The Best Kidnapping Movies and TV Shows on The Criterion Channel
Finding a good Kidnapping movie and TV show to watch can be hard, so we've ranked the best ones and included where to watch them. Check out our list of the best Kidnapping movies and TV shows of all time streaming on The Criterion Channel.
1. High and Low
What it's about: An executive of a shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped and held for ransom.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
2. The Vanishing
What it's about: Rex and Saskia are enjoying a biking holiday in France when, stopping at a gas station, Saskia disappears. Confounded, Rex searches everywhere, but to no avail. Three years later, he's still obsessed with finding her, pleading his case on television, putting up posters and ruining his new relationship in the process. Eventually an unassuming chemistry teacher, Raymond, approaches Rex, intimating that he knows what happened.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
3. Samurai Rebellion
What it's about: Toshiro Mifune stars as Isaburo Sasahara, an aging swordsman living a quiet life until his clan lord orders that his son marry the lord's mistress, who has recently displeased the ruler. Reluctantly, father and son take in the woman, and, to the family’s surprise, the young couple fall in love. But the lord soon reverses his decision and demands the mistress’s return. Against all expectations, Isaburo and his son refuse, risking the destruction of their entire family. Director Masaki Kobayashi's Samurai Rebellion is the gripping story of a peaceful man who finally decides to take a stand against injustice.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy).
4. The Hit
What it's about: Ex-gangster Willie Parker has betrayed his former "colleagues" and now lives in Spain where he thinks he can hide from their vengeance...
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).
5. Seance on a Wet Afternoon
What it's about: Bill Savage is struggling to maintain his marriage to his increasingly unbalanced wife, Myra, who believes she is a medium. She plans a scheme that will make her famous, involving kidnapping then "psychically" locating a little girl.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy).
6. The Last House on the Left
What it's about: A disturbed gang of youths kidnap, torture and murder two teenage girls; unbeknownst to the gang, the parents of one of the girls live nearby...
Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix), stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
7. My Lucky Stars
What it's about: Two Hong-Kong cops are sent to Tokyo to catch an ex-cop who stole a large amount of money in diamonds. After one is captured by the Ninja-gang protecting the rogue cop, the other one gets his old Orphanage gang, dubbed the "Five Lucky Stars," to help him. They don't like this much, but they do it.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).
8. Godzilla vs. Megalon
What it's about: Inventor Goro Ibuki creates a humanoid robot named Jet Jaguar. It is soon seized by an undersea race of people called the Seatopians. Using Jet Jaguar as a guide, the Seatopians send Megalon as vengeance for the nuclear tests that have devastated their society.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 1 service (Vudu).
9. A Straightforward Boy
What it's about: A kidnapped boy proves to be more than his abductor can handle.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).