The Most Mind-Bending Psychological Thrillers Of All-Time
If the true crime phase of everyone's COVID-19 Netflix binges weren't enough of a clue, then these mind-bending psychological thrillers serve as the ultimate evidence that millions of people really love to explore the darkest recesses of the human mind. These mind-bending psychological thrillers kept us glued to the edge of our seats, dealing with difficult topics in a way that was sensitive and spectacular—that's what makes these the greatest psychological thrillers of all time.
The Silence Of The Lambs
The Silence Of The Lambs (1991) stars Anthony Hopkins as the iconic serial killer/former professional psychologist, Hannibal Lecter, and Jodie Foster as FBI agent Clarice Starling. Starling's hunt for a serial killer relies on the intelligence and help of the sadistic Lecter. It's one of the best psych thrillers ever made and is the most recent movie to win an Academy Award in all five major Oscars categories.
Orion Pictures, The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Get Out
Jordan Peele's now-iconic psychological thriller blew audiences away in 2017. Get Out would become one of the most successful movies of Peele's career. Examining the dynamics of interracial relationships with a shocking twist, Get Out tells the story of a young Black man meeting the family of his White girlfriend at their home in upstate New York. It went on to gross $255 million on a $4.5 million budget and was nominated for several Academy Awards.
Vertigo
Vertigo (1958) was one of Alfred Hitchcock's finest films. While other movies had highlighted what we today call "toxic masculinity", Hitchcock's Vertigo was one of the films with the most eyeballs to do so back in the 50s. Casting James Stewart as an ex-cop struggling with manhood and a romantic obsession was a stroke of genius in one of Hitchcock's most iconic 50s flicks.
Alfred Hitchcock Productions, Vertigo (1958)
Taxi Driver
Widely considered to be one of the best movies ever made, Taxi Driver (1976) was directed by Martin Scorsese and stars Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, and Cybill Shepherd. Telling the intense story of a Vietnam War veteran's struggles with post-traumatic disorder and a slow, hard-to-watch descent into violence, Taxi Driver was nominated for four Oscars and is part of the National Film Registry.
Psycho
Released in 1960, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho has earned a (rightful) place in American cinematic history and is widely viewed as one of the greatest psychological thrillers of all time. A couple on the run from the police after stealing money meet Norman Bates, the proprietor of Bates Motel—the rest is cinematic history.
Alfred Hitchcock Productions, Psycho (1960)
The Babadook
The Babadook (2014) was one of the scariest movies that The Exorcist (1973) director William Friedkin had ever seen. It follows the captivating story of a single mother healing from the demise of her husband, whilst trying to protect her son from the loss of his father and things that mysteriously go bump in the night.
Screen Australia, The Babadook (2014)
The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense (1999) starred a young Bruce Willis and an even younger Haley Joel Osment. Following the tale of a young boy who is thought to have a "sixth sense"—an intuitiveness or inexplicable awareness of the future, The Sixth Sense is M Night Shyamalan's contribution to the genre that's been compared to Hitchcock. The classic has a mind-numbing twist and if you're one of the handful that haven't seen The Sixth Sense, you should go watch it now.
Hollywood Pictures, The Sixth Sense (1999)
Hereditary
Loss changes people and can tear families apart. At least, that might be the message that Hereditary (2018) is trying to convey. Starring Toni Collette (who was nominated for an Oscar for the role of Annie Graham, the mother at the center of the tale), the multi-layered Hereditary was definitely one of the creepiest films of the year in 2018.
PalmStar Media, Hereditary (2018)
Don't Look Now
Another movie about grief and the toll it can take on a relationship, Don't Look Now (1973) stars Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie as a husband and wife grieving the loss of their young daughter in Venice. Nicolas Roeg's gut-wrenching and mind-bending adaptation of a Daphne du Maurier short story isn't one to be missed if you like wondering what the heck is going on.
El Dorado Films, Don't Look Now (1973)
Gaslight
An exploration of gaslighting—the term for psychologically abusing someone until they question their own sanity—that's as thought-provoking now as it was when it was released in 1944, Gaslight starred Ingrid Bergman as the tormented wife, in a performance that won her an Academy Award. The film was nominated for seven Oscars and featured an 18-year-old Angela Lansbury in her debut role.
Seven
Otherwise stylized as "Se7en", Seven (1995) stars Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman in David Fincher's police procedural drama that centers on the two as a pair of police detectives hunting down a serial killer. Creepy in places, and downright unnerving almost throughout, Seven received great acclaim from critics, earning 10 times its box office budget.
Arnold Kopelson Productions, Se7en (1995)
The Lost Daughter
A more recent thriller on our list is The Lost Daughter (2021). Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut sees Olivia Colman play a woman who becomes friends with another woman and her daughter while on vacation. Also starring Jessie Buckley and Peter Skaarsgard, The Lost Daughter was nominated for three Oscars. A successful debut, I'd say.
Fifth Season, The Lost Daughter (2021)
The Cell
One of Roger Ebert's favorite films, The Cell (2000) stars Jennifer Lopez as a scientist who enters the mind of a serial killer to save the victim of a kidnapping. This enthralling thriller is one of Lopez's most captivating performances and despite some rather disturbing scenes, The Cell is definitely worthy of inclusion on our list. If Roger Ebert likes it—so do we.
New Line Cinema, The Cell (2000)
The Others
Nicole Kidman stars in The Others (2001), a horror/psych thriller crossover that is as spooky as it gets. Living in a remote country house with her two children who have a rare disease that makes them sensitive to sunlight, The Others earned Kidman a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. Don't leave a light on when you watch it—think of the children.
Cruise/Wagner Productions, The Others (2001)
The Dead Zone
Christopher Walken's first appearance on our list is for The Dead Zone (1983), based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. Walken stars as a schoolteacher who's thrown into the extraordinary after obtaining psychic powers following a car accident. Beautifully blending suspense and morality, The Dead Zone is one of the great psychological thrillers from an author and director (David Cronenberg) who knows how to make 'em.
Lorimar Film Entertainment, The Dead Zone (1983)
You Were Never Really Here
We're not used to seeing Jaoquin Phoenix as an unkempt actor, but his full beard and long hair works wonders in You Were Never Really Here (2017), as he plays the rescuer of a kidnapped teenage girl. With danger at every turn from higher levels than previously thought, Phoenix must bring all of his skills to bear in this twisty thriller.
Why Not Productions, You Were Never Really Here (2017)
Fatal Attraction
Starring Glenn Close and Michael Douglas, Fatal Attraction (1987) is widely considered one of the best movies of the 1980s and hinges on the "Hell hath no fury" trope as Glenn Close's Alex Forrest torments the family of lawyer Dan Gallagher, following an ill-fated affair between the two. It was the second-highest grossing film of the year in the United States, making an astonishing $320 million on a $14 million production budget.
Paramount, Fatal Attraction (1987)
Jacob's Ladder
Fatal Attraction (1987) director Adrian Lyne was at it again with Jacob's Ladder (1990), following Jacob, a Vietnam veteran suffering from intense post-traumatic stress disorder, trying to piece together a fractured memory and mind that's suffered the torments of war. Loved by critics and fans for its take on the subject of PTSD, Jacob's Ladder is hugely influential, despite being forgettably remade in 2019.
Carolco Pictures, Jacob's Ladder (1990)
Collateral
Starring Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, and Jada Pinkett-Smith, Collateral (2000) sees Cruise play a hitman on a mission, and Foxx play an unwitting cabbie with some insight into the morality of Cruise's profession. Half gripping crime thriller, half moral examination of extrajudicial assassination, Collateral is "one of the most truthful movies ever made about nighttime in Los Angeles", according to critics.
Notorious
Notorious (1946) is another Alfred Hitchcock movie on par with Psycho and Vertigo. Set in South America and starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, Notorious is an exploration of the stresses of a relationship between two spies in a post-war South America and how toxicity in a relationship goes both ways
The Invisible Man
Given that 2020 was such a turbulent year for everyone, it's a miracle any new movies were a hit at the box office, but The Invisible Man was. Starring Elizabeth Moss as a female victim that nobody believes, The Invisible Man brilliantly sits in the space of a post-MeToo era in film.
Universal, The Invisible Man (2020)
Misery
Misery (1990) was one of the outliers of the Academy Awards' usual practice of ignoring horror movies, when Kathy Bates won Best Actress for her role in the film. Playing a psychopathic fan who kidnaps her favorite author and forces him to write novels for her, Misery is one performance that put Bates on the map and is still iconic to this day.
Black Swan
Black Swan (2010) was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture and stars Natalie Portman as a ballerina who's competing against a fellow dancer for a spot in a performance of The Swan. The friendship between Portman and her competitor becomes dark and twisted fairly quickly, as the stakes get higher.
Searchlight Pictures, Black Swan (2010)
Us
One of the freakiest thrillers in recent memory, Us (2019) is directed by Jordan Peele and stars Winston Duke, Peele, and Lupita Nyong'o. When four masked individuals descend on their family home, the Wilson family must fight for survival, but when the masks come off, a shocking truth is revealed.
Monkeypaw Productions, Us (1019)
Joker
An insight into the twisted mind of The Joker from the Batman movies, Joker (2019) stars Jaoquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, the iconic clown. When society decides that the clown is in fact, a joke, Arthur doesn't take kindly to the suggestion, unleashing a twisted maelstrom of destruction that can only be stopped by one man.
The Bourne Identity
Although it's an action/spy movie, elements of The Bourne Identity (2002) definitely fit the bill of a psychological thriller. Starring Matt Damon in one of the movies that made him a star, The Bourne Identity tells the story of an assassin searching for his identity and the people who trained him.
Universal, The Bourne Identity (2002)
Peeping Tom
One of the creepiest movies of the 1960s (and possibly ever) is Peeping Tom (1960), all about a serial killer who uses a portable video camera to record the final moments and expressions of the women that he targets. Definitely a movie that'll make you close your curtains at night, and seriously spooky for the early 1960s.
Michael Powell, Peeping Tom (1960)
Relic
Directed by debutant director Natalie James, Relic (2020) explores the reality of watching a loved one go through dementia. A brilliant, heartfelt telling of the pain of the process for both the person with dementia and the people who have to watch their decline, Relic is a touching, thoughtful tale.
Nightcrawler
Released in 2014, Nightcrawler is another mind-bender on our list with a star-studded cast. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Bill Paxton, Rene Russo, and Riz Ahmed, Nightcrawler sees Gyllenhaal swap the life of petty theft for the life of video journalism, but with an obsession for the grisly, dark side of Los Angeles at night. Seeking out ever-greater thrills, Gyllenhaal's performance is both compelling and gritty in this thriller.
Bold Films, Nightcrawler (2014)
American Psycho
Starring Christian Bale in the role that made him famous, American Psycho (2000) sees Bale play a wealthy banker by day and a serial killer by night. Detailing the charming, suave criminal's descent into madness and a detective hell-bent on capturing him, American Psycho is widely considered one of the greatest psychological thrillers and horrors of all time.
Lionsgate, American Psycho (2000)
Inception
This one will mess with your head. Inception (2010) stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a thief with an ability to enter people's minds and steal their secrets. Yeah. Hunted by corporations for corporate espionage jobs, given his unusual talent, Inception is one of those, "What just happened?" movies that'll leave you wondering what on Earth is going on.
Warner Bros., Inception (2010)
The Gift
Released in 2015, The Gift starred Jason Bateman, Joel Edgerton, and Rebecca Hall. Married couple Simon (Bateman) and Robyn (Hall) encounter an old friend from Simon's past, while he has sinister intentions. Disturbing gifts are left on their doorstep in this chilling thriller.
Blumhouse Productions, The Gift (2015)
The Conversation
The Conversation (1974) stars Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, and Harrison Ford. Hackman plays a surveillance expert who overhears a grisly murder over his surveillance microphones and suffers a crisis of conscience as a result. The Conversation was nominated for three Oscars and won the Cannes Palme D'Or.
The Coppola Company, The Conversation (1974)
Rear Window
Another Alfred Hitchcock classic is Rear Window (1954), starring Hitchcock's favorite actor: James Stewart. Rear Window deals with a man who witnesses a murder while gazing out his window. Suspense-filled and character-connected, Rear Window is another of Hitchcock's best.
Alfred Hitchcock Productions, Rear Window (1954)
Falling Down
Michael Douglas stars in Falling Down (1993), a Taxi Driver-esque movie without Martin Scorsese at the helm. Playing an embittered, violent middle-aged, middle-class White man in LA with questionable morals and questionable taste, Michael Douglas' performance in Falling Down is what makes it a great thriller.
Alcor Films, Falling Down (1993)
Mulholland Drive
Another movie that could double as a horror flick, Mulholland Drive (2001) explores the life of Rita (Laura Elaina Harring), a woman who was left amnesiac after a car accident. With the help of Betty (Naomi Watts), Rita must rediscover who she is.
Asymmetrical Productions, Mulholland Drive (2001)
Gone Girl
David Fincher's adaptation of Gillian Flynn's best-selling novel, Gone Girl tells the story of the media circus around a missing woman and the effect of that on her husband (played by Ben Affleck). From suspicion to support, Gone Girl ran the emotional gambit in one of Affleck's most compelling performances.
Twentieth Century, Gone Girl (2014)
Shutter Island
This one stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo as a pair of detectives on the hunt for a murderess, exploring deaths at Ashecliffe Hospital—an asylum on an island-like fortress. As the plot thickens and the horrors inside Shutter Island become more stark and apparent, Marshal Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) must fight to survive.
Paramount, Shutter Island (2010)
A Clockwork Orange Banned
One might consider A Clockwork Orange (1971) to be relatively tame by today's standards, but that was not the case in the early 1970s. Due it's gore and sexual content, Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange was banned in seven countries, including Ireland and Canada—despite this, the movie still received four Oscar nominations.
