Psychological Thriller Top 50
by Michel_nicami | created - 31 May 2011 | updated - 05 Jul 2015 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Straw Dogs (1971)
R | 113 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A young American and his English wife come to rural England and face increasingly vicious local harassment.
Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Susan George, Peter Vaughan, T.P. McKenna
Votes: 64,517
2. The Machinist (2004)
R | 101 min | Drama, Thriller
An industrial worker who hasn't slept in a year begins to doubt his own sanity.
Director: Brad Anderson | Stars: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, John Sharian
Votes: 415,671 | Gross: $1.08M
3. Irreversible (2002)
Not Rated | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Events over the course of one traumatic night in Paris unfold in reverse-chronological order as the beautiful Alex is brutally raped and beaten by a stranger in an underpass tunnel.
Director: Gaspar Noé | Stars: Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel, Albert Dupontel, Philippe Nahon
Votes: 147,709 | Gross: $0.75M
4. Memento (2000)
R | 113 min | Mystery, Thriller
A man with short-term memory loss attempts to track down his wife's murderer.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, Mark Boone Junior
Votes: 1,323,305 | Gross: $25.54M
5. Repulsion (1965)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A sex-repulsed woman who disapproves of her sister's boyfriend sinks into depression and has horrific visions of rape and violence.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Ian Hendry, John Fraser, Yvonne Furneaux
Votes: 57,284
6. Black Swan (2010)
R | 108 min | Drama, Thriller
Nina is a talented but unstable ballerina on the verge of stardom. Pushed to the breaking point by her artistic director and a seductive rival, Nina's grip on reality slips, plunging her into a waking nightmare.
Director: Darren Aronofsky | Stars: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder
Votes: 825,095 | Gross: $106.95M
7. Martyrs (2008)
R | 99 min | Horror
A young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.
Director: Pascal Laugier | Stars: Morjana Alaoui, Mylène Jampanoï, Catherine Bégin, Robert Toupin
Votes: 106,483
8. Open Your Eyes (1997)
R | 119 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A very handsome man finds the love of his life, but he suffers an accident and needs to have his face rebuilt by surgery after it is severely disfigured.
Director: Alejandro Amenábar | Stars: Eduardo Noriega, Penélope Cruz, Chete Lera, Fele Martínez
Votes: 73,265 | Gross: $0.37M
9. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 1,107,114 | Gross: $44.02M
10. I Stand Alone (1998)
Not Rated | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A horse butcher's life and mind begin to break down as he lashes out against various factions of society while attempting to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Director: Gaspar Noé | Stars: Philippe Nahon, Blandine Lenoir, Frankie Pain, Martine Audrain
Votes: 25,810 | Gross: $0.05M
11. Nightwatch (1994)
R | 107 min | Thriller
A law student starts working as a night watchman at The Department of Forensic Medicine in Copenhagen. His mad friend gets him on a game of dare that escalates. As a serial-killer's victims start piling up at work, he becomes a suspect.
Director: Ole Bornedal | Stars: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Sofie Gråbøl, Kim Bodnia, Lotte Andersen
Votes: 17,875
12. The Cell (2000)
R | 107 min | Crime, Horror, Sci-Fi
An F.B.I. Agent persuades a social worker, who is adept with a new experimental technology, to enter the mind of a comatose serial killer in order to learn where he has hidden his latest kidnap victim.
Director: Tarsem Singh | Stars: Jennifer Lopez, Vince Vaughn, Vincent D'Onofrio, Colton James
Votes: 109,125 | Gross: $61.33M
13. Red Dragon (2002)
R | 124 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A retired FBI agent with psychological gifts is assigned to help track down "The Tooth Fairy", a mysterious serial killer. Aiding him is imprisoned forensic psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter.
Director: Brett Ratner | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes, Harvey Keitel
Votes: 290,979 | Gross: $93.15M
14. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
Unrated | 83 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Arriving in Chicago, Henry moves in with ex-con acquaintance Otis and starts schooling him in the ways of the serial killer.
Director: John McNaughton | Stars: Michael Rooker, Tracy Arnold, Tom Towles, Mary Demas
Votes: 40,463 | Gross: $0.61M
15. Fight Club (1999)
R | 139 min | Drama
An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Meat Loaf, Zach Grenier
Votes: 2,324,949 | Gross: $37.03M
16. Enter the Void (2009)
Not Rated | 161 min | Drama, Fantasy
An American drug dealer living in Tokyo is betrayed by his best friend and killed in a drug deal. His soul, observing the repercussions of his death, seeks resurrection.
Director: Gaspar Noé | Stars: Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, Cyril Roy, Olly Alexander
Votes: 88,070 | Gross: $0.34M
17. Lost Highway (1997)
R | 134 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Anonymous videotapes presage a musician's murder conviction, and a gangster's girlfriend leads a mechanic astray.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, John Roselius, Louis Eppolito
Votes: 153,248 | Gross: $3.80M
18. Audition (1999)
R | 115 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Tetsu Sawaki, Jun Kunimura
Votes: 89,272
19. What Lies Beneath (2000)
PG-13 | 130 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
The wife of a university research scientist believes that her lakeside Vermont home is haunted by a ghost - or that she is losing her mind.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfeiffer, Katharine Towne, Miranda Otto
Votes: 135,760 | Gross: $155.46M
20. Hard Candy (2005)
R | 104 min | Drama, Thriller
Hayley's a smart, charming teenage girl. Jeff's a handsome, smooth fashion photographer. An Internet chat, a coffee shop meet-up, an impromptu fashion shoot back at Jeff's place. Jeff thinks it's his lucky night. He's in for a surprise.
Director: David Slade | Stars: Patrick Wilson, Elliot Page, Sandra Oh, Odessa Rae
Votes: 168,114 | Gross: $1.01M
21. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
R | 118 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.
Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine
Votes: 1,548,722 | Gross: $130.74M
22. The Ninth Gate (1999)
R | 133 min | Mystery, Thriller
A book broker discovers his latest find may summon Satan.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Johnny Depp, Frank Langella, Lena Olin, Emmanuelle Seigner
Votes: 197,549 | Gross: $18.66M
23. Shutter Island (2010)
R | 138 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, two US marshals, are sent to an asylum on a remote island in order to investigate the disappearance of a patient, where Teddy uncovers a shocking truth about the place.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Mortimer, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley
Votes: 1,457,430 | Gross: $128.01M
24. The Name of the Rose (1986)
R | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
An intellectually nonconformist friar investigates a series of mysterious deaths in an isolated abbey.
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud | Stars: Sean Connery, Christian Slater, Helmut Qualtinger, Elya Baskin
Votes: 117,287 | Gross: $7.15M
25. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
R | 158 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Journalist Mikael Blomkvist is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing for 40 years by young computer hacker Lisbeth Salander.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård
Votes: 494,966 | Gross: $102.52M
26. The Haunting (1963)
G | 112 min | Horror
Hill House has stood for about 90 years and appears haunted: its inhabitants have always met strange, tragic ends. Now Dr. John Markway has assembled a team of people who he thinks will prove whether or not the house is haunted.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Russ Tamblyn
Votes: 42,498 | Gross: $2.62M
27. The Trial (1962)
Not Rated | 119 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
An unassuming office worker is arrested and stands trial, but he is never made aware of his charges.
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Arnoldo Foà, Jess Hahn, Billy Kearns
Votes: 24,034
28. Misery (1990)
R | 107 min | Drama, Thriller
After a famous author is rescued from a car crash by a fan of his novels, he comes to realize that the care he is receiving is only the beginning of a nightmare of captivity and abuse.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: James Caan, Kathy Bates, Richard Farnsworth, Frances Sternhagen
Votes: 235,676 | Gross: $61.28M
29. Psycho (1960)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin
Votes: 718,500 | Gross: $32.00M
30. Marnie (1964)
PG | 130 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Mark marries Marnie although she is a habitual thief and has serious psychological problems, and tries to help her confront and resolve them.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Tippi Hedren, Sean Connery, Martin Gabel, Louise Latham
Votes: 53,873 | Gross: $7.00M
31. Se7en (1995)
R | 127 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, Andrew Kevin Walker
Votes: 1,799,683 | Gross: $100.13M
32. American Psycho (2000)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A wealthy New York City investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.
Director: Mary Harron | Stars: Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Bill Sage
Votes: 716,020 | Gross: $15.07M
33. Vertigo (1958)
PG | 128 min | Mystery, Romance, Thriller
A former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore
Votes: 427,060 | Gross: $3.20M
34. Identity (2003)
R | 90 min | Mystery, Thriller
Stranded at a desolate Nevada motel during a nasty rain storm, ten strangers become acquainted with each other when they realize that they're being killed off one by one.
Director: James Mangold | Stars: John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, John Hawkes
Votes: 267,309 | Gross: $52.16M
35. Falling Down (1993)
R | 113 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An ordinary man frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society begins to psychotically and violently lash out against them.
Director: Joel Schumacher | Stars: Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall, Barbara Hershey, Rachel Ticotin
Votes: 206,734 | Gross: $40.90M
36. Basic Instinct (1992)
R | 127 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A violent police detective investigates a brutal murder that might involve a manipulative and seductive novelist.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, George Dzundza, Jeanne Tripplehorn
Votes: 219,219 | Gross: $117.73M
37. Summer of Sam (1999)
R | 142 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Spike Lee's take on the "Son of Sam" murders in New York City during the summer of 1977 centering on the residents of an Italian-American Northeast Bronx neighborhood who live in fear and distrust of one another.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody, Mira Sorvino, Jennifer Esposito
Votes: 41,315 | Gross: $19.28M
38. Manhunter (1986)
R | 120 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Former FBI profiler Will Graham returns to service to pursue a deranged serial killer dubbed "the Tooth Fairy" by the media.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: William Petersen, Kim Greist, Joan Allen, Brian Cox
Votes: 80,960 | Gross: $8.62M
39. The Game (1997)
R | 129 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
After a wealthy San Francisco banker is given an opportunity to participate in a mysterious game, his life is turned upside down as he begins to question if it might really be a concealed conspiracy to destroy him.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Michael Douglas, Deborah Kara Unger, Sean Penn, James Rebhorn
Votes: 429,551 | Gross: $48.32M
40. Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
R | 121 min | Drama, Thriller
Haunted by the patients he failed to save, a monumentally burned-out Manhattan ambulance paramedic fights to maintain his sanity over three increasingly turbulent nights.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, John Goodman, Ving Rhames
Votes: 76,069 | Gross: $16.64M
41. Under Suspicion (2000)
R | 110 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A wealthy attorney in San Juan comes to the police station for "10 minutes" of follow-up questions to finding a 12-year-old girl's body in a park. Another young girl was also raped and murdered weeks earlier and the evidence points to him.
Director: Stephen Hopkins | Stars: Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, Thomas Jane, Monica Bellucci
Votes: 27,628 | Gross: $0.26M
42. Primal Fear (1996)
R | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An altar boy is accused of murdering a priest, and the truth is buried several layers deep.
Director: Gregory Hoblit | Stars: Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Edward Norton, John Mahoney
Votes: 247,184 | Gross: $56.12M
43. Singapore Sling (1990)
Not Rated | 111 min | Drama, Horror
A man searching for his long-lost lover is kidnapped by her killers, an insane, mother-daughter duo, and they force him to commit various sexual atrocities with them.
Director: Nikos Nikolaidis | Stars: Meredyth Herold, Panos Thanassoulis, Michele Valley
Votes: 2,767
44. Mulholland Drive (2001)
R | 147 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
After a car wreck on Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux, Jeanne Bates
Votes: 383,965 | Gross: $7.22M
45. Blue Velvet (1986)
R | 120 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern
Votes: 215,779 | Gross: $8.55M
46. 8MM (1999)
R | 123 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A private investigator is hired to discover if a "snuff film" is authentic or not.
Director: Joel Schumacher | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Joaquin Phoenix, James Gandolfini, Peter Stormare
Votes: 142,767 | Gross: $36.66M
47. Apt Pupil (1998)
R | 111 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A boy blackmails his neighbor after suspecting him to be a Nazi war criminal.
Director: Bryan Singer | Stars: Ian McKellen, Brad Renfro, Joshua Jackson, Mickey Cottrell
Votes: 41,636 | Gross: $8.84M
48. See the Sea (1997)
Unrated | 52 min | Drama, Thriller
While waiting her husband return from a business trip, a young woman with a baby is getting close with a strange woman traveler.
Director: François Ozon | Stars: Sasha Hails, Marina de Van, Samantha, Paul Raoux
Votes: 2,351 | Gross: $0.05M
49. Jacob's Ladder (I) (1990)
R | 113 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Mourning his dead child, a haunted Vietnam War veteran attempts to uncover his past while suffering from a severe case of dissociation. To do so, he must decipher reality and life from his own dreams, delusions, and perceptions of death.
Director: Adrian Lyne | Stars: Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello, Matt Craven
Votes: 117,923 | Gross: $26.12M
50. Cube (1997)
R | 90 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A group of strangers awaken to find themselves placed in a giant cube. Each one of them is gifted with a special skill and they must work together to escape an endless maze of deadly traps.
Director: Vincenzo Natali | Stars: Nicole de Boer, Maurice Dean Wint, David Hewlett, Andrew Miller
Votes: 247,696 | Gross: $0.50M
51. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)
R | 147 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born with a superior olfactory sense, creates the world's finest perfume. His work, however, takes a dark turn as he searches for the ultimate scent.
Director: Tom Tykwer | Stars: Ben Whishaw, Dustin Hoffman, Alan Rickman, Francesc Albiol
Votes: 265,840 | Gross: $2.22M
52. The Crimson Rivers (2000)
R | 106 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A murder detective must follow the footsteps of a brutal killer within the secrets of a classist college.
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz | Stars: Jean Reno, Vincent Cassel, Nadia Farès, Dominique Sanda
Votes: 65,657 | Gross: $0.63M
53. Barton Fink (1991)
R | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Thriller
A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood.
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Stars: John Turturro, John Goodman, Judy Davis, Michael Lerner
Votes: 128,990 | Gross: $6.15M
54. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
R | 159 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A Manhattan doctor embarks on a bizarre, night-long odyssey after his wife's admission of unfulfilled longing.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Todd Field, Sydney Pollack
Votes: 375,271 | Gross: $55.69M
55. Eden Lake (2008)
R | 91 min | Horror, Thriller
Refusing to let anything spoil their romantic weekend break, a young couple confront a gang of loutish youths with terrifyingly brutal consequences.
Director: James Watkins | Stars: Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender, Tara Ellis, Jack O'Connell
Votes: 94,888 | Gross: $0.01M
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