Psychological thrillers blend elements of horror, drama and suspense, creating stories that can be both heart-stopping and captivating.
Whether you’re getting inside the head of a criminal like in Joker or tracking down a real-life serial killer like in Boston Strangler, psychological thrillers can offer up gripping stories — all from the safety of your home.
Between the major streaming platforms — including Netflix, Hulu, Max, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+, Peacock and Apple TV+ — viewers have tons of choices for a psychological thrill: some lean toward horror, others are heart-wrenching dramas and some have more twists and turns than a long-running soap opera.
Here’s your guide to the best psychological thrillers streaming right now.
Netflix
Ripley
Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley has seen many iterations on screen, this black-and-white eight-episode series stands out as “possibly the finest version yet.” Andrew Scott steps into the lead as the titular N.Y.C. grifter, who is assigned to bring back the Italy-bound Dickie (Johnny Flynn) to the States — only to find himself hypnotized by the allure of Dickie’s opulent world.
Fair Play
Financial analysts Emily Meyers (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke Edmunds (Alden Ehrenreich) find themselves in a hidden romance within their shared workplace: a high-pressure Manhattan hedge fund office. However, when Emily secures a promotion that Luke coveted, their relationship is strained to its limits.
Gerald’s Game
In this Mike Flanagan-directed psychological horror adapted from a Stephen King novel, Jessie (Carla Gugino) and Gerald Burlingame (Bruce Greenwood) travel to a secluded Alabama lake house to reignite the spark in their marriage. However, when their foreplay takes a fatal turn with Gerald’s sudden death, Jessie — shackled to the bed without a key — has to summon every ounce of strength to survive, all while dealing with her inner demons.
Watch Gerald’s Game on Netflix
The Watcher
Released as a miniseries in 2022 — though picked up for a second season — and loosely based on a true story in New Jersey, The Watcher follows a family after they move into their dream home, only to discover they’re being stalked. But it’s unclear who the culprit is … or if the family is lying. The series had a fantastic cast, including Naomi Watts, Bobby Cannavale, Jennifer Coolidge and Mia Farrow.
Missing
Missing (2023) is a standalone sequel to the 2018 hit Searching. In the film, a daughter (Euphoria’s Storm Reid) searches for her mother after she fails to return from a vacation to South America. The entire movie is shown through laptops, phones and security footage, and it’s never clear who the audience can trust.
1922
Based on Stephen King’s novella of the same name, Netflix’s 1922 is a mix of psychological horror and drama. In the film, Wilf (Thomas Jane) convinces his son to help murder his wife after hearing she wants to sell their family farm and move to the city. After the murder, Wilf’s life crumbles under his own guilt and the trauma of his actions, leaving audiences to wonder if he’s still a villain … or now a victim.
Apple TV+
Presumed Innocent
Following a tragic accident aboard the International Space Station that kills one astronaut, Swedish space flyer Johanna “Jo” Ericsson (Noomi Rapace) returns to Earth with the body of her dead crewmate. However, during her homecoming, Jo discovers unsettling discrepancies in her life — with some aspects not aligning with her memories.
Watch Constellation on Apple TV+
Hulu
Femme
After a brutal homophobic attack leaves drag queen Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) with shattered confidence, the now-careerless artist stumbles upon one of his attackers (George MacKay) in a gay bathhouse. Unrecognizable out of drag, Jules gets the chance to approach him discreetly and pursues a relationship with him to get sweet revenge.
Eileen
In this 2023 psychological thriller based on Ottessa Moshfegh’s book of the same name, Anne Hathaway stars as Rebecca — the mysterious, cigarette-smoking psychologist who begins to mentor her fellow employee Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie). As they both grow closer while working at a prison in 1960s Massachusetts, their unique relationship sends Eileen into a dark and twisted spiral.
The Royal Hotel
When their backpacking funds run dry in Australia, American best friends Hanna (Julia Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) secure a temporary bartending gig at the Royal Hotel, a pub in a secluded outback mining town. Despite attempts by the bar owner and locals to immerse them in Aussie drinking traditions, Hanna and Liv face unsettling encounters with predatory male customers.
Smile
After Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) witnesses one of her patients kill herself with an eerie grin, possessed by a soul-snatching spirit, she finds herself in the same inexplicable ordeal she was warned about. Battling disbelief from those around her, Rose fights to avoid the same fate and confronts her traumatic past to ensure her survival.
Clock
In 2023’s Clock, Dianna Agron plays Ella Patel, whose family and friends convince her to have a child before she gets too old. Unable to become pregnant, Ella undergoes an experimental procedure that produces horrible hallucinations and volatile behavior. Throughout the film, Ella must grapple with the pressures that society and her religion place on women to be nothing more than mothers.
Boston Strangler
The unbelievable true story of the Boston Strangler case is chronicled in Hulu’s 2023 film starring Keira Knightley. Knightley plays journalist Loretta McLaughlin, who is desperately trying to track down the person responsible for 13 murders in just a decade. But with unreliable informants, potential accomplices and the possibility of copycat killings, audiences are left guessing until the very end.
Watch Boston Strangler on Hulu
Run
In Run (2020), Chloe is a teenager who uses a wheelchair as a result of her numerous health ailments. After she discovers a dark secret about her own past, Chloe learns just how much of her life has been controlled and ruined by her manipulative mother (Sarah Paulson), who refuses to let her go.
Candy
In 1980, Candy Montgomery (Jessica Biel) was accused of killing her best friend, Betty Gore (Melanie Lynskey), by striking her with an ax 41 times. Montgomery claims it was self-defense, but the evidence proves otherwise. Hulu’s miniseries takes viewers inside Montgomery’s mind to explain why and how she might have killed her best friend.
The Clearing
In the 2023 miniseries The Clearing, a woman tries to stop a cult from killing a missing girl, but to do so, she must confront her inner demons and examine her own upbringing in a cult. The series is loaded with suspense and puts a psychological twist on the crime thriller genre. Leading the cast are Teresa Palmer, Miranda Otto and Guy Pearce.
Amazon Prime Video
Saltburn
Igniting social media trends, viral candle scents and frequent mentions at awards shows, the name Saltburn has likely crossed your path — but consider this as a sign to finally press play. Emerald Fennell’s deliciously disturbing thriller takes audiences on a sun-drenched yet disorienting vacation to the king-size estate of Saltburn, where Oxford student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) finds himself drawn into the orbit of Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi) and his vibrant, eccentric family.
Watch Saltburn on Amazon Prime Video
The Invisible Man
Adapted from the classic H.G. Wells short story of the same name, The Invisible Man (2020) is a traditional thriller with a few major twists. With a suit that allows the wearer to become invisible, scientist Adrian Griffin uses the technology to terrorize his ex, Cecilia (Elisabeth Moss). To get her life back, Cecilia must find out who is stalking her and how to stop them.
Watch The Invisible Man on Amazon Prime Video
Dead Ringers
In a gender-swapped reimagining of the iconic 1988 film led by Jeremy Irons, Rachel Weisz takes the reins as brilliant twin gynecologists, Beverly and Elliot Mantle. With ambitions to revolutionize women’s healthcare through a pioneering birthing center, their journey spirals into a haze of drug-induced malpractice and ethical gray areas while on the clock.
Watch Dead Ringers on Amazon Prime Video
Homecoming
In season 1 of Homecoming, the Homecoming Transitional Support Center offers a place for soldiers with PTSD to heal and readjust to the civilian world. But in helping these soldiers, the facility has another, darker goal, unbeknownst to its patients. Julia Roberts leads a fantastic cast that includes Dermot Mulroney, Stephan James and Sissy Spacek.
Watch Homecoming on Amazon Prime Video
Black Box
After surviving a deadly car accident, a widower (Mamoudou Athie) receives an experimental treatment meant to bring back memories and improve his concentration. But the procedure is not what he expected, and everything he believes to be real is turned upside down. The film premiered in 2020 as part of Prime Video’s Welcome to the Blumhouse anthology film series.
Watch Black Box on Amazon Prime Video
Max
I Saw the TV Glow
In 1996, suburban teens Owen (Justice Smith) and Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) bond over their shared obsession with the eerie late-night TV show The Pink Opaque, which reveals a hidden supernatural world beneath theirs and leads them to question everything they thought they knew Directed by Jane Schoenbrun and produced by Emma Stone, I Saw the TV Glow uses the horror genre to explore queer identity and self-discovery.
Watch I Saw the TV Glow on Max
Joker
In the gritty streets of early-1980s Gotham City, aspiring stand-up comedian Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) paints his face with blotchy makeup for his job as a clown, longing to carve out a space for himself in the world. Yet, as society subjects him to perpetual bullying and neglect, Fleck’s tenuous grip on reality falters — paving the way for the dawn of his villainous identity, the Joker. (Be sure to catch this one before the highly-anticipated sequel starring Phoenix and Lady Gaga hits theaters in October 2024.)
Black Swan
In this 2010 psychological thriller, Natalie Portman gracefully steps into the pointe shoes of a dedicated ballerina named Nina. When the principal dancer retires — leaving the lead role in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake up for grabs — the company’s artistic director (Vincent Cassel) seeks someone to portray both the innocent White Swan and the seductive Black Swan. Nina, ideal for the former role, finds her match in her enigmatic rival Lily (Mila Kunis), igniting a corrupt friendship as her mind descends into a dark spiral.
Misdommar
Haunted by the tragic loss of her parents and sister, Dani (Florence Pugh) accompanies her emotionally withdrawn boyfriend (Jack Reynor) and his friends on a trip to Sweden for a midsummer festival that only takes place every 90 years. But as they bear witness to unsettling rituals, they come to the horrifying realization they are ensnared in the custody of a menacing cult.
The Outsider
In the 2021 miniseries The Outsider, a murder in a small town has everyone on edge. Even more confusing is that, despite there being ample evidence placing Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman) as the killer, there’s also plenty of evidence proving he’s innocent. The police and town grapple with a murder that doesn’t make sense — and consider that supernatural forces may be at play. Bateman is joined in the cast by Ben Mendelsohn and Cynthia Erivo, among others.
Peacock
Knock at the Cabin
M. Night Shyamalan shared his vision of the apocalypse in Knock at the Cabin (2023). In the film, four strangers appear at a remote cabin to tell two fathers and their daughter that one of them must die to prevent the apocalypse. Watching the family struggle with the monumental decision turns the film into much more than just a horror movie: It’s also deeply emotional and thought-provoking. The film stars Dave Bautista, Rupert Grint, Ben Aldridge and Jonathan Groff.
Watch Knock at the Cabin on Peacock
Promising Young Woman
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) centers on Eva (Tilda Swinton), a mother struggling to cope following a mass murder committed by her son, Kevin (Ezra Miller). Kevin seems incapable of emotion and appears to feel no remorse for the killings.
Watch We Need to Talk About Kevin on Peacock
Donnie Darko
In Richard Kelly’s cult classic, teenager Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) begins to slip in and out of a space-time disturbance. A mysterious rabbit figure tells him the world is ending, and Donnie narrowly escapes death — for the time being. The indie film’s cast includes Jake’s sister Maggie Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore and Patrick Swayze.
Paramount+
Shutter Island
The 2010 blockbuster hit Shutter Island, directed by Martin Scorsese, stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a U.S. marshal who travels to a psychiatric hospital for criminals located in the middle of Boston Harbor to search for a missing patient. But the hospital is not what it seems, and the movie is loaded with enough twists to make your head spin.
Watch Shutter Island on Paramount+
Beau Is Afraid
From the creative genius behind psychological horrors like Hereditary (2018) and Midsommar (2019) comes a surrealist tragicomedy about a fear-ridden, agoraphobic man named Beau Wasserman, who confronts his biggest fears on an emotional odyssey to get home to his mother. With Joaquin Phoenix playing the adult Beau and Armen Nahapetian as his younger self, Beau Is Afraid showcases outstanding performances from a talented cast including Patti LuPone, Nathan Lane, Amy Ryan, Parker Posey and more.
Watch Beau Is Afraid on Paramount+
Red Eye
In Wes Craven’s Red Eye (2005), hotel manager Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams) finds herself embroiled in a high-stakes assassination plot when she meets a winsome yet menacing Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy) during a red-eye flight to Miami. As Jackson holds Lisa’s father hostage, he coerces her to aid in his plan by reassigning the target’s hotel room, leaving her with a moral dilemma between saving her dad or preventing a terrorist act — all while 30,000 feet above the ground.
The Machinist
In 2004’s The Machinist, Christian Bale stars as Trevor, a factory worker who suffers from severe insomnia and hasn’t slept in a year. After Trevor causes an on-the-job accident, he begins having hallucinations and becomes paranoid that his co-workers are out to get him. Not even viewers will know what is real in this gripping psychological thriller, which Bale famously lost more than 63 lbs for.
Watch The Machinist on Paramount+
Significant Other
In 2022’s Significant Other, invading aliens begin harvesting humans and taking their shape. Their first target before launching a full-blown invasion is a couple hiking in the woods. It’s impossible to know who is real and who is a decoy in this wildly trippy ride. The film stars Maika Monroe and Emmy nominee Jake Lacy.
Watch Significant Other on Paramount+
Disney+
WandaVision
Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany reprised their roles as Avengers Wanda Maximoff and Vision in the 2020 miniseries WandaVision. In the series, Wanda and Vision live the perfect suburban life… or so they think. The walls of reality begin to blur, and the couple realize they’re in danger. Also in the cast was Kathryn Hahn, who stole the show as audience favorite Agatha Harkness — she now has her own spinoff series, Agatha All Along.
Moon Knight
The 2022 series Moon Knight was notable for taking a much darker tone than other Marvel productions. It follows Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac), a gift shop employee who realizes he has an alter ego, Marc Spector, a mercenary with connections to Egyptian gods. On top of being an action-packed series, the show is one of the most unique Marvel entities to date.
Werewolf by Night
Werewolf by Night is a standalone Marvel special centered on a group of monster hunters gathered at a castle, all hoping to gain possession of a rare and powerful gem. However, many in the competition aren’t who they seem to be. Leading the cast is Gael García Bernal, best known for his Golden Globe-winning performance on Mozart in the Jungle.
Source: People
