MOVIEPIQ · CRIME · FOR ANXIOUS NIGHTS

Crime Movies For Anxious Nights With Friends

Crime movies for anxious nights with friends. Includes The Sting, Requiem for a Dream, Rocco and His Brothers and more, curated by Moviepiq.

Anxiety at night is its own thing. These help without making it worse.

The Sting movie poster
1
1973 · ★★★★☆ 8.0/10

A novice con man teams up with an acknowledged master to avenge the murder of a mutual friend by pulling off the ultimate big con and swindling a fortune from a big-time mobster.

Steady company for an unsteady night. The tone holds.

Requiem for a Dream movie poster
2
2000 · ★★★★☆ 8.0/10

The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.

Steady company for an unsteady night. The tone holds.

Rocco and His Brothers movie poster
3
1960 · ★★★★☆ 8.0/10

When a impoverished widow’s family moves to the big city, two of her five sons become romantic rivals with deadly results.

Steady company for an unsteady night. The tone holds.

Dial M for Murder movie poster
4
1954 · ★★★★☆ 8.0/10

When her American lover visits London, a wealthy woman’s jealous husband hatches a plan to murder her and inherit her fortune.

Absorbing without spiking. Gets you out of your head without putting you in a worse one.

Casino movie poster
5
1995 · ★★★★☆ 8.0/10

In Las Vegas, two best friends--a casino executive and a Mafia enforcer--compete for a gambling empire and a fast-living, fast-loving socialite.

Steady company for an unsteady night. The tone holds.

The right film for anxiety sits at a very specific point on the tension dial. These are calibrated for it.

Methodical, low-chaos crime can work. Avoid anything violent or unresolved.

Holds a group without requiring everyone to be fully locked in.

Catch Me If You Can movie poster
6
2002 · ★★★★☆ 8.0/10

A true story about Frank Abagnale Jr. who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars worth of checks as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor. An FBI agent makes it his mission to put him behind bars. But Frank not only eludes capture, he revels in the pursuit.

Absorbing without spiking. Gets you out of your head without putting you in a worse one.

Cruella movie poster
7
2021 · ★★★★☆ 8.0/10

In 1970s London amidst the punk rock revolution, a young grifter named Estella is determined to make a name for herself with her designs. She befriends a pair of young thieves who appreciate her appetite for mischief, and together they are able to build a life for themselves on the London streets. One day, Estella’s flair for fashion catches the eye of the Baroness von Hellman, a fashion legend who is devastatingly chic and terrifyingly haute. But their relationship sets in motion a course of events and revelations that will cause Estella to embrace her wicked side and become the raucous, fashionable and revenge-bent Cruella.

Absorbing without spiking. Gets you out of your head without putting you in a worse one.

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 movie poster
8
2003 · ★★★★☆ 8.0/10

An assassin is shot by her ruthless employer, Bill, and other members of their assassination circle – but she lives to plot her vengeance.

Steady company for an unsteady night. The tone holds.

Trainspotting movie poster
9
1996 · ★★★★☆ 8.0/10

Heroin addict Mark Renton stumbles through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends --Sick Boy, Begbie, Spud and Tommy. He also has an underage girlfriend, Diane, along for the ride. After cleaning up and moving from Edinburgh to London, Mark finds he can't escape the life he left behind as Begbie and Sick Boy come knocking.

Steady company for an unsteady night. The tone holds.

No Country for Old Men movie poster
10
2007 · ★★★★☆ 8.0/10

Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon dead bodies, $2 million and a hoard of heroin in a Texas desert, but methodical killer Anton Chigurh comes looking for it, with local sheriff Ed Tom Bell hot on his trail. The roles of prey and predator blur as the violent pursuit of money and justice collide.

Absorbing without spiking. Gets you out of your head without putting you in a worse one.

The right film for the right state is a specific thing. These are specific.

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