Psychological Thrillers

What falls under psychological thriller?

Psychological thrillers are a specific genre that usually composes of movies that are generally very intricate and complex. They explore the psychology of their characters while creating that feeling of thrill. Typically psychological thrillers expose the mind of someone who is unstable because what is more thrilling than seeing the world through the eyes of a madman, but that is not always the case. One thing that almost all of these movies have in common is that they tend to be more formalist than realist, they are also darker in nature and are meant to be taken seriously with an underlying message. Personally, I love psychological thrillers because they often evoke a feeling of dread and suspense unlike any other form of a movie. They generally adhere to non-mainstream audiences. As the content they cover is usually very obscure they are marketed toward diehard film fans as something never before seen.

A great example of a psychological thriller, which also happens to be one of my favorite movies of all time, is Donnie Darko. This movie is a perfect embodiment of a psychological thriller as you see the world through the eyes of a schizophrenic; Donnie, and you are forced to not trust everything you see on the screen the movie ends in a manner that is completely up to the interpretation of the audience.

It also sent several important messages about the state of education, compliance, solitude, and learning to accept death, especially that of a loved one. Many of its visuals are obscure and jarring but it doesn't ever take it to the point where it's indecipherable just interpretable.

Another excellent film that falls under this category is Black Swan, this movie is also an amazing example of a psychological thriller that places you in the mind of the main subject. It throws you for a spin.

(HEAVY SPOILERS SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN BLACK SWAN)

As the movie comes to a close the character falls under an intense hysteria and stabs her competition, and you see it happen on the screen. Later it is revealed that the stabbing was all in her head and she never committed anything of the sort. We as the audience are being shown things that aren't real and it makes us question what we are shown and really makes us feel crazy.