Death Penalty, Capital Punishment, Justice vs. Revenge, Vengeance, State-Sanctioned Murder, State-Sanctioned Violence
List activity
117 views
• 1 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
42 titles
- DirectorTim RobbinsStarsSusan SarandonSean PennRobert ProskyA nun, while comforting a convicted killer on death row, empathizes with both the killer and his victim's families.
- DirectorFrank DarabontStarsTom HanksMichael Clarke DuncanDavid MorseA tale set on death row, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the lead guard, Paul Edgecombe, recognizes John's gift, he tries to help stave off the condemned man's execution.
- DirectorPatty JenkinsStarsCharlize TheronChristina RicciBruce DernBased on the life of Aileen Wuornos, a Daytona Beach prostitute who became a serial killer.
- DirectorJames FoleyStarsChris O'DonnellGene HackmanFaye DunawayA young man fresh out of law school tries to win a reprieve for his racist grandfather who is on death row.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsRay MillandGrace KellyRobert CummingsA former tennis star arranges the murder of his adulterous wife.
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsKevin SpaceyKate WinsletLaura LinneyA man against capital punishment is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row.
- DirectorJoshua ZemanStarsRachel MillsJoshua ZemanStephen WinickDelving into our collective nightmares, this horror-documentary investigates the origins of our most terrifying urban legends and the true stories that may have inspired them.
- DirectorNicholas HytnerStarsDaniel Day-LewisWinona RyderPaul ScofieldA Salem resident attempts to frame her ex-lover's wife for being a witch in the middle of the 1692 witchcraft trials.
- DirectorDon TaylorStarsMichael HarbourLynn DearthDaniel MasseyAn adaptation of the famous play concerning the Salem witch trials.
- DirectorRaymond RouleauStarsSimone SignoretYves MontandJean DebucourtSalem 1692. The young Abigail, seduced and abandoned by John Proctor, accuses John's wife of being a witch in revenge. It will be the beginning of a series of witchcraft trials and a dark moment in American history.
- DirectorAlex SegalStarsGeorge C. ScottColleen DewhurstFritz WeaverIn the Puritan New England town of Salem, Massachusetts, a group of girls go dancing in the forest with a black slave named Tituba. While dancing, they are caught by the local minister, Reverend Parris. One of the girls, Parris's daughter Betty, falls into a coma-like state. A crowd gathers in the Parris home while rumors of witchcraft fill the town. Having sent for Reverend Hale, an expert on witchcraft, Parris questions Abigail Williams, the girls' ringleader, about the events that took place in the forest. Abigail, who is Parris's niece and ward, admits to doing nothing beyond "dancing". While Parris tries to calm the crowd that has gathered in his home, Abigail talks to some of the other girls, telling them not to admit to anything. John Proctor, a local farmer, then enters and talks to Abigail alone. Unbeknownst to anyone else in the town, while working in Proctor's home the previous year she engaged in an affair with him, which led to her being fired by his wife, Elizabeth. Abigail still desires Proctor, but he fends her off and tells her to end her foolishness with the girls. Betty wakes up and begins screaming. Much of the crowd rushes upstairs and gathers in her bedroom, arguing over whether she is bewitched. A separate argument between Proctor, Parris, the argumentative Giles Corey, and the wealthy Thomas Putnam soon ensues. This dispute centers on money and land deeds, and it suggests that deep fault lines run through the Salem community. As the men argue, Reverend Hale arrives and examines Betty, while Proctor departs. Hale quizzes Abigail about the girls' activities in the forest, grows suspicious of her behavior, and demands to speak to Tituba. After Parris and Hale interrogate her for a brief time, Tituba confesses to communing with the devil, and she hysterically accuses various townsfolk of consorting with the devil. Suddenly, Abigail joins her, confessing to having seen the devil conspiring and cavorting with other townspeople. Betty joins them in naming witches, and the crowd is thrown into an uproar. A week later, alone in their farmhouse outside of town, John and Elizabeth Proctor discuss the ongoing trials and the escalating number of townsfolk who have been accused of being witches. Elizabeth urges her husband to denounce Abigail as a fraud; he refuses, and she becomes jealous, accusing him of still harboring feelings for her. Mary Warren, their servant and one of Abigail's circle, returns from Salem with news that Elizabeth has been accused of witchcraft but the court did not pursue the accusation. Mary is sent up to bed, and John and Elizabeth continue their argument, only to be interrupted by a visit from Reverend Hale. While they discuss matters, Giles Corey and Francis Nurse come to the Proctor home with news that their wives have been arrested. Officers of the court suddenly arrive and arrest Elizabeth. After they have taken her, Proctor browbeats Mary, insisting that she must go to Salem and expose Abigail and the other girls as frauds. The next day, Proctor brings Mary to court and tells Judge Danforth that she will testify that the girls are lying. Danforth is suspicious of Proctor's motives and tells Proctor, truthfully, that Elizabeth is pregnant and will be spared for a time. Proctor persists in his charge, convincing Danforth to allow Mary to testify. Mary tells the court that the girls are lying. When the girls are brought in, they turn the tables by accusing Mary of bewitching them. Furious, Proctor confesses his affair with Abigail and accuses her of being motivated by jealousy of his wife. To test Proctor's claim, Danforth summons Elizabeth and asks her if Proctor has been unfaithful to her. Despite her natural honesty, she lies to protect Proctor's honor, and Danforth denounces Proctor as a liar. Meanwhile, Abigail and the girls again pretend that Mary is bewitching them, and Mary breaks down and accuses Proctor of being a witch. Proctor rages against her and against the court. He is arrested, and Hale quits the proceedings. The summer passes and autumn arrives. The witch trials have caused unrest in neighboring towns, and Danforth grows nervous. Abigail has run away, taking all of Parris's money with her. Hale, who has lost faith in the court, begs the accused witches to confess falsely in order to save their lives, but they refuse. Danforth, however, has an idea: he asks Elizabeth to talk John into confessing, and she agrees. Conflicted, but desiring to live, John agrees to confess, and the officers of the court rejoice. But he refuses to incriminate anyone else, and when the court insists that the confession must be made public, Proctor grows angry, tears it up, and retracts his admission of guilt. Despite Hale's desperate pleas, Proctor goes to the gallows with the others, and the witch trials reach their awful conclusion.
- DirectorMarc ForsterStarsBilly Bob ThorntonHalle BerryTaylor SimpsonAfter a family tragedy, a racist prison guard re-examines his attitudes while falling in love with the African-American wife of the last prisoner he executed.
- DirectorTed PostStarsClint EastwoodInger StevensPat HingleWhen an innocent man barely survives a lynching, he returns as a lawman determined to bring the vigilantes to justice.
- DirectorLars von TrierStarsBjörkCatherine DeneuveDavid MorseAn Eastern European US immigrant with a love for musicals has to cope with the gradual loss of her vision.
- DirectorJoel SchumacherStarsMatthew McConaugheySandra BullockSamuel L. JacksonIn Canton, Mississippi, a fearless young lawyer and his assistant defend a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his ten-year-old daughter, inciting violent retribution and revenge from the Ku Klux Klan.
- DirectorRob MarshallStarsRenée ZellwegerCatherine Zeta-JonesRichard GereTwo death-row murderesses develop a fierce rivalry while competing for publicity, celebrity, and a sleazy lawyer's attention.
- DirectorJoel CoenStarsBilly Bob ThorntonFrances McDormandMichael BadaluccoA laconic, chain-smoking barber blackmails his wife's boss and lover for money to invest in dry cleaning, but his plan goes terribly wrong.
- DirectorPeter MedakStarsTom CourtenayChristopher EcclestonEileen AtkinsThis drama reveals the controversial postwar 1950's London murder trial that sent an intellectually challenged young man to the gallows for a murder he did not commit.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsClint EastwoodIsaiah WashingtonLisaGay HamiltonCan an over-the-hill journalist uncover the evidence that can prove a death row inmate's innocence just hours before his execution?
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsRichard AttenboroughJudy GeesonJohn HurtWhat happened to the women at 10 Rillington Place? The story of British serial killer John Christie, who committed most or all of his crimes in the titular terraced house, and the miscarriage of justice involving Timothy Evans.
- DirectorChinonye ChukwuStarsAlfre WoodardRichard SchiffAldis HodgeAs she prepares to execute another inmate, Bernadine must confront the psychological and emotional demons her job creates, ultimately connecting her to the man she is sanctioned to kill.
- DirectorDestin Daniel CrettonStarsMichael B. JordanJamie FoxxBrie LarsonWorld-renowned civil rights defense attorney Bryan Stevenson works to free a wrongly condemned death row prisoner.
- DirectorArne GlimcherStarsSean ConneryLaurence FishburneKate CapshawA Harvard professor is lured back into the courtroom after twenty-five years to take the case of a young black man condemned to death for the horrific murder of a child.
- DirectorNorman JewisonStarsDenzel WashingtonVicellous ShannonDeborah Kara UngerThe story of Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder, and the people who aided in his fight to prove his innocence.
- DirectorAdrian ShergoldStarsTimothy SpallJuliet StevensonEddie MarsanThe life and times of Albert Pierrepoint - Britain's most prolific hangman.
- DirectorMohammad RasoulofStarsBaran RasoulofZhila ShahiMahtab ServatiThe four stories that are variations on the crucial themes of moral strength and the death penalty that ask to what extent individual freedom can be expressed under a despotic regime and its seemingly inescapable threats.
- DirectorJon AmielStarsRichard GereJodie FosterLanny FlahertyA farmer returns home from the Civil War, but his wife begins to suspect that the man is an impostor.
- DirectorJo BaierStarsSebastian KochUlrich TukurHardy Krüger Jr.In 1944, in fear of a complete German defeat in the World War II, a group of high command officers plot an attempt against Hitler, and one of the leaders of the conspiracy, Stauffenberg (Sebastian Koch), goes to a meeting with the Fuhrer in charge of exploding the place. However, Hitler survives and the officers are executed. This unsuccessful operation was called "Valkyrie Operation", and this realistic movie discloses this true event.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsSharon StoneRob MorrowRandy QuaidA lawyer assigned to the clemency case of a woman on death row finds himself forming a deep friendship with her while he tries to prevent her impending execution.
- DirectorDave PayneStarsMichael MuhneyStephen MartinesLew TempleA sheriff and his son chase casino robbers, only to find the all of them are being chased by something else.
- DirectorSvetozar RistovskiStarsWilliam ForsytheJesse MossEmma LahanaA chronicle of the interaction between college student Jason Moss and the object of his obsession, serial killer John Wayne Gacy.
- DirectorPatrice LeconteStarsJuliette BinocheDaniel AuteuilEmir KusturicaIn a small French colony, a drunken man kills someone. While a guillotine is being shipped in, he changes, becoming a good and popular man.
- DirectorMike NewellStarsMiranda RichardsonRupert EverettIan HolmA stormy relationship, complicated by the strictures of 1950s social class and gender roles, ends in death. Based on the life of Ruth Ellis, the last woman hanged in Britain.
- DirectorRobert EnricoStarsRoger JacquetAnne CornalyAnker-Spang LarsenIn 1862, during the American Civil War, a Southern civilian is about to be hanged for attempting to sabotage a railway bridge. When the execution takes place from the bridge, the rope breaks and he begins his escape toward home.
- DirectorBennett MillerStarsPhilip Seymour HoffmanClifton Collins Jr.Catherine KeenerIn 1959, Truman Capote learns of the murder of a Kansas family and decides to write a book about the case. While researching for his novel In Cold Blood, Capote forms a relationship with one of the killers, Perry Smith, who is on death row.
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsKei SatôDo-yun YuFumio WatanabeA Korean man is sentenced to death by hanging, but he survives the execution. For the following two hours, his executioners try to work out how to handle the situation in this black farce.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsSusan HaywardSimon OaklandVirginia VincentA prostitute, sentenced to death for murder, pleads her innocence.
- DirectorCyrus NowrastehStarsShohreh AghdashlooJim CaviezelMozhan NavabiA story told by Zahra to a French journalist of her niece Soraya Manutchehri, a 35-year-old married woman, who received capital punishment and stoned to death because of false accusations in the remote village of Kuhpayeh, Iran, in 1986.
- DirectorHarold BeckerStarsJohn SavageJames WoodsFranklyn SealesAn LA police officer is murdered in the onion fields outside of Bakersfield. However, legal loopholes could keep his kidnappers from receiving justice, and his partner is haunted by overwhelming survivor's guilt.
- DirectorDouglas McGrathStarsToby JonesDaniel CraigSandra BullockWhile researching his novel "In Cold Blood", Truman Capote develops a close relationship with convicted murderers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith.
- DirectorEdward ZwickStarsJack O'ConnellLaura DernEmily MeadeThe tragic and controversial story of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was sentenced to death in Texas for killing his three children even after scientific evidence and expert testimony bolstered his claims of innocence.
- DirectorRobert MarkowitzStarsMichael TuckerJuliette LewisBrad PittAn abused 15-year-old is charged with a murder that carries the death penalty.