Did you hear something? What was that sound? I can't see anything! I think there's somebody upstairs! My God, the call is coming from inside the house!
Psychological thriller, or psycho-thriller is a subgenre of both the horror and suspense thriller genres of speculative fiction. More than any other subgenre, stories of the psychological thriller variety tend to lean in the closest to accepted reality, though some may exist in what is referred to as a hyper-reality. The purpose behind the psycho-thriller is to create an atmosphere of sustained suspense and tension, oftentimes designed to frighten the viewer or reader. Many Gothic fiction and mystery/detective stories fall under this category. It is often told through the viewpoint of psychologically stressed characters, revealing their distorted mental perceptions and focusing on the complex and often tortured relationships between obsessive and pathological characters. Psychological thrillers often incorporate elements of mystery, drama, action, and paranoia. In horror fiction, the slasher subgenre is a subset of the larger psycho-thriller category. Such stories often present a bold and sometimes unbelievable narrative, while still operating within an internal reality where a suspension of disbelief is maintained.
Another popular form of the psychological thriller subgenre is giallo. Giallo, which literally means "yellow", is derived from Italian cinema, so named because of the traditional yellow covers to crime pulp novels of the 1920s. Like its pulp predecessors, giallo films are usually murder mysteries that often contains slasher, thriller, psychological horror, sexploitation, and, less frequently, supernatural horror elements. Giallo films are generally characterized as gruesome murder-mystery thrillers that combine the suspense elements of detective fiction with scenes of shocking horror, featuring excessive bloodletting, stylish camerawork, and often jarring musical arrangements. The archetypal giallo plot involves a mysterious, black-gloved psychopathic killer who stalks and butchers a series of beautiful women. While most gialli involve a human killer, some also feature a supernatural element
0-9[]
- I-Ichi
- 2001 Maniacs
- 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams
- 3 from Hell
- 31
- 6th Friend, The
A[]
- Abandoned, The
- Abominable Dr. Phibes, The
- Alice, Sweet Alice
- Alone in the Dark (1982)
- Alphabet Killer, The
- American Gothic
- American Mary
- Amityville Murders, The
- Anamorph
- Asylum
- Asylum, The
- Attic, The
- Autopsy
B[]
- Babysitter Must Die
- Bad Seed, The
- Bates Motel (1987)
- Beaten to Death
- Beneath the Darkness
- Bereavement
- Black Cat, The
- Black Christmas
- Black Friday
- Black Phone, The
- Black Room, The
- Black Sleep, The
- Blackening, The
- Bloodrage
- Bodies Bodies Bodies
- Body Parts
- Boston Strangler, The
- Brain Dead
- Broken, The
- Bucket of Blood, A
- Buried Alive
- Burning, The
- Butcher Boys
C[]
- Cabin Fever
- Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever
- Cabin Fever 3: Patient Zero
- Calling Dr. Death
- Carnival of Souls
- Carriers
- Cat o' Nine Tails
- Cauldron of Blood
- Cherry Falls
- Chiller
- Circus of Horrors
- Columnist, The
- Corridors of Blood
- Crazies, The
- Creature with the Blue Hand
- Creep
- Creep 2
- Creep 3
D[]
- Dark Half, The
- Dark Ride
- Darling
- Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari
- Dead Hooker in a Trunk
- Dead Man's Eyes
- Deadly Games: Dial Code Santa Claus
- Death Artist, The
- Death Proof
- Deep Red
- Demented
- Demons Inside Me
- Demons of the Mind
- Deranged
- Devil Bat, The
- Devil Bat's Daughter
- Devil Doll
- Devil's Rejects, The
- Diary of a Madman
- Doctor X
- Don't Breathe
- Don't Breathe 2
- Don't Look Down
- Dr. Chopper
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
- Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde
- Dr. Phibes Rises Again
E[]
- Easter Bunny, Kill Kill!
- Escape Room
- Eyes of a Stranger
F[]
- Fall of the House of Usher (1950)
- Fall of the House of Usher (1960)
- Fall of the House of Usher (1979)
- Fear
- First Purge, The
- Forever Purge, The
- Freaks
- Fresh
- From a Whisper to a Scream
- From Hell
- Frozen
- Frozen Ghost, The
- Funhouse, The
G[]
- Game of Death
- Gerald's Game
- Get Out
- Ghost Ship
- Ghostland
- Good Son, The
- Gothic
- Greta
- Grotesque
H[]
- Halfway House, The
- Hands of the Ripper
- Hannibal
- Hannibal Rising
- Happy Death Day
- Happy Death Day 2U
- Haunt
- Haunted Strangler, The
- Headless Eyes
- Her Secret Killer
- High Tension
- Hills Have Eyes, The
- Hills Have Eyes, The (2006)
- Hills Have Eyes 2, The
- Hills Have Eyes Part II, The
- Hillside Cannibals
- Hitcher, The
- Hollow Man
- Homekilling Queen
- Horror Island
- Horrors of the Black Museum
- Hospital, The
- Hostel
- Hostel: Part II
- Hostel: Part III
- House (2008)
- House of 1000 Corpses
- House of Evil
- House of Horrors
- House of Wax
- House of Wax (2005)
- Human Centipede, The
- Human Centipede 2, The
- Human Centipede 3, The
- Hush
I[]
- I Know What You Did Last Summer
- I Saw What You Did
- I Saw What You Did (1988)
- I Spit on Your Grave
- I Spit on Your Grave (2010)
- I Spit on Your Grave 2
- I Spit on Your Grave III: Vengeance is Mine
- I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
- I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer
- Ichi the Killer
- In the Mouth of Madness
- Inbred
- Infinity Pool
- Influencer
- Invisible Man, The
- Invisible Man Returns, The
- Invisible Man, The (2020)
- Invitation, The
- Invitation to Hell
J[]
- Jack the Ripper (1988)
- Jekyll & Hyde
- Joy Ride
- Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead
- Joy Ride 3: Roadkill
K[]
- Killer Instinct
- Knifepoint
L[]
- La voluntad del Muerto
- Lake of Shadows
- Last Horror Film, The
- Last House in the Woods, The
- Last House on the Left, The
- Last House on the Left, The (2009)
- Legend of Spider Forest, The
- Leopard Man, The
- Let's Scare Jessica to Death
- Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, The
- Lucky
M[]
- Ma
- Madman
- Malevolence
- Malignant
- Man Who Could Cheat Death, The
- Mandy
- Manhunt: Search for the Night Stalker
- Manhunter
- Maniac
- Maniac (2012)
- Maniac Cop
- Maniac Cop 2
- Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence
- Manor, The
- Mansion of the Doomed
- Mary Reilly
- Masque of the Red Death, The
- Mayhem
- Microwave Massacre
- Midnight Meat Train
- Misery
- Monster Party
- Mortuary
- Mother's Day
- Mother's Day (2010)
- Murders in the Rue Morgue
- My Soul to Take
- Mystery of the Wax Museum
N[]
- Nightmare (1964)
- Nightmare in Wax
O[]
- Orphan (2009)
- Orphan: First Kill
P[]
- Paranoic
- Penny Dreadful (2006)
- People Under the Stairs, The
- Perfection, The
- Phantom of Hollywood, The
- Phantom of the Opera (1925)
- Phantom of the Opera (1943)
- Phantom of the Opera (1962)
- Phantom of the Opera (1989)
- Phantom of the Opera (1998)
- Phenomena
- Pit and the Pendulum, The
- Pit and the Pendulum, The (1991)
- Popcorn
- Pop Skull
- Possession: Until Death Do Us Part
- Poughkeepsie Tapes, The
- Premature Burial
- Premonition, The
- Prevenge
- Psychic, The
- Psycho
- Psycho (1998)
- Psycho II
- Psycho III
- Psycho IV: The Beginning
- Psycho Cop
- Psycho Cop Returns
- Psycho Holocaust
- Psychosis
- Purge, The
- Purge, The: Anarchy
- Purge, The: Election Year
Q[]
R[]
- Raven, The
- Ready or Not
- Red Dragon (2002)
- Red Rose
- Revenge
- Ripper: Letter from Hell
- Ripper 2: Letter from Within
S[]
- Satan's Sadists
- Sawbones
- Scream of Fear
- Seasoning House, The
- Secret Village, The
- See for Me
- She-Wolf of London
- Silence of the Lambs, The
- Sisters
- Slash
- Society
- Soft for Digging
- Soul of a Monster, The
- Spiral
- Spiral (2019)
- Staunton Hill
- Stay Out of the Attic
- Strange Door, The
- Strangers, The
- Strangers: Prey at Night, The
- Strangers: Chapter 1
- Stylist, The
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
T[]
- Tales of Terror
- Teeth
- Tortured
- Tower of London (1962)
- Town That Dreaded Sundown, The
- Tusk
- Twin, The
- Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, The
U[]
V[]
- Valentine
- Vicious Fun
- Village, The
- Visit, The
W[]
- We Summon the Darkness
- What Keeps You Alive
- When a Killer Calls
- When a Stranger Calls
- When a Stranger Calls (2006)
- When a Stranger Calls Back
- Whisper
- Wolf Creek
- Wolf Creek 2
- Wrong Turn
X[]
- X
Y[]
- You're Next
Z[]
- Zodiac, The