12 New Psychological Thrillers That Can Fill Your Blood With Adrenaline

5 years ago

When it seems that all the best thrillers have already been watched and there are no more good movies in your favorite genre, it means that it’s time for you to read our new compilation! These movies will let your travel to India, feel shaken from terrorist attacks, visit the Flannan Isles where people disappear, and venture to 19th-century England and the US in the 1970s. You can experience what it’s like to live one whole day as a 911 dispatcher or to work as a partner of a commissar investigating the disappearance of a teenager.

We at Bright Side will definitely watch every single one of these 12 psychological thrillers more than once. Many of the films were inspired by life itself, so be ready to look over your shoulder for a few days after watching them.

1. The Professor and the Madman (2018)

The movie is set in England in the middle of the 19th century. Oxford Professor James Murray is writing the first dictionary of the English language. One of the most unexpected assistants comes to help him — a mental facility patient who was convicted of killing William Minor. The leading roles are played by Sean Penn, Mel Gibson, and Natalie Dormer.

IMDb — 7.4

2. Hotel Mumbai (2018)

Just like The Professor and the Madman, Hotel Mumbai is based on a real story. The description of the terrorist attacks that happened in India in November 2008 is the baseline of the story. Groups of terrorists are found around the entire city and hold a shootout in a train station and an explosion in a cafe. They hope to make people panic, but their main goal is to get to the most expensive and seemingly safe hotel, Taj Mahal Palace. The documentary-like shots from the location make the film look even more historically accurate. According to the reviews, the movie keeps you on the edge of your seat for a duration of 2 hours.

IMDb — 7.8

3. Glass (2019)

We know the characters of this thriller from previous movies created by M. Night Shyamalan — Unbreakable and Split. But this time, the characters of James McAvoy, Samuel L. Jackson, and Bruce Willis are in a psychiatric facility. When a person with multiple personality disorder, an almost invincible superhero, and an evil genius with a disease that makes his bones extremely fragile are in one enclosed space, things become far from boring. And with a talented director and very interesting colors, this movie is incredibly gripping.

IMDb — 6.8

4. The Guilty (2018)

Policeman Holm is suspended from his job and waiting for the court’s verdict. For the time being, he is assigned to desk duty in a police dispatch center. Right now, he is trying to help a woman who was kidnapped by her own ex-husband. They have to speak carefully — the kidnapper is always around but shouldn’t suspect anything. The story develops almost in real-time: everything happens in one evening, in one room.

IMDb — 7.5

5. Greta (2018)

The film is based on a classic thriller story: a young girl from a small town gets lured into a trap of a seemingly nice old woman who turns out to be a maniac. But in this story, which seems to be extremely cliched, there’s a puzzle that’s not as easy to crack.

According to critics, these are some of the best performances by actresses Chloë Grace Moretz and Isabelle Huppert.

IMDb — 6.1

6. Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)

Zac Efron is doing the usual: making women fall in love with him and almost becoming a husband. He owns a house, a car, a dog, and is a vicious serial killer...wait, what?

The character is based on a real person, Theodore Bundy, who committed crimes in different US states throughout the 1970s. But this time, we see the maniac’s story through the eyes of a woman that loves him.

IMDb — 6.7

7. Durante la Tormenta (2018)

This Spanish movie is filmed as a sci-fi thriller. The film is based on a time loop: the main character goes into the past and changes her present. Now, she’s no longer a nurse but rather, the lead surgeon, she doesn’t know her husband, and she never gave birth to her daughter. And this is just the beginning of this really complicated story and deep psychological drama.

IMDb — 7.5

8. Unsane (2018)

There’s an important social conflict at the core of this film and very few movies actually touch on this problem. Can you blindly trust official medicine if you’re in a psychiatric facility? Is the character really insane or should the doctors believe her? The director, Steven Soderbergh who’s notorious for experimenting, filmed the entire thing on an iPhone: 4K-resolution which allowed him to really get a great picture.

IMDb — 6.4

9. American Hangman (2019)

The opening scenes are very reminiscent of Saw. One of the characters says to the other, “Have you not seen the film where a guy cut off his own leg?” They’re looking for the answers to the same questions as James Wan’s characters like why are they locked in a basement? What puzzle are they supposed to crack? Who is John Kramer’s follower?

IMDb — 5.8

10. Black Tide (2017)

This is a noir detective story about a detective, Vincent Cassel, who is investigating the disappearance of a 16-year-old teenager. The broken-down man still has his magic touch and has even managed to raise his own son while working. Many people thought that this character was director Erick Zonca’s alter-ego who was tired of producing unsuccessful work. However, this movie is somewhat of a new start for this director.

IMDb — 6.2

11. Journal 64 (2018)

This is the fourth episode of the detective series about Carl Mørck. People who love Scandinavian noir movies enjoyed The Keeper of Lost Causes and every episode had very high ratings. This time, an investigation of an old crime leads the detective and his partner to go to an island where there’s a psychiatric facility for women that looks like a prison. While working, the characters talk about more general problems like global overpopulation, everyone’s right to life, and even matters concerning being a maniac.

IMDb — 7.4

12. The Vanishing (2018)

This film describes the real story about how in the year 1900, 3 lighthouse keepers vanished. Even today, what exactly happened is still unknown. The director offers his own explanation that doesn’t involve any aliens.