There’s something intensely compelling about a good psychological thriller. Perhaps it’s the way it burrows beneath your skin, warps your perception of what’s real, or keeps your heart racing long after the credits stop rolling. In the opinion of psychologist Glenn D. Walters, the charm of these movies is that they can generate suspense, reach down deep and tap into our most primal fears, and deliver a cathartic thrill, one from which we can emerge unscathed but shaken.
If you’re ready to plunge into stories that walk the thin line between terror and intrigue, here are 10 of the most interesting psychological thrillers that will keep you guessing and linger long after the credits roll.
1. The Lost Daughter (2021)
Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut brings Elena Ferrante’s novel to life as a chilling character study that hovers between drama and psychological thriller. Olivia Colman stars as a woman on a seaside holiday whose peaceful surface begins to crack as the past returns to haunt her. Subtly disturbing and emotionally raw, the film grapples with taboo ideas about motherhood, guilt, and identity with unflinching honesty.
2. Nocturnal Animals (2016)
A story within a story, this stylish thriller follows an art gallery owner (Amy Adams) who receives a violent manuscript from her former husband. When reality and fiction become blurred, the movie broaches themes of loss, revenge, and emotional abandonment. Laid against stunning visuals and mesmerizing performances, Nocturnal Animals is equal parts psychological study and revenge thriller.
3. Klute (1971)
Half noir, half character study, Klute is about a detective (Donald Sutherland) probing a missing persons case that takes him to a top-tier call girl (Jane Fonda in an Oscar-winning performance). Against the paranoid 1970s New York setting, the film’s atmospheric blacks and slow-burning pace are an unhurried recipe for building a sense of unease. It’s a sassy, sophisticated examination of trust, vulnerability, and power.
4. Spellbound (1945)
One of Hitchcock’s first forays into the psychological thriller, Spellbound is about a psychiatrist (Ingrid Bergman) who is tasked with discovering the reason for her new colleague’s amnesia—and the possibility he’s a killer. With Salvador Dalí-designed dreamlike sequences, the film pursues trauma, identity, and memory through a surreal but fascinating lens. It’s a classic in the genre.
5. The Babadook (2014)
What starts as supernatural horror becomes a poignant exploration of loss. Essie Davis gives a force-of-nature performance as a recently widowed mother struggling with her son’s fear—and her psychological disintegration—following the arrival of a menacing children’s book in their household. The Babadook superbly employs horror as an allegory for repressed trauma, providing emotional and psychological complexity in equal proportions.
6. The Innocents (1961)
From Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, this ghostly thriller recounts a governess who believes the children she’s supposed to care for are being haunted. Deborah Kerr’s subtle yet compelling performance adds to the creepy uncertainty of the movie. Based on its ghostly imagery and psychological undertones, The Innocents gets its fright not from what appears, but from what can be envisioned.
7. Prisoners (2013)
When two young women disappear, a frantic father (Hugh Jackman) takes matters into his own hands as a detective (Jake Gyllenhaal) heads up the official inquiry. What ensues is a dark, morally ambiguous tale of justice, obsession, and how far people will go to defend their own. Villeneuve rigs the tension with an unstoppable sense of foreboding, turning this into a powerhouse of emotional tension.
8. Ex Machina (2014)
On the surface, Ex Machina is an intellectual sci-fi thriller, but its disturbing psychological undertones render it a dark horse in the thriller category. A young programmer (Domhnall Gleeson) is asked to test the intelligence of an AI (Alicia Vikander) in seclusion—but soon becomes caught up in games of manipulation, secrecy, and control. With its minimalist chic and existential questions, the film probes what it means to be human—and who’s pulling the strings.
9. The Skin I Live In (2011)
This Spanish horror thriller takes the genre to chilling and not-to-be-forgotten extremes. Antonio Banderas is a brilliant but demented surgeon performing extreme experiments on an enigmatic woman he keeps imprisoned. Almodóvar’s direction is daring yet refined, taking us through a tale of identity, obsession, and retribution that gradually brings its darker truths to light. Unnerving yet entrancing, it’s psychological terror at its most inciting.
The great psychological thrillers don’t frighten you, they unsettle your perceptions, ask you to consider yourself, and resonate with the universal terrors we so readily ignore. According to Glenn D. Walters, they manage to hit a fine balance between tension, catharsis, and just enough untruth to make the journey exciting, not traumatic.
Whether you’re drawn to twisted identities, buried trauma, or ambiguous realities, the titles above prove that some of the most terrifying stories are the ones that unfold within the human mind.