Top 250 Movies Like Dear Child

A list of the best movies similar to Dear Child. If you liked Dear Child then you may also like: Vengeance: A Love Story, Victims, Volver, The War Zone, The Watcher in the Woods and many more great movies featured on this list.

TV show

A mysterious woman's escape from her harrowing captivity points investigators toward the dark truth behind an unsolved disappearance 13 years earlier.

Vengeance: A Love Story

When a new friend is brutally assaulted, Detective John Droomor is put by chance in charge of the investigation. Although the evidence against the perpetrators seems overwhelming, there is nothing definitive in the case that guarantees justice is served, even more so if some people are willing to twist and betray it.

Victims

A serial rapist gets acquitted of his crimes due to a police mishandling of the investigation. His victims decide to turn the tables on him and begin stalking him.

Volver

While a woman attempts to cover up her daughter's murder and reinvent her life, her sister is visited by their mother, who was thought to have died.

The War Zone

An alienated teenager, saddened that he has moved away from London, must find a way to deal with a dark family secret.

The Watcher in the Woods

Mrs. Aylwood is a distraught mother since her daughter, Karen, vanished in the English countryside over 20 years ago. When the Carstairs family move into the Aylwood manor for the summer, strange occurrences begin to unnerve the family and Jan begins to suspect that they are linked to Karen's disappearance. As Jan unravels the dark past hidden by the townspeople, she delves further into the mystery and deeper into danger, but now it might be too late to escape the Watcher in the Woods.

The Woman

A lawyer puts his family in jeopardy when he captures the last member of a violent clan and tries to forcibly tame her.

No Child of Mine

Thirteen-year-old Kerry is repeatedly sexually abused by several adults, including at one point her mother. Her father sets her up as a prostitute. Kerry finally calls Childline and is put in a safe house, where she tries to come to terms with what has been done to her. Based on a true story, with the names changed to protect the real Kerry's identity.

The Railway Children

Set at the turn of the 20th century, The Railway Children tells the story of three Edwardian children and their mother who move to a country house in Yorkshire after their father is mysteriously taken away by the police.

Reckless

On Christmas Eve, a relentlessly cheerful woman escapes from the killers hired by her husband, and embarks on a series of strange encounters.

Room

Held captive for 7 years in an enclosed space, a woman and her young son finally gain their freedom, allowing the boy to experience the outside world for the first time.

Run

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

Jesse Stone: Sea Change

Police Chief Jesse Stone's relationship with his ex-wife worsens, and he fears he's relapsing into alcoholism. To get his mind off his problems, Jesse begins working on the unsolved murder of a bank teller shot during a robbery. Also, his investigation of an alleged rape draws him into conflict with the town council — which hopes to preserve Paradise's reputation as an ideal seaside resort.

Killer's Moon

Four mental patients - who, due to unauthorized experiments, believe they're living in a dream and have shed all moral imperatives - escape and find their way to the nearest bus-load of stranded schoolgirls.

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.

An American Haunting

Based on the true events of the only case in US History where a spirit caused the death of a man.

And Soon the Darkness

Two young English women go on a cycling tour of the French countryside. When one of them goes missing, the other begins to search for her. But who can she trust?

Bastard Out of Carolina

A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.

The Boogeyman

Still reeling from the tragic death of their mother, a teenage girl and her younger sister find themselves plagued by a sadistic presence in their house and struggle to get their grieving father to pay attention before it’s too late.

Broadcast Signal Intrusion

In the late 90s, a video archivist unearths a series of sinister pirate broadcasts and becomes obsessed with uncovering the dark conspiracy behind them.

Chained

A serial killer kidnaps a young boy after murdering his mother, then raises him to be his accomplice. After years in captivity, the boy must choose between escaping or following in his captor's bloody footprints.

Abducted: The Mary Stauffer Story

High school teacher Mary Stauffer and her eight-year old daughter, Beth are held captive for 53 days by an obsessed former student. Based on a true story.

The Tenth Circle

A family's well-kept secrets are exposed when the daughter accuses her ex-boyfriend of rape.

Girl in the Bunker

When Elizabeth is abducted by a fugitive sexual predator, she realizes she must take matters into her own hands and plot her escape. Based on a true story.

Shutter Island

World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by troubling visions and a mysterious doctor.

Precious

Set in Harlem in 1987, Claireece "Precious" Jones is a 16-year-old African American girl born into a life no one would want. She's pregnant for the second time by her absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother, an angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is chaotic and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks and a secret; She can't read.

The Turning

A young woman quits her teaching job to be a private tutor for two wealthy young kids, but soon starts to suspect there’s more to their house than what meets the eye.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Swedish thriller based on Stieg Larsson's novel about a male journalist and a young female hacker. In the opening of the movie, Mikael Blomkvist, a middle-aged publisher for the magazine Millennium, loses a libel case brought by corrupt Swedish industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström. Nevertheless, he is hired by Henrik Vanger in order to solve a cold case, the disappearance of Vanger's niece

Death Wish

After his wife is murdered by street punks, a pacifistic New York City architect becomes a one-man vigilante squad, prowling the streets for would-be muggers after dark.

Mother's Day

Three girls discover that two men are willing to do anything to impress Mother and what impresses Mother is watching her sons commit acts of rape and murder. Now these women are prisoners and lowered to pawns in the game of checkers between two dim wits and their Maniac Mommy and the question becomes, can any of them escape, alive?

The Dead Girl

The clues to a young woman's death come together as the lives of seemingly unrelated people begin to intersect.

The Deep End of the Ocean

A three-year-old boy disappears during his mother's high school reunion. Nine years later, by chance, he turns up in the town in which the family has just relocated.

Women Talking

A group of women in an isolated religious colony struggle to reconcile their faith with a series of sexual assaults committed by the colony's men.

Demented

A woman is gang-raped in a horse's stable, and even though the rapists are caught and imprisoned, she is harassed many moons later by ghastly visions of her tormentors, while her husband philanders and every little thing frightens her out of her wits.

Luckiest Girl Alive

A successful woman in New York City finds her life upended when she is forced to confront a dark truth that threatens to unravel her meticulously crafted life.

Mysterious Skin

A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth.

Dolores Claiborne

Dolores Claiborne was accused of killing her abusive husband twenty years ago, but the court's findings were inconclusive and she was allowed to walk free. Now she has been accused of killing her employer, Vera Donovan, and this time there is a witness who can place her at the scene of the crime. Things look bad for Dolores when her daughter Selena, a successful Manhattan magazine writer, returns to cover the story.

The Entity

Carla Moran, a hard-working single mother, is raped in her bedroom by someone — or something — that she cannot see. Despite skeptical psychiatrists, she is repeatedly attacked by this invisible force. Could this be a case of hysteria or something more horrific?

The Marquise of O

A German Marquise has to deal with a pregnancy she cannot explain and an infatuated Russian Count.

The Shuttered Room

In a small island off the American coast, the Whateleys live in an old mill where a mysterious bloody being creates an atmosphere of horror. After her parents get killed by lightning, young Susannah is sent to New York by her aunt Agatha, who wants her to avoid the family curse. Years later Susannah, now married, persuades her husband to spend a holiday in the abandoned mill. Once on the island, Susannah and Mike soon find themselves exposed to the hostility of a gang of thugs led by Ethan, Susannah's brutal cousin.

Night Hunter

A Minnesota police officer crosses paths with a committed and tireless vigilante as he follows the trail of a ruthless predator responsible for several abductions and murders.

Don't Go in the House

As a child, Donald was tormented by his mother who used fire as a punishment. Now a deranged adult, Donald stalks women at clubs, then takes them home where he kills them with a flamethrower.

Dreamcatcher

Longinotto's documentary is about Brenda Myers-Powell, who fights against sexual exploitation and supports prostitutes in Chicago. Brenda knows what she is talking about: her own story, involving teenage prostitution and a life of violence and abuse, is in stark contrast to her dauntless energy and optimism.

The Girl in the Park

A mother, enduringly traumatized by the disappearance of her three-year old daughter 15 years ago, has cut herself off from her ex-husband and son. However, when a troubled young woman with a checkered past enters her life, old psychic wounds painfully resurface, as does the illogical and increasingly irrational hope that the young woman may be the daughter she lost so long ago.

Girl in the Picture

A young mother’s mysterious death and her son’s subsequent kidnapping blow open a decades-long mystery about the woman’s true identity, and the murderous federal fugitive at the center of it all.

Happy

Happy is a 2011 feature documentary film directed, written, and co-produced by Roko Belic. It explores human happiness through interviews with people from all walks of life in 14 different countries, weaving in the newest findings of positive psychology. Director Roko Belic was originally inspired to create the film after producer/director Tom Shadyac (Liar, Liar, Patch Adams, Bruce Almighty) showed him an article in the New York Times entitled "A New Measure of Well Being From a Happy Little Kingdom". The article ranks the United States as the 23rd happiest country in the world. Shadyac then suggested that Belic make a documentary about happiness. Belic spent several years interviewing over 20 people, ranging from leading happiness researchers to a rickshaw driver in Kolkatta, a family living in a "co-housing community" in Denmark, a woman who was run over by a truck, a Cajun fisherman, and more.

Free Country

Former East Germany, 1992. Patrick Stein and Markus Bach, two very different police officers, are commissioned to investigate the disappearance of two female teenagers in a remote area of the country. Did they run away from home or did something more terrible happen to them?

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

Henry likes to kill people, in different ways each time. Henry shares an apartment with Otis. When Otis' sister comes to stay, we see both sides of Henry: "the guy next door" and the serial killer.

Towelhead

A young Arab-American girl struggles with her sexual obsession, a bigoted Army reservist, and her strict father during the Gulf War.

Who's Watching Oliver

The story of a mentally unstable loner lost in a life forced upon him. By night Oliver aimlessly wanders the streets and bars on what can only be described as a truly shocking and humiliating killing spree. His only savior and possible way out of a life he is desperate to escape comes in the form of the beautiful Sophia with her sweet eccentricity and naivety to the danger she has put herself in.

Wrong Way

Two girls are driving home when their car breaks down in the country. They are kidnapped by a gang of drug-crazed hippies, and repeatedly raped. They escape, but soon run into a death cult who plan to gang-rape the girls, then kill them. Meanwhile, the father of one of the girls gets the police to begin an investigation into their disappearance.

Lost Girls

When Mari Gilbert's daughter disappears, police inaction drives her own investigation into the gated Long Island community where Shannan was last seen. Her search brings attention to over a dozen murdered prostitutes.

Mazes and Monsters

Bound together by a desire to play "Mazes and Monsters," Robbie and his four college classmates decide to move the board game into the local cavern. Robbie loses his mind, and the line between reality and fantasy fuse into a harrowing nightmare.

Psych:9

A young woman with a troubled past takes a job at recently closed down hospital. Working the night shift alone she begins to experience a series of unsettling events that lead her to believe that the hospital may be connected to a number of recent murders in the area. To uncover the truth she will have to revisit the past behind the walls of Psych:9.

Seeing Allred

Gloria Allred overcame trauma and personal setbacks to become one of the nation’s most famous women’s rights attorneys. Now the feminist firebrand takes on two of the biggest adversaries of her career, Bill Cosby and Donald Trump, as sexual violence allegations grip the nation and keep her in the spotlight.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Based on writer Maya Angelou's eloquent reminiscences of her days as a gifted youngster growing up in the South during the Depression years where she and her older brother were raised by their grandmother after the divorce of their parents.

Skeletons

In writer-director Nick Whitfield's black indie comedy, a pair of "exorcists" (Ed Gaughan and Andrew Buckley) with the power to rid people of their secrets agree to help a woman (Paprika Steen) whose daughter (Tuppence Middleton) is mute -- and whose husband is missing. Jason Isaacs co-stars as the mysterious Colonel, who seems to be calling the shots from the sidelines of the duo's shadowy enterprise.

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.

S.F.W.

An alienated and misanthropic teenager gains sudden and unwanted celebrity status after he's taken hostage by terrorists where his indifference to their threats to kill him makes news headlines.

Girl in the Basement

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.

Nancy

Nancy becomes increasingly convinced she was kidnapped as a child. When she meets a couple whose daughter went missing thirty years ago, reasonable doubts give way to willful belief.

Cold Moon

Cold Moon takes place in tiny Babylon, Fla., where the granddaughter of Clark’s character is murdered by a mysterious assailant, her body sunk into the black waters of the Styx River — the river where her parents disappeared from their boat a decade earlier. Suspicion falls on a duplicitous banker and his wealthy father, played by Stewart and Lloyd.

A Stranger is Watching

A twisted man holds a TV newswoman and a girl hostage in the bowels of Grand Central Station.

Wildflower

One day Sammy and his younger sister Ellie happen upon a cabin where Alice, a young, partially deaf girl with epilepsy is being kept by her abusive stepfather. The three soon become friends and hope to get Alice an education and help her escape from the torture she undergoes daily. However, Alice's stepfather soon finds out about the friendship Alice has struck up and punishes her brutally. This story of friendship and youth shows that everyone is human and deserves to be treated so, no matter their disability or weakness.

Gone in the Night

Upon arriving at a remote cabin in the redwoods, Kath and her boyfriend find a mysterious younger couple already there — the rental has apparently been double-booked. They decide to share the cabin with these strangers until the next morning, but her boyfriend disappears with the young woman, which sends Kath in a spiral to find an explanation for their sudden breakup — but the truth is far stranger than she could have imagined.

Hands of a Mother

A family reunion aboard a ship becomes a turning point in the life of 39-year-old engineer Markus. When his son Adam (4) gets a little cut after going to the bathroom with his grandmother Renate, Markus recalls for the first time what his mother did to him when he was a little boy. Markus and his wife Monika find themselves confronted with an ugly truth of the kind you wouldn’t think a mother capable of.

Last Night in Rozzie

When a New York lawyer returns to his Boston hometown to reunite his dying friend with his young son, he is forced to finally confront a childhood trauma.

The Murder Farm

Bavaria, Germany, 1950s. The sudden return of the young Kathrin to the small village where she was born stirs up the feelings of guilt and personal ghosts of its inhabitants, haunted by dark memories related to a multiple murder that happened two years earlier at the Tannöd farm, a hideous crime that remains unsolved.

Why Hide?

A diverse group of friends gather for the festive season in a remote lodge but soon plans go awry. One of the friends goes missing and the truth behind why the lodge was booked for the holiday is disclosed. Christmas quickly turns to chaos and a bloody nightmare ensues.

American Murder: The Family Next Door

Using raw, firsthand footage, this documentary examines the disappearance of Shanann Watts and her children, and the terrible events that followed.

Snowland

Based on the novel Hohaj by Elisabeth Rynell, it depicts the devastation felt by Elizabeth, a woman who had lost her husband in a car accident and wants to leave her three young children to join him in death by wandering out into the snowy deserts of Lapland. As she wanders through the snow, Elizabeth discovers the story of Aron and Ina, a couple who overcame dark secrets and over-controlling family members to be with each other.

Dying to Divorce

As rates of femicide and domestic abuse soar in Turkey and democratic rights for women are increasingly eroded, a lawyer and her clients bravely risk everything for their freedom by standing up to the government and putting violent men behind bars.

Liar, Liar: Between Father and Daughter

The true story of an eleven year old girl who has a reputation for telling tall tales. So when she accuses her father of molesting her, will anybody believe her story?

The Abductors

Someone is stealing cheerleaders and other pretty girls and selling them to the highest bidder. Female super sexy spy Ginger is soon employed to investigate the disappearances. She does so by going undercover with a fellow agent and doing whatever is necessary to put an end to the operation and take down the leaders.

Missing

When her mother disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, June’s search for answers is hindered by international red tape. Stuck thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, June creatively uses all the latest technology at her fingertips to try and find her before it’s too late. But as she digs deeper, her digital sleuthing raises more questions than answers... and when June unravels secrets about her mom, she discovers that she never really knew her at all.

3096 Days

A young Austrian girl is kidnapped and held in captivity for eight years. Based on the real-life case of Natascha Kampusch.

Julia X

Meeting a man on the Internet, Julia decides to see him in person, only to get abducted and branded with the letter "x" by that guy. A game of cat and mouse follows, but the story has an unexpected twist.

The Bygone

When a young rancher crosses paths with a Lakota girl from a nearby reservation, her mysterious disappearance sparks a search that uncovers a harrowing past and hints at a dire future.

Kenneyville

There is something seriously wrong with Kenneyville. When, a young woman, KIM (Kelsey Oluk), from Toronto goes missing and police mysteriously drop the case earlier than expected, two private detectives are hired to find her. With undercover aliases, CHARLIE (Dany Gehshan) and KELLY (Vanessa Broze) head to the small town of Kenneyville for answers after discovering significant clues. Upon meeting seemingly innocent locals, they end up in a shocking predicament of violence where Charlie is brutally beaten and Kelly is ruthlessly kidnapped.

The Factory

An obsessed cop is on the trail of a serial killer prowling the streets of Buffalo, N.Y. but when his teenage daughter disappears, he drops any professional restraint to get the killer.

A Good Woman Is Hard to Find

The recently widowed mother of two, Sarah, is desperate to know who murdered her husband in front of her young son, rendering him mute. Coerced into helping a low-life drug dealer stash narcotics stolen from the local Mr. Big, she's forced into taking drastic action to protect her children, evolving from downtrodden submissive to take-charge vigilante.

And Never Let Her Go

The true story of a woman's suspicious disappearance after ending an affair with a powerful, married attorney.

Happy Now

All grown up and gunning for political power in a small North Wales community, Glen Marcus and his best mate harbour a dark secret which seems to be coming back to haunt them. But can the daughter of Tina Trent, a local woman just returned from Alaska, be the same girl the two lads buried fourteen years earlier? Only local policeman Max Bracchi can solve the case with the help of a wrongly accused tramp, Tin Man.

Trading Mom

The Martin kids learn of a magic spell that will take them to the 'mommy market' so they can get a more user friendly model. After giving a few other moms a try, they want their own back. But that is not so easy.

The Light of the Moon

After a New York City woman is sexually assaulted while walking home one evening, she struggles to accept the truth and rediscover the intimacy within her relationship.

Apartment 1303

While celebrating with her friends in her new cheaply rented apartment (with balcony and view of the sea) on the thirteenth floor of a building, the young Sayaka unexpectedly jumps off the balcony committing suicide. Her mother goes insane and her older sister, Mariko, decides to investigate the mysterious death of her sister. She finds that there have been many suicides of young women living in apartment 1303. She finds a book telling the tragic story of the Yukiyo and her mother, the first tenants of the apartment and uncovers the truth behind the suicides.

Victim/Suspect

Investigative journalist Rae de Leon travels nationwide to uncover and examine a shocking pattern: Young women tell the police they’ve been sexually assaulted, but instead of finding justice, they’re charged with the crime of making a false report, arrested, and even imprisoned by the system they believed would protect them.

Old Man

Deep in the woods, a lost hiker stumbles upon the cabin of an erratic and reclusive old man. What starts off as cordial conversation soon turns dangerous as it becomes clear that one or both of them might be hiding a terrifying secret.

The Girl Who Escaped: The Kara Robinson Story

The TRUE STORY of how Kara Robinson was kidnapped, assaulted and held captive for 18 hours, 15-year-old Kara Robinson plots a daring escape from a serial killer's apartment.

Some Guy Who Kills People

A former mental patient's repressed anger reaches the boiling point, leading him to embark on a mission of revenge against the thugs who once subjected him to severe physical and mental trauma.

Time of Fear

Time of Fear is a taut psychological thriller thrusting an FBI agent and a grieving father into the dark world of a demented killer. FBI Agent Cheryl Hammer, arrives in a small California town to catch an elusive killer. Seeing no help forthcoming from the Sheriff, she turns to the only other person who can help her, Jack Barone, a grieving father whose daughter, Lisa, was the victim of a similar slaying ten years prior. The killer's clues are a perversion of Biblical punishments for sins: stoning, burning, decapitation. Jack and Agent Hammer turn to Father Patrick, a Catholic priest, for help. As the clock ticks down, a young female friend of Jack's is kidnapped and may become the next casualty. The harrowing rescue of the young woman opens the door to a dark history hidden below the surface, revealing the true identity of the killer and answering the mystery of who killed Jack's daughter.

The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother's Hunt for Justice

The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother’s Hunt for Justice tells the story of Mari Gilbert’s search for the truth behind what happened to her daughter Shannan, a sometime escort who disappeared after a ‘date’ on Long Island. After Shannan (Katharine Isabelle, Hannibal) fails to come home, her mother Mari (Kim Delaney) knows something is terribly wrong. Pleading to police to take her concerns seriously, she keeps pushing the police for answers. Mari’s insistence that her daughter not be overlooked eventually leads to a horror hidden on Long Island for more than a decade – 19 bodies of young women discovered buried in shallow graves along Ocean Parkway in the area of Jones Beach State Park.

Escaping Captivity: The Kara Robinson Story

Kara Robinson Chamberlain recounts in vivid detail being taken at gun point from a friend’s front yard. Forced into in a cramped, dark storage container in her captor’s car, Kara instantly knew her life was in grave danger. In a moment she describes as a divine intervention, the 15-year-old realized she had to be her own victor and take her life back; she had to escape.

Killing the Indian in the Child

The Indian Act, passed in Canada in 1876, made members of Aboriginal peoples second-class citizens, separated from the white population: nomadic for centuries, they were moved to reservations to control their behavior and resources; and thousands of their youngest members were separated from their families to be Christianized: a cultural genocide that still resonates in Canadian society today.

The Darkness of the Road

A single mother and her young daughter are driving on a desolate road in a moonless desert. After meeting a young female hitchhiker at a gas station, the mother realizes her daughter is missing. As they search for her, a merciless force begins to torment the two women, unraveling a world of terror they must survive if they are to discover the terrifying truth behind the daughter’s disappearance.

Monstrous

A young woman goes searching for answers after her friend mysteriously vanishes in Whitehall, NY, an Adirondack town known for its Bigfoot sightings. She quickly learns that hiding in the woods is an evil more sinister than she could ever imagine.

Have Dreams, Will Travel

West Texas, in the 1960's. A tale of two 12-year-olds who embark on an adventure to find new parents in order to escape their unhappy and emotionally unsatisfying family life.

Drowning in Secrets

A woman must uncover the truth behind her sister’s mysterious disappearance before the culprit targets her.

Along Came a Nanny

Hoping to catch a burglar, a cop (Cameron Mathison) goes under cover as a nanny in an upscale community. As he looks for leads, he becomes involved with a high-maintenance family and a pretty caregiver (Sarah Lancaster) nearby.

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