Ash's Psychological Horror Picks (Top 10)
10. HIM
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This one teeters on a very slippery slope but one that I absolutely adored to see. Justin Tipping and Jordan Peele brought us a sports story that to date, has not yet been done on film in the sense of truth, morality and what is important for a person in this type of stature's life. Not only does the film mess with your mind and mess with the characters mind simultaneously but I believe it also did its best to slip in some of the positive characteristics that someone training to be an athlete can strive for. There are times it can come off as evil, which I actually appreciated those moments, but there were also moments of reflection by the main character. To me it did not put this particular sport in a negative light (which I think some viewers feared, especially football fans) but more so gave the character his own moral decisions to make. It does show the real dangers of the sport and what actually happens on and off the field so here we have a film of actual psychological reality. The film itself asks you and or the character what are you willing to sacrifice for your dreams? and based on the character's decisions he made the best choices he could given his circumstance. To his credit, he did stay true to what he felt in his heart and mind was right but also at times fell victim to demonic thoughts and actions which I think is realistic and something that happens to us humans every single day. Overall I loved how this film just captured so many different elements of psychological warfare from the perspective of an athlete.
9. The Visit
The Visit starts off innocently enough as a trip to Grandma's house but quickly turns into a traumatic nightmare. Kathryn Hahn plays a loving mother who harbors a secret from her past, one that her children will discover during this visit and realize how it has trapped their family. Even though the film doesn't feature any scary monsters in the closet, M. Night Shyamalan excels at playing with your mind through plot twists, blurring the lines between reality and illusion, while expertly providing all the best that lie within his imagination.
8. Bring Her Back
Bring her back, Sinners and 28 Years Later were some really really top-tier horror films in 2025. When you're dealing with a new generation of Horror moviegoers there's always going to be different concepts and different subjects that are going to interest that particular generation. I believe bring her back was a fantastic psychological film that added a touch of physical horror with the way the child in the film looked. It gave not just a mental view of a lost child but also a scary physical presence of that child; so I would say that this film did two things correctly for psychological horror. This film also deals with the concept of grief and how difficult it was for a mother to truly allow her daughter's Spirit to transition. Not only is Sally Hawkins a phenomenal actress but they were able to recruit and bring in some stellar newer stars who will be seen as some of the future phenomenal actors on film. It did have a bit of occult involvement (in the form of 'forcing reincarnation') which I don't agree with or like to stand by but it's something that has to be seen to be understood and again I like how they fused all three of those concepts together spiritual, physical and mental grief. Excellent job team.
Here we have an Alfred Hitchcock banger and it was absolutely terrifying when it came out. I am actually very shocked that this film did not win an Oscar and I will have to yet again put a bit of shame on the Oscars for not recognizing horror films in a serious capacity other than best score. There are a lot of horror films that exist from the past and in the present that absolutely deserve either best picture, best actress or best actor or even best director and psycho is certainly one of those films. This film is almost one of the purest forms of psychological horror in the sense that you meet a stranger whom you were hoping to seek refuge from that ends up being a complete psychopath and not only kills you but everyone around him including his own mother. The house from this film is one of the most iconic visions from a horror film and anytime you visit the universal lot in Hollywood it is one of the focal points for your attention. The acting in this film is phenomenal and chilling the story itself is just incredibly interesting and alluring and again like any other psychological Thriller it truly allows the audience to ask themselves: "What would I do if I were in this situation in real life?"
7. Psycho
6. Us
Jordan Peele shows up many times in many different categories throughout my site and there is a very good reason for that. The film 'Us' is a reflection of why I repeatedly pick him to display some of the horrors that go on in my own mind. Not only does Us end in a way that I likely would have written a movie like this but it was an insanely original concept, something that I always crave when I watch films. Jordan Peele has proven himself to be one of if not the top frontrunners when it comes to original stories and highlighting exquisite black actors to tell those stories. Us was an absolute fun ride psychologically to watch and taking it a step further, it was an even funner experience to see all of his films fused together for Halloween Horror Nights a few years back. I hope he continues to forge a path for original horror thinkers.
5. The Birds
Alfred Hitchcock is one of the original Kings of Horror and has no shortage of hit films to draw from in order to really mess with the mind. One of his most iconic films absolutely made my list for top psychological horror with the birds. This film is the true essence of black and white classic 'woman goes to a town to find something and ends up coming back a completely different person' and I believe that Hitchcock drew the inspiration from this film from an actual real life situation that happened with a group of birds in a beach town. I feel like psychological horror takes it up a notch when you feel like these things could actually happen to you: that is the true meaning of psychological horror. After watching this film people were terrified to go to the beach not only because of the birds but also because of what Steven Spielberg did with the sharks in 'Jaws'. Many of the films on this list deal with reality and what's more horrifying than reality?
4. Get Out
This one has to be one of the most controversial movies that's come out in the most recent years and it deals with a subject that could make a lot of people uncomfortable which is interracial dating. This movie chooses to highlight black and white however interracial dating as we all know can span many different colors and cultures. The cultural difference between two people who are not of the same race can in itself be a psychological nightmare if you are not with a person for the right reasons. I feel like this film highlights some of the more predatory motives that can occur between the two races. I don't want to dive too deep into how deep this film is because again it can be a very sensitive subject and you have to be very careful how you talk about these types of films. This one is a highly sensitive psychological Thriller that is going to mess with probably 90% of the people that watch it especially if you are an interracial couple so watch with caution!
For this film, Stanley Kubrick was able to truly capture the concept of isolation in this psychological story. If you are not an old-school film lover, the length of this film might intimidate you, but it does what some of the best films do: it takes its time to delve into the plot. This film also contributes to psychological horror by exploring a man's responsibility to provide for his family and the toll it takes on his mind. Kubrick introduces many concepts, including isolation, responsibility, and a man's personal demons that he must confront alone, while his family watches him struggle. Above all, I think what "The Shining" gets so right by the end is not providing a complete resolution or clearly explaining how the characters end up. A better answer to that question lies with my number 2 pick, which is actually the sequel to this. Overall, the concept of this film when it was released was fantastic, and it was inspired by a real life location—the Stanley Hotel.
3. The Shining
2. Doctor Sleep
I will say it was a bit of a bold choice to choose the sequel over the iconic original but doctor sleep (to me personally) was one of the best psychological horror films to come out in the last 10 years. I'm a little biased because one of my favorite horror directors did this film, Mike Flanagan, but it just seems if you watch any of his films or TV shows (more so his TV shows) he has a mind when it comes to psychological horror that other than Stephen King I think maybe unmatched. He knows how to inject the mind with such vision and emotion and meaning that by the time you realize what he's trying to tell you, you are already finding yourself wanting to watch 10 more projects that he has created. To be able to successfully carry the weight of The Shining and have your film arguably be better or on par with the iconic original is definitely one of the most difficult tasks that a director could take on. Danny Torrences' fight with his demons from his past, his sobriety and being able to help a fellow shiner who has actually become more powerful than him is something that I did not know I needed to see on screen until I saw it. The actress who plays Abra (Kyleigh Curran) and the main villain (Rebecca Ferguson) is just the type of diabolical anti-chemistry that is very rare to see on film and I feel like every single player in this film brought more than their A game. Psychologically, I don't think one could have asked for a more perfect potion of a film. The film exceeded my expectation and as a fan of the original put me in disbelief that a sequel could be even greater.
1. Rosemary's Baby / Mary
I always feel so morally conflicted when I say how much I love Rosemary's Baby and I obviously don't mean it in an evil way but more so informative. Make no mistake that this film is on the level with some of my previous picks including The Exorcist and The Omen when it comes to religious and/or divine cautious viewing. This film takes place in such a cool setting which is an actual building today 'The Dakota' and it deals with a young couple trying to have a child and the forces that intervene while this is taking place. How to describe Roman Polanski? I don't know if the word would be famous or inFAMOUS for his creation of this masterpiece and it's sad that there were consequences in his actual life for releasing this film or I should say for his involvement in this film. If you do the research on all of the negative things that happened to different people who were involved in this film, that in itself becomes the psychological nightmare. That is why I always stress spiritual protection against films like this but it is important as I always say to be aware of what films like this are trying to tell you and or show you. As you all know I am never allowed to promote or add a film like this to my roster without another add-on of protection from the good side of life and for that I have recruited the film 'Mary' from Netflix. I think it's safe to say that these two are the exact same yet polar opposite versions of the birth of the child of Satan and the birth of the child of God I urge for you to watch Mary after watching Rosemary's Baby to cleanse the spiritual palette and to rebalance Your Inner Harmony.