Ahead
A truck driver races a train to the West Coast in an attempt to determine which method of transportation is faster.
The Act of Killing
Filmmakers expose the horrifying mass executions of accused communists in Indonesia and those who are celebrated in their country for perpetrating the crime.
The Imposter
In 1994 a 13-year-old boy disappeared without a trace from his home in San Antonio, Texas. Three-and-a-half years later he is found alive thousands of miles away in a village in southern Spain with a horrifying story of kidnap and torture. His family is overjoyed to bring him home. But all is not quite as it seems.
Pacific Vibrations
Psychedelic surfer documentary. Also see http://encyclopediaofsurfing.com/entries/drugs-and-surfing
Scarecrow
For generations, it was an urban legend that lived in the nightmares of children. Now, the season to rejuvenate the tale will revive a town's darkest fears. With the Scarecrow Festival on the horizon, school teacher Aaron Harris is doling out punishment for six students serving detention. Their task: help Aaron's girlfriend Amanda fix her family farm before it's sold. But the cornfields circling the farm come with a legend and Tyler takes macabre delight in recounting the tale: It never sleeps, it never dies, it can't be stopped, hear their cries.
Sorority House Massacre
College student Beth and her sorority sisters are stalked by an escaped psychopathic killer who shares a strange telepathic link with her.
Tell Me Who I Am
In this documentary, Alex trusts his twin, Marcus, to tell him about his past after he loses his memory. But Marcus is hiding a dark family secret.
The Bloody Man
In the 1980s, and after the death of his mother, Sam is struggling with family, friends, school, and the most evil being he can imagine - The Bloody Man, who is unknowingly summoned and will stop at nothing to destroy everything Sam holds dear.
Abducted in Plain Sight
In 1974, 12-year-old Jan Broberg is abducted from a small church-going community in Idaho by a trusted neighbour and close family friend.
Cobweb
Eight year old Peter is plagued by a mysterious, constant tapping from inside his bedroom wall—one that his parents insist is all in his imagination. As Peter's fear intensifies, he believes that his parents could be hiding a terrible, dangerous secret and questions their trustworthiness.
Leave No Trace
In February 2022, The Boy Scouts Of America reached a $2.7 billion agreement over sex abuse claims, the largest such settlement in history. Leave No Trace explores how this all-American institution went so horrifyingly wrong.
Who Took Johnny
An examination of the infamous thirty-year-old cold case of Iowa paperboy Johnny Gosch, the first missing child to appear on a milk carton. The film focuses on Johnny’s mother, Noreen Gosch, and her relentless quest to find the truth about what happened to her son. Along the way there have been mysterious sightings, bizarre revelations, and a confrontation with a person who claims to have helped abduct Johnny.
Twist of Faith
A man confronts the trauma of past sexual abuse as a boy by a Catholic priest only to find his decision shatters his relationships with his family, community and faith.
Rockabye
A young woman, striking out on her own after having left her husband in California, has her young son snatched from her moments after getting off the bus in New York City on her way to Vermont, and reluctantly accepts the help of a hard-nosed reporter in tracking him down after being given the runaround from the police.
Arachnoquake
Giant albino spiders break free from the depths of Earth in New Orleans, making everyone’s worst nightmare a reality.
Homeless: The Motel Kids of Orange County
A documentary that explores the world of children who reside in discounted motels within walking distance of Disneyland, living in limbo as their families struggle to survive in one of the wealthiest regions of America. The parents of motel kids are often hard workers who don't earn enough to own or rent homes. As a result, they continue to live week-to-week in motels, hoping against hope for an opportunity that might allow them to move up in the O.C.
The Windermere Children
The story of the pioneering project to rehabilitate child survivors of the Holocaust on the shores of Lake Windermere.
Marionette
A therapist loses her grip on reality when a ten-year-old boy claims he can control her future.
Scout's Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America
Survivors, whistleblowers and experts recount the Boy Scouts of America's decades long cover-up of sexual abuse cases and its heartbreaking impact.
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God
Academy Award®–winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) explores the charged issue of pedophilia in the Catholic Church, following a trail from the first known protest against clerical sexual abuse in the United States and all way to the Vatican.
The Veil
The story springs from the real-world headlines of religious cults and mass suicides. With Veil, it begins 30 years ago, when members of a religious cult known as Heaven's Veil take their own lives. The truth behind what really happened remains buried deep in the memory of the sole survivor, a five-year-old girl, who returns to the compound with a documentary crew as an adult. They soon discover something that is far more terrifying than anything they could have imagined.