Great Psychological Thrillers
For some reason I really enjoy watching movies that leave me feeling uncomfortable and disturbed. Here is a list that doesn't include 'Se7en'.
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- DirectorBen WheatleyStarsNeil MaskellMyAnna BuringHarry SimpsonNearly a year after a botched job, a hitman takes a new assignment with the promise of a big payoff for three killings. What starts off as an easy task soon unravels, sending the killer into the heart of darkness.Kill List starts off as a typical hit-man movie, and then delves into an occult nightmare.
What's great about this movie is that as a viewer I felt as completely confused and terrified as the characters in the movie. I've seen Kill List thrown into the 'Horror' category, which is appropriate in that it is very 'horrifying', but in essence it's really more of a thriller.
This was one of those movies that afterwards I spent hours reading various essays and interpretations as well as interviews with the director. One of my all time favorites. - DirectorPascal LaugierStarsMorjana AlaouiMylène JampanoïCatherine BéginA young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.Ok, admittedly this is more of a horror film, but it's also a true mind-*beep*, and some of the imagery is incredibly disturbing. Existential Terror at its best!
- DirectorMichael HanekeStarsDaniel AuteuilJuliette BinocheMaurice BénichouA married couple is terrorized by a series of surveillance videotapes left on their front porch.This one is kind of like Mulholland Drive, only directed by Michael Haneke (or I should say, NOT directed by David Lynch). Very dark, very creepy.
- DirectorBrad AndersonStarsWoody HarrelsonEmily MortimerBen KingsleyA Transsiberian train journey from China to Moscow becomes a thrilling chase of deception and murder when an American couple encounters a mysterious pair of fellow travelers.A great thriller. Beautiful cinematography and scenery as well as superb acting. A++
- DirectorCharles de LauzirikaStarsJosh LawsonEmma LungRon PerlmanA downtrodden photographer, haunted by the urban violence and decay around him, retreats into an inner world of dark fantasies.This is a weird one. I would hesitate to say its a 'great film' by any measure, but there was something really creepy and clever about it. Pretty cerebral as well.
- DirectorJoel SchumacherStarsNicolas CageJoaquin PhoenixJames GandolfiniA private investigator is hired to discover if a "snuff film" is authentic or not.When I was in middle school, 8mm was 'that film' that everyone talked about being incredibly disturbing.
To this day, I still like the movie, sure it's typical hollywood trash in one way, but the subject matter is very dark, and it deals with real world issues which I find much more frightening than themes in most horror/thriller movies.
Asides from 'A Serbian Film' (which I haven't seen but really want to), '8MM' is probably the best thriller that delves into the dark world of pornography that I've seen. - CreatorNic PizzolattoIssa LópezStarsVince VaughnColin FarrellRachel McAdamsAnthology series in which police investigations unearth the personal and professional secrets of those involved, both within and outside the law.Okay, so of course True Detective isn't a movie, its a mini-series, and of course, I'm only talking about season 1 here.
To this date, True Detective is one of my favorite TV shows ever, possibly right up there with Game of Thrones. It's so gritty and visceral that it's at times hard to watch, but it's beyond good. The dialogue is like poetry and Matthew Mcconaughey and Woody Harelson are spectacular. I actually cried at the end of this, the whole experience was so powerful, as opposed to my life, which is superficial and boring. - DirectorLuis PiedrahitaRodrigo SopeñaStarsAlejo SaurasElena BallesterosLluís Homar4 mathematicians are invited to solve an enigma. Once there, they're locked in a mechanically shrinking room and given 1 minute to solve each puzzle via cellphone while also figuring out why they're there.This was a really good thriller-like an intelligent version of 'Saw'.
- DirectorJaume BalagueróStarsLuis TosarMarta EturaAlberto San JuanCesar, a miserable man who works as an apartment concierge, takes a special interest in an attractive woman who lives there. He goes to great lengths to trouble her.A great film. Similar to Psycho, if it was from Norman Bates point of view. Very engrossing too, and I would even dare say 'funny' if you have a dark sense of humor. A good character study.
- DirectorPaul SoletStarsJordan LaddSamantha FerrisGabrielle RoseAfter losing her unborn child, Madeline Matheson insists on carrying the baby to term. Following the delivery, the child miraculously returns to life with an appetite for human blood. Madeline is faced with a mother's ultimate decision.Just watched this one! Great modern day spin on Rosemaries Baby.
- DirectorAgustí VillarongaStarsGünter MeisnerDavid SustMarisa ParedesA former Nazi child-killer is confined in an iron lung inside an old mansion after a suicide attempt. His wife hires him a full-time carer, a mysterious young man who is driven slowly mad by the old man's disturbing past.This is a twisted film. If you're set on putting yourself in a baed mood, watch 'In a Glass Cage'. The story centers on a Nazi War Criminal/Paedophile/Child-Killer named 'Klaus' who after having fled into exile, has an accident and has to be put in an iron lung. His wife sends away for a nurse, and when a young boy named Angelo shows up, Klaus eagerly hires him, a decision he soon regrets, once it becomes clear that Angelo is just as sick, if not sicker then he is. If you enjoy this movie, you're probably a pervert, so it's better to just say you appreciate it. Great sound effects and atmosphere here.
- DirectorSeverin FialaVeronika FranzStarsLukas SchwarzElias SchwarzSusanne WuestTwin boys move to a new house with their mother after she has face-changing cosmetic surgery, but under the bandages is someone the boys don't recognize.This movie is great. I really don't want to give too much away, because it has one of the greatest twists I've seen in a long time. A very creepy, beautiful film. If Guillermo Del Toro and David Lynch gave birth to a film, this would be it.
- DirectorJon HewittStarsJoel EdgertonMichael DormanSebastian GregoryThree teenagers blackmail a serial killer.If you thought 'The Loved Ones' was decent, or even good, then you'll likely love acolytes, which is a much more serious movie, but still has the whole 'realistic teenager' angle going on.
The character dynamic is great. This one kind of reminded me of 'The Inkeepers' in the way that the character development was so filled out that I would have been satisfied to just watch the main characters 'hang out', even if they didn't decide to black mail a serial killer into murdering the man who had raped them as children!
Obviously a dark film. The ending feels a little loose, but I highly recommend it. - DirectorRichard Bates Jr.StarsAnnaLynne McCordRoger BartAriel WinterA disturbed, delusional high-school student with aspirations of a career in medicine goes to extremes to earn the approval of her controlling mother.If the creators of 'Donnie Darko', actor Sarah Silverman, and serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer got together to make a movie, this would be it. Both incredibly funny and disturbing at the same time.
In a way, it reminded me a bit of a light-hearted version of 'Trouble Every Day'. - DirectorNate TaylorStarsChristopher DenhamLindsay BeamishElizabeth RiceHaunted by a traumatic history, photographer Kevin Wolfe (Christopher Denham) struggles to systematically forget all his bad memories, but erasing his past threatens to consume his future. Kevin is obsessed with finding a girl who can help him forget his unpleasant past. However, all his encounters with the opposite sex inevitably go afoul, creating more awkward experiences than he can cope with. As the rejections mount, Kevin's futile search for happiness and love becomes overwhelmingly turbulent, forcing him to take desperate measures. Shot in a variety of NYC locales, from Hell's Kitchen to Greenpoint, Forgetting the Girl is a gritty vision of the city and its denizens. The tightly-woven drama blends recollections with reality to craft an intense character study of the psychologically-scarred protagonist. As beautiful as it is dark, the tense narrative slowly boils under the surface until it unleashes an unsettling climax that will not be easily forgotten.The character study of a psychopath.
This was a movie that I was hesitant to waste my time watching-afterall it's free on Amazon Prime, and I thought that I went through everything good in their catalog ages ago. However, Forgetting the Girl really surprised me.
If you enjoyed 'Crave' or 'Hard Candy', you'll likely find this one interesting as well. Not so much a thriller or a horror movie, but more of a 'Dark Drama'. Highly Recommended. - DirectorSebastián SilvaStarsMichael CeraJuno TempleEmily BrowningA naive young tourist's road trip across Chile with friends turns into a waking nightmare.This is one of the best films I've watched in a long time.
Magic Magic tells the story of a young woman's descent into psychosis during a trip abroad in Chile. This movie throws all thriller and horror conventions out the window and offers something new and deeply unsettling. I highly recommend this film. - DirectorChristopher NolanStarsChristian BaleHugh JackmanScarlett JohanssonAfter a tragic accident, two stage magicians in 1890s London engage in a battle to create the ultimate illusion while sacrificing everything they have to outwit each other.The prestige was an interesting movie because unlike the other films on this list that deal with killers and the like, the prestige is about magician. The basic plot deals with an escalating competition between two magicians over the course of their lives which eventually ends in a very ugly culmination. Don't let it's PG-13 rating fool you, this is a very mature movie.
- DirectorZal BatmanglijStarsChristopher DenhamNicole ViciusBrit MarlingTwo documentary filmmakers attempt to penetrate a cult who worships a woman who claims to be from the future.This was an exciting little thriller that I had forgotten about. Definitely worth the watch. It deals with a both time travel and the occult so it's quite different. Highly Recommended.
- DirectorJames Ward ByrkitStarsEmily BaldoniMaury SterlingNicholas BrendonStrange things begin to happen when a group of friends gather for a dinner party on an evening when a comet is passing overhead.IMO Coherence trumps movies like Triangle by a hundred fold. The whole thing takes place basically in one room but it's suspenseful as hell.