There are a lot of different ways horror movies can deliver scares to their audience. While bloody death scenes and shocking jump scares seem to be the usual methods, there is something very different when it comes to a psychological horror movie.
These movies can be more subtle or even clever with how they deliver unease to the viewers. With haunting premises and unsettling moments, these are the types of scares that will stay in the audience’s mind long after the credits have rolled. And certain titles prove just how effective a psychological horror movie can be.
Updated on March 2nd, 2022 by Colin McCormick: While movies can be a fun escape, sometimes audiences want to be challenged by them as well. Psychological horror movies often put viewers in uncomfortable headspaces while also leaving them on the edge of their seats. These types of stories remain a huge part of the horror genre, from older classics to modern hits. With so many more to choose from, it only seems right to add a few more titles to the collection of psychological horror movies as well as where fans can find them.
20 Last Night In Soho (2021)
- Available to stream on Apple TV.
One of the most recent additions to the psychological horror genre is Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho. Unlike Wright’s other work that always leaned into comedy, this chilling thriller mostly plays it straight and reveals new talents from the acclaimed director.
The movie follows a young woman who moves to London to go to fashion school. But each night in her sleep, she finds herself transported back to the 1960s where she follows another young woman pursuing her own dreams in the big city.
19 The Silence of The Lamps (1991)
- Available to stream on Prime Video, Roku, Tubi, Kanopy, and Pluto TV.
The Silence of the Lambs seems to have a reputation as being a bloody and gruesome movie, and while there are certainly those elements, much of the uneasy comes from the foreboding feel. The tale of a young FBI agent who seeks out the help of an imprisoned serial killer to catch a new killer is bone-chilling.
Hannibal Lecter has become an iconic movie villain and just watching him speak will likely give viewers nightmares. The conversations between him and Clarice Starling as he attempts to get in her head are as intense as anything else in the movie.
18 Les Diaboliques (1955)
- Available to stream on HBO Max, Roku, The Criterion Channel, and Plex.
One might think that older movies can’t deliver the same level of horror as modern offerings of the genre. However, Les Diaboliques is a perfect example of a movie that was released decades ago still packing a big punch.
The movie follows a woman who has suffered under her brutish husband and finally has enough. Partnering with his old mistress, the wife sets in motion a seemingly fool-proof way of getting rid of him. It is a gripping story filled with dread and paranoia until the final shocking moments.
17 The Fly (1986)
- Available to stream on Prime Video.
While psychological horror movies are usually a very cerebral experience, that doesn’t mean they can’t also deliver on the gore and gruesomeness of other horror movies. David Cronenberg’s The Fly is just such a movie as it combines body-horror elements with a haunting character study.
Jeff Goldblum stars as a scientist whose experiment goes wrong, causing him to gradually transport into a grotesque man/fly hybrid. The stages of transformation become more and more unsettling, and it is certainly not a movie for fans with weak stomachs.
16 Funny Games (1997)
- Available to stream on HBO Max and The Criterion Channel
While some movies in this genre might feature mind-bending premises, Funny Games takes a rather simple idea that becomes a truly terrifying and unsettling experience. The Austrian movie follows a pair of young men who take a family hostage and force them to play sadistic games.
There is an inescapable terror to the movie that will be quite hard for many viewers to take. It is an experience designed to make audiences squirm as it also comments on the use of violence in media.
15 The Lighthouse (2019)
- Available on Prime Video and Kanopy.
The follow-up movie from writer and director Robert Eggers after the breakout success of his debut, The Witch, was perhaps even more impressive and just as horrific. The Lighthouse follows two late 19th-century lighthouse keepers on a remote island, the intense monotony and indignity of their isolation giving way to paranoia and delusion.
Though gorgeously shot in a fittingly claustrophobic 1.19:1 aspect ratio and filled with unforgettably weird visuals, it’s a movie that hinges almost entirely upon of its two lead performances. With actors Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson rising to the challenge with total commitment to every scene, no matter how wild.
14 Session 9 (2001)
- Available to rent on Apple TV.
Though still quite underrated, Session 9 sits comfortably as one of the most chilling psychological horror movies of the 21st century so far.
Shot on location in the abandoned Danvers State Mental Hospital in Massachusetts, the movie follows a group of stressed asbestos removal workers trying to clean out the haunting old building. The toll of the job, and the overall economy around them, brings out some of the worst in the men as the genuinely, palpably, chilling history of their surroundings seems to come back to life.
13 Cat People (1942)
- Available to rent on Apple TV.
Director Jacques Tourneur was a pioneer of many aspects of the horror movie genre that are considered integral today, with his 1942 movie, Cat People, standing out as an early example of psychological horror.
Tapping into complex psychoanalytical fears, the movie’s horror is played out mostly within the imagination of the main characters and the audience, using suggestion and shadowplay to skirt around the restrictiveness of censorship and standards of the time period. It’s a fascinating cornerstone of modern filmmaking despite humble B movie origins and is still brimming with atmosphere. A jump scare that’s powerful enough to still work over three-quarters of a century later is something that’s worth cherishing.
12 The Changeling (1980)
- Available on Shudder, AMC+, Tubi, Arrow TV, Plex, and Spectrum on Demand.
Following the tragic loss of his family, an aging composer moves into a beautiful old house but quickly discovers a dark history haunting its walls and becomes overwhelmed by a need to uncover its origins and resolve its unfinished business.
As far as ghost stories in movies go, The Changeling may not be one of the most famous but it remains a firm favorite with film buffs thanks to its focus on grief, slow-burning dread, and a genuinely engaging story. It’s a sterling example of how terrifying a horror movie can be without kills or gore, making the audience feel sucked into the story and the headspace of the main characters themselves.
11 It Follows (2014)
- Available on Netflix.
Monster movies don’t usually appear on lists of the best psychological horror movies but It Follows is a very different monster movie. For one thing, the audience never sees the monster’s true form. Instead, it takes on the scarier disguise of everyday people.
The film has an instantly compelling plot where the main character has a curse passed on her, meaning she will be hunted by this inconspicuous force until she passes it to another. It doesn’t waste a killer premise like this, infusing the film with a paranoid mood suggesting the danger could be anywhere.
10 I Saw The Devil (2010)
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Hoopla, Tubi, Vudu Kanopy, Redbox, Pluto TV, Plex, and Popcornflix.
South Korea has churned out a number of amazing horror films in the 21st century, and this intense cat-and-mouse horror is certainly one of the best.
The film follows a special forces agent whose wife is brutally killed by a serial killer. The grieving man hunts down the killer, but instead of a quick revenge, he begins playing a game with his target. The film plays with the idea of both these men being vicious killers and the struggle for control continues to go back and forth between them until the bloody conclusion.
9 Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
- Available on Hulu, Paraount+, Epix, DIRECTV, and Spectrum on Demand.
Satanism and the occult have often played a big role in the psychological horror genre. There is something unsettling about the idea of worshipers of evil operating in plain sight. Rosemary’s Baby latches on to this fear in the tale of a couple who becomes unexpectedly pregnant after moving to a new home surrounded by unusual neighbors.
The film is unsettling in how ordinary the horror seems and the fact that it is linked to the idea of being a new mother. Just as the audience begins to think that the paranoid mayhem can’t get any worse, the film continues to find new disturbing ways to terrify.
8 The Babadook (2014)
- Available on DirecTV and AMC+.
Like It Follows, this is another monster film that has a lot more going on than most films in that subgenre. The Babadook is an Australian film that follows a widowed woman struggling to raise her troubled young son. When a mysterious book arrives at their home, the family begins being haunted by a creature known as Mister Babadook.
While the titular menace is scary enough, much of the psychological aspect of the horror comes from the mother’s own deteriorating mind. Is the monster real, or is she fighting with something more internal? The movie doesn’t give viewers any easy answers in this dark tale.
7 Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
- Available on Hulu, Paraount+, Epix, DIRECTV, and Spectrum on Demand.
One common theme of the psychological horror film is the unnerving question of what is real and what is imagined. This is why Jacob’s Ladder serves as such an effective and disturbing film.
The film follows a Vietnam veteran having horrific visions that continue to haunt him. As he attempts to find some kind of relief, he begins to uncover the truth about what happened to him during the war. Along with the nightmarish imagery, the film refuses to let the audience escape the intense uncertainty of the film leaving them exhausted by the time the credits roll.
6 The Vanishing (1988)
- Available on The Criterion Channel.
This is a genre that is often heavy with mystery, however, The Vanishing is one of the most disturbing examples of where those mysteries can lead a person. The 1988 Dutch film follows a man whose girlfriend goes missing at a roadside rest stop which leads him on an obsessive search for answers.
The torture of the unanswered is what is most disturbing here. It is a descent into torment as the audience finds out how far the hero will go to find out what happened to his loved one. The ending is simply unforgettable.
5 Ringu (1998)
- Available on Shudder, ARROW, Screambox, Dark Matter TV, and Tubi.
There was a time in the early 2000s when Hollywood was in a trend as remaking Japanese horror films, and this film is the one that inspired that movement. Though the remake is solid, the original Ringu is an unforgettable movie-watching experience.
As an investigative reporter looks into the mysterious deaths of several teenagers, she comes across a video cassette that apparently causes those who watch it to die in seven days. What follows is a frightening investigation about what is real, leading to one of the most famous reveals in horror movie history.
4 Don’t Look Now (1973)
- Available on Kanopy.
The haunted state of the mind is one of the most common aspects of the psychological horror genre. The protagonists are usually deeply troubled souls, unable to forget some dark past.
This is certainly at play in Don’t Look Now. The film tells the story of a couple who, after losing their young daughter, move to Venice in an attempt to start over. But when the husband begins seeing sightings of his daughter, he begins to unravel. The movie has become highly influential thanks to its eerie and foreboding mood. And the climax is still one of the best twist endings of all time.
3 Get Out (2017)
- Available on Fubo TV, FX Now, DIRECTV, and Spectrum on Demand.
Get Out has already earned a spot high on any list of horror films. While it’s difficult to narrow this complex film down to one genre, the mounting sense of paranoia throughout certainly places it comfortably in the psychological horror section.
The story of a Black man on a weekend getaway to meet his girlfriend’s family makes for an intense, funny, and highly disturbing film. Jordan Peele uses modern social concepts to create a thought-provoking masterpiece that has cemented its place in pop culture. This is the type of movie to reward repeat viewings.
2 Psycho (1960)
- Available to rent on Apple TV.
Alfred Hitchcock’s horror movie masterpiece is a landmark in cinematic history, particularly within the depiction of the psychology of a killer. Though Psycho is not exactly a medically accurate examination of some of its central ideas, Anthony Perkins’ performance as Norman Bates was revolutionary at the time and remains captivatingly chilling even today.
Hitchcock delves into the thoughts and reasoning of his main characters in a way that makes every situation that much more intense and its boundary-pushing kills, in conjunction with the psychoanalytical approach, helped to form the foundation of what would come to be known as the slasher genre.
1 The Shining (1980)
- Available on HBO Max.
Put together the talents of Stanley Kubrick, Jack Nicholson, and Stephen King are bound to result in something interesting. The Shining is not certainly interesting and is still a film that terrifies audiences to this day.
The classic film follows a man who takes a job as a winter caretaker at an empty hotel. As he and his family settle into the isolated location, the dark history of the hotel comes for and the man begins to lose his mind. King’s work mixes well with Kubrick’s amazing and creepy visuals. Topped all that with a brilliantly unhinged performance from Jack Nicholson. It’s no surprise this is considered one of the greatest horror movies ever made.