Best Portuguese crime movies

Get ready to binge. We've found a collection of must-watch crime films from Portugal, now streaming on Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Prime Video, and other top services!

  • Poster for Balas & Bolinhos

    Balas & Bolinhos 2001

    A group of friends meet and set out to rob a gas station.

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  • Poster for Balas & Bolinhos: O Regresso

    Balas & Bolinhos: O Regresso 2004

    A group of friends meet after some years apart and decide to go on a treasure hunt.

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  • Poster for Call Girl

    Call Girl 2007

    A powerful entrepreneur wants to build an exclusive resort hotel in Villanova, but he discovers the location he has in mind is protected by local land-use regulations. He hires Maria, a beautiful and elegant prostitute, to seduce the mayor, leaving him open to blackmail if he won't give the entrepreneur what he wants. Maria has no trouble twisting Meireles around her finger, but police detectives Madeira and Neves get wind of the plan and set out to expose the plot...

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  • Poster for Bad Investigate

    Bad Investigate 2018

    Romeu, a corrupt cop, hires the services of Cid and Alex, to catch a notorious criminal, who left Mexico and is on his way to Galicia, Spain to find the killer of his brother, also trying to catch the same criminal is an FBI agent.

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  • Poster for The Immortals

    The Immortals 2003

    Every year, four ex-soldiers who call themselves "Os Imortais" ("The Immortals"), get together with four women to celebrate their war deeds and remember the old days, back in the war. On the summer of 1985, tired of their monotonous lives, they decide to rob a bank. Joaquim Malarranha, a chief inspector from the local police force who is about to retire, crosses their path and chooses to spend his last days of duty trying to solve the robbery. But as he carries on with his investigation, he discovers more than he could have ever imagined...

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  • Poster for Zona J

    Zona J 1998

    Tó, a black boy from Zona J, a tough neighborhood in Lisbon, falls in love with a white girl, Carla. Tó dreams of living in Angola and taking Carla with him. However, the reality the two teens are in complicates their plans...

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  • Poster for Sorte Nula

    Sorte Nula 2004

    Alberto is planning the ultimate romantic escape, but before he can catch the airplane he will endure the creepiest day of his life.

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  • Poster for The Last Time I Saw Macao

    The Last Time I Saw Macao 2012

    A filmmaker returns to Macao, China, to help a friend who is in trouble.

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  • Poster for In the Darkness of the Night

    In the Darkness of the Night 2004

    A disturbing film about the Portuguese underworld of prostitution.

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  • Poster for 2 Duros de Roer

    2 Duros de Roer 2022

    An unlikely team of cops and a student, live a crazy day, meet the most ridiculous characters, and unmask a drug trafficking operation with disastrous consequences not just for the city, but for the whole world.

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  • Poster for Corruption

    Corruption 2007

    A crime drama based on the life of a woman who lived for years with a man that was the head of a corruption network in the Portuguese football world.

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  • Consequências 2009

    Mario and Alice are inside a car driving to the airport for one more vacation. Although, Mario has to make one last drop at a client's before heading out. Alice questions him. She wants to know more. Who is this man by her side? Is she ready to find out?

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  • Poster for Bairro

    Bairro 2013

    Diana was born and raised in the neighborhood of Estrela Polar, lost hers parents when she was a child and leads a band of criminals who negotiates for drugs, money laundering, weapons, paintings, jewellery and tobacco.

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  • Poster for Ballad of Dog Beach

    Ballad of Dog Beach 1987

    In Portugal, in the 60s, the corpse of a man appears on Dog's Beach. The corpse is identified as the major Dantas, a man wanted by authorities after his escape from a military prison where he was awaiting trial for insurrection.

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  • Poster for Ruas Rivais

    Ruas Rivais 2014

    In a neighborhood of the suburbs where avenges the law of the street, a group of teenagers will be required to overcome themselves and challenge their fears to conquer a place in the world.

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  • Poster for Adelaide

    Adelaide 2018

    In the most anticipated interview of the year, sisters Adelaide, Carolina and Julia Paixão come together with their mother Anita - to recount the events that led to one of the most controversial crimes ever committed in Portugal.

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  • Poster for Contrato

    Contrato 2009

    Peter McShade is a hitman. A job goes wrong when he kills the nephew of a Mafia Boss in Morocco.

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  • Poster for Veneno Cura

    Veneno Cura 2008

    In oPorto there is a club, Imperatriz, where everything is permitted. A moment in which all intersect in the dark night.

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  • Poster for The Man with the Crooked Eyes

    The Man with the Crooked Eyes 1918

    The Man with the Crooked Eyes is a unfinished 1918 Portuguese silent film made for Lusitânia Film and directed by José Leitão de Barros, starring Filipe Melo. This was restored and edited together in 2007 using all existing raw footage.

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  • Poster for O Roubo das Calcinhas

    O Roubo das Calcinhas 1975

    Brazilian comedy in two segments. 'Theft of the Panties': Four friends are broke during Christmas. Genaro decides to rob a brothel because he thinks that the victims won't call the police. To get to know the place, one of the friends, Alfredo, disguises as a woman and goes there with Genaro. They set up a plan and then return to execute the robbery. 'I Love Cod': The owner of a bar in the suburbs, the Portuguese Manuel, wins the sports lottery. Three mechanics find themselves wronged for having almost won the prize and abduct Manuel's wife, demanding ransom. Manuel refuses to pay, as he finally got rid of his wife and can now win the woman of his dreams. Knowing this, the wife collaborates with the kidnappers to reverse the plan: Manuel will have to pay the ransom if he does not want to see her again.

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  • Poster for Ornament and Crime

    Ornament and Crime 2015

    I am the double of the shadow of my own image. An allegory that occupies my place. This is my act of contrition. Beyond good and evil, I stand as an equation: Its result cannot be manipulated By morals or ethics. In mathematics there is no place for beliefs Just as life and death Are a certain fate.

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  • Poster for Good Times Bad Times

    Good Times Bad Times 2020

    The good times we wished we had lived, might have not been the times we imagined people lived

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  • Poster for O Ídolo

    O Ídolo 2021

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  • Poster for The Glass Cell

    The Glass Cell 1978

    A man is wrongfully imprisoned for five years. Once out, he hears about his wife's supposed adventures outside of their marriage and becomes increasingly jealous.

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  • Poster for O Táxi Nº 9297

    O Táxi Nº 9297 1927

    The story of this film is based on actual facts, the murder of actress Maria Alves, and the investigation that ensued, covered by Reinaldo Ferreira himself. Ferreira also wrote a novel based on the same facts.

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  • Poster for Serpentina

    Serpentina 2023

    Oliveira do Hospital, 1995. A screenwriter looking for inspiration, a failed actor trying to get back into the spotlight, and a suitcase full of cash hidden in a chimney. These are the ingredients of Serpentina, whose characters, while trying to make a movie, find themselves in a gangster film they don't know how to get out of. This film is part of the Contado Por Mulheres (Told by Women) project. This is a unique project in Portuguese audiovisual media that brings us the freshness of new female directors, all from different generations and recognized for their talent in various areas such as cinema, theater, dance, and advertising.

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  • Poster for Jogos de Enganos

    Jogos de Enganos 2023

    A respectable family falls into crisis when their extensive apple orchard is ruined. Delgado, a wealthy industrialist from the North, has just arrived in the village, apparently with good intentions. Desperate to keep up appearances, the Major and D. Lúcia introduce him to their innocent and eccentric daughter, Cilinha, who is only interested in her singing lessons. They entice him with the prospect of a rich dowry, but they are unaware that Delgado is not quite who he appears to be...

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  • Poster for Tudo Isto é Fado

    Tudo Isto é Fado 2004

    Shup up in dead-end lives with dreams larger than life, two inseparable friends in their thirties decide to take their fates in hand. Nevertheless, a woman a « fatale » one, gets them away from their path. And the three of them – two others will quickly join them- find themselves involved in a strange case, that of a fake painting robbery. Who said crime is not worth?

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  • Poster for Crimes of Diogo Alves

    Crimes of Diogo Alves 1911

    Diogo Alves is a Spanish fugitive that comes to the Portuguese capital terrorizing the inhabitants by his cut-throat methods against rich and poor people alike. He attacks the women launderers on the Lisbon Aqueduct and throws the bodies over the high wall, and assaults homes with his large band of criminals. Eventually arrested, he, his female companion and his henchmen are condemned to death by the court.

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  • Poster for Crime at the Little Star Pension

    Crime at the Little Star Pension 1990

    Neves and his wife Celia are the owners and managers of the 'Little Star Pension', a familiar hotel that caters to bourgeois family and would-be actors, instead of the ill-reputed 'Good-Night Pension' (just across the narrow street), where gigolos, whores, and criminals of all sorts may go for a quick encounter. However, not all is well among the ten residents of 'Little Star Pension': each dialogue line from every hotel guest is evidence that he, or her, has a reason (actually, more than one) to hate Neves - to the point of wishing him dead. Carelessness (or devious intention) by one party will provide the means; another, will create the propitious moment; yet another, and then the rest of them will create the festive New Year's Eve occasion - to do with Neves forever! Obviously, only the famous world private-eye Hércules Pirôt can solve the crime... for which he is called by phone, even before the deed is done.

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  • Poster for Quando o Diabo Reza

    Quando o Diabo Reza 2022

    On one side, a bunch of crooks. On the other, two sisters. Nothing unites them except an idea: to relieve the bank account of an old man, who happens to be the sisters' father. The crooks devise a plan to gain his trust and swindle him. The sisters make plans for the last years of their father's life without neglecting the small detail of the inheritance. Each one in their own way, they all dream of the possibilities that the old man's money could bring them. But this one will not be easy prey.

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  • Poster for Rending

    Rending 2001

    A philosophy-obsessed serial rapist stalks a university campus in broad daylight.

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  • Poster for Name Above Title

    Name Above Title 2020

    The quiet life of a serial killer in Lisbon is disrupted when an unusual incident suddenly turns him into a social media star.

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  • Poster for Miami

    Miami 2015

    A teenage girl's dream of becoming famous turns into a dangerous obsession.

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  • Poster for The Crime of Aldeia Velha

    The Crime of Aldeia Velha 1964

    Joana lives in a small and remote village where people are very primitive and religious. When accidents start happening that involves her, people slowly start believing that she is possessed by the devil.

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  • Poster for Passagem por Lisboa

    Passagem por Lisboa 1994

    Lisbon, early 1940s. The neutral port town is an open door to freedom, for those who are escaping the Nazi occupied France and eastern European countries, and a war field for spies of every description. Lisbon became a cosmopolitan town, where the Duke of Windsor, Primo de Rivera, Pola Negri, Leslie Howard, Walter Schellenberg and Juan Garcia are often together in the luxury hotels and night-clubs. Espionage and crime go hand in hand, despite of, or encouraged by, the Portuguese secret police.

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  • Poster for Mustang

    Mustang 2000

    Two sons dream of the return of their father who left fifteen years earlier, and all this time without any sign of life...

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  • Poster for Dina and Django

    Dina and Django 1983

    Dina (Maria Santiago) is a teenager brought up by her grandmother, employed as a housekeeper for a fairly well-off family. Since Dina only has her grandmother, she spends her time fantasizing about her life and reading comic-book love stories -- activities that do nothing to improve her dim perspective of reality. Due to these handicaps and her own inexperience, she gets involved with Django (Luis Lucas), a shady character who decides to use her as bait to attract men and then rob them. One day when both are in a taxi with robbery in mind, the driver gets suspicious so Django shoots him, and so does Dina. She escapes and runs away -- though it seems like she has learned too little too late. This story unfolds against a time of upheaval in Portugal (mid-1970s) when the military government is formulating a constitution and social changes are happening everywhere.

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  • Poster for One Hundred Times Lost

    One Hundred Times Lost 1973

    Artur is in Lisbon for his holidays, wonders aimlessly, and is picked up by Rui, a young man who is into marketing and advertising. Joana is in Lisbon for holidays, but also trying to escape from a mysterious, dark passion. Artur and Joana come together, find common roots in their rural background.

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  • Poster for Here on Earth

    Here on Earth 1993

    Miguel (Luis Miguel Cintra) is lucky that his income will only level off if he neglects his business as a financier, and his wife and family will be well supported. Why? Because he has begun hearing noises that no one else hears, noises that bother him a great deal, and that make it impossible for him to bear human society. His wife (Jessica Weiss) is thoroughly put out by this radically changed behavior in her formerly good husband, but though she considers leaving him, she stays by his side. Deep in the mountains, Cecelia (Rita Dias), a devout, pure young cowherd, has been brutally raped by an old man. Her boyfriend (Pedro Hestnes) has killed the rapist, and fled the area. As a result of the rape, Cecelia is pregnant. One day, while driving in the mountains, Miguel gives Cecelia's boyfriend a ride. The two of them chance upon her sitting amid the rocks with her infant baby.

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  • Poster for Quem Matou Laura Paula

    Quem Matou Laura Paula 2022

    When a nun from the Sacred Convent of Queijo Flamengo is found dead at the bottom of a ravine, Inspector Tó Manel—known in criminal circles as the Poirot of Marco de Canaveses—sets out in search of the truth in a mind-boggling investigation.

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  • Poster for O Segredo Do Molho

    O Segredo Do Molho 2014

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  • Poster for Slicer

    Slicer 2016

    A man that dismembers bodies finds his life in danger when one of the corpses isn't really dead.

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  • Poster for Lovely Child

    Lovely Child 1990

    Maria is a sweet child. She hasn’t father and doesn’t like her mother. She has a boyfriend, A bandit who would like to change his class.

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  • Poster for Jogo da Glória

    Jogo da Glória 2002

    Rui, A teenage boy works in his father shop and has an old brother that is a policeman. His father is about to close the shop, because of money issues, and Rui needs to get money for him and also to help his father. By the hand of a friend he enters in the criminal world to make money.

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  • Poster for Perdidos e Malditos

    Perdidos e Malditos 1970

    A criminal reporter and his guru-like friend go around together, but a crossroads will lead them to different ways.

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  • Poster for Crimes of Diogo Alves

    Crimes of Diogo Alves 1909

    Diogo Alves is a Spanish fugitive that comes to the Portuguese capital terrorizing the inhabitants by his cut-throat methods against rich and poor people alike. He attacks the women launderers on the Lisbon Aqueduct and throws the bodies over the high wall, and assaults homes with his large band of criminals. Eventually arrested, he, his female companion and his henchmen are condemned to death by the court.

    33
  • Poster for Repórter X

    Repórter X 1987

    A story about character created by Reinaldo Ferreira (1897-1935), action reporter, mystery novelist and emotion journalist.

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  • Poster for Boca de Ouro

    Boca de Ouro 1999

    Boca de Ouro was born in a back room of a dance hall, and his first crib was a bathroom sink where his mother left him. The boy grows up and becomes a feared and respected bookie—an almost mythological figure in the community where he lives. Fascinated by the story of the recently deceased criminal, journalist Caveirinha seeks out the criminal's ex-lover, D. Guigui, to gather material for an article. Her accounts of Boca reflect her emotional state.

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  • Poster for Life Is Beautiful

    Life Is Beautiful 1982

    Hipólito is a self-made man, who went up in life in devious ways, and used for profit the social turmoil when Portugal changed from a monarchy into a republic, and then to a military regime. Finally, he is forced into exile. Back in 1935 to family, friends, and lovers, he is in a mix-mesh of lies, and scheming, again.

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  • Poster for A Rota do Brilho

    A Rota do Brilho 1990

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  • Poster for Devil's Hour

    Devil's Hour 1971

    An ex-guerrilla fighter wants to leave and forget the past, but is blackmailed by an old friend, who threatens to turn him in. Pursued by the police, he is eventually arrested.

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  • Poster for Experience in Horror

    Experience in Horror 1987

    A horror film based on a book by Dick Haskins.

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  • Poster for To the Bitter End

    To the Bitter End 1991

    Jorge is a DJ at a Lisbon nightclub. But the club owner, Queirós, who is also involved in diamond traffic, is obsessive over a woman, Cláudia, who betrayed him before. When she unexpectedly returns to Portugal and to the club, Jorge immediately understands Queirós's obsession over her. For her, Jorge also gets involved in diamond traffic and is slowly dragged into a world of passion, violence and betrayal.

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  • Poster for Duke

    Duke 1988

    Duke is the name of a journalist who investigates the famous Ballet Rose case. During the investigation, he stumbles upon a mysterious murder.

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  • Guru das Sete Cidades 1972

    An unhappily married woman becomes the mistress to a sleaze-ball who introduces her to a group of satanists who are willing to kill her rich husband.

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  • Poster for A Shot in the Dark

    A Shot in the Dark 2005

    A baby is kidnapped in a Brazilian airport. Years later, the mother lives in Lisbon and works in a strip-tease bar so she can survive. When she is fired, she joins a gang of bank robbers...

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