128 Psychological Thrillers: Trends of Terror

By Steve Hutchison

Psychological thrillers depict the unstable or delusional psychological states of its characters. They focus on the complex and often tortured relationships between obsessive and pathological characters. In this edition of Trends of Terror, film critic Steve Hutchison reviews 128 psychological thrillers and ranks them. How many have you seen?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Steve Hutchison
• Release date: Mar 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9781778871399

Steve Hutchison

Artist, developer and entrepreneur in film, video games and communications Steve Hutchison co-founded Shade.ca Art and Code in 1999, then Terror.ca and its French equivalent Terreur.ca in 2000. With his background as an artist and integrator, Steve worked on such games as Capcom's Street Fighter, PopCap's Bejeweled, Tetris, Bandai/Namco's Pac-Man and Mattel's Skip-Bo & Phase 10 as a localization manager, 2-D artist and usability expert. Having acquired skills in gamification, he invented a unique horror movie review system that is filterable, searchable and sortable by moods, genres, subgenres and antagonists. Horror movie fans love it, and so do horror authors and filmmakers, as it is a great source of inspiration. In March 2013, Steve launched Tales of Terror, with the same goals in mind but with a much finer technology and a complex engine, something that wasn’t possible initially. He has since published countless horror-themed books.

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#1

The Shining

1980

Secluded in a remote hotel for the winter, a family is terrorized by ghosts.

8/8

The Shining is the ultimate ghost movie. It is not only about the dead coming back, but about vice, mental illness and human evil. It is a slow burn that never gets boring because when nothing happens, photography does. It is among Kubrick’s best work and one of the best horror movies ever made. The hotel is a dense psychedelic labyrinth, and the script follows the same theme and logic.

Fans of thrillers get a thick depiction of family violence caused by alcoholism and supernatural lovers get scary ghosts. When mental illness and seclusion are gradually added to the equation, claustrophobia takes a new meaning. This is a long feature that constantly foreshadows, setting a stressful and uncomfortable tone that is as efficient psychologically as it is viscerally.

The set design is right out of a nightmare. The actors are so vigorous and meticulous it is troubling. Family horror, when approached so brilliantly, becomes something we can all relate to. It is never explicit about taboos, but quickly hints at many twisted concepts that make the movie highly rewatchable. Get ready to be immersed and shook up. Prepare for the horror experience of a life time!

#2

Misery

1990

An injured author is held captive by a deranged fan of his.

8/8

Here’s the ultimate 1990’s thriller. It is so intense that it can also be considered one of the best horror movies ever made. It is based on a novel by Stephen King; what more can you wish for? Small characters aside, this is a condensed emotional duel between Kathy Bates and James Caan. Misery is the perfect storm: perfect cast, perfect novel, perfect script and one hell of a director!

Bates plays a dangerous nut job and Caan the vulnerable victim; the writer she’s a die hard fan of. If genders were inverted, these would be stereotypes. King explores a writer’s nightmares, as he often does, but this is one of his greatest works. The film is sad, violent and extremely stressful. Some scenes will make you hold your breath and keep you on the edge of your seat.

Every subplot is executed with calculated timing. Nothing feels superfluous and there are no slow moments. The film is somewhat slow-paced but something horrible is at all times developing or getting out of control. This is one of the best Stephen King adaptations out there. Misery is, quite simply, nothing less than a perfect film. You need to see this… now!

#3

Psycho

1960

A woman steals a large sum of money and hides in a motel owned by a strange man.

8/8

Psycho revolutionizes horror simply. It presents itself as a mere thriller, but turns into a kind of darkness unlike the science-fiction approach of the last decade; a time when terror was spectacular, monstrous, not so lethal, and more politically correct. Psycho breaks new grounds in regards to taboos, sexuality and deviance, and never resorts to filler despite being based on dialogue.

The camera work is superb. Hitchcock throws himself challenges that he executes perfectly, as an illusionist would. His techniques are mysterious, purposely complicated, and seem to wink at the student, casual and professional filmmaker and hardcore film fans. This is based on a book, but many freedoms are taken into making the content accessible, yet implicitly twisted.

The movie often asks us to reconsider our moral values and our initial judgment. Alfred Hitchcock slowly establishes horror through rigorous suspense, build-up and by structuring dialogue or blocking strategically and with perfect timing. If Psycho feels so familiar, it is probably because it exposes the ills of society, concentrating them on a few characters and questioning their innocence.

#4

Psycho II

1983

A murderer released from a psychiatric institution questions his sanity.

8/8

Psycho 2 is released 23 years after the original film. The surreal thriller became one of the few significant milestones of its time and wasn’t necessarily designed to generate a franchise, though its plot never led to the antagonist’s death. As we know now, Anthony Perkins’s character was the killer and he returns for this sequel. He gives a performance perfectly in tone with the previous one.

The original Psycho was in black and white and this one uses washed out color. It crafts a photography that purposely feels behind its time. The grain is rich and the lighting is evened. Tom Holland wrote a slow screenplay that spends quality time with the leads. He creates dialogue tension effortlessly, as Hitchcock did. He keeps the story arc to a minimum, as if suspending and stretching time.

Like 1960s Psycho, Psycho 2 is big on turns and twists but doesn’t necessarily keep them for last. When you think you have it all figured out, an element of surprise makes you reconsider what you think you know. This is a layered whodunit with what seems like plot holes, but it is made in the spirit of the original. The pacing is the same, the structure is as creative and it is just as dark.

#5

Cape Fear

1991

An ex-convict takes his revenge on the lawyer who defended him.

8/8

Robert De Niro crafts a truly despicable character in this remake of a psychological thriller adapted from a novel by John D. MacDonald. He is a shabby rapist who will stop at nothing to get his revenge. This is a slow-burn film with a lot of dialogue and exposition intertwined with shock and terror. It makes us feel like powerless voyeurs of a situation that gradually gets out of control.

The cast is irreproachable. All actors give a grade A performance in a story with suspense built like a stairway where each abrupt step leads to a plateau. Characters are pushed to their limits, required to confront their secrets and lies. Cape Fear knows how to make us angry, stressed or uncomfortable; often all at once. It constantly juggles with taboos and dares us to keep watching.

The ominous soundtrack is remixed from the 1962 original movie. It is a tragic recurring melody that gives the film a dark retro ambiance. Some scenes are reconstructions of the original Cape Fear, while some events of the old script are reorganized and shifted from one act to another for maximum impact. All in all, Cape Fear is one of the best and most quintessential horror thrillers out there.

#6

The Hitcher

1986

A hitchhiker stalks a driver and frames him for his murders.

7/8

The Hitcher is road horror at its best. The first 15 minutes could just as well be a mere stand-alone short and would still work. It’s basically a slow but action-sprinkled thriller that’s always tense and features strong, intense dialogue. In the first moments, to his surprise, the main protagonist overcomes the hitchhiker, triggering a game of domination, humiliation, big egos and revenge.

Living recurring nightmare John Ryder is like an action film villain, but with apparently no purpose to his madness and no set goal aside from taking pleasure in mental torture. Smart, determined, and purely evil, but as far as we can tell human, his lines nail us back to our seat every time we let our guard down, as intended. The script makes him and the rest of the cast shine at all times.

There are many lengthy car chase scenes. A helicopter is even thrown in the mix when our lead is tailed by both the killer and the police. A love story is shoved in, for good measure. All this unveils and progresses over a ridiculously short period of time. The Hitcher is particular in that, while the hero in isn’t experiencing an ounce of fun, we, on the other hand, are having a guilty blast!

#7

Phone Booth

2002

An