Most horrifying movies about kidnapped/murdered/exploited/abused children
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- DirectorMichael TuchnerStarsDaniel J. TravantiJoBeth WilliamsMartha ScottAfter their child is abducted, John and Reve Walsh are trying to find him. But, shortly after that, Adam is found dead.Travanti and Williams give such powerful performances of horrified parents that it was their viewpoint alone that kept me in tears. For nearly 3 decades this case went sadly unsolved due to police ineptitude. Toole's photos give me the impression that he was inbred. No matter what kind of childhood he suffered, he made the choice, and we must live with our choices.
- DirectorStanley R. JaffeStarsKate NelliganJudd HirschDavid DukesEstranged New Yorker (Kate Nelligan) turns to the police after her son disappears.Nelligan and Hirsch are awesome in this inspired but not fact based story about a youngster who vanishes on his way to school. Alex Selky and his single mom live in Brooklyn, and suddenly Alex is gone. Nelligan's performance is almost robotically dignified, but never nonemotional. This story is rumoured to be loosely based on the Etan Patz case, but sadly, that case has never been resolved either.
- DirectorKeoni WaxmanStarsElisabeth RöhmTeryl RotheryMyron NatwickStory about Amber Hagerman who was 9 years old when she was abducted while riding her bicycle, prompting her mother to seek out a system that alerts the nation of abducted children, we know that to be called an Amber Alert today.People have ragged on Rohm since L&O and I think it's ridiculous. She's no Streep, but she does a wonderful job as an anguished single mom whose 9 year old daughter is ripped off her bicycle and thrown into a dirty black pickup. There is only one elderly eyewitness, but he did all that he could. The second half has a separate story about the abduction of 10 yr old Nicole Timmons by Glen Park, a man who has a creepy obsession with Nicole. Nicole's story ends much more happily than Amber's, but as her Mom always says when someone is saved, "We did it again, baby girl."
- DirectorPeter JacksonStarsRachel WeiszMark WahlbergSaoirse RonanCenters on a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family - and her killer - from purgatory. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.It takes a hell of an actor to make you despise and abhor him. Tucci is one of my favorites. I was so creeped out and enraged at him that I had to watch Julie & Julia just to calm my nerves. Suzie Salmon (Ronan) is a beautiful, intelligent, gifted and loving 14 year old who does not know she is being watched by an evil force so empty that only killing satisfies it. Once she was lured down into that creepy "playhouse", she was doomed. Arguably uplifting and depressing simultaneously.
- DirectorRobert MarkowitzStarsDaniel J. TravantiJoBeth WilliamsRichard MasurFollows the true story of John and Reve Walsh who, after their child was murdered, fought to raise national awareness of the problem of missing children.A sequel that I didn't bother watching until recent years because I thought that the story had been told adequately and that I'd shed enough tears already, but just this past few months, I've rewatched this dynamic continuation of John, Reve, Adam and Meghan's story, and realised that the story was far from over. Again, I was moved to tears by the performance of Travanti and Williams as the courageous parents, who must continue the fight for America's missing children. The part where their second son, Callahan is born but quickly suffers from complications was very frightening, but uplifting because of John's prayer/talk with Adam. "Please help your little brother." Later in the film, a Florida girl, Staci Jazvac goes missing, and the film becomes as terrifying as the first film was. Finally the meaning of, "If his song is to continue, we must do the singing" is clear. The song is loud and sometimes rude, but people who care do what it takes to make sure the song is heard, because the voiceless are the ones being sung for.
- DirectorDamian HarrisStarsGillian JacobsJohn MalkovichRyan SimpkinsAfter being abducted as children, and suffering years of abuse, a teenage boy and girl find themselves living on the street.
- StarsCindy PickettJohn AshtonCorin NemecThe harrowing true account of Steven Stayner, who was kidnapped by a perverted pseudo-priest and his lackey during the 1970s. As he gets older, he realizes that he needs to try to make an escape and get back home.
- DirectorBen AffleckStarsMorgan FreemanEd HarrisCasey AffleckTwo Boston area detectives investigate a little girl's kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally.
- DirectorBobby RothStarsDylan BakerLindsay FrostAmber MarshallBased on the true story of the June 2002 kidnapping of teenager Elizabeth Smart by two people in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
- DirectorGary YatesStarsSara CanningJames Van Der BeekLeVar BurtonThe true and inspiring survival story of kidnapped teen, Anne Sluti, and how she manages to stay alive by manipulating her captor, engineering her own rescue and negotiating her safe release after 6 days of hell.
- DirectorMegan GriffithsStarsJamie ChungBeau BridgesMatt O'LearyA young Korean-American girl, abducted and forced into prostitution by domestic human traffickers, cooperates with her captors in a desperate ploy to survive.
- DirectorMarco KreuzpaintnerStarsKevin KlineKathleen GatiPaulina GaitanAdriana, 13, is kidnapped in Mexico City by Russian sex traffickers. Her criminal 17 y.o. brother starts looking for her. Across the border in Texas, he gets help from a cop.
- DirectorGlenn KlinkerStarsTamara HopeReiley McClendonJeremy SistoNickel Children is a narrative drama that takes the perspective of two runaways, Cat (Tamara Hope - Shall We Dance, The Deep End) and Nolan (Reiley McClendon - Pearl Harbor, The Kid) and reveals the harsh realities of life on the streets of Los Angeles. Relying only on their instincts and the fleeting kindness of strangers, Cat and Nolan navigate their way through a world infested with prostitution, drugs, and violent predators. Every minute they remain on the streets, they fall deeper into a game of chance where they gamble with their lives. Cat and Nolan must devise a plan of escape before time finally runs out.
- DirectorGregg ArakiStarsBrady CorbetJoseph Gordon-LevittElisabeth ShueTwo pre-adolescent boys both experienced a strange event and later it affects their lives in different ways. One becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous prostitute, while the other retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction.
- DirectorKaren MoncrieffStarsToni ColletteBrittany MurphyMarcia Gay HardenThe clues to a young woman's death come together as the lives of seemingly unrelated people begin to intersect.
- DirectorTommy O'HaverStarsElliot PageHayley McFarlandNick SearcyThe true story of suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her Indiana home during the 1960s.
- DirectorNick CassavetesStarsEmile HirschJustin TimberlakeAnton YelchinJohnny and his pals kidnap Jake's 15-year-old brother Zach, then assign his buddy Frankie to be Zach's minder. They develop a brotherly friendship. Zach parties with his captors as things begin to spin out of control.
- DirectorAnjelica HustonStarsJennifer Jason LeighRon EldardGlenne HeadlyA mother and daughter find their lives adversely affected when a new man enters the picture. Will their family ever be what they expect?
- DirectorPeter HyamsStarsMichael DouglasHal HolbrookYaphet KottoFrustrated with a legal system gone haywire, a secret society of judges hires hitmen to snuff out criminals who escape courtroom justice - but one young judge questions the ethics of their vigilante system.
- DirectorMichael GoiStarsAmber PerkinsRachel QuinnDean WaiteTwo teenage girls encounter an Internet child predator.
- DirectorGary YatesStarsSara CanningJames Van Der BeekLeVar BurtonThe true and inspiring survival story of kidnapped teen, Anne Sluti, and how she manages to stay alive by manipulating her captor, engineering her own rescue and negotiating her safe release after 6 days of hell.
- DirectorUlu GrosbardStarsMichelle PfeifferTreat WilliamsWhoopi GoldbergA family's reaction when Ben, the youngest son, is kidnapped and then found nine years later living in the same town where his family had just moved.
- DirectorRoger YoungStarsWilliam DevaneJeri RyanMichele AbramsThe recounting of a terrible crime that wracked a family and galvanized police in South Carolina in the 1980's.
- DirectorAlex KalymniosStarsTaryn ManningRaymond CruzKatie SarifeA single mother, who becomes the first victim of kidnapper Ariel Castro, finds herself trapped in his home for 11 years, where she eventually becomes a friend and sister to two other women who are taken captive by Castro.
- DirectorCharles CorrellStarsDavid MorseMegan FollowsDion AndersonThe true story of a young woman's abduction by a deranged loner that led to the largest manhunt in the history of Pennsylvania, USA. A mountain man kidnaps the 17-year-old, his chilling plan to get himself a woman--and keep her forever. Thus begins the ordeal.