Psychological horror movies and TV shows are an assault on our hearts and minds. This subgenre of horror purposefully messes with what’s inside us, making us feel uneasy and outside of the norm. But there’s so much more to this genre than just upsetting people.
These kinds of movies and TV shows are about human nature. Often, they tackle social problems and societal negligence. Psychological scary movies can be deep, they can be profound, and they have a lot more to say.
Today I want to really dig into this kind of entertainment and go over the definition, examples, and how you can use the techniques and tropes in your own work.
Let’s get started.
Psychological Horror Definition
Psychological horror is a subgenre of horror. It focuses on the mental, emotional, and psychological states of a human being, often deconstructing their situations to frighten, disturb, or unsettle the audience.
While this often overlaps with psychological thrillers, psychological horror films and TV shows are intent on disturbing us to enhance the suspense, drama, action, and paranoia of the story.
The characters in these stories can be unstable, unreliable, or disturbed.
It’s also known as cerebral horror or surreal horror, depending on the nature of the plot.
What Sets This Apart from a Psychological Thriller?
A thriller is generally all psychological and requires thought and explanation as to what happens within the film—there needs to be logic present. So the psychological thriller definition is a movie that can be explained with logic and motive but one that relies on scary situations, like Zodiac.
A horror film has blood and gore with careless actions of violence.
So what is the horror vs. psychological thriller argument? Really, it’s just semantics when clarifying a genre.
When you mash up what we defined, you get psychological horror, which has all the gore and violence with complex explanations and paranoia.
‘Psycho’Credit: Paramount Pictures
The Tropes of Psychological Horror
Most of these stories are built on existential dread or worry. There’s often the threat of madness and the exploration of the mind.
There’s creepy things happening and often subtle details or clues. But there are specific tropes we often see in these kinds of stories.
- Unreliable Narrator:
The audience is left questioning the sanity and perception of the protagonist, blurring the lines between reality and delusion. This creates a sense of paranoia and distrust, leaving the viewer unsure of what to believe.
- Isolation and Confinement:
Characters are often physically or emotionally isolated, trapped in a confined space, or cut off from the outside world. This heightens their vulnerability and creates a feeling of claustrophobia and helplessness.
- Gaslighting and Manipulation:
Characters are manipulated into doubting their own sanity, memories, or perceptions. This creates a sense of confusion and disorientation, leaving the viewer questioning the reality of the situation.
- Descent into Madness:
The protagonist gradually loses their grip on reality, succumbing to paranoia, hallucinations, or delusions. This creates a sense of dread and inevitability, as the viewer witnesses the character’s mental and emotional breakdown.
- The Uncanny:
Familiar objects or situations are presented in a disturbing or unsettling way, creating a sense of unease and disorientation. This taps into our primal fears of the unknown and the unsettling.
- Ambiguous Endings:
The story concludes without providing a clear resolution or explanation, leaving the viewer to grapple with the implications and unanswered questions. This creates a lingering sense of unease and allows the horror to continue long after the story has ended.
These are just a few of the common tropes found in psychological horror. By tapping into our deepest fears and anxieties, these tropes create a sense of unease and dread that stays with the viewer long after the story has ended.
‘Ravenous’Credit: 20th Century Fox
Examples of Psychological Horror Movies and TV Shows
Now that you understand some of the ideas behind the genre, let’s look at a few examples of the best psychological horror movies and TV shows.
Psychological horror films frighten or unsettle by relying on the imagination and/or the anticipation of a threat.
Some of the scariest psychological horror and movie TV shows are ones like Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. On TV, shoes like Castle Rock or The Twilight Zone play off the audience’s understanding of fear.
Castle Rock was marketed as an amalgamation of Stephen King’s stories meant to terrify us. And The Twilight Zone became synonymous with creepy happenings week in and out.
‘Rosemary’s Baby’Credit: Paramount Pictures
This name-brand marketing played into the popularity of psychological horror.
As I mentioned in the opening, psychological horror asks us to deal with societal issues as well. Think about movies like Get Out or even Unsane.
Get Out confronted suburban racism head-on, and Unsane took on greedy medical companies looking to bill insurance.
The point is, psychological horror plays a lot into the fear of the “other.”
What Are the Best Psychological Horror Movies and TV Shows?
The best psychologically disturbing movies and TV shows understand the tenets of the subgenre and how to manipulate and exploit them to control the audience.
Think about The Silence of the Lambs. It’s kind of the perfect example. It’s a movie about sexism, fear, and the search for a killer so horrific that the audience is scared to imagine him. That impending doom of who Buffalo Bill could be drives the story and the scares within it.
Clarice Starling is a protagonist who is haunted by her past and the death of her father. Hannibal Lecter is her foil, who she has to work with to overcome her own inadequacies as well as thwart later.
It really boils down everything this genre can be and more.
‘The Silence of the Lambs’Credit: Orion Pictures
Psychological Horror Anime
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention anime within this article. Its focus on stories geared toward adults lets it branch out into multiple genres and storylines. One of the most popular is anime horror, and of course, psychological horror plays a huge factor here.
Shows like Code Glass on Netflix or Psycho Pass on Hulu thrive within the tropes listed above. They follow characters with deep issues and pack in all the blood and gore you expect from live-action films, if not more.
While anime is not my strong suit, I’d love to see more suggestions for these examples in the comments.
Writing Psychological Horror Movies and TV Shows
When it comes to approaching psychological horror from the writing perspective, you should start the same way you start anything else. With an idea.
Once you have your idea for the film, build the characters.
Who inhabits this world?
For this particular genre, I would advise also figuring out what’s haunting this person. What’s the real problem they have underneath the surface that they want to face?
Then begin worldbuilding. What kind of place do these characters reside in? Is this a mental hospital or a secluded cabin or one of the many other locales where psychological horror happens? The sky is the limit, and you can always incorporate other genres to make it easier.
After that, think about how you you want to attack the points in your story.
The Psychological Horror Screenplay Outline
The following beats can help you structure your psychological horror story.
1. Unraveling The Terror—Do you have an opening scare that defines the movie?
What are we dealing with inside this story? Set up the kind of psychological horror right away.
2. The Entry Point—Who will be involved in these terrifying escapades and what are they dealing with?
In a movie like Get Out, it’s the series of scenes where we meet our lead, his friends, and understand where they are going.
3. Before It Goes to Shit—What’s a normal day look like in this world?
Think about the way the family gets by in Amityville Horror before the dad begins to spin out.
4. The Horror Sets In—What horrific thing sets our characters off on their journey?
Nothing is worse than realizing the Devil may have impregnated you with the Antichrist, like in Rosemary’s Baby.
5. The Uneasy Path—Everyone is together. What keeps them moving this way?
In something like The Ring, it’s the reason why they deal with the monster at hand. What do they have to gain? Well, they have to, or they will die.
6. Walking Over Broken Glass—How do our heroes deal with the problems as they go?
In the Saw franchise, this is how people try to get out of the sick traps and hunt Jigsaw.
7. Through The Dark Cave—Do you have a B story? Set that story off on its own now too.
B-stories, like the marital tension in The Happening, are great scenes to juxtapose against the horror at hand.
8. Reassess the Terror—You’re in the middle. Is there another way to get out alive?
In Silence of the Lambs, maybe you have to make a deal with Hannibal Lecter to get ahead.
9. People are Going to Die—Things begin to fall apart. Let the body count rise and show how they deal with it.
In psychological horror, this is where the paranoia comes out and the danger evolves.
10. The Fall—The worst thing happens, something so bad you don’t think you can get up.
In a horror movie like The Mist, it’s when they are forced outside and surrounded by the actual mist.
11. The Hidden Clue—What do your characters discover that they never saw before?
Is there a way out? Something they never realized, like in the Sixth Sense when David realizes he’s a ghost.
12. Race To the Final (Girl)—They’re up and running no matter what. They can make it!
This is the series of scenes that carry us toward your thrilling finale. In Alien, it’s when Ripley is confronted and has to think fast.
13. The Moment of Relief—Did they make it out alive? Has life returned to normal?
What does their day feel like with the problem corrected? Think about when The Invisible Man strikes back at the end and we see how the days look now…
14. Where We Go From Here?—Show us the world in a new light, hint what’s next. Maybe the killer or monster returns for one final scare!
In every horror movie, it feels like there’s one last scare. Like in I Still Know What you did Last Summer when it turns out the hook-handed man is under the bed!
Summing Up Psychological Horror Movies and TV
Movies and TV shows that mess with your head will always be popular. There are all kinds of ways to frighten an audience, and what this genre proves is you can attack people inside and out.
The best kinds of these movies and shows play off the audience’s inherent empathy, but use it against us as well. You can drag an audience down into the pits of a disturbed mind, but only if you have a vision, precision, and a willingness to put your characters through absolute hell.
So go out and rent stuff like Jacob’s Ladder, We Need to Talk About Kevin, and The Killing of a Sacred Deer.
Learn from the masters, and create your masterpiece.
I can’t wait to see what you come up with and I am excited to read the comments. There’s a ton of discourse to be had.
Author: Jason Hellerman
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
