Horror films hold a special place in my heart, but when it comes to different sub-genres I have a unique love for them. The horror sub-genres feel like my weird and creepy children, let’s just say I’m proud of them (except for some that I’ve disowned, I’m looking at you A Serbian Film).
One sub-genre that almost always gets my attention and adoration are those of psychological terror and mind-bending concepts. The line between sanity and falling off the edge of reality can be thin in horror. That’s why I love this sub-genre so much, it embraces that thin line and plays with it in such unique ways. Let me suggest some mind-bending horror films that’ll help guide you toward some new and twisted stories!
Mind-Bending Horror Films You Should Watch
Triangle (2009) – Directed by Christopher Smith
Five friends set sail and their yacht is overturned by a strange and sudden storm. A mysterious ship arrives to rescue them, and what happens next cannot be explained.
The Night House (2020) – Directed by David Bruckner
Reeling from the unexpected death of her husband, Beth (Rebecca Hall) is left alone in the lakeside home he built for her. She tries as best she can to keep it together – but then nightmares come. Disturbing visions of a presence in the house calling to her, beckoning her with a ghostly allure. Against the advice of her friends, she begins digging into her husband’s belongings, yearning for answers. What she finds are secrets both strange and disturbing – a mystery she’s determined to unravel.
In The Tall Grass (2019) – Directed by Vincenzo Natali
When siblings Becky and Cal hear the cries of a young boy lost within a field of tall grass, they venture in to rescue him, only to become ensnared themselves by a sinister force that quickly disorients and separates them. Cut off from the world and unable to escape the field’s tightening grip, they soon discover that the only thing worse than getting lost is being found. Based on the novella by Stephen King and Joe Hill.
Silent House (2011) – Directed by Chris Kentis & Laura Lau
A girl is trapped inside her family’s lakeside retreat and becomes unable to contact the outside world as supernatural forces haunt the house with mysterious energy and consequences.
Sisters (1972) – Directed by Brian De Palma
A parody of suspense classics: concerns recently separated twins, Danielle and Dominique. One of the girls is normal with conventional sexual desires. The other, has since youth suffered from manic fits of jealousy which more often than not lead to homicide.
Circle (2015) – Directed by Aaron Hann and Mario Miscione
In a massive, mysterious chamber, fifty strangers awaken to find themselves trapped with no memory of how they got there. Organized in an inward-facing circle and unable to move, they quickly learn that every two minutes, one of them must die… executed by a strange device in the center of the room.
The Endless (2017)- Directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead
As kids, they escaped a UFO death cult. Now, two adult brothers seek answers after an old videotape surfaces, bringing them back to where they began. Hoping to find the closure that they couldn’t as young men, they’re forced to reconsider the cult’s beliefs when confronted with unexplainable phenomena surrounding the camp. As the members prepare for the coming of a mysterious event, the brother’s race to unravel the seemingly impossible truth before their lives become permanently entangled with the cult.
Absentia (2011) – Directed by Mike Flanagan
A woman and her sister begin to link a mysterious tunnel to a series of disappearances, including that of her own husband.
Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010) – Directed by Panos Cosmatos
Held captive in a specialized medical facility, a young woman with unique abilities seeks a chance to escape her obsessed captor. Set in the strange and oppressive emotional landscape of the year 1983, Beyond the Black Rainbow is a Reagan-era fever dream inspired by hazy childhood memories of midnight movies and Saturday morning cartoons.
Vivarium (2019) – Directed by Lorcan Finnegan
A young woman who, along with her boyfriend, is in desperate search of the perfect starter home. After following a mysterious real estate agent to a new housing development, the couple finds themselves trapped in a constantly changing and yet frustratingly identical suburban neighborhood.
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