Highest-Rated Movies about 'Dark Themes'

Oliver! (1968), Chandni Bar (2001), Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964), High Plains Drifter (1973), Macbeth (1971), The Man With the Golden Arm (1955), The Penalty (1920), X2 (2003) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Dark Themes movies.

#2. Chandni Bar (2001)

Storyline: Mumtaz is a village girl whose family is killed in communal riots. She moves to Mumbai with her uncle, the only family member she has left. They are desperately poor and her uncle persuades her to become a bar girl at Chandni Bar. This is merely temporary, he promises, until he gets a job. Mumtaz is a shy girl who loathes the work, but she forces herself to dance and flirt. However, the uncle doesn't keep his promise; he lives on her earnings, drinking them away, and never gets a job. He adds one final, unforgivable crime to the list when he gets drunk and rapes her. By this time she has caught the eye of a gangster called Potiya Sawant. When she tells Potiya what her uncle did to her, Potiya decides to "defend her honor." Potiya shoots the uncle. Mumtaz, bereft of any male protection in the dangerous slums, marries Potiya. She is determined to make the best of things. She leaves the bar and stays home to raise her two children, whom she carefully protects from the world of prostitution and gangs. However, her world unravels again when Potiya is killed. She has to return to the bar to support her children. In the end, she cannot protect them from their sordid surroundings. Her son becomes a killer, her daughter becomes a bar dancer in her turn, and Mumtaz turns to prostitution in a tragic attempt to save her son.—gavin (gunmasterM@hotmail.com)

Plot Keywords: crime, drama, social issues, poverty, prostitution, underworld, mumbai ...

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#3. Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)

Storyline: Working-class British housewife Myra Savage (Kim Stanley) reinvents herself as a medium, holding seances in the sitting room of her home with the hidden assistance of her under-employed, asthmatic husband, Billy (Richard Attenborough). In an attempt to enhance her credibility as a psychic, Myra hatches an elaborate, ill-conceived plot to kidnap a wealthy couple's young daughter (Judith Donner) so that she can then help the police "find" the missing girl.

Plot Keywords: psychological thriller, crime, mystery, supernatural, medium, kidnapping, british film ...

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#4. High Plains Drifter (1973)

Storyline: A Stranger (Clint Eastwood) rides into in the dusty mining town of Lago, where the townspeople are living in the shadow of a dark secret. After a shoot-out leaves the town's hired-gun protectors dead, the town's leaders petition the Stranger to stay and protect them from three ruthless outlaws who are soon to be released from prison. The three have their sights set on returning to Lago to wreak havoc and take care of some unfinished business. A series of events soon has the townspeople questioning whether siding with the Stranger was a wise idea, as they quickly learn the price that they each must pay for his services. As the outlaws make their way back into Lago, they discover that the town is not exactly as they had left it, and waiting in the shadows is the Stranger, ready to expose the town's secret and serve up his own brand of justice.

Plot Keywords: western, clint eastwood, revenge, violence, supernatural elements, moral ambiguity, fate ...

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#5. Macbeth (1971)

Storyline: Roman Polanski's version of Shakespeare's tragedy about a Scottish lord who murders the king and ascends the throne. His wife then begins hallucinating as a result of her guilt complex and the dead king's son conspires to attack Macbeth and expose him for the murderer he is.—Jason Ihle <jrihl@conncoll.edu>

Plot Keywords: shakespeare, tragedy, medieval, scotland, power struggle, murder, ambition ...

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#7. The Penalty (1920)

Storyline: Blizzard, deranged from a childhood operation in which both his legs were perhaps needlessly amputated after an accident, becomes a vicious criminal, and eventually mob leader of the San Francisco underworld. Out for revenge against the surgeon who performed his operation, he undergoes brain surgery which has a chance of altering his anti-social behavior.—Doug Sederberg <vornoff@sonic.net>

Plot Keywords: crime, thriller, drama, mystery, film noir, silent film, revenge ...

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#8. X2 (2003)

Storyline: Several months have passed since the X-Men defeated Magneto and imprisoned him in a seemingly impregnable plastic chamber. One day, a mutant by the name of Nightcrawler infiltrates the White House and attempts to assassinate the President, setting off a chain reaction of anti-mutant measures by the government. Meanwhile, Logan is trying to discover his past. As scientist named William Stryker discovers Professor X's secret school and Cerebro, Magneto's partner, Mystique, is planning to break her leader out of prison. But when Professor X's school is attacked by Stryker's forces, Logan, Rogue, Iceman, and a few are lucky to escape. Those who remain meet in Boston, where they form an uneasy alliance with Magneto to stop Stryker and rescue Professor X.

Plot Keywords: action, sci-fi, superhero, x-men, sequel, marvel, villain ...

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#9. Nil by Mouth (1997)

Storyline: The family of Raymond, his wife Val and her brother Billy live in working-class London district. Also in their family is Val and Billy's mother Janet and grandmother Kath. Billy is a drug addict and Raymond kicks him out of the house, making him live on his own. Raymond is generally a rough and even violent person, and that leads to problems in the life of the family.—Gustaf Molin <gustaf.molin@usa.net>

Plot Keywords: domestic violence, underclass, alcoholism, drug abuse, working class, psychological trauma, social marginalization ...

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#10. The War Zone (1999)

Storyline: Suddenly, the moody 15-year-old, Tom, and his 18-year-old sister, Jessie, find themselves relocated from the hustle and bustle of urban London to the sullen silence of wind-swept rural Devon, at a little but neat cottage in the middle of nowhere. Dad is caring and kind, and very much in love with mum who has just given birth; however, an accidental glimpse of a disturbing and well-hidden secret in the family will bring Tom face-to-face with shock, denial, and ultimately, rage. What mystery could be so appalling that threatens to bring everyone in the family to their knees?—Nick Riganas

Plot Keywords: domestic violence, psychological trauma, british film, dark themes, family secrets, sexual abuse, coming of age ...

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#12. First Reformed (2017)

Storyline: Forty-six year old Reverend Ernst Toller is the pastor at the historic First Reformed Church in upstate New York. It is seen as the "tourist" church or the "souvenir shop" (its historical significance partly it being a stop on the underground railroad before the slaves crossed into Canada) by Abundant Life, which owns the church and which operates a modern self-named five thousand seat church overseen by Reverend Joel Jeffers. First Reformed is celebrating its two hundred fiftieth anniversary this year, for which a major event is planned, modest in size only at First Reformed itself although the dignitaries like the governor and mayor will be at attendance there, while the event will be simulcast at Abundant Life. Most of the speech-making will be done by local industrialist Ed Balq, a major benefactor of Abundant Life and who is the major donor for the necessary upgrades at First Reformed to be able to hold the event there, and for the event itself, while Toller's participation will ...

Plot Keywords: religion, crisis of faith, pastor, environmental issues, loneliness, redemption, existentialism ...

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#13. My Sweet Pepper Land (2013)

Storyline: Baran, a Kurdish independence war hero, is now sheriff in Erbil, the capital city. No longer feeling useful in this society now at peace, he thinks about quitting the police force, but instead agrees to be stationed in a small valley, at the very borders of Iran, Turkey, and Iraq. It is a lawless territory, right at the heart of illegal drug, medication and alcohol trafficking. Having arrived in the small village, he refuses to bow down to Aga Azzi, the seriously corrupt tribal chief and absolute ruler of the area. Baran meets Govend, the village school teacher, who is also rejected by the villagers. Like Baran, she represents another law, that of the young and autonomous Kurdish state. Govend is all the more vulnerable as she is not a married woman.—Anonymous

Plot Keywords: action, adventure, crime, drama, western, war, romance ...

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#14. Sid and Nancy (1986)

Storyline: Morbid biographical story of Sid Vicious, bassist with British punk group the Sex Pistols, and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen. When the Sex Pistols break up after their fateful US tour, Vicious attempts a solo career while in the grip of heroin addiction. One morning, Nancy is found stabbed to death and Sid is arrested for her murder.

Plot Keywords: rock music, love story, drug abuse, self-destruction, london setting, musician's life, underground culture ...

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#15. Rider on the Rain (1970)

Storyline: A beautiful young woman in the South of France is raped by a mysterious masked assailant. She shoots him dead soon afterwards and dumps his corpse in the sea. Soon an American investigator turns up who seems to know what she has done.—Jonathon Dabell <barnabyrudge@hotmail.com>

Plot Keywords: mystery, thriller, crime, drama, french film, revenge, psychological thriller ...

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