A Glean movie guide
Masterpieces of Mind Horror
Don't trust your eyes.
Dive into the most unsettling films that blur the line between reality and madness.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
The Silence of the Lambs
A chilling masterclass in psychological manipulation and the dark bond between hunter and prey.
Clarice Starling is a top student at the FBI's training academy. Jack Crawford wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder and cannibalism. Crawford believes that Lecter may have insight into a case and that Starling, as an attractive young woman, may be just the bait to draw him out.
- 02
The Shining
An atmospheric descent into madness as isolation and a sinister hotel tear a family apart.
Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.
- 03
Psycho
The definitive blueprint for psychological horror, exploring the terrifying depths of obsession and identity.
When larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious Bates Motel, where manager Norman Bates cares for his housebound mother.
- 04
Hereditary
A visceral exploration of inherited trauma and grief that builds into an overwhelming sense of dread.
Following the death of the Leigh family matriarch, Annie and her children uncover disturbing secrets about their heritage. Their daily lives are not only impacted, but they also become entangled in a chilling fate from which they cannot escape, driving them to the brink of madness.
- 05
Get Out
A sharp, paranoid thriller that uses social commentary to fuel a relentless sense of psychological unease.
Chris and his girlfriend Rose go upstate to visit her parents for the weekend. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined.
- 06
Rosemary's Baby
A slow-burn classic that masterfully weaponizes gaslighting and urban paranoia.
A young couple, Rosemary and Guy, moves into an infamous New York apartment building, known by frightening legends and mysterious events, with the purpose of starting a family.
- 07
Black Swan
A visually stunning and claustrophobic look at the high price of perfection and a dancer's mental collapse.
A committed dancer struggles to maintain her sanity after winning the lead role in a production of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake".
- 08
Midsommar
A bright, unsettling journey into a Swedish cult that turns emotional trauma into a waking nightmare.
Several friends travel to Sweden to study as anthropologists a summer festival that is held every ninety years in the remote hometown of one of them. What begins as a dream vacation in a place where the sun never sets, gradually turns into a dark nightmare as the mysterious inhabitants invite them to participate in their disturbing festive activities.
- 09
Perfect Blue
A groundbreaking animated thriller that blurs the boundaries between a performer's reality and her delusions.
Rising pop star Mima quits singing to pursue a career as an actress. After she takes up a role on a popular detective show, her handlers and collaborators begin turning up murdered. Harboring feelings of guilt and haunted by visions of her former self, Mima's reality and fantasy meld into a frenzied paranoia.
- 10
The Babadook
A deeply moving and terrifying metaphor for the suffocating weight of grief and depression.
A grieving single mother and her child fall into a deep well of paranoia when an eerie children's book manifests in their home.
- 11
Misery
A tense, character-driven nightmare about the terrifying power dynamic between an author and his "number one fan."
After an accident, acclaimed novelist Paul Sheldon is rescued by a nurse who claims to be his biggest fan. Her obsession takes a dark turn when she holds him captive in her remote Colorado home and forces him to write back to life the popular literary character he killed off.
- 12
The Sixth Sense
A haunting mystery that relies on quiet suspense and a profound sense of supernatural isolation.
Following an unexpected tragedy, child psychologist Malcolm Crowe meets a nine year old boy named Cole Sear, who is hiding a dark secret.