Top 250 Movies Like Viva Atata

A young substitute teacher escapes from her drudging everyday life by fantasizing about bizarre parallel realities.

Despite vocal objections from Warden Blakely, prison psychologist Diana Purlow journeys deep inside the mind of serial killer Jesse Mowat in a desperate attempt to reveal the source of his psychotic tendencies.

A sheriff sees his state senate bid slide out onto the ice when his daughter begins to date the son of a charming but psychologically disturbed woman with whom the sheriff has engaged in a two-decade-long affair.

A mother searches for five years to find her kidnapped son in this fact-based drama. Unexpectedly the boy is found, but the reunion is not as she hoped. She now has to deal with five years of abuse that the boy suffered at the hands of his kidnappers.

A crusading psychiatrist battles a sadistic female warden to improve conditions at a women's prison.

Like most kids, Ned idolized his father and dreamed of following in his footsteps. Unfortunately, his father was a two-bit crook who spent most of his life in jail. Without a family of his own, Ned falls in with the Aryan Brotherhood. Soon after, Ned is placed in a mental hospital where he is mesmerized by a young black girl who believes Adolf Hitler was reincarnated in her.

A high-class call girl accused of murder fights for the right to stand trial rather than be declared mentally incompetent.

A decent but troubled young man is sent to a psychiatric institution for the criminally insane and soon finds himself in a fight for his life battling ghosts inside his head and very real enemies all around him.

When Chance (Brian Presley) returns home after five years in jail, he is determined to escape his past, start a new life and make peace with his father, (Ed Harris, Golden Globe® winner), who is the head of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang and serving a life sentence for murder. Upon his release, his dreams of a crime-free future begin to disintegrate when he is forced to assume his best friend's outrageous debt to a local mobster. Despite being thrust back into a world of organized fighting, drug dealing and ties to corrupt police agents, Chance falls in love with Pearl (Academy Award® nominee Taraji P. Henson) and the prospect of living a normal life seems almost within reach. But will he be able to escape the crimes of his father and his past?

After the divorce from Michael, Tessa raises her daughters Kate and Lara alone. None of them can stand Michael's new young wife Carolyn, a model. But when Tessa learns that she's suffering from cancer and soon will die, she tries to get her kids to accept Carolyn as new mother. She takes them on a trip across the country to her father Jacob's ranch in Wyoming. During this trip, Tessa tries to teach Carolyn about the responsibilities involved in raising kids.

When neighborhood kids begin vanishing, Jenny suspects her child psychologist husband, Carter, may be resuming the deranged experiments his father performed on Carter when he was young. Now, it falls to Jenny to unravel the mystery. And as more children disappear, she fears for her own child's safety.

A former boyracer, who married his first love and took a job in one of the fish factories, now has a 17 year-old-son of his own following in his footsteps and can no longer ignore the fact he’s going nowhere. Unable to be physically or emotionally present with his family, he takes his son’s car out for one final joy ride and risks losing the love that surrounds him

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.

In "America," Dr. Maureen Brennan, a psychiatrist at a youth treatment center, encounters her newest patient, a bi-racial boy named America. Through their sessions, Dr. Brennan helps America come to terms with his roller-coaster life, which began when he was taken by authorities from his crack-addicted mother, and placed into foster care as an infant. The short time of stability in his life occurred when America lived with Mrs. Harper, the elderly nanny to one of his foster families. Later reunited with his mother, she soon abandons America and he is again placed into foster care. Lagging behind in school and full of anger, America retreats further away from society after years of sexual abuse. After attempting suicide, America is placed in a treatment center where Dr. Brennan helps him open up about his painful past and discover the support and courage he needs to get his life back on track.

The true story of suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her Indiana home during the 1960s.

A ten year old girl named Angela leads her six year old sister, Ellie, through various regimens of 'purification' in an attempt to rid themselves of their evil, which she believes to be the cause of their mother's mental illness. Precocious, to say the least, Angela has visions of Lucifer coming to take her and her sister away, and one of her remedies for this is for them to remain within a circle of their dolls and toys until they see a vision of the virgin Mary come to them. But such thinking can only lead to an ending befitting of her own mental state.

On a secluded family farm, a mother suffers a psychotic break due to postpartum depression, forcing the eldest son to protect his sibling from the mother they have always known and loved.

Suffering from a severe case of depression, toy company CEO Walter Black begins using a beaver hand puppet to help him open up to his family. With his father seemingly going insane, adolescent son Porter pushes for his parents to get a divorce.

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.

A single mistake puts a 19-year old girl behind bars, where she experiences the terrors and torments of women in prison.

When seventeen-year-old Hannah stumbles upon a website about Thinspiration--an online community devoted to anorexia as a life choice--she becomes an obsessive follower of the site founder, ButterflyAna. By the time Hannah's family realizes what is happening and get Hannah the help she needs, the disease has fully taken hold and Hannah is refusing to eat. Will this family be able to exorcise the demon of anorexia from their lives?

Pastry chef Helena poisons men who don't meet her high standards. Her fiancé Charlie has nothing to worry about, at least until his sister Becca becomes suspicious of Helena's culinary killing past. It's up to Becca to save Charlie from both the altar and the grave.

When a new boy is employed to work in a coffee shop, he turns out to be a schizophrenic who refuses to take his medication, and makes the life of the popular young waitress who works there a misery.

An investigative reporter Nellie Bly, who’s on a mission to expose the deplorable conditions and mistreatment of patients at the notorious Women’s Lunatic Asylum, and feigns mental illness in order to be institutionalized to report from the inside. The movie is an account of actual events surrounding Nellie’s stay beginning after she has undergone treatment, leaving her with no recollection of how she came to the asylum or her real identity.

A woman struggles with her self-image in a house run by a weight-obsessed mother, alongside a younger sister whose eating disorder has tragic coincidences.

"Prosecuting Casey Anthony" reveals Florida prosecutor, Jeff Ashton’s inside story of the true crime drama that captivated and then shocked the nation when Caylee Anthony’s mother, Casey, was acquitted of killing her daughter, despite what many thought to be overwhelming evidence of guilt. The movie is seen from Ashton’s (Lowe) perspective and it takes viewers behind-the-scenes of both the investigation into Caylee’s tragic death and the ensuing trial, shedding new light on the many questions of what happened to the two year-old girl, how Ashton and his fellow prosecutors built their case and why a woman so shrouded in suspicion was proclaimed innocent. With in-depth information about the case and the accused, "Prosecuting Casey Anthony" examines what the prosecution got right, what they got wrong and why Ashton remains convinced of Casey Anthony’s guilt...

A nanny is hired by a troubled mother and finds herself fighting to hold together the entire family when she realizes the woman has an imaginary daughter.

Peter Winter is a young schizophrenic who is desperately trying to get his daughter back from her adoptive family. He attempts to function in a world that, for him, is filled with strange voices, electrical noise, disconcerting images, and jarringly sudden emotional shifts. During his quest, he runs afoul of the law and an ongoing murder investigation.

A psychiatrist tries to put her life back together after a violent attack by seeking to repair the life of a new patient, but he has his own terrifying history.

Set in the changing world of the late 1960s, Susanna Kaysen's prescribed "short rest" from a psychiatrist she had met only once becomes a strange, unknown journey into Alice's Wonderland, where she struggles with the thin line between normal and crazy. Susanna soon realizes how hard it is to get out once she has been committed, and she ultimately has to choose between the world of people who belong inside or the difficult world of reality outside.

An inspirational speaker becomes reinvigorated after meeting a lively woman who shakes up his mundane existence.

The story about a photographer who moves her family into a home filled with mirrors which seem to reflect a different reality.

David Hare's account of a one-time French freedom fighter who gradually realizes that her post-war life is not meeting her expectations.

The story of the marriage of the poet T. S. Eliot to socialite Vivienne Haigh-Wood, which had to cope with her gynaecological and emotional problems and his growing fame.

Because of the actions of her irresponsible parents, a young girl is left alone on a decrepit country estate and survives inside her fantastic imagination.

A penniless woman meets a strange girl who insists she is her long-lost mother and becomes enmeshed in a web of deception, and perhaps madness.

The savage murders of three young children sparks a controversial trial of three teenagers accused of killing the kids as part of a satanic ritual.

A psychiatrist, whose client commits suicide, finds his family life disrupted after introducing her surviving brother to his wife and daughter.

A teenage girl living with schizophrenia begins to suspect her neighbor has kidnapped a child. Her parents try desperately to help her live a normal life, without exposing their own tragic secrets, and the only person who believes her is Caleb – a boy she isn’t even sure exists.

Sean Veil is an ultra paranoid murder suspect who takes to filming himself round the clock to provide an alibi, just in case he's ever accused of another crime. Problems arise however when the police do come calling and the one tape that can prove his innocence has mysteriously disappeared.

For as long as she can remember, 16 year-old Gracie has been raising her four siblings, each of whom has a different, absent father and their mother is on the fast track to self-destruction. When these children's lives are about to be pulled apart, Gracie will have to do the impossible and make the ultimate sacrifices to keep her family together.

David Callaway tries to piece together his life in the wake of his wife's suicide and has been left to raise his nine-year-old daughter, Emily on his own. David is at first amused to discover that Emily has created an imaginary friend named 'Charlie', but it isn't long before 'Charlie' develops a sinister and violent side, and as David struggles with his daughter's growing emotional problems, he comes to the frightening realisation that 'Charlie' isn't just a figment of Emily's imagination.

When Ruth Matthews's husband is killed in a fall at an archaeological dig, her daughter Sally handles her father's death in a very odd manner. As Sally's condition worsens, Ruth takes her to see Jake, an expert in childhood autism. Jake attempts to bring Sally out of her mental disarray through traditional therapy methods, but Ruth takes a different route. She risks her own sanity by attempting to enter her daughter's mind and make sense of the seemingly bizarre things that Sally does, including building a wondrous house of cards

Jackson and Helen are in love and about to have their first child when they move in with Jackson's mother, Martha, in order to take care of the family estate. But all is not well in this household. Martha is jealous of her son's affection for Helen, and, despite her Southern smile, she's starting to act strangely. As Helen tries to create a happy home life, Martha attempts to divide the family so that Jackson will become hers alone.

A lawyer tries to prove her mother's innocence and uncover the secrets of a small village with the help of the local mayor. Her mother was accused of murder after the rice wine was poisoned at her husband's funeral, but she is suffering from memory loss and cannot defend herself.

A man who served prison time for intent to molest a child tries to build a new life with the help of a sympathetic psychiatrist.

Two couples meet for a painful and raw conversation in the aftermath of a violent tragedy.

The tragic true story of one of the worst cases of child abuse ever documented (in which a girl was locked in a room without social contact for nearly thirteen years) and what happened when she was finally rescued.

Alex is going through a midlife crisis and it has become a very difficult time for him. His marriage is struggling, he's worried about his son, and his job of killing people for his family has become the most stressful part of his life. He seeks the help of a therapist and meets a woman in the waiting room that he connects with.

A young man gets in over his head when he convinces a small-town girl he's a secret agent.

A sister and brother face the realities of familial responsibility as they begin to care for their ailing father.

First of all, the title does not refer to someone sentenced to jail. It is a movie about 6 lifetime friends who are all hitting the big `3-0' together during the same year. Each one looks inside themselves to see where has my life gone and what am I going to do with my future. Actually, what I saw was a black Seinfeld comedy. Tracy Morgan, who is one of the main characters, is a struggling comedian just like Jerry Seinfeld. He gives his opinion of what women want in a man in one of his comedy routines. Melissa De Sousa is looking for a man before time runs out. She is just like Elaine in Seinfeld. I don't remember the big problem with turning thirty, however, all the characters in this movie can show you what they are, such as not having fame, riches, a husband, a thin body, and staying young. Their life stories are probably repeated many times around the world.

Janet and Brad Majors, unhappily married, are separated after appearing on a game show. Janet becomes a superstar while Brad is thrown into a mental hospital. But what does fast food magnate Farley Flavors have up his sleeve?

Sarah returns with her father and uncle to fix up the family's longtime summerhouse after it was violated by squatters in the off-season. As they work in the dark, Sarah begins to hear sounds from within the walls of the boarded-up building. Although she barely remembers the place, Sarah senses the past may still haunt the home.

This film is based on the actual events that took place in 1971 when Stanford professor Dr. Philip Zimbardo created what became one of the most shocking and famous social experiments of all time.

After a twenty-year stay at an asylum for a double murder, a mother returns to her estranged daughter where suspicions arise about her behavior.

Dr. MacAuley, a kindly, beloved country doctor, is sent to Fillmore Prison. His crime was for removing a bullet from a young man who was escaping from the police.

A young woman dealing with anorexia meets an unconventional doctor who challenges her to face her condition and embrace life.

In 1962, Patricia Neal and Roald Dahl retreat to the English countryside to bring up their young family. The seemingly unlikely pair find their relationship put to the test by a tragic loss.

A psychotherapist journeys inside a comatose serial killer in the hopes of saving his latest victim.

A warden and his assistant clash over prison reform, triggering a violent riot.

Confusing realities surface in this paranoid film dealing with the fragile nature of a young woman recovering from rape and an apparent attempted suicide. In one reality, she is a killer destroyer of men. In another she is the new wife on a Jamaican honeymoon with her husband (William Baldwin), who is trying to help her recover. Which is real is the question as the story unfolds.

A successful American family retreat to their summer home on the banks of Lake Erie to find meaning in life, illness, loss, and change this Christmas. With a successful career in the wine business, and two amazing children, what more can a family ask for. But this Christmas will change the Austin family forever with Suzie falling ill. With Andrew struggling over his wife's ill health and the children trying to find peace and solace on their own, only a miracle can help them through this Christmas.

Exhibit A tells the timely story of a normal family disintegrating under financial pressure. All is not as it seems as the King family go about their day-to-day lives oblivious of the horror to come. Dad Andy (Bradley Cole) is nursing a secret that ultimately leads to terrible consequences for them all. We witness these chilling events unfold through daughter Judith's video camera, which subsequently becomes Exhibit A.

A doctor dealing with the aftermath of his son's death tries to help a troubled young man.

Tom Beckwith has just quit his job as a police officer in order to study psychology. But his professor, Lauren Porter, is more interested in his criminology abilities than in his progress in psychology. Because of traumatic circumstances during her childhood she is suffering from schizophrenia, and it looks like her other ego has just killed somebody. So Tom Beckwith tries to help her by observing her, combining his professional abilities as an ex-cop and his recently gained knowledge of psychology.

The story of 4 lives slammed together in a shocking moment. Intercutting between a carjacking and the separate stories of the 4 kids, we watch as they hurtle toward a life-changing end.

The extraordinary life of Chickasaw Nation citizen Mary Thompson Fisher is given a heartfelt tribute in this moving look at a culture in transition, and the way one woman used her voice to keep Native traditions and stories alive. Raised in Indian Territory, Fisher left home to pursue her dream of becoming an actress, only to find that her true calling was at home all along. From Chautauquas to Broadway and even the White House, Fisher traveled the world performing Native American songs and stories for heads of state, American presidents, and European royalty. Featuring Chickasaw citizens both in front of and be-hind the camera, this touching portrait starring Q’orianka Kilcher (“The New World”) and Graham Greene honors a woman whose own story was the most inspiring one she never told. -TCFF database

After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can't explain. As an overwhelming terror begins taking over her life, Rose must confront her troubling past in order to survive and escape her horrifying new reality.

Troy and his young transgender son Joe are on the run from his conservative mother in the Montana wilderness, with a detective in hot pursuit.

A woman's schizophrenia affects her relationships with her husband and son.

A young woman who is getting back on her feet after a mental breakdown, Carol Rivers discovers that her late uncle has left her a rundown nightclub. Carol decides to renovate the venue, but, in the process, uncovers dark secrets about the club and her dead relative. After a series of disturbing events, Carol becomes increasingly unstable, but she finds some measure of comfort in Sharpe, an enigmatic older detective.

Elizabeth June tries to put the loss of her eight-year-old daughter behind her by going back to teaching. Under the stress of the tragedy her husband Brian has moved out while Elizabeth is desperate to save her marriage and return to a life of normalcy. In her new job she is assigned a mentor, Paul Allenham, who is hiding a deep dark violent past. Paul has an immediate and unsettling attraction to Elizabeth; he will do anything to secure her love. Jes Macallan, Aaron Douglas, and Nic Bishop star.

Anna Forbes suffers an attack and sexual abuse by her father-in-law. But when she overcomes her fear and tells her husband Mark what happened he does not believe her, choosing instead to believe his father who denies everything. As Anna becomes increasingly desperate to be believed and her actions become more erratic, Mark has her committed to a mental institution for psychiatric treatment.

Trish and Deb Murdoch are in a rut. After 14 years together and raising two daughters, they find themselves in a mid life crisis where grief and attraction threaten their domestic nucleus.

Harry is unable to hold a job due to his mental illness and lives in an abandoned Hollywood hotel haunted by friendly ghosts of the long dead staff. The lines of his mental illness and reality become extremely blurred as some of his strangest events are indeed witnessed by others. As Harry becomes more frustrated by not being able to distinguish fact from delusion he turns to violence.

After a young couple moves into a remote farmhouse with their infant son, the woman's struggles with postpartum psychosis begin to intensify... as the house reveals secrets of its own.

There are terrible things happening in the desert...unexplainable, frightening things. Tragic, inexplicable incidents… ever since she arrived.

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

Samantha is recovering from a suicide attempt and ready for a fresh start in life. She has to fight for the custody of her daughter.

The parents of an anorexic woman fight to save her life.

A teenage girl, who feels she must always seem happy for her parents and friends, secretly binges and purges.

A disturbed young mother with some serious psychological problems begins to take them out on her toddler daughter.

Inspired by the life of Jacqui Jackson, the story follows a self-sacrificing mother of seven children, four of whom are, in one form or another, autistic.

Three novels - three dramatic stories in the walls of the women's prison. The first story - a brand new, first went to prison inmates. The second - about a mother whose son has ceased to go to prison for visits. The third - about the experiences of women on the eve of its release.

Michael, a young autistic boy who has trouble with verbalization but a real talent for technology, uses a computer to plead for help after being molested at his school.

A true story of a young woman whose abusive childhood results in her developing a multiple personality disorder.

Richard Hall is a successful writer, while his wife, Alice, is interested in pursuing a career as a singer. She meets James Hamilton, a musical agent, who arranges an opera engagement with Rimini, an impresario. Hall quarrels with his wife over this, and they separate, with Hall taking their daughter Grace.

A down on his luck young man stumbles into a gang of robbers who all get landed in prison. Will he be reformed, or is he ensnared into a life of crime?

In the near future, the sun has become so toxic people can no longer leave their houses in daytime, and normal life is conducted mostly inside the virtual realm. Against this dystopian backdrop, a dying man seeks to ensure the future well-being of his family, while coping with what it means to be human in this new reality.

When Laura begins to suspect her husband is cheating on her, she is devastated by his infidelity, despite having a torrid affair of her own. While she desperately tries to save her marriage, Laura's mysterious past begins to emerge, making her more paranoid, delusional and violent in alarming ways. As her mental state continues to unravel, whoever gets in the way of Laura's myriad of fantasies becomes expendable, revealing the shocking dream world that insulates her from reality.

The true story of a single mom who overcomes many of life's obstacles.

When young couple Sarah and Kyle move next door to Helen, a charismatic older woman, they have no idea she's a deeply disturbed psychopath who will stop at nothing to become Sarah's surrogate mother, and grandmother to the child she is expecting. Julia Borsellino, Mark Taylor, Deborah Grover, Marium Carvell star. (2021)

When Dr. Drew Carter tragically loses his ten-year old son in a car accident, he didn’t expect to lose his whole family as well. Since the accident, his wife (Julia) has become emotionally absent towards him and their daughter. When Johnny, a terminally ill foster child with leukemia, is referred to Drew he sees a chance to heal his family. With Julia against the idea, Drew takes matters into his own hands and adopts Johnny. Johnny doesn’t know what he is in for, but believes he is here for a special mission.

Malcom McDowell, Lou Diamond Phillips and Robert Englund star in three separate stories set in an eerie mental asylum.

Within the confines of an insane asylum languish many would-be seers and messiahs. Medical students meet them day in, day out. But when Eve meets Don Wake, she discovers he's not your run-of-the-mill paranoic. In fact, his visions of her life on the outside tread the line between fantasy and reality as a stalker becomes known to her. She could be in danger; it could all be in her head.

After a family tragedy in the chaotic city, Chris and Maggie Conley, in a last-ditch effort to save their dying marriage, purchase an isolated home in the deepest woods, to which they quickly discover evil has a key.

When a psychiatric doctor researches a young girls' diary to find out why she murdered her entire family, he begins to fall into the same state of insomnia and confusion that led her to lose her mind.

Man and woman (Peter Dobson and Samantha Mathis) fall in love in a heart transplant facility. They are both attracted to a little girl (Mary Matilyn Mouser) who turns out to be the orphan of their heart donors...