The Best Revenge Movies of All Time

In Martin Scorsese’s epic period piece, 1860s New York City comes to life filled with every type of crime, violence, and gang dynamics imaginable. The film begins with a young boy witnessing his father’s killing in a gang turf war. It skips ahead some years, and the hero (played by DiCaprio) is grown up and out for blood. The leader of the rival gang, played by Daniel Day-Lewis, now runs the entire territory and lives like a king. He doesn’t know the son of his former enemy on a mission to finish what his father started.

“Ruthless People” is a dark comedy about Sam Stone (Danny DeVito), a man who plots to kill his wife and run off with his mistress. Unfortunately for Stone, before he can put his plans into action, his wife is kidnapped by a couple seeking revenge on him. They threaten to kill her if their demands aren’t met, then realize he actually wants her dead. Stone’s mistress, meanwhile, has plans of her own.

By the seventh movie in the “Fast and Furious” series, things have evolved dramatically from the days of simple street racing and cool custom cars. The story begins with all the previous team of criminals having returned to their normal lives after receiving amnesty for their crimes. However, a special forces assassin wants revenge for past events that left his younger brother in a coma. The movie featured actor Paul Walker’s last starring role before his death.

Based on the classic 1844 novel of the same name by Alexandre Dumas, “The Count of Monte Cristo,” which has been brought to the screen on numerous occasions, is the story of a young man falsely accused of treason and other crimes and thrown into an island prison off the coast of France. He escapes, acquires a massive fortune in treasure, travels to Paris as the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo, and seeks revenge against those who had him imprisoned.

“Sweeney Todd” originally appeared as an 1846 “penny dreadful” and his story — Todd is a barber who gets revenge on his clients by slitting their throats and having their flesh baked into meat pies — became fodder for an urban legend. The tale was filmed in England in 1928 and 1936, but this 2007 version is a so-called slasher musical — based on the Tony-winning 1979 musical by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler.