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Psychological horrors are defined by their innate ability to expose mental and emotional states to frighten and disturb audiences.
While there isn’t a dedicated sub-genre to these types of movies, psychological horror is as close as it gets. Surprisingly, there are more examples of these specific horrors than one could count on their fingers. Turning to Reddit for suggestions, one passionate horror nut described the details of their individual tastes, namely horrors that “take place inside a character’s head.” They went on to clarify, “I also love being lied to in films and watching stories where you can’t trust any of the character’s versions of reality.” We can certainly think up some recommendations with the help of trusty Redditors.
Right away, Identity is name-dropped. Described as an ensemble neo-noir thriller, Identity was based somewhat loosely on Agatha Christie’s 1939 whodunit mystery novel And Then There Were None. James Mangold’s commercially successful flick follows ten strangers who find themselves in an isolated hotel, far from civilization, then begin to die under mysterious circumstances one by one.
Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan psychological horror was another popular pick.
One of the most popular recommendations: Jacob’s Ladder. Even the theatrical release poster alone is enough to induce nightmares. From Adrian Lyne, the director of Fatal Attraction, the psychological horror stars Tim Robbins and Elizabeth Peña as Jacob Singer and Jezebel Pipkin, respectively. The plot, which was heavily influenced by the Silent Hill video game series, sees Jacob experience strange visions and hallucinations before, during and after fighting in Vietnam.
Another comment rolled three like-minded horrors into one. Resurrection, starring Rebecca Hall, recently premiered on Shudder. The plot follows Margaret (Hall) as her life spirals out of control following an impromptu reunion with an abusive ex-boyfriend (Tim Roth).
Psychological horror is perhaps the most popular sub-genre of horror and it isn’t hard to understand why, especially when the possibilities for exploring the human psyche are endless.