The 20 best psychological thrillers to stream when you're feeling sinister
- - The 20 best psychological thrillers to stream when you're feeling sinister
Declan GallagherOctober 26, 2025 at 5:00 PM
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Madhouse; Courtesy of NEON; Matt Infante/A24
The best psychological thrillers streaming now
Psychological thrillers uniquely captivate audiences, often transporting them into unnerving new realities or leading them to question events in their own lives.
Unlike, say, an action-driven thriller, psychothrillers dive especially deep into the psyches of their subjects. Their best thrills are not from jump scares or explicit violence, but the fireworks that erupt between characters. They can be truly transgressive, pushing boundaries and often satirizing modern culture with razor-like precision.
It was no easy choice picking the 20 best psychological thrillers streaming across Amazon Prime, Netflix, HBO Max, Paramount+, and Tubi. But we whittled it down to sinister classics like The Stepford Wives and Seven, as well as contemporary gems like Black Bag, Hard Candy, and Presence.
Read on to discover the 20 best psychological thrillers you can stream right now.
Amazon PrimeBlack Bag (2025)
Claudette Barius/Focus Features
Michael Fassbender pretends to read a book in 'Black Bag'
Steven Soderbergh’s sublime spy thriller is one of 2025’s best movies. Michael Fassbender stars as George Woodhouse, a fastidious U.K. cyber security agent who has one week to identify a traitor who could be one of five colleagues, including his wife Kathryn (Cate Blanchett).
With a stellar cast and a perfectly gauged tone, Black Bag is the rare modern thriller that foregrounds characters’ relationships. It’s Soderbergh’s own sex, lies, and videotape (1989) crossed with Slow Horses, a transgressive and supremely entertaining romp. Fingers crossed for that hopeful sequel.
Insomnia (1997)
Mary Evans/NORSK FILM/Ronald Grant/Everett Stellan Skarsgård in 'Insomnia'
Erik Skjoldbjærg's Norwegian thriller about a cop (Stellan Skarsgård) investigating a murder in an Alaskan town that never sees nighttime was remade by Christopher Nolan under the same title in 2002. Nolan's effort is quite good, but it doesn't capture the same moral ambiguity as Skjoldbjærg's original, nor does it have the same creeping dread or inimitable atmosphere. Indeed, Insomnia gets into your bones like a vicious chill.
Promising Young Woman (2020)
Focus Features
Carey Mulligan puts a diabolically vengeful plan into motion in 'Promising Young Woman'
Emerald Fennell’s searing satire follows Cassie (Carey Mulligan), who dropped out of med school after the rape and suicide of her best friend. Since then, she’s taken it upon herself to teach dirtbag men a lesson they’ll never forget.
The film is much more than a traditional revenge thriller, benefiting greatly from a risky structure and against-type casting of familiar faces like Jennifer Coolidge and Max Greenfield. Promising Young Woman packs a punch, both in its willingness to make us uncomfortable and its commitment to delivering a cathartic bit of righteous fury.
You Were Never Really Here (2017)
Alison Cohen Rosa/Amazon Studios Joaquin Phoenix's Joe makes another rescue in 'You Were Never Really Here'
Joe (Joaquin Phoenix), a traumatized veteran who now works in the shadows, primarily specializes in rescuing girls from human trafficking and prostitution networks. His latest job is uniquely fraught: he’s hired to recover the kidnapped daughter of a politician, drawing him into a criminal conspiracy that puts his life on the line.
Lynne Ramsay’s thriller takes a familiar plot that, in lesser hands, could have been just another conspiratorial shoot-’em-up. The Scottish director is more restrained; her version feels as uncanny and inescapable as a nightmare. One violent set piece, depicted via security cameras, ranks among her finest works.
The Skin I Live In (2011)
José Haro/Sony Pictures
Antonio Banderas and Elena Anaya in 'The Skin I Live In'
What better way to deal with personal tragedy than through wildly illegal medical experiments? Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) is a trailblazing plastic surgeon whose ambitions have been stymied by the establishment. He’s also holding captive a beautiful young patient who bears an uncanny resemblance to his dead wife. That is the least twisted ingredient of Pedro Almodóvar’s wicked thriller, a riff on Frankenstein by way of lurid soap opera.
The Skin I Live In merges many simple subjects — doctor/patient, assailant/victim, obsessive and object of obsession — into one diabolically complicated story, creating a mosaic out of identity itself.
Copycat (1995)
Warner Bros. Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty
Sigourney Weaver in 'Copycat'
An agoraphobic criminal psychologist (Sigourney Weaver) is recruited to help two detectives (Holly Hunter and Dermot Mulroney) track down a serial killer who wants to make the doctor his next victim. Very much a product of its era (namely, for its preoccupation with serial killer psychology), Copycat is one of the best '90s cops vs. killer thrillers. It sets itself apart thanks to great performances from the three leads and Jon Amiel’s atmospheric, genuinely spooky direction.
HBO MaxA Different Man (2024)
A24
Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, and Adam Pearson in 'A Different Man'
Struggling actor Edward, afflicted with neurofibromatosis, undergoes a radical surgery to “normalize” his face. After transforming into someone who looks suspiciously like Sebastian Stan, Edward finds success in acting and romance, but he still doesn’t feel a part of the world.
The arrival of Oswald (Adam Pearson), a fellow actor afflicted with neurofibromatosis who is gregarious and comfortable in his own skin, sends Edward into a tailspin. Desperate to reclaim his past, Edward goes to extreme lengths to overtake Oswald both socially and professionally.
Get Out (2017)
Universal Pictures/PictureLux/The Hollywood Archive/Alamy Daniel Kaluuya in 'Get Out'
Jordan Peele's instant classic galvanized both scary movie aficionados and new converts alike with its bracing story of a young Black man (Daniel Kaluuya) set upon by his future in-laws, who are a lily-white family of psychopaths. One of the few genre films to secure an Oscar win (Best Original Screenplay for Peele), Get Out is one of the finer frontrunners of our latest era of high-brow horror.
Seven (1995)
R. Isenberg
Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt in 'Seven'
David Fincher’s classic procedural stars Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as detectives investigating a spate of murders inspired by the seven deadly sins. This atmospheric, rain-soaked, brilliantly nihilistic thriller set the tone for just about every twisted, cat-and-mouse crime picture that followed, but Seven is head and shoulders above all of its imitators. If you somehow still don’t know what’s in the box, we won’t spoil it for you.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Orion Pictures
Anthony Hopkins loves your suit in 'The Silence of the Lambs'
This is the rare horror film to win big at the Oscars, including Best Picture. Jonathan Demme’s insidiously creepy thriller finds inexperienced but committed FBI agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) on the trail of Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine), a serial killer who flays his victims in an effort to make himself a skin suit.
Her boss, Jack Crawford, needs her help locating Bill’s latest (and most high-profile) victim, a senator’s daughter (Brooke Smith), before it’s too late. Thus, he sends her into the lion’s den to enlist the help of brilliant psychopath Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins). The rest is cinematic history.
HuluBlack Swan (2010)
Niko Tavernise/Searchlight Pictures
Lots of Natalie Portmans in 'Black Swan'
Natalie Portman won an Oscar for her portrayal of Nina, a ballerina on the verge of a nervous breakdown as she prepares to dance dual lead roles in Swan Lake. Complicating matters are Nina’s controlling mother (a rattling Barbara Hershey) and a seductive costar (Mila Kunis) who opens Nina’s eyes to the dark side.
One of Darren Aronofsky’s most gonzo pictures, Black Swan is his ode to the paranoid thrillers of Roman Polanski and Alan Pakula. There’s a pitched sense of humor to the proceedings, as the director creates a warped psychosexual thriller.
Presence (2024)
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Callina Liang gets haunted in 'Presence'
For the last few years, Steven Soderbergh has devoted himself to the sorts of genre films that aren’t made much anymore — think the conspiratorial Kimi (2022) or the spy romp Black Bag (2025). Presence, his heartbreaking haunted-house film, is shot from the perspective of a spirit inhabiting the new home of ruthless mama bear Rebekah (Lucy Liu), her husband (Chris Sullivan), and their two children (Eddy Maday and Callina Liang).
Though Soderbergh teases some genre tropes, Presence is less a horror film than a haunting family drama. It’s the definition of a psychological thriller, one which buries itself deep inside your thoughts and refuses to leave.
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Haley Joel Osment and Bruce Willis in 'The Sixth Sense'
M. Night Shyamalan launched his career with this frightening and very human story about adolescent Cole (Academy Award nominee Haley Joel Osment), who, as you may recall, sees dead people. Will physician Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) be able to help, or will the young boy be dragged ever further into the other side's abyss?
Here, Shyamalan’s signature mix of frights and family drama blends into a potent, effective mixture. He sometimes struggles to meld those disparate qualities, but The Sixth Sense is as spine-chilling as it is heartbreaking and life-affirming.
NetflixThe Lost Daughter (2021)
YANNIS DRAKOULIDIS/NETFLIX Dakota Johnson and Olivia Colman in 'The Lost Daughter'
In her directorial debut, Maggie Gyllenhaal weaves a delicate story of two damaged women who become unlikely allies: Leda (Olivia Colman), a middle-aged mom on a solo seaside vacation, and Nina (Dakota Johnson), a young, fraying mother weathering a hectic family trip. Nina stirs painful memories of Leda’s past, causing her to act out in peculiar ways.
Gyllenhaal’s adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novel pulls off a flashback-centric structure, with sequences featuring Jessie Buckley as a younger Leda and Peter Sarsgaard as a colleague with whom she had an affair. This is a simmering, entrancing thriller that draws you into its web almost immediately.
Paramount+Zodiac (2007)
Merrick Morton/Paramount
Jake Gyllenhaal gets obsessed with the unsolved crime of the century in 'Zodiac'
David Fincher’s masterpiece is a detail-perfect procedural, unpacking Northern California’s most tantalizing spate of unsolved serial killings. A murderer calling himself the Zodiac sends self-aggrandizing letters to The San Francisco Chronicle, taunting detective Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo), journalist Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.), and cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal). The latter would go on to write the non-fiction book on which James Vanderbilt based his scorching script.
Zodiac is one of the best true crime movies of all time. In the end, it may be remembered as Fincher’s most accomplished picture, which is saying something.
TubiBurning (2018)
Well Go USA/courtesy Everett Collection
Yoo Ah-in, Jeon Jong-seo, and Steven Yeun in 'Burning'
Lee Chang-dong’s masterful slow-burn chiller is a stylish, properly subversive take on the “from hell” subgenre. It's also one of the most haunting films in recent memory.
Based loosely on Haruki Murakami’s short story “Barn Burning,” the plot follows young deliveryman Jong-su (Yoo Ah-in), who has a chance encounter with an old classmate, the enigmatic and beautiful Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo). And then comes Ben (Steven Yeun), a charming, arrogant, and wealthy young man who arrives by Hae-mi’s side after a trip abroad. What happens from there is best left for unspoiled viewers to discover, but suffice it to say the sinister overtones become almost unbearable.
Hard Candy (2005)
Lionsgate
Hayley (Elliot Page) sets a trap for Jeff (Patrick Wilson) in 'Hard Candy'
Elliot Page broke out in this wince-inducing freak-out about a teenage girl who goes on a date with an adult man (Patrick Wilson), and then back to his home, with the intention of showing him the error of his ways in a particularly grisly manner.
Hard Candy (directed by David Slade, marking his feature debut) is a jaw-dropping inversion of the revenge plot. It's also a piercing satire on the dangers of dating in the digital age, which has only grown more powerful over the years.
Paprika (2006)
Madhouse
Paprika, the alter ego of Dr. Atsuko Chiba, in Satoshi Kon's 'Paprika'
Dr. Atsuko Chiba spends her days as a scientist helping develop a prototype that will let humans view their own dreams. By night, she’s Paprika, a dream detective. When Atsuko’s device — which is not yet ready for market, given that it can warp users’ brains and drive them mad — comes into the possession of an evil mastermind bent on world domination, Paprika sets out to make things right.
Paprika was the final film by Perfect Blue auteur Satoshi Kon before his premature death at 46. Infused with his indelible combination of nightmarish imagery and dreamy plotting, Paprika is a rousing testament to the career of an anime icon.
Possessor (2020)
Neon Christopher Abbott in 'Possessor'
Tasya Vos (Andrea Riseborough) is a corporate assassin, overseen by the enigmatic Girder (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and known for her mercenary skills, who, with advanced technology, takes control of other people’s bodies to carry out her hits. Things go awry when Tasya is tasked with inhabiting the body of Colin (Christopher Abbott) to execute his soon-to-be father-in-law (Sean Bean), a powerful businessman.
Helmed by Brandon Cronenberg, Possessor winks at many hallmarks of his father’s early work. But the film is far from an imitation, and very much stands on its own. Gleefully gory and packed with tantalizing sci-fi concepts, Possessor is one of the decade’s finest thrillers so far.
The Stepford Wives (1975)
Silver Screen Collection/Getty
The wives, and their groceries, in the original 'The Stepford Wives'
After relocating from the big city to a small, supposedly idyllic town with her husband (Peter Masterson) and two children, Joanna (Katharine Ross) begins to sense something conspicuously odd about the village’s women, who dress and behave oddly. Along with the similarly suspicious Bobbie (Paula Prentiss), Joanna sets about uncovering the community’s secret.
Adapted from the book by Rosemary’s Baby author Ira Levin, this is a classic of ’70s paranoia. A clear influence on countless films, The Stepford Wives is the rare satire that’s both amusingly barbed and unsettling.
on Entertainment Weekly
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