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Best Rape Movies

Ranked by how strongly each film carries the visual signature of rape cinema — measured across 6,139 indexed frames from 91 films, against a 404,689-frame catalogue baseline. Not by box office, and not by vote.

Rape films over-index on hat, mustache and blood — the objects that make the genre recognisable before a line is spoken.

  1. 1

    Mysterious Skin (2004)

    Gregg ArakiDP Steve GainerIMDb 7.6TMDB 7.7See in full on FrameThrower →

    A gay teenage prostitute and another teen, both from the same small town in Kansas, narrate separate stories from their childhoods. The prostitute's story is about a disturbing homosexual encounter with his pedophile baseball coach, and the other teen's story revolves around an amnesia blackout during which he thinks he may have been abducted by aliens. Later, the second teen finds clues linking the gay prostitute (now living in New York City) to his possible alien abduction, so he tracks him down to finally seek out the truth.

  2. 2

    Frenzy (1972)

    Alfred HitchcockDP Gilbert TaylorIMDb 7.4TMDB 7.1See in full on FrameThrower →

    London is terrorized by a vicious sex killer known as The Necktie Murderer. Following the brutal slaying of his ex-wife, down-on-his-luck Richard Blaney is suspected by the police of being the killer. He goes on the run, determined to prove his innocence.

  3. 3

    Duck, You Sucker (1971)

    Sergio LeoneDP Giuseppe RuzzoliniIMDb 7.5TMDB 7.7See in full on FrameThrower →

    Packed with sticks of dynamite, Irish rebel and explosives expert John H. Mallory finds himself in Revolution-torn 1913 Mexico, on the run from the British government. Riding a dusty, V-twin Indian motorcycle, John crosses paths with short-fused Mexican bandit Juan Miranda and his gun-toting family of outlaws, and before long, his expertise in explosives becomes evident. Now, bent on putting Mallory's skills to good use, devious Juan forms an uneasy partnership with John to rob the impregnable Mesa Verde National Bank. Instead, what seemed like an unmissable opportunity to get rich becomes a trap, enmeshing the unlikely duo in the Revolution, having no other choice but to fight together with the troops of Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata against the evil Colonel Günther Reza. Can John's dynamite get them out of the tight spot?

  4. 4

    Once Upon A Time In America (1984)

    Sergio LeoneDP Tonino Delli ColliIMDb 8.3TMDB 8.4See in full on FrameThrower →

    With the vivid memory of his long-gone childhood friends Max, Patsy, and Cockeye etched in his mind, his ferociously loyal partners-in-crime during their rise to prominence in New York's Prohibition-era Lower East Side, the defeated, penniless, and guilt-ridden former gangster David "Noodles" Aaronson returns to Manhattan. Not knowing what to expect on his mission to shed light on his opaque past, grizzled Noodles reunites with his only living friend Fat Moe after 35 haunted years of self-exile. However, the relentless, piercing sound of culpability stands in the way of finding closure, as the inscrutable content of a well-worn leather suitcase further complicates matters. And now, against the backdrop of a torn conscience, the sad, bittersweet recollections of more than 50 years of love, death, and everything in-between become inextricably intertwined, leading to even more puzzling questions. But what are a man's options when he is left with nothing?

  5. 5

    American History X

    Tony KayeDP Tony KayeIMDb 8.5TMDB 8.3See in full on FrameThrower →

    Derek Vineyard is paroled after serving 3 years in prison for brutally killing two black men who tried to break into/steal his truck. Through his 14 yr old brother's, Danny Vineyard, narration, we learn that before going to prison, Derek was a skinhead and the leader of a violent white supremacist gang that committed acts of racial crime throughout L.A. and his actions greatly influenced Danny. Reformed and fresh out of prison, Derek severs contact with the gang and becomes determined to keep Danny from going down the same violent path as he did.

  6. 6

    Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

    Otto PremingerDP Sam LeavittIMDb 8.0TMDB 7.8See in full on FrameThrower →

    Frederick Manion (Ben Gazzara), a lieutenant in the army, is arrested for the murder of a bartender, Barney Quill. He claims, in his defense, that the victim had raped and beaten up his wife Laura (Lee Remick). Although Laura supports her husband's story, the local paper has reported that the police surgeon can find no evidence that she has been raped. Manion is defended by Paul Biegler (James Stewart), a humble small-town lawyer and recently deposed district attorney. During the course of interviews, Biegler discovers that Manion is violently possessive and jealous, and also that his wife has a reputation for flirting with other men. Biegler realizes that the prosecution will try to make the court believe that Laura had been drunk and was picked up by the bartender and then her husband killed him and beat her up when he discovered they had been together. Manion pleads "not guilty" and Biegler, who knows that his case is weak, tries to find evidence that will save Manion.

  7. 7

    Death Wish II (1982)

    Michael WinnerDP Thomas Del RuthIMDb 6.0TMDB 6.3See in full on FrameThrower →

    After using himself as bait to rid New York City of its muggers in Death Wish (1974), Paul Kersey relocates to Los Angeles with his traumatised daughter, trying to wipe the slate clean, and bury the past. However, once again, Paul catches the eye of a new bunch of savage street thugs, and before long, rape and murder destroy his family. Now, armed with his unforgiving semi-automatic Beretta 84 pistol, Kersey prowls the filthy backstreets of L.A., eager to pick up where he left off, and clean up the city. But, Paul's brutal method of justice is starting to attract unwanted attention. Will the police corner the notorious vigilante this time?

  8. 8

    The Nightingale (2018)

    Jennifer KentDP Radek ŁadczukIMDb 7.3TMDB 7.1See in full on FrameThrower →

    THE NIGHTINGALE is a meditation on the horrors of Australian colonization, set at the turn of the 19th century. The film follows Clare, a 21-year-old native Irish wife and mother held captive beyond her 7-year sentence, desperate to be free of her obsessed master, British lieutenant Hawkins. Clare's husband Aidan intervenes with devastating consequences for all. When British authorities fail to deliver justice, Clare pursues Hawkins, who leaves his post suddenly to secure a captaincy up north. Unfamiliar with the Tasmanian wilderness she enlists the help of an orphaned Aboriginal tracker Billy. Marked by their traumas, the two fight to overcome their distrust and prejudices against the backdrop of Australia's infamous 'Black War'.

  9. 9

    Deliverance (1972)

    John BoormanDP Vilmos ZsigmondIMDb 7.6TMDB 7.3See in full on FrameThrower →

    The Cahulawassee River valley in Northern Georgia is one of the last natural pristine areas of the state, which will soon change with the imminent building of a dam on the river, which in turn will flood much of the surrounding land. As such, four Atlanta city dwellers, alpha male Lewis Medlock, Ed Gentry, Bobby Trippe, and Drew Ballinger, decide to take a multi-day canoe trip on the river, with only Lewis and Ed having experience in outdoor life. They know going in that the area is isolated. Their relatively peaceful trip takes a turn for the worse halfway through with river rapids and unwelcoming locals. The four need to battle their way out of the valley and are asked to do things they never thought possible within themselves.

  10. 10

    Cape Fear (1991)

    Martin ScorseseDP Freddie FrancisIMDb 7.3TMDB 7.3See in full on FrameThrower →

    Sam Bowden is a small-town corporate attorney. Max Cady is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, Bible-quoting, psychotic rapist. What do they have in common? 14 years ago, Sam was a public defender assigned to Max Cady's rape trial, and he made a serious error: he hid a document from his illiterate client that could have gotten him acquitted. Now, the cagey Cady has been released, and he intends to teach Sam Bowden and his family a thing or two about loss.

What rape films are made of

How much more often each element appears in a rape frame than in an average frame from the catalogue. A ratio, not a share — hat is not in most frames, it is simply far more common here than anywhere else.

  • hat2.0×
  • mustache1.9×
  • blood1.7×
  • fedora1.5×
  • skin1.5×
  • eyes1.5×
  • hair1.5×

How rape films are shot

Weaker signals than the objects above, and worth saying so: most dramatic genres skew dark and night-heavy, so these numbers separate rape from the catalogue far more than they separate it from its neighbours.

  • 25%closeupvs 21% baseline
  • 83%eye levelvs 69% baseline

What breaks the pattern

Gran Torino (2008) is the least typical film here — it carries the least of what the rest of this list is made of. Which is either a failure of the genre label, or the most interesting film on the page.

Method

Every frame in the FrameThrower catalogue is tagged for shot size, lighting, time of day, camera angle, colour and the objects visible in it. This page aggregates those tags across 6,139 frames from 91 films carrying the rape label, and compares each figure to the same measurement across the whole catalogue (404,689 frames). Films are ranked by how closely they match the theme’s over-indexed elements, weighted by how distinctive each element is; one film per series. Only films with at least 20 indexed frames and 500 TMDB votes are listed.

Machine-readable: /api/list/rape

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These are real movie frames, shown at reduced resolution. All rights remain with their respective owners; they appear here for study, commentary and education under fair-use principles. How these are meant to be used