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Movies that feel like Punishment Park (1971)

If you loved Punishment Park, the closest films we have are Fight Club (1999), Fail Safe (1964) and The Hurt Locker (2008). All three share Punishment Park's contemplative and tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 6 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads and Lionsgate+ Amazon Channels and others, checked against today's data.

In this fictional documentary, U.S. prisons are at capacity, and President Nixon declares a state of emergency. All new prisoners, most of whom are connected to the antiwar movement, are now given the choice of jail time or spending three days in Punishment Park, where they will be hunted for sport by federal authorities. The prisoners invariably choose the latter option, but learn that, between the desert heat and the brutal police officers, their chances of survival are slim.

πŸ… 92% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.7 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Peter Watkinscontemplativetensebleak

When is Punishment Park streaming? β†’

If Punishment Park hit the spot, these will too

Fight Club poster
Fight Club
1999 Β· dir. David Fincher
πŸ… 81%β˜… 8.8drama Β· thriller

Dystopia is the engine of both

The difference: 28 years apart, and the 1990s show

A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.

Feels alike?
Fail Safe poster
Fail Safe
1964 Β· dir. Sidney Lumet
πŸ… 93%β˜… 8thriller Β· drama Β· war

The same mix in both: stillness, then tension

The difference: Plays it as war more than Punishment Park does

Because of a technical defect an American bomber team mistakenly orders the destruction of Moscow. The President of the United States has but little time to prevent an atomic catastrophe from occurring.

Feels alike?
The Hurt Locker poster
The Hurt Locker
2008 Β· dir. Kathryn Bigelow
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.5drama Β· thriller Β· war

Soldier sits at the heart of each

During the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work.

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Inglourious Basterds poster
Inglourious Basterds
2009 Β· dir. Quentin Tarantino
πŸ… 89%β˜… 8.4drama Β· thriller Β· war

Drama built on bleakness, twice over

In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds, lead by Lt. Aldo Raine soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl who runs a movie theater in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers.

Feels alike?
Valkyrie poster
Valkyrie
2008 Β· dir. Bryan Singer
πŸ… 62%β˜… 7.1drama Β· thriller Β· war

Contemplative thriller, and it commits to that

The difference: Reviewed a good deal more coolly

Wounded in Africa during World War II, Nazi Col. Claus von Stauffenberg returns to his native Germany and joins the Resistance in a daring plan to create a shadow government and assassinate Adolf Hitler. When events unfold so that he becomes a central player, he finds himself tasked with both leading the coup and personally killing the FΓΌhrer.

Feels alike?
Yojimbo poster
Yojimbo
1961 Β· dir. Akira Kurosawa
πŸ… 96%β˜… 8.2drama Β· thriller

Drama with a pulse of tension, in both cases

The difference: None of the bleakness that defines Punishment Park

A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.

Feels alike?
Blade Runner poster
Blade Runner
1982 Β· dir. Ridley Scott
πŸ… 89%β˜… 8.1science fiction Β· drama Β· thriller

The same preoccupation in both: dystopia

In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.

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A Man Escaped poster
A Man Escaped
1956 Β· dir. Robert Bresson
πŸ… 100%β˜… 8.2drama Β· thriller

Both trade on stillness more than on being thriller

A captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from prison.

Feels alike?
No Way Out poster
No Way Out
1987 Β· dir. Roger Donaldson
πŸ… 92%β˜… 7.1thriller Β· drama

Tense drama in both cases

Navy Lt. Tom Farrell meets a young woman, Susan Atwell, and they share a passionate fling. Farrell then finds out that his superior, Defense Secretary David Brice, is also romantically involved with Atwell. When the young woman turns up dead, Farrell is put in charge of the murder investigation. He begins to uncover shocking clues about the case, but when details of his encounter with Susan surface, he becomes a suspect as well.

Feels alike?
The Machinist poster
The Machinist
2004 Β· dir. Brad Anderson
πŸ… 77%β˜… 7.6thriller Β· drama

Cut from the same drama cloth

Trevor, an insomniac lathe operator, experiences unusual occurrences at work and home. A strange man follows him everywhere, but no one else seems to notice him.

Feels alike?
Argo poster
Argo
2012 Β· dir. Ben Affleck
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.7drama Β· thriller

Both are thriller through and through

As the Iranian revolution reaches a boiling point, a CIA 'exfiltration' specialist concocts a risky plan to free six Americans who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador.

Feels alike?
Army of Shadows poster
Army of Shadows
1969 Β· dir. Jean-Pierre Melville
πŸ… 97%β˜… 8.1war Β· drama Β· thriller

Both trade on bleakness more than on being thriller

Betrayed by an informant, Philippe Gerbier finds himself trapped in a torturous Nazi prison camp. Though Gerbier escapes to rejoin the Resistance in occupied Marseilles, France, and exacts his revenge on the informant, he must continue a quiet, seemingly endless battle against the Nazis in an atmosphere of tension, paranoia and distrust.

Feels alike?

In the mood for more contemplative?

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The best-reviewed films that share Punishment Park's defining feeling.