Kidnapping Movies Based On True Stories On Netflix

Kidnapping movies based on true stories on Netflix are Abducted in Plain Sight, The Most Hated Woman in America, Cleveland Abduction and others. These movies fall under true crime category.

Kidnapping movies are a category of movies that incorporates thriller and suspense in a tight package. Viewers get even more invested when these movies also have real-life aspects to them.

Mostly, kidnapping stories and movies are based on the abduction of children or girls. This also adds a sense of urgency and helplessness which keeps the viewer on the edge of his/her seat.

Lifetime network is best known for making these types of movies; however, Netflix is also quickly catching up with both original and library movies pertaining to Lifetime audiences.

Here, we have curated a list of 10 kidnapping movies that are based on true stories and available to watch on Netflix:

Kidnapping Movies Based On True Stories on Netflix

Kidnapping Movies Based On True Stories On Netflix

Kidnapping Movies based on true stories on Netflix are Abduction in Plain Sight, Cleveland Abduction, The Most Hated Woman in America, among others.

Netflix library consists of wide array of content based on different categories. One of those categories in Kidnapping Movies which consists of movies related to the abduction of both children and women.

The following are movies about kidnapping based on true stories:

1. The Most Hated Woman in America
2. Abduction in Plain Sight
3. Cleveland Abduction
4. The Frozen Ground
5. 3096 Days
6. All The Money In The World
7. The Stranger
8. Close

The Most Hated Woman In America

The Most Hated Woman in America is a Netflix original movie that tells the real-life story of Madalyn Murray O’Hair and her disappearance in 1995.

Madalyn is an atheist activist who raised her voice against the teaching of Bible in public school. What’s interesting is that this led the Supreme Court to rule that such teachings are against the First Ammendment.

As a result, she was given the nickname, The Most Hated Woman in America in 1963 after the Supreme Court hearings. Things get even more interesting as she along with her son and granddaughter disappeared on August 27, 1995.

This is what the Netflix movie focuses on. The story of the woman decades after her activism. It is subsequently revealed that the kidnapping was out of revenge after Madalyn exposed one of her colleagues.

Madalyn was eventually killed in captivity along with her son and granddaughter. Melissa Leo plays the role of Madalyn Murray O’Hair on the movie.

All The Money In The World

All The Money In The World is a biographical crime drama about John Paul Getty III and his disappearance.

The story gets unbelievably interesting when his grandfather (the richest man in the world) refuses to pay his ransom. The Italian kidnapper then reaches out to other family members.

They reached out to his mother and asked for $17 million. When his mother asked his grandfather for the money, he refused in account of his relationship with with own son (Getty’s father).

He believed that his grandson had staged the kidnapping to get money from him and despite making billions of money in profit each day, he was reluctant to pay for his own family.

As per Variety, he claimed that he had 14 grandchildren and if he paid the ransom, he would have 13 more grandchildren kidnapped.

The movie unfolds further with one bizarre event after the other which makes it an excellent watch.

Close

Close is a 2022 crime thriller that was released on Netflix. It tells the true story of fearless bodyguard Jacquieline Davis who risks her life in order to save others.

Even though the hostage drama at the center of the movie is fictional, all the actions and weight of the character is entirely based on Jacquieline. She is currently 58 years old but has had an exceptional journey.

She was the first female bodyguard in the UK after she gave up her job as a policewoman. What the movie gets spot on is the struggle of being a woman in this line of work.

It shows her heroism while making the viewer realize that it is no easy feat. You can’t help but be proud of her.

Also, it is quite fun to watch a woman in an action-packed movie doing all the heavy-lifting.

Girl Kidnapping Movies Based On True Story

Girl Kidnapping movies based on True Story are Cleveland Abduction, The Girl Who Escaped, and Abducted: The Carlina White Story, among others. Lifetime network makes these signature movies.

Most kidnapping movies are focused on the kidnapping of a female child or a girl teenager as it increases the urgency of the situation. The story represents the helplessness of the parents as well as the police involved.

The following are girl kidnapping movies based on true story:

1. Cleveland Abduction

Cleveland Abduction is a Lifetime original movie based on the kidnapping of three women in Cleveland by Ariel Castro in the early 2000s.

Raymond Cruz plays Ariel Castro while actress Taryn Manning, Samantha Droke and Katie Sarife play Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, respectively.

The movie was released on Lifetime on May 2, 2015, and was added to the Netflix library in 2022.

The story begins with the abduction of Michelle Knight which is then followed by the kidnapping of Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus. Ariel kidnaps the women and holds them captive together. The three women develop a sense of sisterhood in disparity.

Eventually, after 11 years of captivity, Amanda Berry manages to escape and gets the police to release the other two women. Ariel was sentenced to life in prison without parol and an additional 1000 years for his heinous crimes.

2. The Frozen Ground

The Frozen Ground is a movie based on the real life story of Alaskan serial killer Robert Hansen.

Instead of focusing on his psyche, the movie introduces an Alaskan State Trooper who is looking to arrest Robert with the help of a young woman.

John Cusack plays Robert Hansen, whereas Nicholas Cage plays the role of state trooper named Jack Halcombe.

The movie was originally released in 2013 but later gained momentum after its debut on streaming giant Netflix.

The story commences with the abduction of 17-year-old Cindy Paulson by Hansen in 1983. However, she managed to escape and report the crimes to the police.

Detective Glenn Flothe (played by Nicholas Cage under a different name) works with Cindy to charge him for a series of disappearance and violent behavior against women.

Hansen eventually pled guilty to his crimes and was sentenced 461 years in prison along with a life sentence

Child Kidnapping Movies Based On True Stories

Child kidnapping movies based on true stories are Abduction in Plain Sight, 3096 Days, The Stranger, Little Girl Lost among others.

Kidnapping movies that involve children usually are devastating and cruel. Many viewers cannot even make it to the end of these movies

The following are movies about children being kidnapped:

1. Abduction in Plain Sight

Abducted in Plain Sight is about 12-year-old Jan Broberg from Idaho. She is abducted by a family friend and a close neighbor which results in a frenzy within the family.

The true-crime documentary film was released on May 26, 2017. It is a Netflix original that takes inspiration from the memoir released by Jan and her mother in 2003.

She was kidnapped by Robert Berchtold in two different instances in 1970s. Jan was 12 years old when she was kidnapped by Robert. The further abduction happened when she was 14.

The story gets even more twisted when the parents of the girl get involved in the situation but are brainwashed by Robert.

The film has won multiple awards including Best Documentary at Newport Beach Film Festival and Phoenix Film Festival. The director Skye Borgman also won the award for Outstanding Female Filmmaker at Tallgrass Film Festival

2. 3096 Days

3096 Days is a German crime thriller that tells the true story of Natascha Kampusch, who was kidnapped for eight years. She was 10 years old at the time.

The movie takes inspiration from Natascha’s book, which was released in 2006.

Kampusch was abducted in 1998 while on her way to school. She was held in a small cellar by kidnapper Přiklopil who lived near Vienna in Austria.

Even though she was only allowed to remain in the cellar in the early years, Přiklopil allowed her to come up to the house and even hang out in the garden. He took her on a ski trip for a few hours.

She stayed with him for eight years before escaping in 2006 when she was cleaning his minivan. Even though Natashcha lit a candle for him at the morgue when he passed away, she denotes him as a criminal.

3. The Stranger

The Stranger is a Netflix movie that takes a deeper look at the relationship between a kidnapper and an undercover cop.

The true story behind the movie is that of 13-year old Daniel Morcombe who was abducted in 2003. He was later killed while in captivity.

The man behind the crime, Brett Peter Cowan was eventually detained and charged for his crimes.

The movie takes inspiration from the book by journalist Kate Kyriacou. It changes the names of the characters involved in the story but many of the events remain true to the real story.

Cowan was sentenced to life in prison in 2014. Actor Sean Harris plays the role of the kidnapper while Joel Edgerton plays the undercover cop. The movie received 11 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards nomination that year.