Subgenre guide · Psychological horror
The 20 best psychological horror movies
The best psychological horror movie is The Shining, where the scariest thing in the hotel might be your own father. Entertainment Weekly ranks Psycho first and The Shining second (Entertainment Weekly); we flip them.
By the Horror Planet editors · Updated November 9, 2026
The Shining (1980)
Isolation, alcohol and a family under one roof.
Psycho (1960)
The original mind-bender.
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Is she paranoid, or is everyone lying to her?
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
A conversation through glass, and the scariest one on film.
Hereditary (2018)
Grief that becomes something worse.
The Babadook (2014)
Depression with a face.
Misery (1990)
Kathy Bates, a sledgehammer and the ultimate fan.
Don't Look Now (1973)
A couple's mourning in Venice, told in fragments.
Les Diaboliques (1955)
The bathtub. The ending. Clouzot's masterpiece.
Jacob's Ladder (1990)
A veteran's reality comes apart.
Get Out (2017)
Hypnosis, a teacup and the Sunken Place.
Se7en (1995)
What's in the box.
Audition (1999)
A widower's casting call turns into a nightmare.
Saint Maud (2019)
A nurse sure she has been chosen.
The Lighthouse (2019)
Two keepers lose their grip.
Black Swan (2010)
Natalie Portman's ballerina cracks.
Cure (1997)
A detective, a hypnotist and murders nobody remembers committing.
Smile (2022)
Trauma as a curse you pass on.
Obsession (2026)
Love that becomes control. See movies like Obsession.
Weapons (2025)
A town's guilt, chapter by chapter.
How we picked
Psychological horror lives in the head rather than the body: unreliable minds, paranoia, guilt. We started from Entertainment Weekly's ranking and added recent films that do it as well.
Next: best A24 horror · best Stephen King movies · scariest of all time.