Movies Eerie psychological movies [no cheap Jump scares!]

[Spike's iconSpike]

If there's something that ruins the mood for me is those mindless jump scares. A sudden raise of volume while flashing a strong image doesn't enhance a movie...
I rather watch movies that make you feel uneasy because of the situation, not because something's gonna jump out at any time.

Some recommendations:

Creep (2014)​

A young videographer answers an online ad for a one-day job in a remote town to record the last messages of a dying man. When he notices the man's odd behavior, he starts to question his intentions.

The Ritual (2017)​

A group of old college friends reunite for a trip to a most dangerous country in Europe - Sweden, encountering a menacing presence there stalking them.

If you know some that fit this description please share

 

[Sayo]

Occult by Koji Shiraishi, from the same guy who directer Noroi. I thought it pulled off the whole found footage shtick rather well, even if the movie is admittedly low budget and could have used a slightly better script but the foreboding atmosphere and "cosmic horror" themes are enough to keep you engaged. It follows a documentary crew investigating some strange murders and the people who witnessed it.

 

[Cureless]

Confessions, a Japanese film from 2010. I have to say that this movie was pretty good, especially for a psychological thriller. Goes to show you the lengths people will go for revenge.

 

[GVSE]

man i'm trying to remember some brazillian movies so i can promote our films hahah
hmm, two that i would recommend are Friendly Beast (the original name is O Animal Cordial, 2017) and A Wolf At The Door (O Lobo Atrás da Porta, 2013):

In Friendly Beast, a restaurant owner going over the edge when an armed robbery is attempted at his establishment. He holds everyone captive at gunpoint – criminals and customers alike – and situations corrode into a nightmare state, guided by manipulation and raw compulsion.

Based on real events, and set in Rio de Janeiro, A Wolf at the Door is the nerve-rattling tale of a kidnapped child and the terror of the parents left behind. When Sylvia discovers her six-year-old daughter has been picked up at school by an unknown woman, police summon her husband, Bernardo, to the station for questioning. From that point on, the film takes increasingly sinister turns as it delves into the events that led to the girl’s kidnapping. A Wolf at the Door is a darkly disturbing journey into the extreme limits of the human capacity for obsession and revenge.


See if you can find them subtitled, they're weird and singular......

 

[_Lorenzo_]

With my passion for Japanese cinema I was now convinced, after viewing a few features by S. Tsukamoto, that I knew what was most disturbing about a film.
Well, I was dead wrong: one day I happened somewhat by chance upon “Audition” by another Japanese director I had never heard of until that moment, namely Takashi Miike.
You are warned, the film contains quite “strong” scenes and a very engaging plot...

 

[moonbits]

Confessions, a Japanese film from 2010. I have to say that this movie was pretty good, especially for a psychological thriller. Goes to show you the lengths people will go for revenge.

View attachment 506

I read this one, it was a wild ride.

I can recommend Jacob's Ladder (1990)

 

[Cureless]

Jacob's Ladder was awesome, I can second that recommendation.

 

[Spike's iconSpike]

man i'm trying to remember some brazillian movies so i can promote our films hahah
hmm, two that i would recommend are Friendly Beast (the original name is O Animal Cordial, 2017) and A Wolf At The Door (O Lobo Atrás da Porta, 2013):


View attachment 595
In Friendly Beast, a restaurant owner going over the edge when an armed robbery is attempted at his establishment. He holds everyone captive at gunpoint – criminals and customers alike – and situations corrode into a nightmare state, guided by manipulation and raw compulsion.



View attachment 594
Based on real events, and set in Rio de Janeiro, A Wolf at the Door is the nerve-rattling tale of a kidnapped child and the terror of the parents left behind. When Sylvia discovers her six-year-old daughter has been picked up at school by an unknown woman, police summon her husband, Bernardo, to the station for questioning. From that point on, the film takes increasingly sinister turns as it delves into the events that led to the girl’s kidnapping. A Wolf at the Door is a darkly disturbing journey into the extreme limits of the human capacity for obsession and revenge.


See if you can find them subtitled, they're weird and singular......

I was looking into O Lobo Atrás da Porta, I don't know if I'll be able to get the film.
I found it on topdezfilmes.de !
I will need subtitles though, do you know where can I find some? Even if they are in Portuguese I think i can make up 90% of what's being said if I can read it.

i saw the trailer i recognized Olenka from Avenida Brasil haha, that's the only Brazilian Novela i saw btw, it was like a million episodes, I don't watch long things but goddammit! I had to see the end after watching 300 episodes.

I'll try to watch everyone's recommendations!

 

[GVSE]

I was looking into O Lobo Atrás da Porta, I don't know if I'll be able to get the film.
I found it on topdezfilmes.de !
I will need subtitles though, do you know where can I find some? Even if they are in Portuguese I think i can make up 90% of what's being said if I can read it.

i saw the trailer i recognized Olenka from Avenida Brasil haha, that's the only Brazilian Novela i saw btw, it was like a million episodes, I don't watch long things but goddammit! I had to see the end after watching 300 episodes.

I'll try to watch everyone's recommendations!

i remember the exact place i was when they were airing the last episode. Until the early 2000's it was commom here to the last episode of a novela make everybody stop what they're doing and watch it, something that started to slowly disappear through the decay. Then when Avenida Brasil aired, it rescued that feeling and in the last episode i remember to be in a big pizzeria where everybody was in complete silence just looking to the TVs on the walls (except for kids).

Olenka is Fabiula Nascimento, she's hot and great actress.

Anyway, i found these two sites supposedly with a wolf at the door english subtitles to be download: subdl and opensubtitles. I also checked on Stremio and there are english subs too.

 

[Spike's iconSpike]

I've now finished watching 'O Lobo Atrás da Porta'
and i hate you.
wth man! It just makes you feel awful.
Now I'm scared to watch the other one.

I ended up using that sane opensubtitles but yeah i could understand almost everything without reading except for that character Beth she speaks waaay too fast.

And about the novelas culture I think that's unique to Brasil, I mean there are novelas in many other countries but not at that level of national involvement, most people don't care about them.

 

[Kyyo]

Creep (2014)​

Thank you so much for recommending this one! It became one of my favorites.

 

[guppy]

I don't like jump scares but I don't mind gore. Especially when they're done practically. I think madly over how they do what they do. A director I've found myself thinking of after I've watched a flick of his is Brandon Cronenberg, son of David Cronenberg. I am not sure how many flicks he has but the three I've seen are Posessor, Infinity Pool and Antiviral. They're all kind of nasty, and for sure mean spirited. So I don't know if I will watch them again. But they're fun to think on, and even the other day I was thinking on Infinity Pool. I like these flicks.

 

[Boo Man]

This is one of the best phycological horrors IMO
(i dont do jump scares either)

 

[Adrastia]

I highly recommend Bottom Of The World. I have never experienced a case of "WTF did I just watch?" like it before in my life. It starts out with a couple on a road trip. The woman gets sick so they decide to pull into a town and sleep at a hotel for the night. From then on it just goes off the rails. The relationship between the characters isn't what you think it is at all. And that scene with the peas still freaks me out.

Sam Was Here is also a recommend. It's like Silent Hill in the desert. A little disappointing from time to time. But worth a watch.

There's an episode of the horror anthology series Night Visions that stars Luke Perry. It's called "Now He's Coming Up The Stairs". Perry plays a man that can absorb people's fears. He gets hired by a woman whose son is so terrified of a hostile entity that he's become catatonic. It's by far the best episode of the series in my opinion.

 

[kokonatsu17234]

psychological horror movie without jump scares huh...
well here are some that i know doesn't have one.
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Audition (1999)

it's better for you to just watch it tbh.
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Perfect Blue (1997)

It's a classic what can i say?
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Cult (2013)

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Banned Broadcast: Saiko! The large family (2009)

saiko! the large family is psychological in a weird way the entire movie is like a puzzle the more you piece together the more you understand what's going on in the family.
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i don't remember much about Cult but i remember it not having any jumpscares at all

 

[Adrastia]

If you liked The Ritual then try Loop Track. It's kind of similar. A guy with some issues decides to try to self heal by hiking alone. But he keeps running into strange people and feels like a dark figure is following him. He gets increasingly more paranoid of everyone and everything. The acting and script is really good.

 

[chrismas]

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Technically a war movie, but this one fits the bill in its own way. Really, I can't pass up an opportunity to recommend this. A word of advice, skip the recuts and go straight for the original theatrical version. The additional scenes in the newer versions put the movie in artsy-fartsy drama territory, and the film suffers greatly as a result.

 

[Ikagura]

Could I add Cube from 1997? Ignore the remake and the sequel, just take this rather small budget movie which is more about the relation between the characters, their theories about how they ended up here, avoiding the traps and surviving all of that overall.

It's not the greatest movie but I love the ambience and how they evolve during it.

 

[RetroLaw]

Perfect Blue (1997)

It's a classic what can i say?

I scrolled just to make sure it was mentionned.

 

[Flaming_Metal_Systems]

I'm surprised that still no one here has mentioned any of David Lynch's work: Blue Velvet, Lost Highways, Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire, it probably wouldn't be correct to call them horror, the first of these I guess you could call a not quite classic noir. Of course, how not to mention Eraserhead, practically a nightmare depicted on screen.

 

[Parasite_Steve]

Confessions, a Japanese film from 2010. I have to say that this movie was pretty good, especially for a psychological thriller. Goes to show you the lengths people will go for revenge.

Confessions has unfortunately one of the most nondescript posters and titles imaginable, which is a dirty shame because it's such a deeply unsettling gem of a film. The soundtrack is just chef's kiss too.

I also second Audition although I usually don't like Miike because he routinely tries so hard to be transgressive that he more often than not crosses over into unintentional comedy, at least for me.

I much prefer Shinya Tsukamoto. His most famous film is Tetsuo which is a wild and inspiring ride but as far as more quiet psychological horror is concerned I have to recommend Vital, Nightmare Detective and Snake of June over it. Especially Nightmare Detective convinced me Tsukamoto should have made a film adaptation of Silent Hill.

I'm a little surprised that Come and See hasn't been mentioned yet:

It's one of the few war films you could genuinely call an "anti-war film" (there's an ongoing debate whether such a thing can even exist). I put it here because it is absolutely disturbing, surreal and terrifying in a way few horror movies manage.
It's still free on Youtube with english subtitles since its production company Mosfilm has put all of their films on there:

 

[Bonkers225]

I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend everyone to go watch The Cure, and Noroi

 

[Cureless]

Confessions has unfortunately one of the most nondescript posters and titles imaginable, which is a dirty shame because it's such a deeply unsettling gem of a film. The soundtrack is just chef's kiss too.

I also second Audition although I usually don't like Miike because he routinely tries so hard to be transgressive that he more often than not crosses over into unintentional comedy, at least for me.

I much prefer Shinya Tsukamoto. His most famous film is Tetsuo which is a wild and inspiring ride but as far as more quiet psychological horror is concerned I have to recommend Vital, Nightmare Detective and Snake of June over it. Especially Nightmare Detective convinced me Tsukamoto should have made a film adaptation of Silent Hill.

I'm a little surprised that Come and See hasn't been mentioned yet:
View attachment 4134
It's one of the few war films you could genuinely call an "anti-war film" (there's an ongoing debate whether such a thing can even exist). I put it here because it is absolutely disturbing, surreal and terrifying in a way few horror movies manage.
It's still free on Youtube with english subtitles since its production company Mosfilm has put all of their films on there:

You are very well versed in Japanese cinema, even more so than I am lol. I have seen Vital and loved it but not the others. I will definitely take your recommendations and check those movies out.

Thank you for the suggestions. I'm going to be watching 'Come and See' tonight, after my son goes to bed.

 

[loopy]

As Above, So Below (2014)​

"When a team of explorers venture into the catacombs that lie beneath the streets of Paris, they uncover the dark secret that lies within this city of the dead."

There might be a few jumpscare-ish moments in it but I don't remember them. I found the movie to be scary because of the story itself and the weird shit that happens in it.
I watched it 3 times because I think its really good and still scary after the 3rd time.

 

[Adrastia]

The Swimmer. It might not be everybody's cup of tea. What with Burt Lancaster running around in nothing but skimpy swim trunks for the entire run time. But it is a bizarre and unsettling piece of cinema.



It's kind of hard to explain what is going on. Because the truth slowly unravels with every character Ned Merrill meets until you finally get to the conclusion I'd say it's a pretty satisfying end too. He comes to visit neighbors who haven't seen him in awhile and swim. He decides to visit all his friends by swimming from pool to pool since they all have one. He talks with friends and with each one you learn a little more about his life. There's nothing else really like it. It also features a young Joan Rivers in a small role.

It's a pretty tense and bizarre film. It's not a horror. It's more like a psychological mystery about who Ned is and what is actually going on.