I try to dabble in as many different types of movies as possible to work on being a well-rounded person. But of course, like anyone else, I have my favorites. When I sat back and started to think what my top four picks would be if asked by Letterboxd, I realized how similar they were. Celebrities on red carpets go through mini interviews as they walk by, and most recently, the social networking platform Letterboxd hit gold when they transitioned their interviews to a simple question: What are your top four favorite films?
There’s a recurring trend though, almost definitely revealing that the celebrities’ picks aren’t actually theirs but instead a PR strategy to make them seem rich in culture. Many people on social media have pointed out that the four films usually fit in the same categories. One is a classic, one is foreign, another is a kids animation, and the last falls under modern indie or artsy fartsy. I’m not saying all celebrities are performative or pretentious, but there’s just a common theme I have to point out.
Limiting my film intake to only four is incomprehensible. I don’t think I’ve even seen that many movies in my life to be able to make a stacked list. However, when I go through movies that would at least be in my top 10 or 20, there’s a common theme there too. Most of my favorites are psychological thrillers. And I know I’m a little biased, but I realized that it’s because these films are downright incredible. The inevitable plot twist, character arcs, cinematography, hidden messages. I mean, come on. Chef’s kiss. Mwah.
So, what are my top four favorites you ask? That’s a secret I’ll never tell. Xoxo. I discovered that one of my favorite film genres is psychological thrillers, not horror. I had to write an essay in college that later turned into a presentation about whatever I wanted. The only rule was that it had to be related to the media and it had to explore a keyword we learned that semester through analysis. Simple, right? That’s basically what this blog is. Analyzing something media-related and holding a microscope to the messages it delivers.
My essay/presentation was about psychological thrillers in the 2010s featuring female leads through an affect and feminist lens. Affect in media studies explains how media can be a gradient of bodily capacity, meaning psychological thrillers don’t just play tricks on your mind—they influence your body (goose bumps, heart racing). I used feminist theories to show how female leads in this genre at this time endured so much more suffering than male leads or other male characters. I got an A on the project. ;)
It was through this research that I discovered my own theory: psychological thrillers are better than horror films. You don’t have to agree with me, but at least hear me out. These films, like I mentioned above, can cause feelings in your mind AND your body. That’s because the situations these characters find themselves in are more realistic than a horror film. Forget a creepy kid-killing clown, I’m more terrified of investigating a disappearance at a criminally insane hospital only to realize that I’m actually a patient, never able to escape the remote island… or my mind. Horrors often rely on supernatural forces or exaggerated threats to scare you. The chances of you having to survive in a zombie apocalypse is highly unlikely. But never zero? I don’t know… only time will tell.
Good Afternoon, Good Evening, and Good Night!
The most obvious reasoning as to why I believe thrillers are better than basic horror films is due to the story’s purpose: it’s meant to stick with you. My all-time favorite movie is The Truman Show (1998). Jim Carrey, who we all know is more familiar to the comedy genre, plays Truman Burbank, a clueless, married, middle-aged man. Truman begins to notice oddities in his town, such as seeing the same people at the same exact time every single day, heavy traffic when he tries to leave, and his wife recommending a specific type of cocoa out of the blue (Jim delivers the line “who are you TALKING to?!” beautifully).
Over time, he tests his environment—walking into a random building and seeing a fake elevator, finding a travel agent with half-done makeup when he goes into her business, and his presumed dead father suddenly reappearing after 22 years. Truman eventually finds out he’s the main character in a hit reality TV show about his life—his whole life is a lie. Fake marriage, fake dead father, fake best friend. He has never experienced privacy, never experienced real life. Every single second of every day that he lives is broadcasted to the entire world.
Imagine living for almost 30 years and discovering this information. All of your childhood memories were meticulously planned to create drama. Your biggest fears were curated to keep you in the same place. The girl you fell in love with in college didn’t move away… she was kicked off the show for trying to wake you up to reality. Your whole life is one big piece of entertainment. But at the same time, it was never your life. It belongs to some guy you never met. Some guy who lives behind the moon you see every night. Some guy who has literally stalked you since the moment you were born.
The Truman Show had such a big impact that it influenced a psychological condition. The “Truman Show delusion,” also known as Truman syndrome, is an illness in which a person believes that their life is a staged reality. It’s the exact same thing Truman went through—finding out there’s cameras everywhere capturing every moment of your life. This delusion isn’t as uncommon as you may think, though. I’ve seen many TikToks of people sharing how they’ll do something cringey like act out a music video or make a weird face and then abruptly stop, thinking there’s a hidden camera somewhere. I hate to admit that I’ve experienced this paranoia a few times. When I was little I would try to act proper around my house just in case a crush could see me.
This is why psychological thrillers are more fascinating than basic horror films. These plots stick with you—they can make you question your own life. Are we actually living life to the fullest, or are we stuck in a box, clueless as to what’s on the other side? This genre doesn’t scare you in the moment like horror. Now, don’t get me wrong. I do appreciate a good jump scare. The projector scene in IT (2017) had me looking under my bed for Pennywise before I went to sleep. But thrillers have a tendency to haunt you. They twist your perception of the world and live rent-free in your mind. In other words, they’re mentally invasive, not visually grotesque. Psychological thrillers linger.
You Give, and You Give, and You Give. It’s Just Never Enough.
I feel as though the horror genre doesn’t explore its characters, aside from the main villain, all that much. What’s the point, right? They’re going to die anyway, or they’ll survive to be in the sequel then die there. Maybe it’s just my writing-centered brain, but I find stories more enriching when the characters are thawed out. As we watch thrillers, we invade the mind of the main character. We learn who they are on the inside and how the conflict between others, the environment, and themselves affects them. Whereas in horrors, we see the outside of characters and their reaction to experiencing fear and danger.
One of the best movies I’ve ever seen is mother! (2017). And yet, I will never watch this film again. It is so gross in the best possible way. This movie is the definition of a mind-fuck; from beginning to end, you’ll question every aspect about the world and the people that live in it. Jennifer Lawrence plays a housewife to Javier Bardem’s poet. They live in a beautiful house in a rural area. But one day, an unexpected visitor shows up, and the poet invites him in. Then the visitor’s wife shows up. Then their sons. Then their friends. And then. And then. And then.
J-Law’s character — no real name, just called Mother — tries her best to be friendly and plays as host. However, behind closed doors, Mother asks Him (Bardem’s character), to stop allowing strangers into the house. Not only are the visitors making themselves at home, they’re “accidently” breaking things, constantly causing a disturbance. Mother becomes overwhelmed with the people and her husband’s constant friendliness to everyone but her.
Soon enough, Mother begins to crack. She yells at the guests to leave. Yells at Him to stop everything he’s doing. Mother is in fact a mother, and worries about the safety of her baby with the amount of destruction happening in her home. Rightfully so, she questions if she can trust anyone, including Him, to protect the baby. Locking herself and her baby in a bedroom, Mother sobs and attempts to stay awake all night to ensure that Him doesn’t take their baby into the mess that sits on the other side of the door. Unfortunately, we see Mother snap awake to find that her baby is missing, and that he’s being passed around like a rockstar crowd-surfing at a concert.
I won’t go into detail about what ends up happening, but trust me, it’s mortifying. It’s a scene I will never be able to get out of my head. I felt stressed for Mother while watching, and I feel stressed now even trying to write this. Anyways, once the credits hit the screen, I saw my own reflection on the TV. And my God, I have never seen myself so bewildered.
This film is so high on my favorites list because of the visuals and characters, but also because it’s a perfect allegory. Many people have different interpretations, but the one that made the most sense to me was how this story reflects the Bible. Mother represents Mother Earth. Him represents God. For whatever reason, God thinks he controls Mother Earth, thus allowing Adam and Eve to enter the picture. And as bizarre as it may sound, Christianity tells us to accept (more like consume) the body and blood of Jesus Christ. All the chaos that Mother ensued was meant to show how we are destroying our environment. We are taking what’s not ours and ruining it without a care.
Psychological thrillers show us not to fear monsters or ghosts, but to fear the very real sense of mental collapse. These films disturb us because they can happen, and they have happened. Mother and other characters are meant to resonate with us. A lack of control, sanity, and self is terrifying, we don’t scream because it doesn’t pop out and yell “BOO!” Instead, they develop over time until we hit a breaking point. And we can recognize ourselves in these characters’ breaking points. Far too many of us have felt so overwhelmed at some point that we snap, just like Mother did. We can put in so much effort, and it can never be enough. That’s why this genre is so compelling—it’s a reflection of us.
Now, Sink Into the Floor. Sink.
I could go on and on about this topic—providing reasons to persuade you to join my side of the argument. Through my examples of how psychological thriller stories stick with you and the characters are relatable, I’ve indirectly mentioned that this genre is more captivating than horror due to the possibility of this terror actually happening. It could happen. You could dedicate your life to ballet but become so obsessed with perfection that you begin to hallucinate and end up harming yourself without realizing. Imagine going on a vacation to Sweden with your boyfriend and his friends, only to end up drawn into a strange cult. You could join another man to be a lighthouse keeper and become trapped on the remote land, causing you to descend into madness and brutally kill a seabird.
I think people fail to forget that these things are already happening. Maybe not to you or someone you know, but there are individuals out there dealing with these issues. What we all are dealing with on a daily basis though is the systems that were built centuries before us. Ones that we cannot escape without effort from every corner. You may not directly experience these difficulties, but someone in your life is. Your cousin, your friend, your neighbor.
Psychological thrillers show us that the scariest monsters are the cultural systems, power structures and everyday cruelty that we see in our society. Get Out (2017) is a perfect demonstration of what I’m talking about. This story illustrates how racism is in our world, and it always has been. I’d say the story represents it in an extreme way, but I don’t think that’s true.
Chris, a photographer, and his girlfriend Rose have reached an important milestone in their relationship—meeting the family. Rose invites Chris to her parent’s house upstate in the middle of nowhere for the weekend. Once Chris meets the family, he notices that Rose’s family can be over-the-top. He takes this as a sign that the family is just trying to adjust to their daughter’s interracial relationship. But at a party one day, Chris sees only one other black man, and recognizes the similarities between him and a man who recently went missing in their city. When Chris takes a picture, the man’s eyes light up, his nose begins to bleed, and he yells at Chris to “Get out!”
As the weekend progresses, Chris slowly discovers the truth: his girlfriend’s family is kidnapping black people to hypnotize and perform a partial brain transplant… inserting the family’s elders’ brains in new bodies. Rose’s mother sends Chris to the Sunken Place, a dark mindset where Chris can see what’s happening to him (almost like watching a TV), but has no control over his body. We learn that this is what happened to the man at the party, Andre, and the family’s housekeeper, Georgina, and groundskeeper, Walter. This is an amazing movie and I highly suggest watching it, even if it's for the fifth time.
While this specific story may not be happening in real life—though disturbingly, maybe it is—its purpose exists all around us. Racism is alive as it has always been, and while it has been lessened over the past few decades, its flames are still burning. We may not experience segregation, but discrimination is ongoing and ruling many minds. Companies may have a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) framework set in place, but behind the scenes, they’re still picking Jack instead of Jesús for an interview. Passengers on a train choose to stand instead of sitting in an open seat next to an Asian man. Mothers hold tight onto their child’s hand when a group of women wearing a burqa, hijab, or niqab enter a store.
Horror films often depict white characters while a person of color is used just as a comedic relief or as the “first to die” trope. I don’t really understand the reasoning behind the lack of diverse characters. What makes a difference in the plot when the main character is white versus black. There are so many opportunities for Hollywood to create a film that explores a culture’s rich horror traditions if they were willing to let go of their prejudiced beliefs.
Get Out shows the disgusting truths of racism. And though it’s listed as a horror film on Google and Letterboxd, I think it’s more specific than that… yes you guessed, it’s a psychological thriller. How could it not be? They are literally invading Chris’s mind, c’mon now. But all in all, this is a story that will stick with you. It explores Chris as a character and depicts his world collapsing symbolically and psychologically. It tells us that we’re not far off from this very plot. Easily one of the best films ever made. Jordan Peele, the director/writer/producer, is so incredibly talented and all of his works are phenomenal. He deserves his flowers.
I know this week’s post is on the longer side and I promise I’m going to shut up now. But this topic means so much to me because it shows who I am as a person. I am obsessed with psychological thrillers because they’re not a “one scare and done” type of genre. They are forever. They explore the mind, our society, and the truths of the world in such a creative way. From The Truman Show, to mother!, to Get Out, and everything in between, this mind-fuck film genre is not only evocative, it’s crucial pieces of evidence that show us what we are. We are humans—beautiful, disgusting, powerful, sensitive humans. Do me a favor and add a psychological thriller to your need-to-watch list.
Written by Emily Fadako
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