Top 250 Movies Like The Staircase

There is no truth without lies.

A list of the best movies similar to The Staircase. If you liked The Staircase then you may also like: With a Friend Like Harry..., Wives Under Suspicion, The Naked Edge, Narc, New Best Friend and many more great movies featured on this list.

TV show

An exploration of the life of Michael Peterson, his sprawling North Carolina family, and the suspicious death of his wife, Kathleen Peterson.

With a Friend Like Harry...

Harry knew Michel in high school; they meet again by accident, Harry inserts himself in Michel's life... and things take a sinister turn.

The Naked Edge

Five years after George Radcliffe was the chief witness in a high profile murder case, his wife receives a blackmailing letter accusing him of the crime.

Narc

When the trail goes cold on a murder investigation of a policeman, an undercover narcotics officer is lured back to the force to help solve the case.

New Best Friend

Alicia is a poor girl starting college. Hadley, Julianne and Sydney are three well-off girls in a row house. Classes begin and Alicia is paired with Hadley to work on a sociology class project. At first rejected, Alicia is finally accepted into Hadley's clique where she is introduced to a world of privilege and dangerous thrills. But her attempts to become one of them ultimately land her in the hospital.

Nocturnal Animals

Susan Morrow receives a book manuscript from her ex-husband – a man she left 20 years earlier – asking for her opinion of his writing. As she reads, she is drawn into the fictional life of Tony Hastings, a mathematics professor whose family vacation turns violent.

Number Seventeen

A gang of thieves gather at a safe house following a robbery, but a detective is on their trail.

Reversal of Fortune

Wealthy Sunny von Bülow lies brain-dead, husband Claus guilty of attempted murder; but he says he's innocent and hires Alan Dershowitz for his appeal.

Rules of Engagement

A Marine Colonel is brought to court-martial after ordering his men to fire on demonstrators surrounding the American embassy in Yemen.

Rx Murder

An American doctor, Jethro Jones, comes into a quiet British seaside community and becomes entangled in a murder mystery when the town gossips inform him that all of the three wives of the town doctor, Doctor Dysert (or Doctor Deadcert as they call him) have had mysterious deaths. And now Doctor Dysert is treating his own secretary, Kitty, who he wants to make her his next wife, as she has inexplicably fallen ill.

Jasper, Texas

In 1998, three white men in the small town of Jasper, Texas, chained a black man to the back of their pickup truck and dragged him to his death. This film relates that story and how it affected all of the residents of the town, both black and white.

Kramer vs. Kramer

Ted Kramer is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of housekeeping and taking care of himself and their young son Billy.

About Elly

The mysterious disappearance of a kindergarten teacher during a picnic in the north of Iran is followed by a series of misadventures for her fellow travelers.

Absolute Power

A master thief coincidentally is robbing a house where a murder—in which the President of The United States is involved—occurs in front of his eyes. He is forced to run, while holding evidence that could convict the President.

Acts of Vengeance

A fast-talking lawyer transforms his body and takes a vow of silence, not to be broken until he finds out who killed his wife and daughter and has his revenge.

Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas

In the 16th century in the Cévennes, a horse dealer by the name of Michael Kohlhaas leads a happy and prosperous family life. When a lord treats him unjustly, this pious, upstanding man raises an army and puts the country to fire and sword in order to have his rights restored.

Anatomy of a Fall

Sandra, Samuel and their visually impaired son Daniel have been living in a remote mountain location for the past year. When Samuel is found dead outside the house, an investigation for death in suspicious circumstances is launched. Amidst the uncertainty, Sandra is indicted: was it suicide or homicide? A year later Daniel attends his mother’s trial, a veritable dissection of his parents’ relationship.

Billy Bathgate

In the year 1935, a teen named Billy Bathgate finds first love while becoming the protégé of fledgling gangster Dutch Schultz.

Black and White

Australia, 1958. When a nine year old white girl is found murdered, police are quick to arrest illiterate Aborigine, Max Stuart. Under interrogation Max admits to the killing. With a legal system compromised by intimidation tactics, the skills of his two gifted but naïve defense lawyers are put to the test.

His Double Life

A young woman returns home from college and becomes suspicious of her new stepdad, her late father's business partner, after she discovers him meeting with a mysterious woman who turns up dead the following day.

Prosecuting Casey Anthony

"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...

The Staircase Murders

After he calls 911 to report his wife's accident, successful novelist and aspiring politician Michael Peterson (Williams) becomes the prime suspect in her alleged murder.

Cold Creek Manor

A family moves from New York into an old mansion in the countryside, still filled with the previous owner's things. As they begin to make it their own, a series of events begin to occur that makes them believe that the former inhabitants are not yet gone.

The Lawyer

Tony Petrocelli, a bright young lawyer practicing in the rich cattle town of Baker, becomes embroiled in a murder case.

Law Abiding Citizen

A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free. He targets not only the killer but also the district attorney and others involved in the deal.

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.

Edge of Darkness

As a seasoned homicide detective, Thomas Craven has seen the bleakest side of humanity. But nothing prepares him for the toughest investigation of his life: the search for his only daughter Emma's killer. Now, he is on a personal mission to uncover the disturbing secrets surrounding her murder, including corporate corruption, government collusion and Emma's own mysterious life.

Hard to Kill

Mason Storm, a 'go it alone' cop, is gunned down at home. The intruders kill his wife, and think they've killed both Mason and his son too. Mason is secretly taken to a hospital where he spends several years in a coma. His son meanwhile is growing up thinking his father is dead. When Mason wakes up, everyone is in danger - himself, his son, his best friend, his nurse - but most of all those who arranged for his death

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog

London. A mysterious serial killer brutally murders young blond women by stalking them in the night fog. One foggy, sinister night, a young man who claims his name is Jonathan Drew arrives at the guest house run by the Bunting family and rents a room.

The Lincoln Lawyer

A lawyer conducts business from the back of his Lincoln town car while representing a high-profile client in Beverly Hills.

In Cold Blood

After a botched robbery results in the brutal murder of a rural family, two drifters elude police, in the end coming to terms with their own mortality and the repercussions of their vile atrocity.

High Crimes

A female attorney learns that her husband is really a marine officer awol for fifteen years and accused of murdering fifteen civilians in El Salvador. Believing her husband when he tells her that he's being framed as part of a U.S. Military cover-up, the attorney defends him in a military court.

Allied

In 1942, an intelligence officer in North Africa encounters a female French Resistance fighter on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. When they reunite in London, their relationship is tested by the pressures of war.

Emperor

An escaped slave travels north and has chance encounters with Frederick Douglass and John Brown. Based on the life story of Shields Green.

Standoff

A troubled veteran gets a chance at redemption by protecting a girl from an assassin after she witnesses a murder. Holding a shotgun with a single shell, he engages in physical and psychological warfare in a desperate fight for the girl's life.

Devil's Knot

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.

Ghosts of Mississippi

A Mississippi district attorney and the widow of Medgar Evers struggle to bring a white supremacist to justice for the 1963 murder of the civil rights leader.

Good People

Tom and Anna Wright, a young American couple, fall into severe debt while renovating Anna's family home in London. As the couple faces the loss of their dream to have a house and start a family, they discover that the tenant in the apartment below them is dead, and he's left behind a stash of cash—$400,000 worth. Though initially hesitant, Tom and Anna decide that the plan is simple: all they have to do is quietly take the money and use only what's necessary to get them out of debt. But when they start spending the money and can't seem to stop, they find themselves the target of a deadly adversary—the thief who stole it—and that's when very bad things start happening to good people.

The Insider

A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a 60 Minutes exposé on Big Tobacco.

The Paradine Case

Attorney Anthony Keane agrees to represent Londonite Mrs. Paradine, who has been fingered in her husband's murder. From the start, the married lawyer is drawn to the enigmatic beauty, and he begins to cast about for a way to exonerate his client. Keane puts the Paradine household servant on the stand, suggesting he is the killer. But Keane soon loses his way in the courtroom, and his half-baked plan sets off a stunning chain of events.

The Judge

A successful lawyer returns to his hometown for his mother's funeral only to discover that his estranged father, the town's judge, is suspected of murder.

My Family

Traces over three generations an immigrant family's trials, tribulations, tragedies, and triumphs. Maria and Jose, the first generation, come to Los Angeles, meet, marry, face deportation all in the 1930s. They establish their family in East L.A., and their children Chucho, Paco, Memo, Irene, Toni, and Jimmy deal with youth culture and the L.A. police in the '50s. As the second generation become adults in the '60s, the focus shifts to Jimmy, his marriage to Isabel (a Salvadorian refugee), their son, and Jimmy's journey to becoming a responsible parent.

The Star Chamber

As violence escalates in Los Angeles and heinous murders are committed, Steven Hardin, a young judge of the California Supreme Court, must struggle with his tortured conscience and growing despair as he watches helplessly as the ruthless criminals brought before his court go free because clever lawyers find obscure loopholes in the law.

Extracurricular Activities

The outrageous life of Reagan Collins, a model high school student with a "killer" after-school job that involves arranging “accidents” for his classmates' parents. When seasoned police detective Cliff Dawkins starts putting the pieces together, it's a battle of wits to see if Reagan can keep business booming.

Murder on a Sunday Morning

2001 French documentary about the murder trial of a 15 year old black teen accused of murder in Jacksonville, Florida. Winner of 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary.

No Place To Hide

Detective Joe Garvey is called in to a mysterious case: a ballerina has been slayed on stage during a performance, it seems she didn't even fight. At her house Garvey finds her 14 years old precocious sister Tinsel. She's not very cooperative, so he arranges to have her sent to the orphanage -- until she's attacked too. He takes her under his wings, and soon both get the attention of a secret organization.

Guilty

Investigates the corrupt judicial system under which Alain Mar'caux and his wife Edith were arrested on accusations of pedophilia horrific acts they never committed- and the years he spent fighting to get out of prison, clear his name and keep his family.

Dark Waters

A tenacious attorney uncovers a dark secret that connects a growing number of unexplained deaths to one of the world's largest corporations. In the process, he risks everything — his future, his family, and his own life — to expose the truth.

Hide and Seek

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.

House by the River

Wealthy writer Stephen Byrne tries to seduce the family maid, but when she resists, he kills her. Long jealous of his brother John, Stephen does his best to pin the blame for the murder on his sibling. Also affected by Stephen's arrogant dementia is his long-suffering wife Marjorie.

Isn't It Delicious

When Joan Weldon discovers she is dying of lung cancer, she sets out to reconcile her dysfunctional relationships with her three children, her husband, and along the way, her former best friend. The family's destructive ways are offset by messy and somewhat humorous attempts by Joan to set her children on the right course before she dies. In this big dysfunctional mix, they will all learn to connect in their own ways, and realize on their own terms what life is about.

Let Him Have It

In 1950s England, slow-witted Derek Bentley falls in with a group of petty criminals led by Chris Craig, a teenager with a fondness for American gangster films. Chris and Derek's friendship leads to their involvement in the true case which would forever shake England's belief in capital punishment.

The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case

Fact-based story of the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh Jr., son and namesake of the famed pilot, and ensuing trial of accused and convicted killer, Bruno Hauptmann.

Loggerheads

A troubled woman seeks out the child she gave up for adoption; a gay motel owner takes in a handsome drifter; and the wife of a preacher frets that a gay couple has moved in across the street. All of their lives will intersect as Loggerheads subtly draws out their secret losses and desires.

Lonely Hearts

In the late 1940s, a murderous couple known as the 'The Lonely Hearts Killers' kills close to a dozen people. Two detectives try to nab the duo who find their targets via the personals in the paper.

Man on the Flying Trapeze

Hard-working, henpecked Ambrose Ambrose Wolfinger takes off from work to go to a wrestling match with catastrophic consequences.

The Messengers

When the Solomons trade in the craziness of big-city life for the quiet of a North Dakota farm, little do they expect the nightmare that follows. Soon after arriving, teenage Jess (Kristen Stewart) and her younger brother see terrifying apparitions and endure attacks from a supernatural source. Jess must warn her disbelieving family before it is too late to save them.

The Phantom

Carlos DeLuna was arrested in 1993 aged 21 for the murder of Wanda Lopez, and protested his innocence until his execution, declaring that it was another Carlos who committed the crime.

The Best of Enemies

Centers on the unlikely relationship between Ann Atwater, an outspoken civil rights activist, and C.P. Ellis, a local Ku Klux Klan leader who reluctantly co-chaired a community summit, battling over the desegregation of schools in Durham, North Carolina during the racially-charged summer of 1971. The incredible events that unfolded would change Durham and the lives of Atwater and Ellis forever.

The Suspect

Genial shopkeeper Philip has to endure the constant nagging of a shrewish wife while he secretly yearns for a pretty young stenographer. When the henpecking gets to be too much, Philip murders his wife and manages to make her death look like an accident. A ruthless blackmailer and a low-key detective both discover Philip's secret, and he has to decide which of them poses the more dangerous threat.

Tenderness

Russell Crowe stars as Detective Cristofuoro, a semi-retired police officer who is trying to unravel the past to discover whether a violent teenager, Eric Poole (Jon Foster), was responsible for the murder of his family. Sophie Traub co-stars as Lori, the teenage runaway who falls under Eric's spell. Based on the novel by Robert Cormier.

The Trial

After the horrific death of his wife and two sons, suicide seems to be the only escape for small town attorney Kent "Mac" McClain... until he's assigned a capital punishment case that begins to transform his life and those around him forever.

Two Weeks

In this bittersweet comedy, four adult siblings gather at their dying mother's house in North Carolina for what they expect to be a quick, last goodbye. Instead, they find themselves trapped — together — for two weeks.

Main Street

From the once thriving tobacco warehouses, to the current run-down and closed shops of Five Points, a diverse group of residents and their respective life changes when outsider Gus Leroy brings something new and potentially dangerous into their quiet town.

A Covenant with Death

An innocent man is found guilty of murder and sentenced to death, but as he's about to be hanged he accidentally kills his executioner. He now faces a new trial, presided over by a young and inexperienced judge.

The Glass Shield

J.J. is a rookie in the Sheriff's Department and the first black officer at that station. Racial tensions run high in the department as some of J.J.'s fellow officers resent his presence. His only real friend is the other new trooper, the first female officer to work there, who also suffers similar discrimination in the otherwise all-white male work environment. When J.J. becomes increasingly aware of police corruption during the murder trial of Teddy Woods, whom he helped to arrest, he faces difficult decisions and puts himself into grave personal danger in the service of justice.

The Underworld Story

A blacklisted reporter brings his shady ways to a small-town newspaper after being fired from a big city daily.

Payment Deferred

Bank clerk William Marble is desperate for money to pay his family's bills. When his wealthy nephew visits, Marble asks him for a loan, but the young man refuses. Marble decides to kill his nephew. It is a twisted path to justice after Marble is transformed by the crime he committed and the wealth he gains.

In Darkness

A blind musician hears a murder committed in the apartment upstairs from hers that sends her down a dark path into London's gritty criminal underworld.

I Miss You, Hugs and Kisses

Successful businessman Charles Kruschen (Donald Pilon) is accused of bludgeoning to death his beautiful but manipulative model wife Magdalene (Elke Sommer). As the trial draws to a close, Charles reflects on the events leading up to the terrible incident...

SK1

The hunt, capture and trial of Guy Georges, one of France's most notorious serial killers.

Persecution

A cat lover (Lana Turner) kills her husband, blackmails her lover (Trevor Howard) and torments her son (Ralph Bates).

My See-Through Heart

Does one ever know who they’re living with? Lancelot’s life is thrown upside-down when he learns of the death of his wife. As he’s trying to cope with grief, he will have to confront the revelations made about his wife’s past.

Deadly Manor

A group of teenagers take refuge in an old, deserted mansion. Soon the members of the group start turning up dead, and the teenagers realize that they're not alone in the mansion.

Midnight Heat

A football player is framed for the murder of his team's owner, whose wife he happens to be sleeping with.

Bad Actress

Alyssa Rampart Pillage is a washed up TV queen whose career has been reduced to starring in commercials for her husband Bernie’s appliance empire. When their tree hugging daughter Topanga dies in a tragic golf ball accident, Bernie goes off the spiritual deep end and tries to give away their fortune with disastrous results. But what starts off as tragedy quickly turns into career re-invention for Alyssa. And as the body counts rises, so does her star. Bad Actress is a guilty pleasure of a film that gleefully mocks the world of Hollywood and Fame, which reminds us that Justice has nothing on Celebrity.Written by Anonymous (www.imdb.com).

Family Values

A look at the violent consequences faced by a middle-class family, as seen by three different points of view.

A Married Couple

In this classic exploration of marriage in conflict, Billy and Antoinette Edwards—as well as their son Bogart and dog Merton—live out their daily lives. Hoping to discover the heart of the trouble in their marriage, Billy and Antoniette offer up their day to day lives to documentary filmmaker Allan King, as laughter, tears, wit, tenderness, anger, patience, pain, and sorrow ensue.

A Father for Brittany

Keith and Kim Lussier are a childless couple who are given custody of a 3-month-old foster child, Brittany. However, tragedy strikes when Kim dies of cancer in the middle of the adoption process, leaving Keith to fight for Brittany's custody alone.

The Crimson Key

Larry Morgan, a private detective, is hired by a woman who wants Larry to trail her husband. The husband is murdered and, shortly afterwards, the wife is also killed. Larry shuffles through a long list of suspects before revealing the killer...

Oh Mercy

A police chief in northern France tries to solve a case where an old woman was brutally murdered on Christmas Eve. However, in a neighborhood rife with crime, everyone seems to be a suspect.

The Cheshire Murders

In the early-morning hours of July 23, 2007, in Cheshire, Conn., ex-convicts Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky broke into the family home of William Petit, his wife, Jennifer, and their daughters, Michaela, 11, and Hayley, 17. Dr. Petit was beaten and tied to a pole in the basement. The three women were bound in their bedrooms while the men ransacked the house. The brutal ordeal continued throughout the morning, ending with rape, arson and a horrific triple homicide.

The Last Innocent Man

A retired criminal lawyer is persuaded to take on one more case and becomes involved with his client's wife.

Shot in the Heart

The story of a man coming to terms with the sins and secrets of his notorious brother and, in the process, exploring the legacy of violence in his own family.

Thrill of the Kill

Haunted by her sister's suspicious death, Kelly Holden enlists the help of murder-mystery novelist Graydon Jennings to help solve the crime. Together they discover that Kelly's sibling was living quite the double life -- sleeping with a congressman and fending off a scorned ex-lover! As this salacious story unfolds, Kelly discovers that truth isn't just stranger than fiction -- it can be more evil too!

Perfect Strangers

Romance at a murder trial with a pair of sequestered jurors who are the only ones who think that the woman in the dock is innocent. Separated from their normal lives, jurors Terry Scott and David Campbell start to fall in love.

Silent Hunter

Hardened, relentless cop Jim Parandine (Miles O'Keeffe) is pushed to the edge when his family is murdered by some criminals. He becomes a recluse in the mountains, where years later, the same criminals end up to rob a bank. Jim uses his Navy Seal training and police experience to hunt down the criminals one by one and get vengeance for his loved ones.

Confidential Informant

During a crack epidemic two narcotics agents hunting for a cop killer. Hoping for leads, Moran and Thorton pay off a junkie informant. To provide for his wife and son, Moran involves the stool pigeon in a deadly scheme. This causes the partners to come under the scrutiny of a suspicious internal affairs agent.

Legitimate Violence

In the course of a violent hold-up at Deauville station, several innocent bystanders are shot dead. The victims include a politician, Robert Andréani, and three members of the same family. Devastated by the death of his wife, daughter and mother, Martin Modot resolves that their killers will be brought to justice. When the police fail to make any progress in their investigation, he decides to take matters into his own hands, with the support of a neo-fascist vigilante organization.

Courted

When a feared judge of the French court, Xavier Racine, encounters a French-Danish juror, Ditte Lorensen-Coteret, at a murder trial, their shared past is slowly uncovered.

The Case of the Black Cat

Lawyer Perry Mason is summoned to the Laxter mansion in the dead of night to write granddaughter Wilma out of invalid Peter Laxter's will, to keep her from marrying suspected fortune hunter Doug. Peter dies in a mysterious fire and Laxter's two grandsons, Sam Laxter and Frank Oafley, inherit his estate on the condition old caretaker Schuster and his cat Clinker are kept on. When cat-hating Sam threatens Clinker, Perry steps in and learns Laxter's death was suspicious and the family fortune and diamonds are missing. Schuster's found dead in his basement apartment, Laxter's nurse Louise is murdered with Schuster's crutch, and circumstantial evidence brings Doug to trial for Louise's death. Mason's investigation produces a surprise witness who turns the trial around. Written by Sister Grimm

The Unspoken Truth

Despite her parents' misgivings, Brianne (Lea Thompson) marries Clay (James Marshall), and the couple soon have a daughter. It's then that Clay begins to show the first signs that he's unhinged. When he sees Brianne innocently talking to a man, Clay shoots him dead. At first, Brianne believes that her love for her husband can prevail. But when authorities threaten to take away custody of her daughter, she learns a horrible truth about her past.

I Met a Murderer

An Englishwoman who writes novels meets a farmer who has just killed his nagging wife.

Knuckleball

Alone, and targeted on an isolated farm, 12 year old Henry finds himself at the center of a maelstrom of terror, and a dark family legacy, when his secretive grandfather dies suddenly in the night.

Trial: The Price of Passion

Down-on-his-luck lawyer Warren Blackburn defends wealthy Texan Johnnie Faye Boudreau, who is accused of murdering her husband.

The Stairs

In 1997, 11-year-old Jesse finds a mysterious staircase in the woods and disappears - - 20 years later, a group of hikers sets off into the very same woods. Unfortunately for them, they come face-to-face with the very same set of stairs...

The Devil on Trial

Explore the first – and only – time “demonic possession” has officially been used as a defense in a U.S. murder trial. Including firsthand accounts of alleged devil possession and a shocking murder, this extraordinary story forces reflection on our fear of the unknown.

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