Psychological thrillers are my favorite types of film. They hold the majority of positions in my DVD collection and are the ones I watch most often. Nothing can beat the heart racing as you anticipate the next move and better yet, these films don’t need to be filled with gore and blood to shock and frighten. These are films that involve the brain – not just the senses. So here are my pick of the ten best psychological thrillers ever. As usual, if you don’t agree – or simply think of others that would be great for an extended list, mention it in the comments. Competition: this list includes a competition. More information is given at the bottom of the article.
The 1950s. Manhattan lavatory attendant, Tom Ripley, borrows a Princeton jacket to play piano at a garden party. When the wealthy father of a recent Princeton grad chats Tom up, Tom pretends to know the son and is soon offered $1,000 to go to Italy to convince Dickie Greenleaf to return home. In Italy, Tom attaches himself to Dickie and to Marge, Dickie’s cultured fiancée, pretending to love jazz and harboring homoerotic hopes as he soaks in luxury. Besides lying, Tom’s talents include impressions and forgery, so when the handsome and confident Dickie tires of Tom, dismissing him as a bore, Tom goes to extreme lengths to make Greenleaf’s privileges his own. This was the first film I saw Matt Damon in, and I was extremely impressed by the way he managed to make me feel so uncomfortable in every scene. To top it off, Philip Seymour Hoffman makes a cameo appearance in the film.
Happily married New York lawyer Dan Callagher has an affair with his colleague Alex, and the two enjoy a love weekend while Dan’s wife and kid are away. But Alex will not let go of him, and she will stop at nothing to have him for herself. Just how far will she go to get what she wants? This film has prevented me from ever seeing Glenn Close as anything but evil – watch this for some good old 80s frights.
When workaholic businessman Nicholas Van Orton turns 48, his long absent drug-addicted brother turns up and gives him a special gift for his birthday – membership of an exclusive game. Nicholas, against his better judgement signs the waiver form and his life is turned upside down. This film is a lesser known work by the director of Se7en – and while it is not as popular, it is an excellent film which really draws you in to the suspense and intrigue. I guarantee you will love it. From a perspective of the twisted psychological aspects of the film, this probably tops the list.
Sam Bowden is a small-town corporate attorney/”Leave It to Beaver”-esque family-man. Max Cady is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, bible-quoting, psychotic rapist. What do they have in common? Fourteen years, ago Sam was a public defender assigned to Max Cady’s rape trial, and he made a serious error: he hid a document from his illiterate client that could have gotten him acquitted. Now, the cagey, bibliophile Cady has been released, and he intends to teach Sam Bowden and his family a thing or two about loss. It was a toss up between this film and the Departed – and I chose Cape Fear because the Departed is a fairly new film and is a remake of an Asian film. Having said that, if you haven’t seen the new Departed – you should see that too.
Patrick Bateman is handsome, well educated and intelligent. He is twenty-seven and living his own American dream. He works by day on Wall Street, earning a fortune to complement the one he was born with. At night he descends into madness, as he experiments with fear and violence. This film has more cringe moments than any other I have seen. This is probably the most gruesome of the films on the list – but it does manage to keep it as “tasteful” as possible. The worst scene for me is one involving a drawer full of medical implements. If you have seen the film you will know what I mean.
The wife and mistress of a sadistic boarding school headmaster plot to kill him. They drown him in the bathtub and dump the body in the school’s filthy swimming pool… but when the pool is drained, the body has disappeared – and subsequent reported sightings of the headmaster slowly drive his ‘killers’ (and the audience) up the wall with almost unbearable suspense. This film was remade under the title Diabolique in 1996 starring Sharon Stone. The original is so much better – avoid the new one.
Upon moving to Britain to get away from American violence, astrophysicist David Sumner and his wife Amy are bullied and taken advantage of by the locals hired to do construction. When David finally takes a stand it escalates quickly into a bloody battle as the locals assault his house. This is Dustin Hoffman as you have never seen him. This is one of my favorite psychological thriller cum revenge movies – it is definitely worth the purchase/download. Be warned: some of the scenes in this film are quite disturbing.
Disc jockey Dave Garver (Clint Eastwood) attracts the amorous attentions of a demented fan named Evelyn Draper (Jessica Walter). Evelyn lets Dave pick her up at a bar; later at her apartment, Evelyn admits that she is the cooing caller who repeatedly asks Dave to play the Erroll Garner classic “Misty.” From then on, the film is a lesson in how one casual date can turn your whole life around. Evelyn stalks Dave everywhere, ruins his business lunch, assaults his maid, mutilates his house and all of his belongings, and finally threatens to butcher his girlfriend Tobie Williams (Donna Mills). You’ll never be able to hear that song again without looking over your shoulder. This was Clint Eastwood’s directorial debut, and what a debut it is!
After a waterfront explosion, Verbal, an eye-witness and participant tells the story of events leading up to the conflagration. The story begins when five men are rounded up for a line-up, and grilled about a truck hijacking (the usual suspects). Least pleased is Keaton a crooked cop – exposed, indicted, but now desperately trying to go straight. The cops won’t leave him alone, however, and as they wait for their lawyers to post bail, he is talked into doing one more job with the other four. All goes tolerably well until the influence of the legendary, seemingly omnipotent “Keyser Soze” is felt. Although set in the modern day, it has much of the texture of the forties, plus suspense, intrigue (a fairly high body count), and lots of twists in the plot. This movie ranks #20 on the IMDB top 250 – and for a very good reason: it has a star studded cast, excellent direction, and excellent cinematography.
Memento chronicles two separate stories of Leonard, an ex-insurance investigator who can no longer build new memories, as he attempts to find the murderer of his wife, which is the last thing he remembers. One story line movies forward in time while the other tells the story backwards revealing more each time. This is not just a thrilling film – it is a clever film that really does leave you guessing all the way through. Guy Pearce is fantastic in this must-see movie.
This thriller portrays the exploits of a deranged serial-killer. His twisted agenda involves choosing seven victims who represent egregious examples of transgressions of each of the Seven Deadly Sins. He then views himself as akin to the Sword of God, handing out horrific punishment to these sinners. Two cops, an experienced veteran of the streets who is about to retire and the ambitious young homicide detective hired to replace him, team up to capture the perpetrator of these gruesome killings. Unfortunately, they too become ensnared in his diabolical plan. Anyone who has seen this film can not deny the psychological thrill of waiting to see what nasty thing the serial killer has lined up for the next sin! This is a brilliant film and if you haven’t seen it – you must.
New York City cab driver Travis Bickle constantly, almost obsessively, reflects on the ugly corruption of life around him, and becomes increasingly disturbed over his own loneliness and alienation. In nearly every phase of his life, Bickle remains a complete outsider, failing to make emotional contact with anyone. Unable to sleep night after night, Travis haunts the local pornography emporiums to find diversion, and begins desperately thinking about an escape from his depressing existence. The superb acting of Robert De Niro gives this film a constant chill. Every minute he is on the screen – the viewer is nervous. This is a masterful thriller by one of the modern greats – Scorsese.
After Raymond returns from the Korean War as a decorated hero, the other members of his platoon can’t really remember what he did to win his medal. Two of the soldiers start having recurring nightmares, and one of them decides to investigate Raymond’s current activities. What dark and sinister secrets are being withheld by the Government and the Army? This film was so good that it spawned a remake (a far inferior one, I should add) starring Denzel Washington. This original version includes excellent performances from Janet Leigh, Frank Sinatra, and the indomitable Angela Lansbury.
Professional photographer L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries breaks his leg while getting an action shot at an auto race. Confined to his New York apartment, he spends his time looking out of the rear window observing the neighbours. He begins to suspect that the man opposite may have murdered his wife. Jeff enlists the help of his society model girlfriend Lisa Freemont and his nurse Stella to investigate. I could only select one Hitchcock film for this list (otherwise it would be a top 10 Hitchcock list) and Rear Window seemed the obvious choice. It has brilliant acting, excellent film work, and plenty of suspense.
Clarice Starling, a young intelligent FBI trainee, has been sent to the Batlimore state hospital for the Criminally insane to interview an inmate Dr. Hannibal – the cannibal – Lecter. A brilliant and renowned psychiatrist turned serial killer. She must match wits with Lecter to gain clues in the search for “Buffalo Bill” – an unknown psychopathic serial killer. Silence of the Lambs has to take number one spot – not only is it clearly the best of the genre, it introduced to the world one of the most scary, intelligent, and vile characters in film history: Dr Hannibal Lecter. I think it is also fair to say that it was one of the best performances of Jodie Foster.
I have added this as a bonus rather than putting it in the list because it seems to me to be more suited to the surrealist genre. Having said that, it does certainly contain many elements of a psychological thriller so I want to give it a mention at least. This atmospheric film takes you on a bizarre ride through Los Angeles and the life of a budding film star – and ultimately takes you nowhere. It is typical of Lynch in that the film simply can not be explained – watch out for the surrealist film list – it will certainly feature there.
At 1pm GMT tomorrow, I will select one commenter from this list to win a prize of the great recently published book Top 10 For Men – a book of over 250 lists of interest to men (though women will no doubt love it also). Topics include What’s the most common murder weapon? What is the hottest variety of chilli? Who is the most searched for woman on the internet? To read an official excerpt of the book, go here.
The prize winner will be one randomly selected commenter – as usual you can enter more than one comment to improve your chances, but your comments must add value to this list – that means no comments designed just to have a better chance at winning. The winner must be a registered user of the List Universe. You can click here to register.
Finally, many thanks to Octopus Books for donating the prize for this competition.
Sources: this article uses synopsis information from IMDB – the Internet Movie Database
I think to make a thriller work you have to care for the main character/victim. This may sound a bit sick but when I watched Cape Fear the film didn't make me care much for the lawyer and it lost it's suspense. Still a great movie though.
That’s almost the point in a way, the main thing Scorsese changed from the original film is the whole aspect of the family. In the original, he has a daughter aged around 11, supposed to be innocent and loving. In Scorsese’s remake, he made her an older teenager, removing the innocence and created tension in the family because he cheated on his wife. In a way, he wanted to make DeNiro’s part a physical metaphor of what he was doing to his own family, tearing them apart.
jfrater – again with Mulholland Drive? More like lesbians lost in space. The only thing psychological about it is trying to sit through the whole thing without tearing your eyes out. Any film that makes you wonder if you left the iron on at home isn't worthy of a mention. If I'm constantly looking at my watch wondering when this is going to end, 'thrilling' doesn't come to mind. I've watched episodes of Sponge Bob that made more sense. Mulholland Drive makes Magnolia look like Citizen Kane.
Gotta hand it to you though on the Hitch thing, but I think Frenzy was worthy too. And not to beat a dead horse, but Chan Wook Park's Trilogy was definitely in this category – especially Lady Vengeance. They're mostly about revenge, but you could definitely label them thrillers. And there was plenty to be thrilled about in No Country for Old Men.
Frenzy! My mum introduced me to that film…we had it on a tape copied off tv and she had it labelled as “The Neck-Tie Strangler”. Never seen anyone else mention that film but it’s always been a personal Hitch*****fave, a perfect balance of chilling and hilarious. “Lovely…lovely”.
Hmm… must say a very predictable list, i’ve seen most of ‘em, but how can you even forget Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho”.
Great list!
Great list love that Silence of the Lambs is #1
sid: did you actually read it? Let me quote from item 2:
“I could only select one Hitch*****film for this list (otherwise it would be a top 10 Hitch*****list) and Rear Window seemed the obvious choice.”
Additionally – Psycho is more horror than thriller.
I understand that you felt the need to only list one amazing Hitch*****film, but I just protest in favor of Psycho. Did you know that Psycho, Silence of the Lambs, and he original Texas Chainsaw Massacre are all loosely based ob the very real story of Ed Gein…?!
American Psycho’s a great book, i’m guessing the picture is the part with Bethany… I also liked Silence of the Lambs
Plenty to add to this list :
*****y Beast – Ben Kingsley as you have never seen Gandhi
The Machinist – Christian Bale in full blown immersion
or
Lantana – very good Australian thriller, though not well known
Hmm not my type of film.
I love all these movies. I would also say maybe;
LA Confidential
Henry: Portrait of a serial killer
American Beauty
and Pi
Not sure if they all count, it is a very inclusive genre however.
And yes I must backup Spart on Lantana. Excellent Australian film. see it if you haven’t yet.
Also I have an idea for a list Jamie, how about Top 10 neo-noir films?
Another good list, will have to go out and buy ‘The Game’, was years ago that I saw it and I remember it being fantastic but somehow I had forgoten it even existed.
and ‘Silence of the Lambs’ is a worthy number 1
thanks again
Also I think that ‘Event Horizon’ with Sam Neil is a must see for any thriller fans. When I first saw it it blew my mind.
Nice. I’m definitely gonna watch some of those. By the way, Disturbia was a semi-remake of Rear window, might wanna add that to its entry.
I put a vote in for Gone Baby Gone. Without giving things away, this movie kept me guessing and was thrilling in a more abstract, philosophical way. (Though it does have aspects of more conventional thrillers.)
Weeeeeee.. all my fave movies in one list
Excellent work, btw
Another reminder of how uncultured I am.
All though I’ve seen the last half hour of; “Silence of the lambs.”
I’m gonna see these this summer, seeing as I have the time.
Trivia fact: Anthony Hopkins’ performance in The Silence of the Lambs was the shortest performance to win best actor. He’s on screen for a total of 17 minutes.
I would call myself a fan of psychological thrillers, but I haven’t seen most of these.
Forgive me for not knowing the name, but wasnt there a movie staring the guy who played superman that was kind of like “rear window.”
All good stuff, but I would not have left “Wait Until Dark” off the list.
I love psychological thriller movies. I havent watched most of them and now I know what movies I should watch for weekend. Thanks Jamie!! I love u!
Excellent list, I hadn’t realized how much I love these types of movies. I love your website and you do a fantastic job with it.
jfrater: For the last week I have been obsessed with reading your lists and commments. I think I have learned more this week than I did an entire year of college. Thank you so much and keep up the good work.
Why does everyone love ‘Silence of the Lambs’ so much?Hannibal is just a super anti-hero! I’s a gory superhero flick, He’s super smart and strong and he can do this that and the other, it just really glorifies violence.
Love the genre. Love the list. Great job! WarningDon’tReaadThis: you must see as many of these movies as possible. Especially Memento, American Psycho, Taxi Driver and Seven.
Oh, and The Usual Suspects.
Would Fight Club count as a psychological thriller? Awesome twist, great acting, fantastic suspense and tension.
Great list. One other movie I would have added is Sleuth (the old version with Michael Caine and Lawrence Olivier, not the new one with Jude Law). That movie had me guessing the entire way through. Truly an excellent film that any psychological thriller fan would love
I love movie lists
That picture for #11 looks absolutly freaky! Why don’t more movies use nailguns as weapons? Guns are so cliche`! haha
Isn’t there a remake of rear window with Johnny Depp? Forgive me if i’m wrong.
Awesome list! I’ve seen most of the movies on this list but I’m dying to see American Psycho
fishing4monkeys
the johnny depp movie was secret window i believe. it’s actually based on a stephen king story. rear window is more like disturbia
“Isn’t there a remake of rear window with Johnny Depp? Forgive me if i’m wrong.”
There’s that “Secret Window” with Johnny Depp in it, but that’s something else.
Beaten to it *shakes fist*
No Polanski?
Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby and Death and the Maiden all possible. I still think this is a good list though.
Interesting list, adding a few :
- Eyes of Laura Mars
- The Shining
- Blind Terror
- The Hitcher (1986 version)
I love most of those movies that I have seen on that list…but you should really put The Number 23 on there.
i totally agree
I’m going to buck the trend here and make a comment that doesn’t involve telling you what you left off. Since it’s your list, I thought I’d say it was enjoyable reading, and if I wanted to add/replace items, I’d go somewhere and make my own list. As it stands now, I thought you did a superb job (and I’ve seen all but one of them).
#16 WarningDontReadThis: Yes, Christopher Reeve starred in a made-for-tv remake of Rear Window in 1998.
Amazing list Jamie.. .very well done! I am soo pelased to see some of my suggestions on here…lol.
Great list! I love psychological thrillers but I’m sad to say I’ve only seen about half of the films on this list. Looks like I should head to blockbuster today!
I haven’t seen any of the films on this list. I think i would either scare the ***** out of myself or like them too much. Lol.
Good list. Memento, The Usual Suspects, and of course the work of the master Rear Window are amazing films. Could watch many of the films on this list over and over.
Have to admit I’m not a big fan of the Talented Mr. Ripley…but it seems to be on more than a few people’s “best of” lists so I must be in the minority on that on.
Ooh I haven’t seen ANY of these movies. I’ve seen Event Horizon (mentioned by Winglock) and half of The Machinist (mentioned by Spart). Event Horizon gave me nightmares and put me off thrillers. I fell asleep watching the Machinist.
Of the movies on the list I think I’d most like to see The Talented Mr. Ripley (‘cos Matt Damon is hot (-; ) and maybe Memento, Taxi Driver and The Usual Suspects. Definitely not Silence of the Lambs!
What attracts people to thrillers may I ask?
I forgot to say: nice list, I enjoyed reading it
Tempyra: The thrill?
Sorry bad joke xD
Why wouldn’t you want to see silence of the lambs?
The only film I’ve seen on this list is ‘Silence of the Lambs’, it’s easily one of the best films I’ve ever seen.
“It puts the lotion on it’s skin…”
WarningDontReadThis: *laughs* … but generally being ‘thrilled’ is a good thing, and ‘thrillers’ aren’t normally about good things, that’s what puzzles me.
I don’t wanna watch Silence of the Lambs because it sounds scary and gross
Zodiac?
3rd list with Straw Dogs on it. I think I will definitely need to make hubby add it to the blockbuster list.
thanks, i had planned on going to the movie rental place today, now i can look for some of these
I think *Disturbia* is a remake of *Rear Window*. Dont know if its poor, Ive not watched *Rear Window* yet.
I read the book Silence of the Lambs a few years before it came out on film. I was so nervous about whether they would do the story justice, as I have rarely seen a great story in written form translate well to the screen.
I was pleasantly suprised at what a great job they did.
Even knowing the story, it still scared the bejesus out of me
nice list.
Zodiac, The Secret Window, Butterfly effect, hide and seek are all good ones absent from the list.
Yay! Silence of the Lambs is one of my favourite movies of all times. I love psych thrillers too.
I really liked The Sixth Sense too.
I actually prefer Rebecca or Psycho over Rear Window.
Just watched Les Diaboliques this week, and it was amazing. One of the most suspenseful films I’ve ever seen. Though I would have chosen the original Cape Fear from 1962, because Robert Mitchum is disturbingly creepy. Great list overall, some of my favorite films on on here!
*are on here.
@48 / I don’t think Disturbia is a remake of Rear Window. Similar theme, but very different approach imho. If it is a remake, it certainly take very little from the original plot-line. I’m a little bit of a Hitch*****snob…don’t like any remakes of his films. Will say that I did enjoy Disturbia thought it was a decent, maybe not a great film but kept me watching.
I actually think I would have picked Vertigo over Rear Window for a Hitch*****entry. Then again, I’m a sucker for movies with the “whoa, I didn’t see that one coming!” factor in it.
So when’s the surrealist film list coming out? I’m expecting to see at least one Greenaway movie on it (and I do kinda hope you don’t cop out with his only “mainstream” film, “The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover”). Good movie though it is, I prefer some of his other films, like “Drowning by Numbers” or “A Zed and Two Noughts”.
Great list, I love the genre!
I personally recommend Se7en, great cinematography and great story. Modern dark noir at its best.
And what, no love for M. Night Shyamalan?
Okay, let me rephrase that:
What, no love for Sixth Sense?
The psychological thriller genre is one of my favorites too. The Usual Suspects, Se7en and Memento are among my favorite movies of all-time. I found American Psycho to be an interesting concept and Christian Bale had a compelling character, but I feel like the ending (which, if i understand correctly follows along with the book closely) left me a little unsatisfied. I’ll need to check out a lot of the rest. Great list!
Memento is one of the best movies I have seen.
Christian Bale is my favorite actor. I have never seen a poor film from him. Very talented.
I love how he quotes music trivia before he makes his kills. Every time I hear Huey Lewis and The News I think of American Psycho.
Great List.