Child abuse in movies
Movies featuring mention or visual depictions of physical, emotional and sexual abuse of kids.
List activity
202K views
• 439 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
105 titles
- DirectorWayne KramerStarsPaul WalkerCameron BrightChazz PalminteriA low-ranking thug is entrusted by his crime boss to dispose of a gun that killed corrupt cops, but things get out of control when the gun ends up in wrong hands.
- DirectorJohn N. SmithStarsHenry CzernyJohnny MorinaBrian DooleyThe true story of boys being sexually abused at their orphanage ran by a religious community in Newfoundland.
- DirectorJohn N. SmithStarsHenry CzernySebastian SpenceLise RoyFifteen years after the events of The Boys of St. Vincent took place, the various boys involved are brought in to testify against the brothers, now finally standing trial, who assaulted them when they were children. The former head of the orphanage, Peter Lavin, has been married for several years at this point, has two children, and is living in Montreal when he is placed under arrest and brought to stand trial. While he maintains his innocence, the boy he favoured durring those years, Kevin Reevey, as well as many others, are faced with revisiting the abuse and trauma they sustained as children.
- DirectorAsia ArgentoStarsAsia ArgentoDylan SprouseCole SprouseSeven-year-old Jeremiah is pulled from his foster home and thrown into a troubled life on the road with his teenage mother, Sarah.
- DirectorGregg ArakiStarsBrady CorbetJoseph Gordon-LevittElisabeth ShueTwo pre-adolescent boys both experienced a strange event and later it affects their lives in different ways. One becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous prostitute, while the other retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction.
- DirectorDennis LeeStarsRyan ReynoldsWillem DafoeEmily WatsonThe Taylor family is devastated by an accident that takes place on the day their matriarch is due to graduate from college -- decades after leaving to raise her children.
- DirectorDamian HarrisStarsGillian JacobsJohn MalkovichRyan SimpkinsAfter being abducted as children, and suffering years of abuse, a teenage boy and girl find themselves living on the street.
- DirectorTarsem SinghStarsJennifer LopezVince VaughnVincent D'OnofrioAn F.B.I. Agent persuades a social worker, who is adept with a new experimental technology, to enter the mind of a comatose serial killer in order to learn where he has hidden his latest kidnap victim.
- DirectorDouglas BarrStarsPeri GilpinTeri PoloMaria del MarIn the 1950s, two actresses set up a charity home for "orphans"--actually, children who were purposely abandoned and shunned because of their mixed ethnicity. The children find themselves being loved and looked after properly.
- DirectorAisling WalshStarsAidan QuinnIain GlenMarc WarrenThe true story of a single teacher's courage to stand up against an untouchable prefect's sadistic disciplinary regime and other abuse in a Catholic Reformatory and Industrial School in 1939 Ireland.
- DirectorStevan MenaStarsMichael BiehnAlexandra DaddarioBrett RickabyThe horrific account of 6 year old Martin Bristol, abducted from his backyard swing and forced to witness the brutal crimes of a deranged madman.
- StarsJoanne WoodwardSally FieldBrad DavisA young woman whose childhood was so harrowing to her that she developed sixteen different personalities is treated by a doctor.
- DirectorJoseph SargentStarsJessica LangeTammy BlanchardRon WhiteA true story of a young woman whose abusive childhood results in her developing a multiple personality disorder.
- DirectorFrank PerryStarsFaye DunawayDiana ScarwidSteve ForrestThe abusive and traumatic adoptive upbringing of Christina Crawford at the hands of her mother, screen queen Joan Crawford, is depicted.
- DirectorMichael Caton-JonesStarsRobert De NiroLeonardo DiCaprioEllen BarkinThe story about the relationship between a rebellious 1950s teenager and his abusive stepfather, based on the memoirs of writer and literature Professor Tobias Wolff.
- DirectorDaniel GrouStarsClaude LegaultRobert NaylorEugénie BeaudryTommy, 10 years old, is well known by Social Services. He is considered a danger to society. Gilles, his guardian at this halfway house, sees potential for redemption in this kid driven by violence.
- DirectorTom McCarthyStarsMark RuffaloMichael KeatonRachel McAdamsThe true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.
- DirectorLuc BessonStarsJean RenoGary OldmanNatalie Portman12-year-old Mathilda is reluctantly taken in by Léon, a professional assassin, after her family is murdered. An unusual relationship forms as she becomes his protégée and learns the assassin's trade.
- DirectorGus Van SantStarsRobin WilliamsMatt DamonBen AffleckWill Hunting, a janitor at MIT, has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsWoody HarrelsonJuliette LewisO-Lan JonesTwo victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and psychopathic serial murderers irresponsibly glorified by the mass media.
- DirectorDestin Daniel CrettonStarsBrie LarsonFrantz TurnerJohn Gallagher Jr.A 20-something supervising staff member of a residential treatment facility navigates the troubled waters of that world alongside her co-worker and longtime boyfriend.
- DirectorBarry LevinsonStarsRobert De NiroKevin BaconBrad PittAfter a prank goes disastrously wrong, a group of boys are sent to a detention center where they are brutalized. Thirteen years later, an unexpected random encounter with a former guard gives them a chance for revenge.
- DirectorCatherine HardwickeStarsEvan Rachel WoodHolly HunterNikki ReedA thirteen-year-old girl's relationship with her mother is put to the test as she discovers drugs, sex, and petty crime in the company of her cool but troubled best friend.
- DirectorBilly Bob ThorntonStarsBilly Bob ThorntonDwight YoakamJ.T. WalshKarl Childers, a simple man hospitalized since his childhood murder of his mother and her lover, is released to start a new life in a small town.
- DirectorLee DanielsStarsGabourey SidibeMo'NiquePaula PattonIn New York City's Harlem circa 1987, an overweight, abused, illiterate teen who is pregnant with her second child is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that she can re-route her life in a better direction.