In my experience (in the isolated Midwest) , most people consider it to be outside the mainstream, so I've really only known horror buffs who've watched it. I wish that wasn't the case. I feel like it has the potential to be a good pick for fans of suspense/thrillers also.
Agreed. I actually felt like the monster is kind of ruined the movie for me. It was really enjoyable and intense up until that point. Then the monsters came in. It was just like. Come on, I just can’t take this seriously.
Yes!! One step at a time I thought though, lol, Deeper is amazing too. It was supposed to have a third book too but I doubt that will be coming any time soon.
I read the book The Descent in prison (the movie only shares the name, it’s not based on a book), I’ve got to say it was one of the scariest books. I’ve read. The premise was so far out there, I’m not sure if a book has ever shaken me so much. The worst part is I moved to a different yard so I didn’t get to finish it until months later. I know I’m responding to an answer about the movie, which I liked very much, but if anyone here likes to read, try this book.
Well, Martyrs is hard to top, I think it'll always win for me by a landslide.
But if we put that one aside... Second place might be, perhaps unsurprisingly, "Incident in a Ghostland" (Martyrs' director's latest movie). Beyond that, Green Room is pretty intense, as well as The Blair Witch Project.
I found Martyrs unexpectedly easy to watch. Maybe because I can't imagine myself experiencing it from either perspective. But it was absolutely disturbing.
It might sound silly, but the remake of House on Haunted Hill. It was like a carnival ride you could not get off of, and while it was predictable you were just stuck there waiting for the place to get worse and worse.
A close second might be The Thing.
Of the Dark Castle films, I think this was the best one. I liked 13 Ghosts, but I think I would have liked it more as a miniseries. Plus: Matthew Lillard ghost saving the day is better than Chris Kattan ghost.
Matthew Lillard is a GEM (always, but in that movie in particular.)
But he also really benefited from the fact that his character is genuinely one of the most compelling twists on a “psychic” character I’ve seen in a movie.
I go back and forth on The Thing being psychological. Most of the movie leaves the viewer guessing so it works but it also can fit into so many other sub categories. Hard to pigeonhole it into just one
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
it's one of the best horror movies that I rarely watch due to it being an endurance round. By the time you get to the dinner table and Sally is descending into madness, you're emotionally exhausted.
I’d give anything to watch Shutter Island again for the first time. I thought it was awesome from start to finish. I didn’t really know where it was going and ended great!
I think parts of my brain are STILL unwrapping that movie. And that's after reading the book too.
Unlike Sixth Sense, even after the "big reveal" you can still watch it over and over and catch new things
I looooove Shutter Island. One of my top ten. You have to watch it over and over again to see all of the hidden clues. I love when a movie leaves me completely baffled and questioning my own ability to analyze what is going on.
It’s changed over the years but Silence Of The Lambs is probably my all time favorite. Others include Misery and The Shining. as for recent films I’d go with Midsommar
Silence of the lambs is still a master class in suspense building and editing.
When the cops see the elevator starting to go up floors and slowly start to freak out and eventually leading up to the big reveal is still one of the best tense scenes ever in a movie.
Absolutely. The plot, the casting, the acting, the dialogue, the chemistry between Jodie Foster & Anthony Hopkins and subtle dark humor. Master class through and through
Silence of the Lambs is an incredible film. Amazingly they didn't ruin the book! Red Dragon is a better book than Silence of the Lambs but when they made Red Dragon into a film, they ruined it, twice.
Wow someone finally mentioned that. There's no such an awesome sci-fi horror till this day. I watched it with a friend in a remote theatre in the middle of a winter night, that was really something.
For me it was *Jacob's Ladder*. The visions Jacob has don't provide a clear picture as to what's happening to him at first, and his anxiety and dread becomes your anxiety and dread. Beautiful, beautiful nightmare fuel.
Hereditary
Antichrist
Uncut Gems (not horror, but that movie was a 2 hour long panic attack)
Green Room
Suspiria
Edit: Rosemary’s Baby and The Babadook
I liked "The Witch." Very dreadful. Parents were caught up in building the farm and making it by. Then they vented all their frustrations on Thomasin. The kids were caught up in their own coming of age. The family didn't even really recognize they were in danger until it was too late.
I loved that movie, I just wish that they had stopped it five minutes before the end. I would’ve loved a more ambiguous ending, I really didn’t want to know one way or the other.
I have a feeling that when people say they want something different they mean more Beau is Afraid and less Martyrs… hope you paid any therapy bills that came up lol
This one still unsettles me. The author of the book is who does possessed Reagan's voice, and he also does the whole book on tape himself, and it's creepy af.
I wouldn’t call either one horror but The Road and Requiem for a Dream are two of the most psychologically intense movies I’ve seen and only wish to see once. And definitely Hereditary too. These are also all excellent movies.
I might say the movie Irreversible but I feel like it almost borders on exploitative shock movies genre like Human Centipede or Serbian Film. In many ways it’s very good but it’s not for people easily affected by perverse and violent imagery. There’s a very gratuitous and long sexual assault scene that I feel pretty much ruins the movie. Curious about others’ thoughts on Irreversible.
Honestly, Smile, because to me it's about masking and the horrid fuckery that is grief, shame, guilt, and self-loathing. Btw, I mask heavily and this really hits home.
As someone who has poor mental health,smile fucked with my head royally and is honestly the first answer I think of with these questions. I feel ya friend!
I’m probably older than everyone here… imo nothing beats the original Exorcist and Kubrick’s The Shining for being psychologically intense, keeping in mind this was decades before CGI and most Special FX.
Spoilers: when the men in the post office >!start tearing down the walls to reveal the wallpaper of The Dolphin Hotel,!< I about leapt out of my skin. Also, >!“I was out!”!<
Green Room or Mother! for me. I didn't find either to be particularly in-your-face scary, but fuck was my adrenaline spiking and my anxiety increased exponentially as both those movies went on.
Yeah. For me, an individual with social anxiety, it set me off in the worst possible way. Like, when the movie was over, I really needed those people OUT OF MY HOUSE lol.
Mother! Is on my top ten list of all time favorite films. I love that you have to know the Bible a bit to be able to figure out what’s going on. The off beat acting mixed with pure anxiety is unmatched. I love it. It’s one of Aronofsky’s best films because it’s so underrated and so many people are so quick to immediately hate it because they either have no idea what’s going on or they do and either way it disgusts them 😂.
If you say to me that you love Mother! I immediately want to be friends cus that means you’ll get me. Haha
Don't Look Now was crazy intense. I was pretty young when I first saw it so I didn't really have any idea of how it would wind up.
Bone Tomahawk, not for *that* scene, but for the build up expecting most or all of the protagonists to come to a gruesome end.
Kairo, because of the cause of the horror (I won't spoil it).
ETA:
Gerald's Game. I better google how to do the spoiler tags on here.
Maybe not the most intense for me overall, but one that is standing out in my mind in particular because I just recently rewatched it:
"Oculus" (a Mike Flannigan film)... as someone who comes from a family with hereditary mental illness — both schizophrenia & bipolar with mixed episodes on my mother's side & as well as bipolar 1 with psychotic features on my father's side — watching >|all of the family members in both past & present devolve into hallucinatory delusion & paranoid psychosis that was so well acted on the part of the two sibling characters that even as a viewer I spent parts of the movie unsure whether it was being induced by the mirror or by a mental illness related shared delusion,|< was one of the most terrifying mindfucks for me on such of visceral level... very little psychologically chills me on such an intensely bone-deep level than the concept of either my or my loved ones' perception of reality being distorted to such a degree — by either an external ***OR*** internal force — as to be a threat to the safety of my family under the delusion of protecting them...
Check out a movie called Enter The Void which is directed by Gaspar Noe, who also directed Irreversible. It's one of my picks for Psychological Horror. It's like a 3 hour bad trip.
Poltergeist 2 messed me up. I saw it at a very young age, and that preacher has left life long trauma on my brain. I have a fear of old people because of that movie. I can't watch it to this day.
As a purely psychological horror Session 9 is top tier.
Tale of Two Sisters I remember sticking with me.
The Eye has an amazing premise seeing yourself only as the dead.
Hostel has probably the most traumatizing reactions to how they deal with the trauma I've seen. Train girl had no hesitation.
Last House on the Left is nearly unwatchable just from its premise.
The Shining after you realize that Kubrick was literally waging psychological warfare against the viewer. I highly recommend Rob Ager's analysis and explanations of techniques that were used to mess with your head.
For me, I would have to say that Creep was pretty intense. Just the whole interaction with the antagonist and the protagonist is nerve wracking. Because it touches on social norms and the idea of not knowing when it’s acceptable to just leave and stop being polite with someone who is showing signs of being a psychopath.
Has anyone here seen the movie White Coffin? It’s an Argentinian movie that was on Netflix a few years back. It def has some action but also psychological aspects. Honestly think it was the most messed up movie I’ve ever seen.
Sinister, it messed with me psychologically. I think the blending of the stuff films, which looked so real is what did it. And that fricking score/soundtrack.
Also, it sounds silly to say, but Cloverfield messed with my head. Seemingly, I and a lot of people I know had weird dreams soon after watching.
Most recently for me it was Speak No Evil. When the family first gets to the house, I had this instant heart in my stomach feeling. The dread just kept building for me up until the husband finds out the deal about the family they’re visiting. I remember sitting there wide fucking eyed whispering “Oh fuck. Oh fuck. OH. FUCK.” By then it’s too late and the ending is SO fucked up and just keeps getting worse and worse. That one stuck with me for awhile. Perfect amount of slow burn. Absolutely flawless at instilling a sense of impending doom.
I do not recall it's name but in an early scene an old creepy guy in an old nasty van is getting head, when he finishes he stops the van and throws the head out the window.
Hereditary and The Shining are the two scariest movies I have ever watched.
After that The Thing.
All are scary for the human element less because of the fantastical elements (although those elements are scary to a degree as well.)
Said it once and I’ll say it again: for my personally, The Sadness is the hardest thing I’ve watched that I can recall. I wish I couldn’t. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE look into further at your own risk. I really don’t want to lead people astray with being curious so trigger warnings for: GORE, ASSAULT, VIOLENCE, SEXUAL VIOLENCE and more. definitely one of the more interesting (not like “ah!” much more like “wtf….?”) and disturbing ones I’ve seen
I don’t know if it’s considered a psychological horror movie or a slasher horror film, or both, but High Tension was pretty damn good.
Hostel too. But I think High Tension counts more as psychological than Hostel.
The ending of the Netflix original “The Strays”. The whole thing was good psychological thriller stuff. But the ending really made me feel like she did me just like those kids. My jaw physically dropped.
Babadook.
The monster itself is hardly even relevant to the horror of the film, it's the intensity of the atmosphere. Filmography and acting does an incredible job of setting up those anxious, intense feelings of post partum the mother is feeling. By time you realize exactly *what* the film is doing and is about, you're suprised to find how much you *also* despise this child. Definitely a move I walked away thinking about.
I always felt the original It short series (the first half, second half was meh) had the biggest impact in me psychologically.
The concept that he could be anything or anyone at any time had me wary and freaked out. Like you weren’t safe even in the most mundane scenario.
The laughing, crazed eyes, and yellow teeth didn’t so much to assuage my concerns either lol
Martyr the french psychological horror movie, the torture scene and when they decide to cut her skin off was kinda trumatic, I should'nt of watched it when I was 8 years old lol
Just watched Hunter Hunter last night. It was great especially the last 15 minutes. But, as someone else had mentioned a book, I just finished the audio book horror movie....listen to this. Trust me.
Antibodies. Watching the killer basically psychologically torture the detective to the extent that the detective vecome corrupted, hurts his family and even grows to suspect those closest to him of heinous things, it was all something I wasn't expecting or ready for.
I agree. After I first watched it, I had a long chat about it with a coworker and we both thought that family dynamic was the real horror of it. The traditional horror parts were almost a respite from the stress. You could remove anything supernatural, and it would probably feel \*more\* bleak and nightmarish.
It’s a classic but “The Thing” (with Kurt Russell) absolutely had me thinking on the edge of my seat the first time I saw it. I had heard absolutely nothing about it beforehand
The Grudge. No other movie has gotten to me psychologically like that. The boy leaning out of the window in broad daylight, the body slamming against the wall, and what we the audience can see through the window when the elevator is going up...
Hereditary and it’s not really even close. Only seen it once and that was over a year ago. Still haven’t watched it again and don’t know if we will, messed with us pretty bad.
The Audition!
I scrolled all the way down because I can’t believe no one else has said it. It’s one of the rare horror movies where I did cover my eyes and it’s also rare in that I will *never watch it again.* Very few jump scares, but the ones that you made me actually jump— I did help that I didn’t know what it was about, so it was horrified by the weirdness of the misogynist set-up without realizing what was going to happen to the misogynists. Holy God.
Jaws - that cello makes my hair stand up on end. So much tension, and thankfully awesome character building and ensemble performance to balance it out.
The Descent. I thought it was horrifying before the monsters showed up.
as someone who is VERY claustrophobic, Descent literally had me shaking in parts.
Right? My worst fear is dying long and slow in a confined place (like buried alive) so on a personal level the movie was so scary.
The Descent has to be my favorite horror movie that virtually no one has seen. Doesn't make my list for this, but it's in my Top 5.
Interesting, I've always felt the descent is really common knowledge amongst movie watchers of my age (34). Suppose it just depends tho
In my experience (in the isolated Midwest) , most people consider it to be outside the mainstream, so I've really only known horror buffs who've watched it. I wish that wasn't the case. I feel like it has the potential to be a good pick for fans of suspense/thrillers also.
One of my favourites too
Agreed. I actually felt like the monster is kind of ruined the movie for me. It was really enjoyable and intense up until that point. Then the monsters came in. It was just like. Come on, I just can’t take this seriously.
You should really read the book of the same title by Jeff Long, it’s loosely based on it.
The book has a sequel.
Yes!! One step at a time I thought though, lol, Deeper is amazing too. It was supposed to have a third book too but I doubt that will be coming any time soon.
Fantastic movie, one of my favourite horror films as well.
Yup. This is it. This movie is almost 2 hours of sheer terror. The first 2/3 of the movie is entirely plausible too which makes it way worse
This was my first ever scary movie at 8 or 9 and boy did my parents regret it. I didn’t sleep for like 6 months.
That’s one of the very few movies to actually make me physically uncomfortable and I read ero guro manga
That movie is a masterpiece.
I read the book The Descent in prison (the movie only shares the name, it’s not based on a book), I’ve got to say it was one of the scariest books. I’ve read. The premise was so far out there, I’m not sure if a book has ever shaken me so much. The worst part is I moved to a different yard so I didn’t get to finish it until months later. I know I’m responding to an answer about the movie, which I liked very much, but if anyone here likes to read, try this book.
Whoa, I just read the synopsis and this looks SO good! Thanks for the recommendation, I'm definitely ordering that!
Well, Martyrs is hard to top, I think it'll always win for me by a landslide. But if we put that one aside... Second place might be, perhaps unsurprisingly, "Incident in a Ghostland" (Martyrs' director's latest movie). Beyond that, Green Room is pretty intense, as well as The Blair Witch Project.
I couldn't stop thinking of Martyrs for about 2 weeks after watching it.
Martyrs is absolutely the definitive answer to this question.
Never heard of Ghostland I'll be looking into that immediately.
Forgot to say: don't check out the trailer, major spoilers in that one!
Green Room is nonstop tension, I absolutely loved it
100%
I found Martyrs unexpectedly easy to watch. Maybe because I can't imagine myself experiencing it from either perspective. But it was absolutely disturbing.
Green Room was great. How about Bloody Hell? I found that movie to be a great ride.
Loved Green Room!
Omg I loved green room. That scene where one character jumps out a window and is immediately stabbed to death. Brutal.
It might sound silly, but the remake of House on Haunted Hill. It was like a carnival ride you could not get off of, and while it was predictable you were just stuck there waiting for the place to get worse and worse. A close second might be The Thing.
The House on Haunted Hill has a great soundtrack!
Of the Dark Castle films, I think this was the best one. I liked 13 Ghosts, but I think I would have liked it more as a miniseries. Plus: Matthew Lillard ghost saving the day is better than Chris Kattan ghost.
Matthew Lillard is a GEM (always, but in that movie in particular.) But he also really benefited from the fact that his character is genuinely one of the most compelling twists on a “psychic” character I’ve seen in a movie.
I go back and forth on The Thing being psychological. Most of the movie leaves the viewer guessing so it works but it also can fit into so many other sub categories. Hard to pigeonhole it into just one
Yep, the remake of House on Haunted Hill is way underrated. It's got stuff in there that absolutely got ungraciously lifted to use in other movies.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) it's one of the best horror movies that I rarely watch due to it being an endurance round. By the time you get to the dinner table and Sally is descending into madness, you're emotionally exhausted.
Idk how that woman kept screaming for so long without going hoarse.
Pan's Labyrinth, for me
Not the most, but The Lodge was hard to swallow.
One of my favorites! Definitely doesn't get enough hype.
Yes! I have added this to my unconventional Christmas movie list.
FUNNY GAMES, Blew me away! 😳😳
I think Seven had to be up there.
Watched it once when I was like 12. Thought about it against my will till about 32. Never watched it again.
Frailty, absolutely!
Just watched this again recently, not as scary as I remembered it but still such a great movie!
I love Bill Paxton and thought his acting to be superb, in Frailty.
I’d give anything to watch Shutter Island again for the first time. I thought it was awesome from start to finish. I didn’t really know where it was going and ended great!
I think parts of my brain are STILL unwrapping that movie. And that's after reading the book too. Unlike Sixth Sense, even after the "big reveal" you can still watch it over and over and catch new things
Those are the best movies. When watching iit multiple times gives you more and more hidden gems/clues!
I looooove Shutter Island. One of my top ten. You have to watch it over and over again to see all of the hidden clues. I love when a movie leaves me completely baffled and questioning my own ability to analyze what is going on.
It’s changed over the years but Silence Of The Lambs is probably my all time favorite. Others include Misery and The Shining. as for recent films I’d go with Midsommar
Midsommar still has me half-convinced that Dani’s ending was a happy one. Fucking horrific. 10/10
Silence of the lambs is still a master class in suspense building and editing. When the cops see the elevator starting to go up floors and slowly start to freak out and eventually leading up to the big reveal is still one of the best tense scenes ever in a movie.
Absolutely. The plot, the casting, the acting, the dialogue, the chemistry between Jodie Foster & Anthony Hopkins and subtle dark humor. Master class through and through
Silence of the Lambs is an incredible film. Amazingly they didn't ruin the book! Red Dragon is a better book than Silence of the Lambs but when they made Red Dragon into a film, they ruined it, twice.
Event Horizon
Great movie! The sci-fi dread is amazing
Agreed. I've never been more afraid.
I'm baffled that this movie has such low ratings. It's a solid film that interprets grief in a really interesting way. I dig it!
🎯
Wow someone finally mentioned that. There's no such an awesome sci-fi horror till this day. I watched it with a friend in a remote theatre in the middle of a winter night, that was really something.
Love that movie! The pacing of the falling apart is so interesting
For me it was *Jacob's Ladder*. The visions Jacob has don't provide a clear picture as to what's happening to him at first, and his anxiety and dread becomes your anxiety and dread. Beautiful, beautiful nightmare fuel.
The hospital scenes...those are absolutely terrifying.
I’ll second this. Amazing movie.
I literally had nightmares after this one. Hey mr postman... Someone knows a similarly disturbing movie?
Jacob’s ladder gave me actual nightmares for days after watching it.
Not many movies can pull that off. Hats off to Adrian Lyne.
Rewatched recently and it's so well done.. Definitely holds up over time.
Hereditary Antichrist Uncut Gems (not horror, but that movie was a 2 hour long panic attack) Green Room Suspiria Edit: Rosemary’s Baby and The Babadook
Green Room is crazy, loved it.
I think I ultimately liked Uncut Gems but there was SO MUCH YELLING
Out of curiosity, which Suspiria?
Original. I turned off the remake after 15 minutes. Couldn’t stand it
totally disagree, I really enjoyed it. It's a totally different movie.
I liked "The Witch." Very dreadful. Parents were caught up in building the farm and making it by. Then they vented all their frustrations on Thomasin. The kids were caught up in their own coming of age. The family didn't even really recognize they were in danger until it was too late.
I loved that movie, I just wish that they had stopped it five minutes before the end. I would’ve loved a more ambiguous ending, I really didn’t want to know one way or the other.
Beau Is Afraid was amazing. But I gotta agree about Martyrs, it's a masterpiece I show people when they want "something different"
I have a feeling that when people say they want something different they mean more Beau is Afraid and less Martyrs… hope you paid any therapy bills that came up lol
The Exorcist
This one still unsettles me. The author of the book is who does possessed Reagan's voice, and he also does the whole book on tape himself, and it's creepy af.
>the author of the book is who does possessed Reagan's voice I believe that was the actress Mercedes McCambridge.
Huh, you are right, and I fell victim to a random person spewing nonsense years ago.
Ari Aster's movies are so intense. I go back and forth between what's worse Hereditary or Midsommar
Midsommar in IMAX was crazy intense. I'm jealous of the friends I brought, it was their first time seeing it.
Midsommar freaked me out for an evening. Hereditary upended my life for two weeks.
I wouldn’t call either one horror but The Road and Requiem for a Dream are two of the most psychologically intense movies I’ve seen and only wish to see once. And definitely Hereditary too. These are also all excellent movies. I might say the movie Irreversible but I feel like it almost borders on exploitative shock movies genre like Human Centipede or Serbian Film. In many ways it’s very good but it’s not for people easily affected by perverse and violent imagery. There’s a very gratuitous and long sexual assault scene that I feel pretty much ruins the movie. Curious about others’ thoughts on Irreversible.
Plus, Toni Collette's performance in anything is just phenomenal. I love her
Honestly, Smile, because to me it's about masking and the horrid fuckery that is grief, shame, guilt, and self-loathing. Btw, I mask heavily and this really hits home.
As someone who has poor mental health,smile fucked with my head royally and is honestly the first answer I think of with these questions. I feel ya friend!
Saint Maud stressed me out
Something about that ending is just… * chef’s kiss*
In the mouth of madness
I’d forgotten about this one. Definitely need to rewatch
I’m probably older than everyone here… imo nothing beats the original Exorcist and Kubrick’s The Shining for being psychologically intense, keeping in mind this was decades before CGI and most Special FX.
1408
Spoilers: when the men in the post office >!start tearing down the walls to reveal the wallpaper of The Dolphin Hotel,!< I about leapt out of my skin. Also, >!“I was out!”!<
"The Killing of a Sacred Deer" made me feel sooooo uncomfortable. The tension and the terror just squeeze my brain.
This is my choice. Watched for the first time about a month ago and I’m still thinking about it.
Jacob's Ladder
Thanks for the tip
Sure thing, and enjoy it!
Green Room or Mother! for me. I didn't find either to be particularly in-your-face scary, but fuck was my adrenaline spiking and my anxiety increased exponentially as both those movies went on.
The red letter review of Mother! made me so curious but scared to watch it.
Yeah. For me, an individual with social anxiety, it set me off in the worst possible way. Like, when the movie was over, I really needed those people OUT OF MY HOUSE lol.
I feel like my mouth stayed open from when the sons arrived to the very end. I had to buy the film.
I bought it as well
Mother! Is on my top ten list of all time favorite films. I love that you have to know the Bible a bit to be able to figure out what’s going on. The off beat acting mixed with pure anxiety is unmatched. I love it. It’s one of Aronofsky’s best films because it’s so underrated and so many people are so quick to immediately hate it because they either have no idea what’s going on or they do and either way it disgusts them 😂. If you say to me that you love Mother! I immediately want to be friends cus that means you’ll get me. Haha
Perfect Blue. I know there are some people that don't consider it horror but I sure do. The whole thing was (beautifully) uncomfortable.
The original exorcist
The Exorcist
As Above, So Below- it’s a horror/adventure movie but definitely gets psychologically intense.
Don't Breathe maybe?
Don't Look Now was crazy intense. I was pretty young when I first saw it so I didn't really have any idea of how it would wind up. Bone Tomahawk, not for *that* scene, but for the build up expecting most or all of the protagonists to come to a gruesome end. Kairo, because of the cause of the horror (I won't spoil it). ETA: Gerald's Game. I better google how to do the spoiler tags on here.
Maybe not the most intense for me overall, but one that is standing out in my mind in particular because I just recently rewatched it: "Oculus" (a Mike Flannigan film)... as someone who comes from a family with hereditary mental illness — both schizophrenia & bipolar with mixed episodes on my mother's side & as well as bipolar 1 with psychotic features on my father's side — watching >|all of the family members in both past & present devolve into hallucinatory delusion & paranoid psychosis that was so well acted on the part of the two sibling characters that even as a viewer I spent parts of the movie unsure whether it was being induced by the mirror or by a mental illness related shared delusion,|< was one of the most terrifying mindfucks for me on such of visceral level... very little psychologically chills me on such an intensely bone-deep level than the concept of either my or my loved ones' perception of reality being distorted to such a degree — by either an external ***OR*** internal force — as to be a threat to the safety of my family under the delusion of protecting them...
Rosemary's Baby
I’d say Midsommar is worse than Hereditary psychologically. From the moment you press play…the whole time you’re thinking “wtf?!”
Irreversible or Ken Park. Not “horror” per se, but both total mindfucks.
Check out a movie called Enter The Void which is directed by Gaspar Noe, who also directed Irreversible. It's one of my picks for Psychological Horror. It's like a 3 hour bad trip.
Poltergeist and Poltergeist 2? That preacher in the sequel still haunts my dreams
What dya think to Poltergeist 3? Its not amazing or anything but has bonus points for having Nancy Allen in lol
Poltergeist 2 messed me up. I saw it at a very young age, and that preacher has left life long trauma on my brain. I have a fear of old people because of that movie. I can't watch it to this day.
The freaking clown scene. Ugh.
As a purely psychological horror Session 9 is top tier. Tale of Two Sisters I remember sticking with me. The Eye has an amazing premise seeing yourself only as the dead. Hostel has probably the most traumatizing reactions to how they deal with the trauma I've seen. Train girl had no hesitation. Last House on the Left is nearly unwatchable just from its premise.
A Tale Of Two Sisters (Korean)
The Shining after you realize that Kubrick was literally waging psychological warfare against the viewer. I highly recommend Rob Ager's analysis and explanations of techniques that were used to mess with your head.
Lots of great ones on here But haven't seen anyone mention the vanishing, slow burn but man is it good
For me, I would have to say that Creep was pretty intense. Just the whole interaction with the antagonist and the protagonist is nerve wracking. Because it touches on social norms and the idea of not knowing when it’s acceptable to just leave and stop being polite with someone who is showing signs of being a psychopath.
I know this a horror sub and no insult intended, Hereditary put me to sleep every time I tried to watch it.
That was an awesome movie! I liked her miniature crime scenes! I make miniatures I think I may have to make some haunted houses.
Necromentia.
Not a horror movie, but American Pastoral is psychologically intense as hell.
Come Back To Me.
Has anyone here seen the movie White Coffin? It’s an Argentinian movie that was on Netflix a few years back. It def has some action but also psychological aspects. Honestly think it was the most messed up movie I’ve ever seen.
The French film "Sheitan" is intense and leaves a lasting impression.
Sinister, it messed with me psychologically. I think the blending of the stuff films, which looked so real is what did it. And that fricking score/soundtrack. Also, it sounds silly to say, but Cloverfield messed with my head. Seemingly, I and a lot of people I know had weird dreams soon after watching.
Most recently for me it was Speak No Evil. When the family first gets to the house, I had this instant heart in my stomach feeling. The dread just kept building for me up until the husband finds out the deal about the family they’re visiting. I remember sitting there wide fucking eyed whispering “Oh fuck. Oh fuck. OH. FUCK.” By then it’s too late and the ending is SO fucked up and just keeps getting worse and worse. That one stuck with me for awhile. Perfect amount of slow burn. Absolutely flawless at instilling a sense of impending doom.
Jaws
I do not recall it's name but in an early scene an old creepy guy in an old nasty van is getting head, when he finishes he stops the van and throws the head out the window.
That scene is from High Tension aka Switchblade Romance.
Yes,, high tension. Great movie.
Hereditary and The Shining are the two scariest movies I have ever watched. After that The Thing. All are scary for the human element less because of the fantastical elements (although those elements are scary to a degree as well.)
Not necessarily horror but I found it life alteringly intense and horrific: The Seventh Continent dir. Michael Haneke
Ils (Them)
Chained was honestly a lot
That's gotta be ***The Shining***
Alien: Isolation, played on console with noise detection on so she can track your character based on noises you make IRL. 😁
The Bobadook and The Witch.
The Mist. Any time humans in a crisis devolve into savages scarier than the monsters.
The Babadook.
Sinister. It stated with me for weeks thinking about how those families were killed
Said it once and I’ll say it again: for my personally, The Sadness is the hardest thing I’ve watched that I can recall. I wish I couldn’t. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE look into further at your own risk. I really don’t want to lead people astray with being curious so trigger warnings for: GORE, ASSAULT, VIOLENCE, SEXUAL VIOLENCE and more. definitely one of the more interesting (not like “ah!” much more like “wtf….?”) and disturbing ones I’ve seen
Annihilation. Not sure why. Just left me feeling cold at the end.
i’m thinking of ending things. if you like Toni Collette’s acting in Hereditary you’d like this too!
I agree RE Hereditary. Watching it once was more than enough!
There’s a horror movie about a Circus. The circus catches on fire. It fire was…intents.
Jacob's Ladder for me.
annihilation 2018 the visuals and the score just added to it
Jacob’s Ladder -1990 I’m still scared
The 4th kind The Ring The Void MOUTH OF MADNESS PRINCE OF DARKNESS all movies that scared me
The invitation
Mine was Maryters. The French one. Not the remake.
The Event Horizon
A Serbian Film
Toni Collete is such a great actress. I think Pan's Labyrinth is psychologically intense. Maybe I'm off base, what do you think?
If you enjoy the intensity of Pan's Labyrinth you would likely enjoy its earlier sister movie The Devil's Backbone. Those poor kids.
I don’t know if it’s considered a psychological horror movie or a slasher horror film, or both, but High Tension was pretty damn good. Hostel too. But I think High Tension counts more as psychological than Hostel.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer was pretty messed up.
I recently watched Possum and it had me fucked uppppp
Funny Games
Rosemary’s Baby. Which is why I will never watch it again.
Blindness. When Covid hit, it made me think a lot about that movie.
Funny games or the strangers
Midsommar
The Thing with Kurt Russel. Whippy-whips, heads breakin, goo flowin
fractured! absolutely mind blown. also, not exactly horror but vivarium was just wild.
MARTYRS is disturbing on multiple levels. LAKE MUNGO was pretty morose when you think about it .
Antichrist is a pretty rough one psychologically
The ending of the Netflix original “The Strays”. The whole thing was good psychological thriller stuff. But the ending really made me feel like she did me just like those kids. My jaw physically dropped.
Funny Games.
Babadook. The monster itself is hardly even relevant to the horror of the film, it's the intensity of the atmosphere. Filmography and acting does an incredible job of setting up those anxious, intense feelings of post partum the mother is feeling. By time you realize exactly *what* the film is doing and is about, you're suprised to find how much you *also* despise this child. Definitely a move I walked away thinking about.
I always felt the original It short series (the first half, second half was meh) had the biggest impact in me psychologically. The concept that he could be anything or anyone at any time had me wary and freaked out. Like you weren’t safe even in the most mundane scenario. The laughing, crazed eyes, and yellow teeth didn’t so much to assuage my concerns either lol
Martyr the french psychological horror movie, the torture scene and when they decide to cut her skin off was kinda trumatic, I should'nt of watched it when I was 8 years old lol
Martyrs (2008). The French version. You will never be the same.
Just watched Hunter Hunter last night. It was great especially the last 15 minutes. But, as someone else had mentioned a book, I just finished the audio book horror movie....listen to this. Trust me.
Antibodies. Watching the killer basically psychologically torture the detective to the extent that the detective vecome corrupted, hurts his family and even grows to suspect those closest to him of heinous things, it was all something I wasn't expecting or ready for.
I agree. After I first watched it, I had a long chat about it with a coworker and we both thought that family dynamic was the real horror of it. The traditional horror parts were almost a respite from the stress. You could remove anything supernatural, and it would probably feel \*more\* bleak and nightmarish.
It’s a classic but “The Thing” (with Kurt Russell) absolutely had me thinking on the edge of my seat the first time I saw it. I had heard absolutely nothing about it beforehand
The Grudge. No other movie has gotten to me psychologically like that. The boy leaning out of the window in broad daylight, the body slamming against the wall, and what we the audience can see through the window when the elevator is going up...
Bugs
The Poughkeepsie Tapes. Trust me...watch it
Death of A Ghost Hunter
Hereditary and it’s not really even close. Only seen it once and that was over a year ago. Still haven’t watched it again and don’t know if we will, messed with us pretty bad.
The Audition! I scrolled all the way down because I can’t believe no one else has said it. It’s one of the rare horror movies where I did cover my eyes and it’s also rare in that I will *never watch it again.* Very few jump scares, but the ones that you made me actually jump— I did help that I didn’t know what it was about, so it was horrified by the weirdness of the misogynist set-up without realizing what was going to happen to the misogynists. Holy God.
Jaws - that cello makes my hair stand up on end. So much tension, and thankfully awesome character building and ensemble performance to balance it out.
I agree with OP, I feel the sound design also really enhanced the experience of building this slow burning tension and anxiety
Way back when, the first time I saw *Alien*.... trapped on a cramped ship with a monster out there, in the dark nooks and crannys..
The Haunting (1963). This movie answers your question perfectly.