SPark Recommends: Psychological Horror/Thriller Movies

Horror does not necessarily mean possessed people and distorted faces and voices. Sometimes the most effective tool for scaring and scarring you is psychological tension and human depravity. Here are some movies which do just that, making you wish you had seen The Conjuring instead.

1. Oldboy (South Korea, 2003)

On a rainy night in 1988, Oh Dae-Su is abducted while he’s returning home from work. He finds himself locked up in a windowless hotel room and for fifteen years, his invisible captors feed and clothe him, his only window to the outside world being a TV. Then he is suddenly released, encouraged by his captors to find them and exact vengeance, and Oh has no choice but to comply.

Oldboy is not easy to watch or stomach. It is deeply disturbing in its unflinching portrayal of twisted psyches, to speak nothing of the plenteous gore it offers.

2. Ich Seh, Ich Seh (Austria, 2015)

Ten-year-old twins Elias and Lukas are awaiting their mother’s return from a surgery in their isolated mansion. When she returns, the boys are unnerved by the bandages covering her face and the drastic change in her personality. She is no longer cheerful and warm  – she is now cold, irate and distant, demands absolute quiet, avoids sunlight, obsessively cleans every corner of the house, and pointedly favors Lukas over Elias. The boys are inseparable as ever as they slowly begin to fear her – suspecting that the person beneath the bandages may not be their mother after all.

The movie plays with your mind with its disquieting atmosphere. It does not rely on cheap gimmicks and jump scares to deliver horror, instead, it uses its tight and unnerving setting.

3. 404: Error Not Found (India, 2011)

At a premier medical institute of India, renowned Professor Aniruddh is impressed with freshman Abhimanyu’s rationality and tenacity when he decides to move into a room that is supposedly haunted. What follows is a gripping story as two sides are taken – between the professor, who denies the paranormal and believes in the power of the human psyche, and Abhimanyu, who comes to realize that the room he is living in might not be normal after all. Will Professor Aniruddh succeed in convincing Abhimanyu that his room is not haunted? Between the room and the ragging he faces, will Abhimanyu lose his grip on reality?

One of the better thrillers of recent times, this movie is creepy and uncomfortable. It is a taut and fresh take on horror tropes in the country.

4. Perfect blue (Japan, 1997)

Mima Kirigoe, a member of the pop group CHAM!, goes solo to pursue a career in acting. However, her life changes drastically after her exit from CHAM! as she struggles to shed her clean image, taking on mature and demeaning roles she is not mentally prepared for. An obsessed fan unable to come to terms with her new persona, an anonymous website that impersonates her daily life in intricate detail, the success of CHAM! after her departure – all these factors cause Mima to become increasingly unhinged and paranoid as she finds it difficult to separate fact from fiction.

In spite of being an animated movie, Perfect Blue does not fall short of plot depth and psychological complexity and does not shy away from bold, graphic themes. This movie keeps you on the edge of your seat with its deceptive screenplay.

5. Mulholland Drive (USA, 2001)

A car crash renders a woman amnesiac, who takes shelter in a house that is being occupied by Betty, an aspiring actress. As Betty offers her help to her and gives her the name “Rita”, they search for clues about Rita’s identity across the dreamy city of Los Angeles, and several unrelated events through the city lead to an inevitable end that will shatter the comfortable world Betty and Rita build for themselves.

The movie is impossible to understand if you’re not paying close attention. The entire movie is like a drug-induced stupor. Don’t let its lucid pace deceive you, the movie will leave your jaw dropped.

These offbeat, non-mainstream and almost (dare I say it) *hipster* thrillers are a must watch or adrenaline junkies that can’t get out of their house right now because of the looming presence of their impending exams. Give them a try and we bet you won’t regret it.