Ready to blur the lines between reality and fantasy? We've got some movie recommendations for you.
Sometimes the best cure for cabin fever is to just really lean in by watching people losing it even more than you are, and thankfully, that can easily be accomplished by diving headlong into the world of psychological horror and thriller movies. Of course, given just how many psychological movies are out there and how many streaming services are hosting them, finding the right one for you can be a daunting task.
But never fear (unless you want to). We've put together a list of 27 different psychological movies to take your mind off your own personal descent into madness and help you get lost in a fanciful world of mystery, mayhem, and maybe-real-but-maybe-fake monsters. Or, if that doesn't sound like what you need right now, check out or recommendations for comedy TV shows, slasher movies, cosmic horror movies, and horror comedies to watch right now.
And speaking of things you should be watching, consider listening to GameSpot's weekly TV series and movies-focused podcast, You Should Be Watching. With new episodes premiering every Wednesday, you can watch a video version of the podcast over on GameSpot Universe or listen to audio versions on Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, and Apple Podcasts.
1. I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House
Streaming on: Netflix
Don't let the long, strange title put you off of this one. Netflix's original movie I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House is a psychological ghost story worthy of a watch.
2. Eerie
Streaming on: Netflix
Filipino ghost/mystery movie Eerie combines creepy, ominous scares and head-scratching twists and turns as a guidance counselor tries to solve the supposed suicide of a student.
3. Ex Machina
Streaming on: Netflix
From the master of cerebral sci-fi, Alex Garland, Ex Machina is one part tech thriller, one part contemplative psychological horror movie pitting a man against his perception of humanity when confronted with a hyper-advanced AI.
4. The VVitch
Streaming on: Netflix
Wouldst thou like to live deliciously? A colonial family is made to grapple with a woods-dwelling witch after they're outcast from their village in this slow-burn modern classic.
5. The Invitation
Streaming on: Netflix
A run-of-the-mill dinner party between friends turns sinister as a man begins to suspect that there may be more going on beneath the surface than just a friendly get-together.
6. Cube
Streaming on: Amazon Prime
A group of strangers wake up in a strange prison of identical, cube-shaped rooms. Some are safe, while others are packed with hidden, lethal booby traps. Without any memory of how they arrived or why they were brought in, they're forced to try and navigate the maze.
7. Moon
Streaming on: Netflix
Perfect ambience for self-isolation, Duncan Jones' Moon is the story of a lone astronaut finishing out the last days of his tenure as the only human occupant on a moon base--that is, until he uncovers a mind-breaking secret.
8. 1922
Streaming on: Netflix
Based on the Stephen King novella of the same name, 1922 is a horror movie about a man who decides to murder his wife and then must grapple with the overwhelming psychological consequences.
9. Gerald's Game
Streaming on: Netflix
Another King novella-turned-film, Gerald's Game is about a date night gone terrifyingly wrong, leaving a woman handcuffed to a bed in the room with her dead husband.
10. The Perfection
Streaming on: Netflix
Becoming a professional classical musician isn't easy, but in The Perfection it becomes deadly. It's the story of a young protege going to extreme lengths to save an up-and-coming star from a predatory teacher packed with twists, turns, and plenty of body horror on top of all the psychological drama.
11. The Stanford Prison Experiment
Streaming on: Netflix
Loosely based on a real-life social experiment, the docudrama The Stanford Prison Experiment takes a bleak look at a simulated prison experience and the effect power has on those in charge.
12. The Platform
Streaming on: Netflix
A surreal story about a prison composed of countless floors where an elevator brings food down from the top to the bottom, The Platform is as much a psychological thriller as it is a poignant social commentary.
13. The Discovery
Streaming on: Netflix
After a scientist discovers definitive proof of an afterlife, suicide rates boom, causing those left behind to try and grapple not only with the meaning of life but with their own mortality.
14. Cube Zero
Streaming on: Vudu
Cube Zero may be the third movie in the Cube trilogy, but it's actually a prequel, taking place years before the events of the first film. It takes a deeper, darker look at the strange, deadly experiment that forces amnesiac victims to wake up inside a maze of cube-shaped rooms where they endure lethal traps as they attempt to escape.
15. The Babadook
Streaming on: Shudder
A hybrid of psychological and monster movie tropes, The Babadook explores family trauma as a young mother struggles against a supernatural entity summoned by a children's book.
16. Black Swan
Streaming on: HBO Now
Oscar-nominated Black Swan follows a ballerina on the cusp of a mental breakdown that may or may not be warping her perception of reality and transforming her body.
17. Identity
Streaming on: CBS All Access
A group of strangers trapped in a motel thanks to a massive storm begin to realize that they actually have a lot in common--and then they start dying off, one by one. Or do they?
18. Jacob's Ladder
Streaming on: Amazon Prime
When Vietnam veteran Jacob Singer returns home after the war, he begins to experience horrifying and hellish visions that could be due to post-traumatic stress--or could be something much more sinister.
19. It Comes At Night
Streaming on: Netflix
In a post-apocalyptic and nearly empty world, a group of survivors are forced to form an uneasy alliance and cohabitate in the woods as they fight to keep an unknown threat at bay.
20. Mr. Jones
Streaming on: Amazon Prime
Not to be confused with the 2019 drama of the same name, 2013's Mr. Jones follows two filmmakers as they attempt to make a nature documentary that takes a sinister turn when they uncover a mysterious cabin which they learn to be the home of a reclusive and infamous artist named--you guessed it--Mr. Jones.
21. The Game
Streaming on: Starz
An early David Fincher favorite, The Game is about wealthy and bored Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) as he is driven deeper into the heart of a conspiratorial "game" played across his entire life.
22. Memento
Streaming on: YouTube
Unable to form new short-term memories, Leonard Shelby tries to piece together the truth of his own life by leaving himself reminders in the form of tattoos across his own body.
23. The Prestige
Streaming on: Hulu
When two rival stage magicians take their professional competition too far, the results take a fatal--and mind bending--turn. Come for the psychological drama, stay for David Bowie's cameo as Nikola Tesla.
24. Gone Girl
Streaming on: Amazon Prime
A murder mystery is anything but what it seems in this modern David Fincher movie following a man nammed Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) as he attempts to discover the truth about his missing wife, Amy.
25. Shutter Island
Streaming on: HBO Now
Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island puts Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo on the hunt for an escaped mental patient on an island-locked insane asylum.
26. The Machinist
Streaming on: Amazon Prime
Actor Chrsitian Bale physically transformed himself into a skeletal ghoul for his role in The Machinist as Trevor Reznik, an insomniac suffering from paranoid delusion.
27. Lake Mungo
Streaming on: Amazon Prime
Part found-footage ghost story, part psychological drama, Lake Mungo explores the strange journey a family takes in the wake of their daughter's tragic death.
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