After the tricks, while devouring the treats, there’s nothing better than turning off the lights and watching a scary movie on Halloween night. But not just any scary movie will do. Sure, there are monsters, slashers, haunted houses, and demonic possessions. But the ones that really crawl into your brain and keep you up all night are the movies with a psychological twist.
If you’re looking for a movie with mind-bending twists that promise to keep you on the edge of your seat, here are 15 psychological thrillers perfect for Halloween night.
Smile (2022)
Graduate student Laura Weaver watched her professor commit suicide. That’s how she ended up in the psychiatric ward with therapist Rose Cotter treating her. She tells Rose that smiling people foretold her death before donning a smile of her own and slitting her throat. Now, Rose sees smiling people everywhere. And they’re telling her she’s going to die.
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Ma (2019)
Sue Ann “Ma” Ellington has become the go-to cool adult in the neighborhood. She buys them alcohol and lets them party in her basement. But she wants them around a little too much. When the teens try to pull back, Sue Ann morphs into someone they don’t recognize. Someone dangerous. Someone violent. And she may had a plan the entire time.
The Uninvited (2009)
When Anna comes back home after a brief stay in a psychiatric facility, she’s not prepared for the changes she finds at home. Her widowed father is engaged to her mother’s former nurse. But when her mother’s ghost appears, she accuses her nurse of murder. And she wants revenge.
The Night House (2021)
After her husband dies suddenly, Rebecca is left alone in the house he built for them. Grief is strange, so when the nightmares come, it’s no surprise. But then they won’t leave. Even stranger, a presence calls to her in these dreams. She becomes convinced the answer is in her husband’s belongings. But all she finds are his secrets. And the truth is far more disturbing than she ever imagined.
The Strangers (2008)
Hoping to spend some quiet time together after a friend’s wedding, James and Kristen go to his remote childhood home. But after Kristen rejected his marriage proposal, James plans to leave. Until three masked strangers arrive. Now, it’s going to take everything the couple has to work together and survive.
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Men (2022)
All Harper Marlowe wants after the death of her husband is peace and solace. She travels on holiday to a small countryside village, hoping to rest. But things immediately start going wrong. The village is far from idyllic. It’s filled with strange men, all bearing an uncanny similarity. And they all want something from her.
Run Rabbit Run (2023)
Sarah believes in life and death. There’s nothing before, nothing after, and nothing in between. But after her daughter starts acting strangely after her seventh birthday, Sarah is forced to face the ghosts of her past.
Swallow (2019)
Hunter Conrad has the perfect life. Her husband is set to take over his father’s Manhattan business, giving Hunter the option to stay home in their lavish upstate New York home. But for all their wealth, Hunter feels stifled and ignored. Until she starts eating dangerous objects. But the only way Hunter can get her life back is by confronting the dark secrets she buried a long time ago.
Us (2019)
Adelaide Wilson decides it’s time to confront the trauma of her past. To do that, she takes her husband, son, and daughter to her beachfront childhood home. She can’t shake the feeling that something terrible is going to happen. And her worst nightmare comes true when four masked strangers arrive. Now, the Wilsons have to fight for survival. But when the masks come off, the family is horrified to learn the truth of their attackers. And what it might mean.
Gerald’s Game (2017)
Jessie and Gerald Burlingame want to rekindle their marriage. They go to an isolated lake house for a romantic getaway. But when their initial attempts at intimacy devolve into a fight, Gerald dies of a heart attack. The only problem is, Jessie is still handcuffed to the bed. Trapped, alone, and haunted by her inner demons, she does everything she can to find a way to survive.
Possessor (2020)
Tasya Vos is an elite corporate assassin. She works for a powerful company, implanting technology into people’s brains so she can take control. Using their bodies, she kills her targets, never leaving a trace of evidence leading back to her. But when the technology is used against her, she has to fight for control of her body and mind. And she has no idea what her host wants.
The Babadook (2014)
Amelia Vanek is barely keeping it together after her husband died in a car accident taking her to the hospital when she was in labor. Six years later, her son is having trouble sleeping. He claims a monster, the Babadook, is real. As she fights her son’s fears, strange occurrences happen in her home. Now, Amelia has to confront the sinister presence. Or risk losing herself and her son forever.
Chained (2012)
After a serial killer murders his mom, a young boy is held hostage for years. Now, a teenager, he’s finally given a little bit of freedom. All he has to do is choose: follow in the killer’s footsteps. Or risk his life trying to escape.
Get Out (2017)
Chris and his girlfriend Rose have reached an important milestone: meeting the parents. They go to her family home in upstate New York for a weekend getaway. At first, everything is fine. The family is a bit overaccommodating, but Chris chalks it up to being overly nervous about their interracial relationship. But the truth ends up far more disturbing than he ever imagined.
Hereditary (2018)
After the family matriarch, Annie’s mother, passes away, the family grieves their loss. Her mother was always secretive, and Annie hopes now she can finally learn the truth and heal. But as she starts unraveling the cryptic clues of her family’s ancestry, the more terrified she becomes. All families have an inheritance. They’re just not as sinister as hers.
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