A great psychological thriller has the power to chill and thrill in equal measure, but only a few from the genre can be considered perfect classics. While horror films are concerned with the external dangers of the world, the psychological thriller takes an inward approach. The mental state of the characters is put under a strain, and nightmarish stories emerge.

Psychological thrillers toe the line between conventional thrillers and horror, and typically adopt the best of both worlds. Suspense is the name of the game, and masterful filmmakers like Alfred Hitchcock and David Fincher have left their distinct stamp on the subversive genre. Though psychological thrillers have been around since the early days of cinema, they have remained shockingly consistent.

While there are plenty of psychological thrillers that mess with the mind, only a few can be considered cinematic masterpieces. Making a 10 out of 10 movie is hard enough as it is, but nailing a tricky genre like psychological thrillers is doubly difficult. However, some of the best are indisputable, and will never fail to leave the audience sweating.

Gaslight (1944)

Gaslight is such an effective psychological thriller that its name has now been turned into a verb in pop-psychology circles. The Ingrid Bergman stunner follows a young woman in Victorian Era London who is manipulated by her husband into believing she is going insane. Though it has a stagey quality, the scenes are still endlessly tense.

Bergman’s performance is really what sells the story, and underneath all the opulent costume drama is a complex and modern analysis of women’s place in society. What it lacks in shocks, it makes up for with a heaping dose of psychology. Gaslight is one of the smartest movies from the 1940s, and it blazed a trail for all that followed.

Gone Girl (2014)

David Fincher has proven himself to be the master of modern psychological thrillers, and his powers are on full display in Gone Girl. It tells the story of a seemingly idyllic marriage shattered by what appears to be tragedy. After its startling setup, the movie then proceeds to shatter every expectation that the audience has about the story.

Besides its thriller elements, Gone Girl can be described as a psychological mystery, with the characters’ motivations being the ultimate query. Every choice has a deeper psychological motivation, and the film is never afraid to be as polarizing as possible. That polarization is exactly why the movie works, and it has the power to shock everyone by pandering to nobody.

Zodiac (2007)

With a decades-old cold case to work with, David Fincher weaves the perfect psychological nightmare in Zodiac. Dramatizing the infamous Zodiac murders from the late ’60s and early ’70s, the film follows investigators and journalists as they try to crack the case. Unlike other detective stories, the emotional fallout from the case is the most important part of the story.

Every aspect of the filmmaking, from the visuals to the sound, is designed to increase tension. The muted tones reflect the mood of the characters, and the looming threat floats above the film like San Francisco fog. Almost falling into horror at times, Zodiac is a perfect psychological thriller because it exploits the nature of fear at every level.

M (1931)

Fritz Lang’s M is one of the oldest psychological thrillers, and it is still one of the best. The film is told from the perspective of a child murderer who begins to spiral when the net closes around him. Peter Lorre’s tortured and evil performance is an all-time great, and the movie’s style hasn’t been matched to this day.

Left over from the silent days, Lang uses visual clues to suggest the character’s mental state, something that has become standard fare in the psychological thriller genre. It’s one of the first films to try to understand the mindset of a criminal, and it makes for tortuous viewing. Older movies can sometimes be dated, but M hasn’t aged a day.

Memento (2000)

Christopher Nolan may have graduated to blockbusters, but Memento is still one of his best. It follows a man who is on the hunt for his wife’s murderer, but his rare memory condition makes it impossible to remember his immediate past. The power of Memento is in what it doesn’t do, which has helped it stand the test of time.

Eschewing many of the hyperstylized clichés of the late ’90s and early Aughts, Memento is a streamlined psychological thriller with a mind-bending plot. The audience is invited into the fractured mind of the hero, but the тιԍнт script keeps it from becoming confusing. A good psychological thriller manipulates the audience using the narrative, and Memento excels.

Taxi Driver (1976)

Taxi Driver is a unique addition to Martin Scorsese’s filmography, and it’s one of his only films that can truly be called a psychological thriller. Robert De Niro plays Travis Bickle, an insomniac taxi cab driver who slowly loses touch with reality. Deftly balancing both sides of its genre, its thrills come from the psychological downfall of its lead character.

The film is lurid and sickening, and the audience is left to stew in Bickle’s dark world. It’s largely a metaphor for the moral degradation of the U.S. in the 1970s, but the film still has power decades later. Most psychological thrillers focus on emotions like fear or paranoia, but Taxi Driver‘s existential nature makes it an endlessly deep experience.

Se7en (1995)

David Fincher’s psychological thrillers run the gamut from conventional thrills to downright horror, and Se7en leans more toward the latter. A mismatched pair of detectives are tasked with catching a serial killer who models his crimes after the seven ᴅᴇᴀᴅly sins. With absolutely terrifying moments, Se7en is a lot more thrilling than its slow-paced contemporaries.

Se7en is an accessible psychological thriller that boils much of the genre down to its basic essence for general audiences. Nevertheless, Fincher’s strong filmmaking keeps it appealing as a piece of cinema as well, and there are deeper themes about crime and morality just below the surface. Se7en is a perfect movie because it’s a perfect introduction to its genre.

Vertigo (1958)

Alfred Hitchcock helped to popularize the psychological thriller, and in that way, Vertigo can be seen as his magnum opus. Jimmy Stewart stars as an ex-cop with a terrible fear of heights, who is hired to protect a strange woman from himself. Though Vertigo fulfills many of the hallmarks of Golden Age cinema, it’s also shockingly surreal at times too.

The movie’s vibrant colors indicate the various moods of the scenes, and the doppelgänger storyline adds a dream-like quality. While it’s revered as one of the greatest films of all time, it also deserves notice as a quintessential psychological thriller. If suspense is a key component of the genre, Vertigo stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Silence Of The Lambs (1991)

Thomas Harris’ novel helped to transform the psychological thriller genre by adding in touches of realism. Silence of the Lambs follows a young FBI agent on the trail of a serial killer, who must get help from the infamous murderer, Hannibal Lecter. Essentially a howcatchem, the audience is left in suspense as Clarice gets closer and closer to her target.

The horror and thriller genres hold equal claim to Silence of the Lambs, and it is arguably the scariest psychological thriller ever. It earns its psychological moniker by diving deep into Buffalo Bill’s criminal profile, and the thriller aspects speak for themselves. The movie snagged several Oscars, and is one of the few psychological thrillers to transcend its genre completely.

Parasite (2019)

South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho had already made several splashes in his home country, but Parasite earned him international acclaim like never before. After a poor young man finds a job with a rich family, the rest of his clan begin insinuating themselves in their lives. Though crime is part of Parasite, the film is really about class struggles.

The distinction between the upper and lower classes is evident, and each moment drips with insinuation. Even so, Parasite has several legitimately shocking moments that never fail to surprise. The thrills come from the tension, as the entire unstable situation falls apart. If any movie can be called the most modern psychological thriller, it’s Bong Joon Ho’s untouchable masterpiece.