In honor of the upcoming Halloween season, here are my top dark, psychological thrillers. They’re mostly movies, but I interspersed a few graphic novels and TV shows. This R-rated list is ranked on a horror spectrum from least to most scary, based on my experience.
1. Whiplash (2014)
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Actor J.K. Simmons steals the show in this drama film as the ruthless, manipulative, and verbally abusive jazz instructor Terence Fletcher. Protagonist Andrew Neiman, a first-year collegiate drummer at a prestigious music institute, is strongly attracted to Fletcher’s ideology of producing the next “genius.” He is increasingly caught up in Fletcher’s game, even at the deterioration of his own humanity and quality of life.
Listen to the first song on the soundtrack, “Snare Liftoff” containing the drum “whip”and Fletcher’s comment to see what I mean!
2. Foxcatcher (2014)
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This film is based on true events about the wealthy DuPont family and features an unconventional and memorable performances by Steve Carrell (The Office), Channing Tatum (21 Jump Street), and Mark Ruffalo (Hulk from the Avengers franchise). This movie centers around the figure of John DuPont (Carrell), an insecure and unstable member of the DuPont family who seeks fame and recognition for his involvement in the wrestling world through personal competitions and coaching. He forms a team, inviting Olympic wrestler Mark Schultz (Tatum), among others, to train in his gyms and compete with his sponsorship. DuPont’s controlling nature is gradually revealed, as he psychotically demands a position of absolute leadership and even legendary status among his wrestlers. He comes between Mark and his brother Dave (Ruffalo), which leads to a tragic confrontation at the movie’s finale.
3. V for Vendetta by Alan Moore, Illustrated by David Lloyd
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This graphic novel envisions a dystopian fascist, totalitarian state in England. The character of V is the ultimate representation of political and human resistance, and I would argue is more compelling than Batman in terms of origin story and anti-hero qualities with heroic results. This novel powerfully serves as a metaphoric symbol for all police-state governments, and the themes of oppression and resistance a part of that struggle. There is also a 2005 movie by the same title that is a relatively faithful reproduction of this graphic novel that I would also recommendif you prefer movies to graphic novels.
4. Coraline by Neil Gaiman, Illustrated by P. Craig Russell
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On the subject of graphic novels, though, I need to give a plug for Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell’s Coraline. I found the animated movie to be evocative of The Nightmare Before Christmas in style, but actually found this graphic novel version of Coraline to be legitimately scary. The graphic novel differs from the movie’s plot, since they had to modify some elements to make it less scary for their younger audience. The first time I read it I had nightmares about the rats and the disembodied hand. This novel is Gaiman at his ghost-storytelling best, and I think the illustrations perfectly match the initially mellow feel that quickly falls into the uncanny. I would put this in the genre category of ghost story/horror/thriller, with super interesting world building that I can’t help but keep coming back to.
5. The Shining (1980)
Definitely a classic for any horror movie or psychological thriller lover, The Shining is actually a relatively tame introduction into the horror genre, since there is very little scares or actual gore. The horror element comes from the sense of disorientation the film gives. The layout of the hotel is spatially impossible, as some doors couldn’t possibly anywhere, even though they sometimes open up onto creepy figures and scenes. The famous scene of the wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), brandishing a kitchen knife as she’s backed up the stairs by her husband (played by Jack Nicholson) was actually reshot countless times to have a realistic element of Duvall’s exhaustion, adding to her character’s hysteria. The movie constantly has the viewer questioning whether the things in the hotel are real or hallucinated, which lead up to the confrontation at the end of the film. This is also a good one to watch in preparation for the sequel Doctor Sleep, which hits theaters soon!
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6. Get Out (2017)
Jordan Peele (from Key & Peele) imagines a horror movie that metaphorically deals with American racism, such as in themes of embodiment, enslavement, inter-raciality, and stereotypes around black bodies. At first, Chris’s initial meeting his white girlfriend’s family plays out commentary on white discomfort with interracial relationships and their own racist attitudes. However, their racism quickly takes on more disturbing and supernatural forms.
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7. I Am Legend (2007)
In a post-apocalyptic world, scientist and survivor Robert Neville (Will Smith) navigates a vampire-zombie overrun landscape of New York City, while attempting to find a cure. Although this could easily fall under dystopian, post-apocalyptic, action genre, this film is differentiated by its focus on Neville’s terror and attempt to maintain his sanity even as it unravels. There is also an alternate ending to this film, depending which version you watch, that makes it a more unconventional post-apocalyptic film.
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8. The Voices (2014)
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This black comedy, starring Ryan Reynolds, makes fun of the horror genre in a lot of ways, yet also gives some sympathy to mental illness. A lot of the back humor comes from following the unconventional, sympathetic schizophrenic protagonist Jerry (Reynolds), which gives a background explanation for why certain horror conventions might occur. Jerry struggles between functioning normally in society and giving in to his schizophrenic delusions. This inner conflict is externalized by the voices he hears from his two pets, as his dog encourages him to be a good person and his cat, as the proverbial devil on his shoulder, needles him to give into violence and wrongdoing. This moral struggle is complicated by the fact that his delusions make the world a more dreamy, brighter reality, even as he’s more given to acts of violence, while taking anti-psychosis medications forces him to see the world and his life in its dreary, scary reality. This movie balances typical horror plot lines and gore with the Disney-esque, overly positive way Jerry’s psychosis smoothes things over.
9. Sharp Objects (2018)
This HBO miniseries is based off a Gillian Flynn novel, who also wrote Gone Girl. Sharp Objects is a mystery/thriller with a focus on mental illnesses and themes of childhood violence. The plot follows journalist Camille Preaker (Amy Adams) as she returns to her small, southern hometown for the first time in years to report about the investigation into a murder and missing child case. While there, Camille spirals down into an increasing instability as she’s triggered by the remembrance of traumatic events from the past, such as unresolved grief over her younger sister’s death and the memory of her own sexual assault. Not only are the depictions of traumatic memory triggers and mental illness accurate, but the story compellingly ties in with these themes. This series feels more like a movie than a tv show to me because of its character development and consistent tone through the usage of repeated symbols (look for fans, spider webs, etc.) and its really killer soundtrack (from Led Zeppelin and The Acid to Sylvan Esso and Alexandra Stréliski). Trigger warning: this series contains depictions of cutting and suicide and allusions to sexual assault.
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10. Black Mirror (2011-present)
This Netflix series is known for being a modern, R-rated version of The Twilight Zone. The show mainly deals with the intersection of futuristic technology and empathy, human rights, and morality. There’re repeated themes of surveillance, the bounds of virtual reality, Artificial Intelligence, and uploading consciousness. Some of the episodes I would recommend for this list or when first trying to get into the show are “USS Callister,” a tribute to Star Trek, and “Bandersnatch,” a choose-your-own-adventure interactive episode about a video game production.
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11. Shutter Island (2010)
Shutter Island is a mystery thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo as Detectives investigating the disappearance of a patient from Shutter Island’s mental institution. However, the genre of mystery-thriller quickly shades into horror, as suspicious people and events around the investigation and mental institution take shape. The narrative also delves into DiCaprio‘s character background and the demons of his military and personal family traumas take shape. It takes to the end to really understand the full extent of what is going on, which makes it a valuable film to watch a second time through to see the double-meaning occurring. This is my prime example of a psychological thriller, as it really questions the notion of how our minds create our realities.
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12. Fight Club (1999)
Maybe you’ve heard about the cult classic that is Fight Club but have never gotten around to actually watching it. Before seeing it myself I had written it off as a toxically, over-masculine action movie about fighters or similar to comedies like 21 Jump Street. However, Fight Club is actually a highly intelligently, put-together psychological thriller. The film is similar to V for Vendetta’s anti-establishment politics and commitment to breaking away from the system by destroying the system, while also commenting on the deterioration of mental health (albeit in a fictionalized fashion). I think there is a hidden ending if you pay attention to the quick flashes of images at the beginning and end of the film.
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13. Ex Machina (2014)
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This film deals with the introduction of embodied AI as it intersects with human rights and empathy. Programmer Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson) is invited to partake in a Turing-test experiment by the CEO of his company, Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac). The Turing Test was developed by Alan Turing as an indicator of how well a computer is able to mimic human conversation patterns, by the test subject determining whether the person they’re conversing with over an operating system is a human or machine, on the other end. Nathan faces Caleb with this test by introducing a humanoid AI, Ava (Alicia Vikander). However, during Caleb’s time in Nathan’s lab/bunker and interviews with Ava, questions about morality and sexuality emerge as Caleb falls for Ava, who yearns to leave the bunker and see the world. “Ex machina” references the phrase “Deus ex machina,” meaning God in the machine, and so this film inverts that phrase in a Frankensteinian way. Because of the plot’s quick development and thriller-esque nature, I don’t want to get too deep into over-explanation. But this film is similar to a Black Mirror episode in many ways, although perhaps darker and more fully fleshed out.
14. Black Swan (2010)
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A thriller of the same kind of obsessive artist character as Neiman from Whiplash, the ballerina Nina (Natalie Portman) is given the dual role of both the white and black swan figures in her ballet theater’s up-coming show “Swan Lake.” After a night of partying and taking some drugs, Nina spirals into delusions and mental deterioration. In Nina’s quest to learn the part of the black swan and attain the perfect performance, balancing the antithesis of either persona, she herself transforms from anxious, nervous naivety and innocence into paranoia, rash action, and passionate emotionality. To exaggerate this transformation, Nina wears progressively darker clothing throughout the film and her hallucinations incorporate symbols of bodily distortions into the black fledgling she’s metaphorically becoming.
15. Haunting of Hill House (2018)
While I’m not a big horror movie person, I found this TV series to be a really good mix of horror, psychological thriller, and play-like character development. Based on the Shirley Jackson novel, Haunting of Hill House unusually begins with the end, or the pivotal event of the fatal night, and then focuses instead on the effect of the early-life trauma on the lives of the children. Each of the characters were written to represent a stage of grief, or a different way of dealing with the haunted house trauma from that night in Hill House. For example, the eldest, Steven Crain, writes horror novels about their experience, while Luke turns to heroin to drown out the persistence of the ghost following him around. In addition to the compelling characters, story-line, and symbolic nature of the show, the film techniques employed are also clever and highly original. One of the episodes is shot in a long, continuous shot, without breaks, which leaves the viewer on edge about the possible ghosts appearing at the edge of the screen. They also hide ghosts throughout the house of each episode, which adds to the viewer’s tension and the sense of the eerie occupation of Hill House.
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