The Mind-As-Monster: 6 Must-See Psychological Horror Films
I love horror films. Always have. I mean, who doesn’t love watching an alien, demon, or twisted serial killer stalk and gut some luckless character? But psychological horror has always been my favorite. I believe witnessing a slow-burn descent into madness and unraveling of the mind, with or without the requisite gore, provides a more unpredictable and ultimately satisfying horror experience. The following six psychological horror films skillfully demonstrate the mind-as-monster threat, creating fascinating and disturbing characters that stay with you.
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6. Don’t Look Now (1973)
Perhaps best known for its graphic sex scene between Julie Christy and Donald Sutherland, Don’t Look Now is a horror classic about a couple who experiences the accidental death of a child. Is the childlike figure in their daughter’s red coat really their daughter, or is she sending them warnings from beyond the grave? With psychic elements, precognition, and typical 70s-era misdirection, this film addresses the psychology of grief and its strange and complicated manifestation following tragedy.
5. Magic (1978)
This film is dated but demonstrates a mental descent into hell as well as any psychological horror film to date… yes, including The Shining. Anthony Hopkins plays a magician and ventriloquist—did I mention it’s dated?—on the verge of fame and fortune, but he finds himself listening to his dummy and carry out its dark wishes. Or are they his own? Give this one a watch for, if nothing else, Anthony Hopkins’ incredible pre-Hannibal Lecter performance.
Who likes puppets?
4. Safe (1995)
Safe is a bleak study of psychological detachment and loneliness so disturbing I could only view it once. In this Todd Haynes film, an affluent suburban housewife falls victim to an unidentifiable environmental illness, forcing her to withdraw from life and family. Whether the illness is real or imagined is debatable, but it serves as a bridge from one form of isolation and loneliness to another. Don’t expect an uplifting experience from this one, just a heartbreaking and powerful performance from Julianne Moore.
3. After.Life (2009)
This Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo film is a creeper that flew under the radar in 2009 but shouldn’t have. After.Life is a story about a woman who finds herself in a funeral home after possibly dying in a car accident. But the woman doesn’t believe she’s dead. Is she just in denial, or is the funeral director keeping her captive? Pleasantly dark and unsettling, the film sprinkles creepy clues along the way to keep you guessing.
2. The Babadook (2014)
I absolutely loved this film from Australian director Jennifer Kent about a terrifying storybook character, Mr. Babadook, who comes alive inside a family’s home. Amelia (Essie Davis) is reeling from the loss of her husband and at wit’s end with her seven-year-old child. What follows is an Essie Davis masterclass in psychological spiraling. The film is not only frightening but layered, an allegory for living with grief—the Babadook representing the trauma of the husband’s death—and how to keep it at bay. One of the decade’s best horror efforts!
1. X (2022)
X could be considered slasher horror or survival horror, but the seeds of the film’s psychological underpinnings are sown well before the inevitable carnage. It’s a story about a group of young people who rent a house to make an adult film and the celibate older adult couple who live on the property. The film, while gory in the best kind of way, is nuanced, deftly addressing the intersection of beauty, sexuality, aging, and self-worth, and the troubling psychology within that sphere. An absolute masterpiece!
I’ve left WAY too many must-see psychological horror films off the list: Hereditary (2018), Get Out (2017), Silence of the Lambs (1991), Jacob’s Ladder (1990), The Shining (1980), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), and Psycho (1960), to name a few. Enjoy them all!
This article was written by the talented weaver of horror Stephen Paul Sayers.
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