Best movies like Death and the Compass

In the darkly phantasmagorical world of the carnival magician and sideshow hypnotist, the gruesome "illusions" of Montag the Magnificent are unique in that they seem to become retroactive reality long after the the tricks are done. Is it coincidence, or circumstantial evidence of the world's most diabolically ingenious murders? When an underground journalist begins to investigate the strange deaths, the truth proves to be far more bizarre and disturbing than anything he or his readers might have imagined.

New York police are bemused by reports of a giant flying lizard that has been spotted around the rooftops of New York, until the lizard starts to eat people. An out-of-work ex-con is the only person who knows the location of the monster's nest and is determined to turn the knowledge to his advantage, but will his gamble pay off or will he end up as lizard food?

After a depressed artist miraculously survives a suicide attempt, a series of horrific murders leads him to realize he may have been possessed by the vengeful spirit of a murdered gangster.

A disgraced former LAPD detective leads a home invasion in search of millions in stolen money. The plan goes awry and homicide detectives seeking answers interrogate the only survivors; a thief and a victim.

In a dystopian Detroit, grand houses that once housed the wealthy are now homes of the city's most-dangerous criminals. Surrounding the area is a giant wall to keep the rest of Detroit safe. For undercover cop Damien Collier, every day is a battle against corruption as he struggles to bring his father's killer, Tremaine, to justice. Meanwhile, Damien and an ex-con named Lino work together to save the city from a plot to destroy it.

A nurse is forced to spring a wounded murder suspect from the hospital when the man’s brother kidnaps his pregnant wife and wants to make a trade.

In the year 2007, crime has risen at an exponential rate. Once highly populated metropolises such as Los Angeles are no longer inhabitable. These cities have transformed into "Hell Zones," ruled by violent street gangs. The Hell Zone, formerly called the "Zone of Personal Freedom," is a safe-haven for criminal warpaths everywhere. This Hell Zone in LA is controlled by a criminal mastermind named Drexal (Joseph Ruskin). For the sake of entertaining his crowds of decadent losers and underlings, Drexal has staged a series of lethal, no-holds-barred matches in the "Death Ring," where the winner takes all of the glory...while the defeated one shall lose his self-respect (or maybe just his head). Meanwhile, two brave cops, Braniff (Chad McQueen), and Sledge (Gary Daniels) must risk their badges...and their lives when they enter Los Angeles's "Hell Zone."

A mad scientist changes his simple-minded handyman into a werewolf in order to prove his supposedly crazy scientific theories - and exact revenge.

An NYPD hostage negotiator teams up with a federal agent to rescue dozens of tourists held hostage during a 10-hour seige at the U.S. Federal Reserve.

When her best friend vanishes during a girls' trip to Croatia, Beth races to figure out what happened. But each clue yields another unsettling deception.

Jane Marple solves the mystery when a local woman is poisoned and a visiting movie star seems to have been the intended victim.

Victoria is a young mother trying to put her dark past as a Russian drug courier behind her, but retired cop Damon forces Victoria to do his bidding by holding her daughter hostage. Now, Victoria must use guns, guts and a motorcycle to take out a series of violent gangsters—or she may never see her child again.

Ray Trueblood, member of a street gang, is framed by an enemy of a rival gang, Billy "Spider" Masters. Ray is accused of killing a cop and he has to escape leaving behind his little brother, Donny. Ten years later Ray returns to his neighborhood to take his brother with him, but things are worse than he could expect: his brother, now 18 years old, hates him and is a member of Billy Masters' gang. Furthermore, Billy Masters is looking for revenge and... the police is still after Ray for the murder of the police officer.

Three renegade cops team up to take on the corrupt chief of police and a crime lords hatchet-man.

A detective tries to remain loyal to his partner, and his best friend - a mobster.

Two detectives investigating a gang-related find themselves targeted by both gang members and crooked cops.

In the future, national boundaries have been broken down and two giant super-states remain—the bleak, oppressive, and totalitarian "Hemisphere," and the sprawling and futuristic "Megaville." Megaville has an elected president, but the entire system is rife with corruption. All forms of media are encouraged in Megaville, but this freedom has aided moral decay with the distribution of pornography and violent movies. Outside Megaville lies the Hemisphere; whereas Megaville is clean and ordered, the Hemisphere is in a state of decay. Travel from the Hemisphere to Megaville is restricted with few exceptions to the powerful. An outwardly totalitarian regime governs the daily life of civilians in the Hemisphere and the people live in fear of the "CKS" (the secret police). All forms of media are illegal in the Hemisphere. CC wikipedia.org

A loathsome man ends up dead, but it's not clear who's to blame. If ever a person got what he deserved, it's James Urbanksi, an abusive drunk who steals from his wife, Joyce, and promises her close friend Cynthia Kellogg that she'll be the next target of his rage. At a group outing, James bleeds to death after someone cuts his throat. But because he's such a terrible human being, police aren't sure which of his acquaintances decided to kill him.

The lord and lady of a capacious manor are killed, and the lord's ghost seems to have returned to knock off the staff one by one, causing Inspector Winship and Dr. Tart to investigate the wacky house and its inhabitants.

A convicted bank robber breaks free as he is being transported to prison after learning that his daughter has been killed by a serial killer. Determined to find her killer, he joins with a female cop who is working the case. He quickly discovers that his daughter had recently had an abortion, an action common to all of the murdered women. Meanwhile the FBI agent that he escaped from is hot on his trail.

Detective Emily Eden is a tough New York City cop forced to go undercover to solve a puzzling murder. Her search for the truth takes her into a secret world of unwritten law and unspoken power, a world where the only way out is deeper in.

A drug deal hijacked by a third party, they leave the drugs and take the money. A stripper witnesses a murder and now the Mafia's after but there is nowhere safe to hide.

After 6 years of brutal murders, the West Yorkshire Police fear that they may have already interviewed The Ripper and let him back into the world to continue his reign of terror upon the citizens of Yorkshire. Assistant Chief Constable of the Manchester Police, Peter Hunter, is called in to oversee the West Yorkshire Police's Ripper investigation and see what they could have missed.

Tom Canboro is a police detective with a Christian sister, Eileen, a brother, Calvin, a wife, Susan, and eccentric brother-in-law, Jason. One night, Jason seemingly goes insane and tries to kill Eileen, calling her a "hater". Tom soon realises this may be a conspiracy going as far as devil worship, but as he speeds in his car to get help, he suddenly looses control and crashes. Waking up in a strange hospital, he finds years have passed and people all over the world are wearing the mark of 666 on their right hands, and all those who don't are being killed off. Franco Macalusso, the believer in world peace Jason was fond of, now controls the world, and is trying to bring the world together as it was at the tower of Babel. Meanwhile, the "Haters" or Christians are hiding out and airing TBN tapes on the air for people to realise the Messiah is really the Antichrist, but their leader, Helen Hannah, is arrested... Written by The Extra in the Background

A struggling writer on the verge of success finds his love for the woman of his wildest dreams drawing him deeper into the depths of passion and jealousy, until he realizes he has been framed for murder.

In the Los Angeles of the future, police are forbidden to carry weapons and must use stun guns instead. A maverick detective ignores those restrictions in his pursuit of "The Bullseye Murderer," a psychotic rapist who takes a new drug called "Umbra" that gives him superhuman strength and intelligence.

"The Prodigy" tells the story of small-time enforcer Truman Fisher's vicious conflict with a sadistic assassin who has chosen the unwilling Truman to be his successor. The assassin, who goes by the alias Rains and whose exploits have become the source of legend among Truman's underworld colleagues, drives Truman, through the pressure of constant violence and grief, to understand his own capacity for both bloodshed and compassion. Ultimately this reveals to Truman that he as with all of us, must find our place in this world or as Rains would say "our place in this grand design." This action begins quickly as Truman meets with a turncoat from a rival gang. This tense showdown erupts quickly into mayhem, when Rains makes his unexpected entrance. In the wake of the ensuing bloodbath, Truman is forced to reevaluate his own role in the small, violent world he inhabits, suddenly aware that there are larger powers at work which he does not understand...

A serial killer is stalking New York. Inspector Edward X. Delaney is an NYPD detective, nearing retirement, who is trying to put together the pieces of the case. Are the victims somehow linked? What does the brutal method of death signify?

For opposite reasons, an undercover federal agent and a small time hood join forces to take on a union of drug lords and dirty cops.

Psychiatrist Dr. Lila Colleti is divorcing her husband and is devastated when he wins custody of their two little girls, whom he gets largely because Lila's job, being a psychiatrist for the criminally insane at the local prison, is a potentially dangerous one that forces her to keep long, erratic hours. When one of Lila's patients, Ed Baikman, is released into a half-way house, he decides under the delusional influence of his psychosis to help her out by murdering her ex-husband and his girlfriend, and then threatening to tell the cops they'd planned it together when she refuses to become romantically involved with him. Though Lila's lover, police detective Macy Kobacek, stands by her loyally, Baikman does such an ingenious job of implicating Lila in the crime that even Macy begins to have his doubts about Lila's innocence

The government's new urban renewal policy results in street gangs fighting for control of the inner cities. While most of the residents flee, one factory owner determines to fight the gangs for his property.

Hoping to bury her criminal past, Jenny Hadley settles into a comfortable existence as Gina, the wife of the politician Clinton Crane. When her former associate Floyd Durant shows up to blackmail Gina, she has no choice but to murder him. Things take a bizarre turn when Barbara Arnold is charged with Durant's murder and Gina is selected to serve on the jury.

Detective Chief Superintendent Maurice Jobson is forced to remember the very similar disappearance of Clare Kemplay, who was found dead in 1974, and the subsequent imprisonment of local boy Michael Myshkin. Washed-up local solicitor John Piggott becomes convinced of Myshkin's innocence and begins to fight on his behalf, unwittingly providing a catalyst for Jobson to start to right some wrongs.

With few clues to go on, Detective Rodriguez is assigned to the case and charged with the task of bringing a beautiful, murdering seductress to justice. After being sentenced to a life term at a mental institution for the criminally insane, the convicted murderer fights for her freedom while falling in love with the man who put her there.

Neil Murphy returns to his hometown, after an eight year absence, to attend the wake of his best friend Danny Sherman. However Neil doesn't quite receive such a warm welcome on his return as he is led to believe his friend was murdered. With the help of Danny's sister Lisa and her friend Roger. Neil may soon uncover the mystery surrounding his friend's death.