The Best Psychological Thrillers To Watch This Weekend

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There is something about best psychological thrillers that other kinds of movies cannot match. They provide a class of horror that is even scarier than fully-fledged horror flicks.

They are filled with interesting and complicated characters, high suspense, and intriguing interpersonal relationships. There have been some best psychological thrillers in Hollywood that take the cake for being some of the best suspense thriller movies.

There have always been some great psychological thriller movies in the industry. Form the classic, Hitchcock thriller, Psycho, all the way to the comparatively newer Scorsese movie, Shutter Island, these mind-bending movies continue to surprise us with their over the top turning points and suspenseful storytelling.

Today, we have sorted out some of the best minds bending movies in our opinion that you must look if you are a fan of mind-bending movies.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Critics heavily acclaimed this movie adaptation of the novel by the same name all over the world. In fact, it swept five Oscars in 1992’s academy awards.

The movie follows a young FBI agent Clarice Sterling who is looking to catch a deadly serial killer with the help of Dr. Hannibal Lecter, who himself is an incarnated serial killer.

Se7en (1995)

This noir film by David Fincher follows homicide detectives William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and the young one David Mills who are both seeking a sociopathic serial killer. The said killer is skilled in following the acts of the Bible’s seven deadly sins to commit brazen and bizarre murders.

The Sixth Sense (1999)

This movie is nothing short of a masterpiece. It features an eight-year-old kid who is able to watch and communicates with ghosts. In order to fix him, a successful child psychologist seeks the reasons behind this condition. The movie won two Oscar nominations and is one of the best psychological thrillers.

The Shining (1980)

The Shining is a movie adaptation of a novel form the legendary horror novelist Stephen King. Stanley Kubrick’s movie has almost every single thing that makes an ordinary psychological movie a great one.

 It has amazing acting, is riveting, and hell scary. Jack Nicholson’s Jack Torrance is a recovering alcoholic and an aspiring writer. He tries to get closer to his family by working as a winter caretaker. He loses his mind after a recurring snowstorm.        

Shutter Island (2010)

Veteran gangster movie director Martin Scorsese comes through with this psychological thriller. Shutter Island involves two federal marshals who travel to an island-bound island to find a murderer who has escaped from the criminal asylum.

The movie is very carefully written and shot under the vision of Martin Scorsese. The ending really changes your perspective about the whole movie. Overall it is one of the best mind-bending movies of all time. Not to mention the brilliant performances by Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo.

Psycho (1960)

This Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece is widely considered one of the best psychological movies of all time. Moreover, this is the movie through Alfred Hitchcock was able to pave the way for the acceptance of sexuality, deviant behavior, and violence in American Cinema.

This movie revolves around the real-estate secretary Marion Crane who flees to California with the cash that she was meant to the bank. On her way, stops at the Bates Motel, and meets the boyish proprietor Norman bates.

Fight Club (1999)

This is another one of David Fincher’s movies on this list. You may have already heard about Fight club as it is easily one of the most famous movies in this list. This movie is also based on the 1996 novel by Chuck Palahniuk.

This movie involves an anonymous protagonist (Edward Norton) who, along with a badass anarchist soap maker Tyler Durden invents a men’s-only fight club to cope up with their life stresses.

The popularity of this underground club increases over time and leads to psychological effects on the two guys’ relationship.

Vertigo (1958)

Alfred Hitchcock is dubbed as the “Master of Suspense” due to a huge number of awesome psychological movies he has made. Vertigo is another such noir movie that follows John “Scottie” Ferguson played by James Stewart, who retires from his duty due to him being suffering from Vertigo.

Things get complicated when he gets on the road to find his friend’s wife. Just like most of Hitchcock’s flicks, Vertigo is at once weird, suspenseful, glamorous, and romantic.

Nocturnal Animals (2016)

This Tom Ford’s 2016 flick is based on a novel by Austin Wright called Tony and Susan. The move follows two separate plotlines. 

It all begins in Los Angles when an art gallerist Susan Morrow (Amy Adams), is asked by her ex-husband Edward Sheffield played by the brilliant Jack Gyllenhaal, to look at his latest book manuscript. Susan is shocked by the content as it is way too violent and murderous.

Ex Machine (2014)

This is slightly different from the rest of the movies mentioned here. It is a science fiction movie that revolves around young programmer Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), who gets an opportunity to spend a whole week with the CEO of the company, Nathan (Oscar Isaac) mountains.

Over there, he becomes part of a scientific experiment where he has to interact with the world’s first human, a humanoid robot, which is a powerful artificial intelligence machine.

Taxi Driver (1976)

This is another Martin Scorsese movie that follows a Vietnam War-vet Travis Bickle played by Robert DeNiro. Bickle is an insomniac, lovelorn, and mentally unstable taxi driver in New York.

Due to lack of sleep, he gets increasingly sicker and develops a criminal element. It is one of the best psychological movies by Martin Scorsese, who is not new to this grim genre.

American Psycho (2000)

Like most of the other suspense movies on here, American Psycho is also based on the 1991’s novel by Bret Easton Ellis. It revolves around Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), who is a wealthy investment banker by day and a serial murder. This movie is a must-watch for fans of Christian Bale.

Gone Girl (2014)

This 2014 psychological movie is based on a novel by Gillian Flynn. The story of Gone Girl revolves around a couple where the husband becomes a key suspect after his wife Amy goes missing on their fifth wedding anniversary.

Although not as mind curving as some of the Hitchcock films, it still is a great watch with interesting twists and turns.

Conclusion

The popularity of psychological movies is in full swing right now. Directors like Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese are coming up with good psychological movies that are getting a lot of attention.

However, the movies mentioned above are the best psychological thriller movies of all time, in our opinion.

Again, your opinion can completely be different from ours as there are hundreds of great mind-bending movies for your watch, and entertainment is highly subjective.

So, do you agree with our picks? Do let us know in the comment section down below.