IMDb
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Psychological Horror - IMDb
The psychological horror subgenre features psychological tension, fear, and suspense to evoke feelings of dread and unease in the audience. Rather than relying solely on graphic violence or jump scares, psychological horror focuses on the psychological and emotional experiences of characters, ...
subgenre of horror fiction
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Psychological_horror
Psychological horror - Wikipedia
3 weeks ago - Historian David J. Skal described The Black Cat (1934) as "being called the first psychological horror movie in America." Academic Susan Hayward described them as a post-World War II phenomenon and giving examples of psychological horror films as Psycho (1960) and Peeping Tom (1960).
Psychological horror recommendations?
Coherence
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April 22, 2022Explain to me simply what "psychological horror" is and some key examples of it?
There are things that are scary because they're threatening/dangerous, like chainsaws and rabid dogs. These are authentically scary because they pose a clear physical threat and everyone agrees that they're dangerous. The part of your brain most engaged is the reptilian portion concerned with survival. Psychological horror brings in a mental component, plays with your fears, makes you doubt your own sense of reality. The threat may or may not be real. A lot of times when you're reading a book with psychological horror you don't know what's real or not either, if the main character is an unreliable narrator or not, if you're going to find out the house is haunted or the main characters is delusional. That character has no reasonable expectation that if they tell someone they won't be locked up, and it's quite possible the people around them are messing with their sense of what's real or gaslighting them. More on reddit.com
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October 18, 2024What are some good psychological horror films?
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April 14, 2018What are some psychological horror films that are good to watch?
100% this. And follow that up with 'Sicario'. It's the same director and he really sets the tone, you're on the edge of your seat for the entire film. 'Zodiac' should be on your watch list too. I also recommend 'You Were Never Really Here'.
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September 22, 2018Videos
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What Are Some Famous Psychological Horror Examples? - Literary ...
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10 Seriously Messed Up Psychological Horror Movies - YouTube
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4 PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR STORIES | scary stories to hear in the dark ...
- YouTube
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Top 10 Greatest Psychological Horror Movies - YouTube
Reddit
reddit.com › r/horrorlit › explain to me simply what "psychological horror" is and some key examples of it?
r/horrorlit on Reddit: Explain to me simply what "psychological horror" is and some key examples of it?
October 18, 2024 -
I see this word thrown around a lot on horror literature subs but never really understood it.
Would love to keep an open mind and learn more about it, because if it's such a popular genre buzzword then surely I should check it out.
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There are things that are scary because they're threatening/dangerous, like chainsaws and rabid dogs. These are authentically scary because they pose a clear physical threat and everyone agrees that they're dangerous. The part of your brain most engaged is the reptilian portion concerned with survival. Psychological horror brings in a mental component, plays with your fears, makes you doubt your own sense of reality. The threat may or may not be real. A lot of times when you're reading a book with psychological horror you don't know what's real or not either, if the main character is an unreliable narrator or not, if you're going to find out the house is haunted or the main characters is delusional. That character has no reasonable expectation that if they tell someone they won't be locked up, and it's quite possible the people around them are messing with their sense of what's real or gaslighting them.
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This may vary from person to person, but for me it's horror that focuses more on the mind than the gut. Things like mind-games(supernatural or just people screwing with people), reality breaks, and the like instead of fear of death or something more visceral. Haunting of Hill House would be a good example, the movie Repulsion might be a better one.
Entertainment Weekly
ew.com › best-psychological-horror-movies-ranked-11832195
The 23 best psychological horror movies ranked, from 'Smile' to 'Psycho'
October 19, 2025 - The scene where groundskeeper Walter ... can't be anyone else, so Peele's cleverness misses the mark here, though Get Out remains a stunning example of modern psychological horror with ample social commentary to spare....
TV Tropes
tvtropes.org › tv tropes › psychological horror
Psychological Horror - TV Tropes
March 12, 2009 - See also Psychological Thriller and Psychosexual Horror. ... Practically everything by Junji Ito. ... Thinner, in which the cursed Jerkass protagonist finds himself starving to death with increasing speed, no matter how voraciously he eats. ... Heavily used by H. P. Lovecraft. Most of David Lynch's movies. Many of George R. R. Martin's stories use this trope heavily. For example...
Rotten Tomatoes
editorial.rottentomatoes.com › guide › best-horror-movies-of-all-time
200 Best Horror Movies of All Time | Rotten Tomatoes
November 3, 2025 - We’ve re-vamped, fangs and all, ... from horror movie history! To assist in scheduling your film fright night, we guide you through German expressionism (Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) and Universal monsters (Dracula, The Wolf Man). Creature features (King Kong, The Fly) nestle with Best Picture nominees (The Exorcist, Get Out). Slashers (Scream), zombies (Dawn of the Dead), vampires (Let the Right One In) abound with terror of the more psychological persuasion ...
AutoCrit
autocrit.com › home › 20 horror tropes to make your psychological thriller more thrilling
20 Horror Tropes to Make Your Psychological Thriller More Thrilling - AutoCrit Online Editing
February 27, 2025 - In this article, we’ll explore 20 ways to use tropes from the horror genre to add some punch and make your psychological thriller more thrilling, intense, and unsettling, including illustrative examples from both literature and cinema.
Creepy Catalog
creepycatalog.com › movies
57 Scary Psychological Horror Movies – Creepy Catalog
December 9, 2025 - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is often cited as the first modern horror movie. In one of the earliest examples of psychological horror, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari uses the twisted imagery of German Expressionism to depict the the fractured minds of its characters.
No Film School
nofilmschool.com › psychological-horror
A Genre Examination of Psychological Horror Movies and TV Shows
Today I want to really dig into this kind of entertainment and go over the definition, examples, and how you can use the techniques and tropes in your own work. Let's get started. Psychological horror is a subgenre of horror.
Published September 17, 2024
The College of Charleston
blogs.charleston.edu › home › 2022 › april › 30 › psychological horror
Psychological Horror – Writing Across Contexts
April 30, 2022 - Some recent examples include, Old (2021), You Are Not My Mother (2021), and Oxygen (2021). June, 12, 1968 Rosemary’s Baby release poster. Social and rhetorical functions for the genre are speculative. Some film theorists believe the social function of the genre is to critique the fears of society. In Roman Polanski’s psychological horror ...
Facebook
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Our picks for the best psychological horror movies include ...
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/horror › psychological horror recommendations?
r/horror on Reddit: Psychological horror recommendations?
April 22, 2022 -
I love things like The Thing, Shutter, Oculus, Skeleton Key, any and all Evil Dead films (apart from the new one) also love slashers like the OG Scream + Halloween. I love getting mind fucked and appreciate a twist. Also love when a movie has an unhappy ending.
I don’t like gore porn/shock horror. If it’s gore filled just for the sake of being, it’s ick to me. Things like Terrifyer is not scary at all to me. It’s entertaining but not scary. I spit on your grave is another example.
Any suggestions? Old or new. Looking for new things to watch! :)
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Coherence
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Some of my favourites that really messed with my mind or had plots that felt psychological and like the characters were going through psychological turbulence
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The Lighthouse
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Midsommar
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Get Out
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Knock at the Cabin
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The Lodge
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Last Night in Soho
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The Empty Man
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The Invisible Man
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Gerald’s Game
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A Cure for Wellness
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The Perfection
Entertainment Weekly
ew.com › movies › best-psychological-horror-movies-of-all-time
The 23 best psychological horror movies of all time, ranked
October 19, 2025 - The scene where groundskeeper Walter ... can't be anyone else, so Peele's cleverness misses the mark here, though Get Out remains a stunning example of modern psychological horror with ample social commentary to spare....
Men's Health
menshealth.com › entertainment › 64 psychological horror movies that will seriously mess with your head
64 Psychological Horror Movies That Will Seriously Mess With Your Head
October 23, 2023 - For when you want to be scared—and have your mind seriously warped in the process.
CBR
cbr.com › home › movies › movie lists › 25 psychological horror films that will terrify you long after they’re over
25 Psychological Horror Films That Will Terrify You Long After They’re Over
August 10, 2025 - Psychological horror films can have long-lasting effects, and the scariest ones stick with you forever.
Collider
collider.com › home › movie › the 10 most thrilling psychological horror movies, ranked
The 10 Most Thrilling Psychological Horror Movies, Ranked
Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece of horrific dread and suspense marks one of the greatest horror movies of all time, let alone one of the most brilliant examples of psychological terror cinema has ever seen. Based on Stephen King’s novel, it follows an alcoholic writer as he and his young ...
Published September 8, 2024
Goodreads
goodreads.com › shelf › show › psychological-horror
Psychological Horror Books
Books shelved as psychological-horror: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, Misery by Stephen King, The Shining by Stephen King, The Yellow Wal...
LitReactor
litreactor.com › columns › storyville-writing-psychological-horror
Storyville: Writing Psychological Horror | LitReactor
July 23, 2022 - If you’re most interested in any of these elements, you should consider writing a different kind of horror instead. But if you’re still primarily preoccupied with the mental, let’s dig deeper to not only identify what the key elements of psychological horror are, but how you can best ...
YouTube
youtube.com › watchmojo.com
Top 20 Greatest Psychological Horror Movies - YouTube
When it comes to psychological horror movies, it doesn't get better than this! For this list, we’ll be looking at the greatest films that earn their scares p...
Published June 5, 2023 Views 190K
Quora
quora.com › What-is-the-most-traumatizing-straight-forward-horror-psychological-horror-or-both-combined
What is the most traumatizing: straight forward horror, psychological horror, or both combined? - Quora
Answer (1 of 4): It’s a matter of taste. For me, physical horror in fiction is superficial and boring. The strongest reactions I have to it are, “Ew, that’s gross,” and “Whoa, that’s gotta hurt.” It’s not that I’m desensitized to it (I’m anything but in real life), but I ...