A Glean movie guide
Masterpieces of the Mind
Don't trust what you see.
The most gripping psychological thrillers that will keep you guessing until the final frame.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
The Silence of the Lambs
A chilling game of cat-and-mouse between an FBI trainee and a brilliant, incarcerated cannibal.
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
Seven
A dark hunt for a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his gruesome inspiration.
- 03
Memento
A non-linear puzzle that forces you to experience the world through a man with no short-term memory.
Leonard Shelby is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty of locating his wife's killer, however, is compounded by the fact that he suffers from a rare, untreatable form of short-term memory loss. Although he can recall details of life before his accident, Leonard cannot remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he's going, or why.
- 04
Parasite
A razor-sharp exploration of class and deception that shifts from social satire into a high-stakes thriller.
All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.
- 05
Gone Girl
A twisted look at a crumbling marriage that unravels through shifting perspectives and shocking revelations.
With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.
- 06
Shutter Island
A haunting investigation on a remote island where the line between reality and delusion begins to blur.
World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by troubling visions and a mysterious doctor.
- 07
Black Swan
A visceral descent into the fractured psyche of a ballerina pushed to the brink by her own obsession.
A committed dancer struggles to maintain her sanity after winning the lead role in a production of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake".
- 08
The Prestige
Two rival magicians engage in a lifelong battle of wits where every secret has a price.
A mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy -- full of obsession, deceit and jealousy with dangerous and deadly consequences.
- 09
Fight Club
An insomniac’s mundane life is upended by a charismatic stranger and a brutal underground society.
A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.
- 10
Get Out
A masterclass in tension that uses psychological horror to expose unsettling social truths.
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.
- 11
The Machinist
A haunting character study of a man whose year-long insomnia leads to a terrifying loss of sanity.
Trevor, an insomniac lathe operator, experiences unusual occurrences at work and home. A strange man follows him everywhere, but no one else seems to notice him.
- 12
Oldboy
A visceral and emotionally devastating tale of a man seeking revenge after fifteen years of captivity.
With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate man seeks revenge on his captors.