They’ll make your blood pressure skyrocket, heart race, and have you gripping your seat with unbearable tension: Psychological thrillers are adrenaline injections in cinematic garb. At their best, these movies take us by the hand and accompany us into the deepest abysses of the human soul.
Shady characters play with the minds of both the protagonists and the viewers. Often the focus is on a question we ask ourselves repeatedly, a question that has burned itself deep into our brains and suddenly makes us see the world through different eyes: Which is real? What is not? Am I real?
Mother! (2017)
Darren Aronofsky likes it curious, weird and scary, but alongside the extremely controversial uproarious “Mother!” starring Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem, “Requiem for a dream” or “Black Swan” almost act like soothing lullabies: “Mother!” centers on an unnamed couple (Lawrence and Bardem) into whose quiet, remote home evil has come to stay. Before watching it, you should not know more about the film because here applies in the best psychothriller-horror mix manner: Ignorance does not protect against nightmares!
This is guaranteed to happen to the viewers when they witness for almost two hours how an initially exciting but conventional psychological thriller turns into an indulgent as well as nihilistic horror trip that relentlessly surrenders more and more to the mania of madness and, towards the end resembles a sadistic orgy, the horror of which takes on surreal, exaggerated porn film-like modes of representation. Tension rises slowly and finally discharges in a mindfuck scream, so interpretative in its pain that your ears buzz. Lawrence is disturbingly good!
American Psycho (2000)
Long regarded as unfilmable, scandalous author Bret Easton Ellis’ 1991 cult bestseller of the same name was too brutal, aesthetically challenging, complex and, oh yes, brutal! So director Mary Harron took up the challenge and created an ice-cold, intransigent, achingly intense, and yet highly complex study of character and society in the 1980s.
Sadistic Wall Street yuppie Patrick Bateman, a sadistic sociopath in a perfect suit who chops up women out of boredom in his luxury apartment while listening to hip hop music, tells us about a protagonist whose nature runs full force against all boundaries and only cements them even more in the process.
We do not become witnesses of moral decay; everything and everyone in “American Psycho” is doomed to failure right from the start, so dulled are they by consumerism. The cinematic conglomerate of black comedy, suspense and horror unite into a bloody and fierce tour de force, penetrating deep into the human abyss and not stopping at the finish line. As controversial as the literary original – with Bale being frighteningly authentic.
One Hour Photo (2002)
Robin Williams may be most remembered for his comedic roles. However, the actor, who passed away in 2014, had many talent levels, could also be dramatic and even bitterly evil. As in this indie masterpiece by Mark Romanek: Williams plays the lonely photo developer Seymour “Sey” Parrish.
He obsesses over the seemingly perfect life of a family who has long been Sey’s client. He’s particularly taken with Nina, the family’s mother and wife. But when Sey discovers that Nina’s marriage is in crisis, Sey decides to step in and take matters into his own hands.
He is a photo developer who lives his life through the memories of strangers, thus becoming a secret voyeur: Anyone who ever wondered in the pre-smartphone era who develops and gets to see their vacation photos should watch “One Hour Photo.”
Williams shines as a psychopath in the guise of the nice neighbor next door, which makes the film so oppressive. Horror in “One Hour Photo” is not transported with excessive orgies of violence and blood, but rather much more subtle, quiet, human, and even gentle. Insider Tip!
Prisoners (2013)
A perfervid mix of thriller and drama about vigilante justice, Obsession and guilt, densely atmospherically staged and superbly acted: When the six-year-old daughter of Bible-thumping war veteran Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) is kidnapped, he finds himself facing the shards of his entire life.
The young and highly ambitious detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal), assisted by his team, quickly comes across a suspect, mentally disabled Alex Jones (Paul Dano). However, he has to let him go due to a lack of evidence. Thereupon, in the deepest despair but fiery rage in his belly, Dover set out on the dangerous path of merciless vigilante justice. Due to its courageous complexity, the film is gripping until the very last second!
CAM (2018)
![Cam | Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/p1DahKn4HZk/hqdefault.jpg "10 Best Psychological Thrillers on Netflix 5")
Webcam pornography is hard work. Alice (Madeline Brewer) is aware of that, too, and that’s why she throws herself into her job with great ambition and even more nerve. Alice’s fan base is growing – and she knows what’s expected of her. However, she never expected that a woman would one day steal her online identity and thus make Alice invisible. Even more: The stranger looks exactly like her! Alice does everything to undo what can’t be.
“CAM” is no psychological treatise on existential questions of the human psyche. Still, it offers exceptional film entertainment because of the unusual setting (namely the online porn scene), convincing with original narrative tricks and gentle eroticism. Thrilling, gripping and delicately provocative!
Split (2016)
Night Shyamalan returned with this literal mindfuck film with drum, bugles and usual twist affinity: the lives of three teenage girls change abruptly when they are kidnapped and imprisoned by a man who is a stranger to them.
Horror doubles for the young women when it soon becomes apparent that their tormentor, called Kevin, possesses multiple personalities: as many as 24 personalities reside in his mind. Called “the best,” this 24th personality is the worst of them all and tries to break out of Kevin with all her might. The teen girls know that it will mean their death sentence if they don’t manage to escape by then.
Shyamalan shamelessly takes the “Dr Jekill & Mr Hyde” motif to the extreme when he has his lead actor James McAvoy portray at least eight different personalities. This is a dream come true for any actor, which McAvoy lives out with evident joy.
He succeeds in believably showing different facets of the human condition without ever drifting into the ridiculous, which makes McAvoy’s performance the heart of the film. In Split, the performance becomes a horror trip that generates tension from the uncontrollability of evil. Its finale is a classic WTF Shyamalan moment.
Shutter Island (2010)
1954: U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) investigates with his new colleague Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) the disappearance of patient Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer) from the Ashecliffe Hospital for mentally disturbed felons, which is located on Shutter Island off the coast of Massachusetts.
Soon, the two realize that the actions of the local doctors are highly unethical and even illegal. As a hurricane hits the island, a mass breakout from the clinic occurs – and Teddy suddenly no longer knows what is true and what is fiction. An atmospherically dense psycho-trip with numerous film-historical quotations and a bravura cast. Scary and breathtaking through and through!
Black Swan (2010)
Ballet is no walk in the park, as Darren Aronofsky reminded us in 2010 with his bitter and grueling psychodrama of an ambitious ballet dancer (Natalie Portman) who, though she finally lands her dream role in “Swan Lake,” becomes increasingly haunted by dark hallucinations during rehearsals.
As a good psychological thriller should, “Black Swan” blurs more and more the boundaries between reality and dream. Aronofsky stages this in a hypnotic, dramatic and creepy-poetic way that Nina’s delusion is also transmitted to the audience.
“Black Swan” is like a nightmarish horror fairy tale in which the protagonist is a princess and a witch at the same time. Highly complex psychologically, challenging and worth seeing for that very reason. Portman’s terrifyingly intense performance was rightly rewarded with an Oscar.
Cube (1997)
With their personalities fundamentally different, six people awaken in a labyrinth of thousands of cube-shaped rooms strung together, where there seems to be no escape. They don’t know why they are here or how they got here. They try to find a way out of this bizarre prison together. However, it is not only dangerous traps, mutual distrust that make escape almost impossible.
Fear, paranoia, mistrust, despair: The indie mix of chamber drama, horror, sci-fi and psychological thriller plays all the black keys on the emotional keyboard. “Cube” is a psychological discourse about people in extreme situations, implemented visually as original as it is radical. The biggest horror is still the human mind itself. It makes you think but also electrifies your nerves.
Se7en (1995)
In this nerve-shredding thriller, mind-game master David Fincher is in top form about a serial killer obsessed with the seven deadly sins. In the name of each deadly sin, Fincher commits an appropriately staged ritual murder to honor them. The chase for the psychopath brings Detectives Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and Mills (Brad Pitt) to their mental limits.
A deeply dark and pessimistic psychological thriller gem, which digs deep into the viewer’s memory and won’t let go in a hurry thanks to the permanent feeling of subliminal danger and a few shocking moments. The performers are convincing across the board.
