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. 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).
2. 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).
3. 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).
4. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
What it's about: Recently released from a mental hospital, Ricky ties up Marina, a film star he once had sex with and keeps her hostage.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
5. The Onion Field
What it's about: An 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.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).
6. The Vanishing
What it's about: A young woman mysteriously disappears, sending her boyfriend Jeff on a years-long quest to find her. Not even a new love can keep him from his obsessive search. All the while, the calculating psychopath who kidnapped his girlfriend stalks Jeff, ultimately taking him through the exact same steps that led to the crime. In order to find out what happened, Jeff must put his own life in the hands of this devious stranger.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.80 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
7. Foreign Correspondent
What it's about: The European war was only beginning to erupt across national borders. Johnny Jones, an American crime reporter dispatched by his New York publisher to put a fresh spin on the drowsy dispatches emanating from overseas, has a nose for a good story—which promptly leads him to the crime of fascism and Nazi Germany's designs on European conquest. In attempting to learn more about a seemingly noble peace effort, Jones walks into the middle of an assassination, uncovers a spy ring and—not entirely coincidentally—falls in love.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel, Kanopy & 1 other), stream on a TV everywhere service (TCM) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
8. Shoot the Piano Player
What it's about: Charlie is a former classical pianist who has changed his name and now plays jazz in a grimy Paris bar. When Charlie's brothers, Richard and Chico, surface and ask for Charlie's help while on the run from gangsters they have scammed, he aids their escape. Soon Charlie and Lena, a waitress at the same bar, face trouble when the gangsters arrive, looking for his brothers.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.60 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
9. Secret Sunshine
What it's about: Sin-ae moves with her son Jun to Miryang, the town where her dead husband was born. As she tries to come to herself and set out on new foundations, another tragic event overturns her life.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).
10. A Girl Missing
What it's about: Ichiko works as a private nurse for a family she has almost became a part of. While Ichiko cares for the grandmother, she is also a confidant to Motoko, the eldest sister. But one day, Motoko’s younger sister disappears. And the media soon reveal the kidnapper to be Ichiko’s own nephew.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel, Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Vudu).
11. 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 2 services (iTunes & Vudu).
12. 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).
13. 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).
14. Female Trouble
What it's about: The life and times of Dawn Davenport, showing her progression from bratty schoolgirl to crazed mass murderer - all of which stems from her parents' refusal to buy her cha-cha heels for Christmas.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 2 services (Google Play & Microsoft).