Cat’s Streaming Guide: Psychological Thrillers
Welcome to our 2nd Annual Birthday Bash as Divination Hollow Reviews!
We’ll be celebrating all month long with a series of posts by our team and esteemed colleagues and this year’s theme is “Going to the Movies!” Join us as we share themed content with special “tickets” for each category inspired by cinema.
Celebrate with us!
Cat’s Streaming Guide: Psychological Thrillers
Divination Hollow’s first genre of the season is Psychological Thriller, which just so happens to be one of my favorites. The only thing better than when you can’t trust the protagonist of a film is when the film actually makes you begin to doubt yourself.
Since it’s such a wide-spanning sub-genre of horror, there are always plenty of titles to choose from. This will be a guide through five of my all-time favorites, as well as some of the highlights of what’s available for you to watch this season through your streaming platform of choice.
I’m sure one of the first movies to come to mind when you hear psychological thriller is the classic Silence of the Lambs. It’s a classic for a reason, and it’s one of the sub-genre’s defining films. While I would highly recommend this title if you haven’t seen it yet for some reason, my picks are going to be slightly less traditional.
Saw/Saw II:
Anyone familiar with me or my work as a reviewer will not be surprised to see this franchise coming up already, as it is one of my all time favorites. Though it eventually lived up to its reputation of being over-the-top, gore filled torture porn, the first two entries are surprisingly restrained.
If you’ve never seen the first two Saw movies (or haven’t seen them for a while) I highly recommend giving them some attention this season to really appreciate the psychological element of the early entries.
It’s also worth noting just how little gore is shown on screen for these two. Most of it really is left to the audience’s imagination, and isn’t that worse?
The Perfection
This is one of my all-time favorite movies because of the way that it plays with audience expectations. The best way to go into this movie is blindly, so I will not say much other than to give it a shot if you’re in for a wild ride.
TW: Abuse
Gerald’s Game
Based off of my favorite Stephen King novel of the same name, and brought to screen by my favorite director, Mike Flanagan, this one was always going to be a winner for me. It’s one of the more emotionally draining films on my list, but is absolutely worth it for the performances and amazing protagonist.
TW: Abuse
Last Night in Soho
An absolutely stunning film that finds the perfect balance between supernatural and psychological horror. Amazing performances all the way around, this one offers some amazing character studies.
TW: Trafficking
The Invisible Man (2022)
What can I say? I’m a fan of the director, Leigh Whannell, and I’m a big fan of female-driven empowerment stories. It’s been a running theme on this list already, and it seemed like a good way to wrap it up too.
TW: Abuse
Hopefully this was enough to give you a good recommendation or two, as well as an understanding of my personal tastes before I list my picks for the streaming services. The movies listed below all have my seal of approval, as well as trigger warnings. You can find them listed under each streaming service in roughly the order I would recommend them in.
Shudder:
The Babadook (2014)
The Stylist (2021)
Speak No Evil (2022): Trigger Warnings; Parenting, Child Abuse
Perfect Blue (1997): Trigger Warnings; Rape, Assault.
Found (2016)
Possum (2018): Abuse
Netflix:
The Perfection (2018): Trigger Warnings; Child Abuse, Sexual Abuse
Gerald’s Game (2017): Trigger Warnings; Domestic Abuse
Incident in a Ghostland (2018): Trigger Warnings; Child abuse, sexual abuse
Hush (2016)
Til Death (2021): Trigger Warnings; Domestic Abuse
Creep (2014)
Hulu:
Black Swan (2010)
The Lodge (2019): Trigger Warnings; Suicide, Child Death
We Need to do Something: Trigger Warnings; Child Death
HBO Max:
Last Night in Soho (2021): Trigger Warnings; Trafficking
Funny Games (1997): Trigger Warnings; Assault
Diabolique (1955)
The Uninvited (2009)
Amazon Prime:
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Candyman (2021)
Pet (2016): Trigger Warnings; Abuse
A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
Goodnight Mommy (2022): Trigger Warnings; Child Abuse, Child Death
Paramount +:
Candyman (2021)
Peacock:
Candyman (1992)
Pet (2016) Trigger Warnings; Abuse
Psycho (1960)
Hunger (2009)
Tubi:
Goodnight Mommy (2014): Trigger Warnings; Animal Death, Child Abuse, Child Death
Found (2016)
That has been it for this season’s psychological thriller picks, but please feel free to follow me on Twitter for more deranged viewing recommendations.
Guide by Cat Voleur
Twitter: @Cat_Voleur