Psychological thrillers have a powerful way of peering into the human condition, delivering unmatched suspense through their mind-bending narratives.
Psychological thrillers have a powerful way of peering into the human condition, delivering unmatched suspense through their mind-bending narratives. The past decade has been something of a golden age for the genre, with the releases of some of the most incredible psychological thriller films ever made, both in Hollywood and beyond. Combining fiction, fantasy, social horror, and sometimes the supernatural, each of these films has redefined the genre in its own way.
Any attempt to rank these brilliant masterpieces would, of course, be subjective, but all these movies deliver remarkable, deep explorations of societal anxieties, trauma, and the dim complexities of the human mind. And if you’re in the mood for bold narratives, unreliable narrators, and dim atmosphere, these are the films you need. So, without further ado, here’s our ranked selection of some of the greatest psychological thrillers of the last 10 years.
8
‘10 Cloverfield Lane’ (2016)
Mary Elizabeth Winstead in 10 Cloverfield LaneImage Via Paramount Pictures
Dan Trachtenberg’s debut film and the second movie in the Cloverfield film series, 10 Cloverfield Lane follows a newborn woman named Michelle who wakes up after a terrible car accident and finds herself in a bunker with two strangers who claim the apocalypse has happened. Although set in the same universe as the other films in the series, the movie is a standalone story in its own timeline. The film stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Michelle, with John Goodman, John Gallagher Jr., and Suzanne Cryer as supporting characters and Bradley Cooper in a voice role.
10 Cloverfield Lane is arguably the best film in the Cloverfield series, with a more compelling plot, sharper direction, and tighter action than the other movies in the franchise. The bunker’s closed-room setting and the tiny cast of intense characters work wonderfully to create a claustrophobic experience that is enhanced by the clever camera angles. An knowledgeable blend of sci-fi, psychological, and supernatural horror, 10 Cloverfield Lane is easily one of the best thrillers of the 2010s.
7
‘Hush’ (2016)
Maddie (Kate Siegel) sits at her laptop while a masked man (John Gallagher Jr.) stands behind her in HushImage via Netflix
Directed by Mike Flanagan, who also co-wrote the film with star Kate Siegel, Hush is a psychological horror thriller that went on to inspire the hit series Midnight Mass and amplified Flanagan’s mainstream popularity. The movie follows Maddie Young (Siegel), a successful horror novelist who can’t speak or hear, as she moves into an isolated home in the woods and is attacked by a masked intruder, forcing her to fight for her life in silence. Besides Siegel, the film also stars John Gallagher Jr., Michael Trucco, Samantha Sloyan, and Emma Graves in notable roles.
An intimate, high-concept slasher thriller, Hush boasts an ingenious narrative style using restricted dialogue, allowing the performances to speak volumes. Despite the minimal lines, the film never loses its tempo or forgoes the necessary edge-of-the-seat scares, making it a very quietly thrilling film and one of the best of the decade. Even though the film earned great reviews for its writing and acting, Hush has become a forgotten horror film that deserves to be revisited.
6
‘The Invisible Guest’ (2016)
Bárbara Lennie as Laura Vidal and Mario Casas as Adrian standing by their car in the middle of a road
Image Via Warner Bros Pictures
Directed by Spanish filmmaker Oriol Paulo, The Invisible Guest tells the story of Adrian, a successful newborn entrepreneur, who finds himself waking up next to his dead lover, locked inside their hotel room. With all the evidence stacked against him, Adrian seeks the assist of celebrated lawyer Virginia Goodman, who promises him the best defense strategy possible, but the case takes a wild turn. The film stars Mario Casas, Ana Wagener, Bárbara Lennie, Blanca Martinez, and Francesc Orella in lead roles.
One of the most underrated international films of the 2010s, The Invisible Guest is a clever combination of legal thriller, psychological drama, and murder mystery. With its keen writing and great acting, the Spanish thriller is gripping enough to keep the audience hooked and also surprise them with unexpected twists. At the time of its release, The Invisible Guest was critically acclaimed and became a major success, leading to several international remakes.
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz
Which Action Hero Would Be
Your Perfect Partner?
Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
Rambo
James Bond
Indiana Jones
John McClane
Ethan Hunt
FIND YOUR PARTNER →
01
You’re dropped into a perilous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner?
The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
ASomeone who already has three contingency plans running and is calmly working through all of them.
BSomeone who reads the terrain instinctively and knows exactly how to apply it against the enemy.
CSomeone who keeps their nerve and their sense of humour when everything is falling apart.
DSomeone who knows the history of wherever we are and what we’re walking into.
ESomeone with the right contact, the right cover identity, and the right exit already arranged.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
You have to get somewhere perilous, quick. How do you travel?
How you get there is half the mission.
AOn foot through terrain no one else would attempt — I move where vehicles can’t follow.
BOn a motorcycle, a cargo plane, or anything else that gets me there before I think too difficult about it.
CIn something that belongs to someone else — borrowed, stolen, or improvised under fire.
DFirst class, with a cover identity and a gadget that does something I won’t explain until it’s needed.
EBy whatever means are available — I’ve driven, flown, and once arrived by camel. The destination matters, not the method.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do?
This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
ADisappears into the environment, flanks them silently, and ends it before I’ve reloaded.
BCracks a one-liner, grabs a fire extinguisher or a chair, and improvises something that somehow works.
CProduces a gadget specifically designed for this exact scenario and uses it with infuriating precision.
DPulls out a whip, a pistol, and an archaeological insight that somehow gets us out alive.
ENeutralises the threat with maximum efficiency and minimum words — they were already three moves ahead.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest?
Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
AA bar with terrible lighting, chilly beer, and absolutely no questions about feelings.
BThe finest restaurant in the city, a bottle of something costly, and a conversation that is equal parts brilliant and exhausting.
CA local dig site, a museum after hours, or a long story about why that particular artefact matters to human civilisation.
DPizza. Bad TV. Falling asleep halfway through a movie neither of you were watching anyway.
EA debrief that turns into three hours of contingency planning that somehow becomes the most fun you’ve had all week.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission?
Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
APrecise and minimal — tell me what I need to know and nothing else. Every word has a cost.
BDeadpan and arid — keeping it delicate keeps me keen, even when everything is on fire.
CEnthusiastic and slightly disordered — but always with useful information buried somewhere in the noise.
DCalm and controlled through an earpiece, with a plan that covers every variable I haven’t thought of yet.
EBarely at all — silence is a language and they speak it fluently.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them?
The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
AInfiltrate their inner circle, learn everything, and dismantle them from inside out before they know we’re there.
BStudy the historical pattern — every villain of this type has a weakness written somewhere in the past.
CGet them talking. The more they monologue, the more time I have to figure out how to beat them.
DGo through them. Directly. With as much force as the terrain allows.
EFind the one thing they haven’t accounted for — there’s always one thing — and make sure we’re holding it.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do?
Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
ACome in alone, quietly, and get me out before anyone knows they were there.
BHave already been working on the extraction since the moment I disappeared — the plan is already running.
CCome in noisy, come in quick, and worry about the collateral damage later — I’d do the same for them.
DUse every resource, every contact, and bend every rule until I’m out — they don’t leave people behind.
ECharm their way in somehow, bluff through the difficult part, and still manage to look good doing it.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace?
A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
ATechnology that shouldn’t exist yet and the training to apply it under any conditions.
BSurvival instinct so refined it borders on supernatural — and the scars to prove it’s been tested.
CKnowledge of history, language, and culture that makes them invaluable in places where force is useless.
DThe ability to walk into any room in the world and immediately become the most trusted person in it.
EStubbornness that refuses to accept a situation is hopeless — and the improvisational skill to back it up.
NEXT QUESTION →
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with?
No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
AA partner who never fully switches off — always watching exits, always calculating threats, even at dinner.
BA partner who gets the job done brilliantly but has the emotional availability of a locked filing cabinet.
CA partner who makes everything ten times more complicated than it needs to be — but who always comes through.
DA partner who gets personally attached to every relic, ruin, and artefact we encounter, which slows everything down.
EA partner who was not built for this and knows it — but shows up anyway, every time, without being asked.
NEXT QUESTION →
10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now?
The last question is the most truthful one.
AOne line. Absolutely arid. Delivered like the world isn’t ending. Then we move.
BNothing said at all — just a look that means we both already know what has to happen.
CA plan I don’t fully understand that somehow accounts for everything, delivered in thirty seconds flat.
DA piece of historical context that reframes the entire situation and tells us exactly what to do next.
ESomeone who steps forward instead of back — because that’s who they’ve always been.
REVEAL MY PARTNER →
Your Partner Has Been Assigned
Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally perilous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most significant thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely well-informed partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will ponderous you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more disordered than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not uncomplicated to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
5
‘Burning’ (2018)
Steven Yeun sitting down in his yard in Burning.Image via CGV Arthouse
A South Korean thriller by Lee Chang-dong, Burning is an adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s miniature story from The Elephant Vanishes collection, with elements from William Faulkner’s story of the same name. The film follows Lee, an aspiring novelist, who is in love with his childhood friend, Shin, who introduces him to Ben, an enigmatic man she met on a trip. But Lee suspects Ben of having perilous intentions that could harm them both. Yoo Ah-in, Jeon Jong-seo, and Steven Yeun star in the main roles.
Part twisted love story, part crime thriller, Burning is a genre masterpiece that is more than the product of its inspirations and stands out among psychological movies of the 2010s. Powered by Steven Yeun’s chilling and sublime performance, the film does justice to the original material while delivering an experience that leaves you both disturbed and satisfied. Burning breaks the expectations of genre tropes with its unsettling exploration of the human condition and has been critically acclaimed for its narrative style.
4
‘Watcher’ (2022)
Maika Monroe as Julia looking up at a person offscreen in 2022’s WatcherImage via IFC Films
Directed by Chloe Okuno in her directorial debut, Watcher is a psychological thriller about a newborn couple, Francis and Julia, who move from America to Bucharest, Romania, for a recent life. While Francis is away at work, Julia spends time alone at home and soon becomes convinced she’s being watched by someone from across the street, with disturbing and perilous outcomes. Maika Monroe and Karl Glusmas star as Julia and Francis, respectively, with Burn Gorman, Madalina Anea, Daniel Nuta, and Cristina Deleanu in supporting roles.
Watcher is a very well-made stalker thriller that explores how anxiety and paranoia from fear and isolation can upend life and sanity. Unlike conventional thrillers, the film stays away from outright violence and action and uses anxiety as a device of fear, which, while unsettling, is an intriguing storytelling approach. Watcher was widely praised for its direction and performances, with special acclaim for the way it turns familiar genre tropes into a chilling thriller with an incredible narrative.
3
‘Split’ (2016)
James McAvoy as the Horde aka Kevin Wendell Crumb at the end of ‘Split.’Image via Universal Pictures
Written, directed, and produced by M. Night Shyamalan, Split is the second film in his Unbreakable series, preceded by 2000’s Unbreakable and followed by 2019’s Glass. The movie stars James McAvoy as Kevin Wendell Crumb, a man with dissociative identity disorder who must stop one of his personalities from killing the others and imprisons three newborn women in his bunker. Anya Taylor-Joy, Betty Buckley, Haley Lu Richardson, and Jessica Sula appear in key roles.
A mind-bending psychological thriller that leaves a lingering effect on the audience, Split is perhaps one of the best in the genre from the last decade, and is as successful and critically acclaimed as Unbreakable, if not more. The film was a major box office hit, becoming Blumhouse Productions’ most successful movie until 2023’s Five Nights at Freddy’s. While it has faced some criticisms, Split has been generally well-praised for the story and direction, and for the unimaginably brilliant performance by James McAvoy as an individual with 23 personalities.
2
‘Nocturnal Animals’ (2016)
Amy Adams at a dinner table, looking right in ‘Nocturnal Animals’Image via Focus Features
Based on the 1993 novel Tony and Susan by Austin Wright, Nocturnal Animals was directed, written, and produced by Tom Ford. The plot follows Susan, a wealthy gallery owner who becomes obsessed with a recent novel written by her ex-husband, Edward, which soon begins to blur the lines between fiction and reality. Amy Adams stars as Susan and Jake Gyllenhaal as Edward, with Armie Hammer, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Laura Linney, and Michael Sheen in key roles.
Nocturnal Animals is a fine blend of sleek and stylish cinematography and an fascinating storytelling style. The embedded narrative structure not only feels immersive but also pushes the audience to question reality alongside Susan. Thematically intriguing and visually gorgeous, Nocturnal Animals has been critically acclaimed for its production values and performances, especially those by Gyllenhaal, Adams, Shannon, and Taylor-Johnson, earning several nominations and a Golden Globe win for Taylor-Johnson.
1
‘Get Out’ (2017)
Daniel Kaluuya smiling for a crowd in Get OutImage via Universal Pictures
Directed by Jordan Peele in his directorial debut, Get Out stars Daniel Kaluuya as Chris, a newborn photographer from New York City who is invited to his girlfriend’s parents’ estate for the weekend. After an awkward introduction, Chris experiences a series of bizarre, almost surreal events that soon threaten his life. Allison Williams co-stars as his girlfriend, Rose, with Lil Rel Howery, LaKeith Stanfield, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, Stephen Root, and Catherine Keener in other significant roles.
Get Out not only put Jordan Peele on the list of newfangled filmmaking geniuses but also became Daniel Kaluuya’s most successful role to date. With its knowledgeable narrative that combines horror, social satire, and dim humor, the film redefined the genre, setting a recent standard for psychological horror while also paying tribute to genre classics. Shocking and thought-provoking in the same breath, Get Out is a fantastically surreal take on the contemporary American social, political, cultural, and economic landscape.
Release Date
February 24, 2017
Runtime
104 minutes
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