This article contains mention of murder, abuse, and other violent mayhem.
Horrormovies are known for creating anxiety-provoking circumstances and observing characters react to them. Most works in the genre operate with a similar structure, where the setup is the introduction of the concept or the situation which will push the characters to the brink. The second act then follows that up by ramping up the stakes, often due to circumstances, and very commonly also due to bad decisions taken by the characters. The final act relieves tension, either through triumph or tragedy, and follows the maddening chaos to a conclusion.
Manyhorror movies have heroes who are secretly villains, and some of them aren’t intentionally villainous. So, the movies track their descent into madness as they try to grapple with the realization of what their actions have caused. This is why somemovies where the protagonist is absolutely unhingedare horror films, because there’s no better genre to explore unhinged behavior as it drives someone to madness. Some of thescariest supernatural horror moviesalso provide the space for this, as characters lose their sanity from being haunted by supernatural beings and occurrences.
Raw
Cast
Raw is a French-Belgian horror drama film directed by Julia Ducournau. The film follows Justine, a vegetarian veterinary student, who undergoes a drastic transformation after a hazing ritual introduces her to raw meat. As she grapples with newfound cravings, her identity and morality are challenged. Raw stars Garance Marillier and Ella Rumpf in leading roles, offering a unique exploration of coming-of-age themes interwoven with darkly compelling horror elements.
Cannibalism has always been a fascinating subject to portray someone’s descent into madness. Until Guadagnino’sBones & All, the genre was rarely associated with romanticism, and most commonly explored people’s maddening efforts to survive attacks from cannibals or reconcile cannibalistic instincts in themselves. Ducournau’s debut solo directorial feature,Raw, falls in the latter category of a character grappling with her.
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Garance Marillier’s protagonist comes from a vegan family. She attends the same vet school as her sister and is shocked to discover her sister’s eating meat there during the introductory hazing ritual at the school. She’s forced to consume meat herself in the same ritual. The film then depicts how she starts developing instinctual hunger pangs for human meat.The character loses her grasp on reality as these instincts threaten her interpersonal relationshipsbecause she becomes dangerous to people around her. It culminates in a climax that will leave viewers gasping in shock.
American Psycho
Based on the book of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho follows Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) an investment banker in New York in 1987 who leads a double life as a serial killer. As investigators circle Bateman after the disappearance of a colleague, he finds himself trapped in a spiral of murder and excess, unable to stop himself from giving in to his increasingly dark urges. Also stars Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, Justin Theroux, and Reese Witherspoon.
Christian Bale’s Patrick Bateman is one of themost unintentionally hilarious movie characters of all time. Through him, the film satirizes the kind of competition and toxic masculinity that exists in the hypermasculine world of investment banking. Bateman is obsessed with his appearance and his sexual prowess, along with the quality of his material possessions. He starts losing his grip on reality as his obsession grows into paranoia.
While there are rumors of anAmerican Psychoremake starring Austin Butler in the lead role, one has to wonder why this movie is in the works, since it is already relevant today in its current form.
Patrick Bateman is willing to do whatever it takes to maintain and improve his quality of life, including murder. His belief in his superiority also drives him into a murderous rage at times because of his jealousy.Moreover, he enjoys killing sex workers and homeless people as well. However, as Bateman’s crimes start catching up to him, he starts getting confused between real and imagined, even leaving audiences guessing as to which events they’ve seen actually occurred and which Bateman dreamed up.
Bug
Bug (2007): Bug follows Agnes, a waitress living in a remote and deteriorating motel in Oklahoma, who forms an unusual connection with Peter, a mysterious man. Together, they navigate a world of paranoia and fear, descending into an increasingly disturbing psychological environment.
He’s most famous for directingThe Exorcist, one of thehorror movies that will always be a classic. It is one of the most influential horror movies of all time, and forever changed the way religious horror was written and filmed. WhileThe Exorcistdealt with the themes of religious paranoia, William Friedkin’s best horror film in the 21st Century,Bug, explores people’s paranoia about government surveillance in the age of rapidly advancing technology.
The protagonist loses her grasp on the boundary between real and imagined and is driven mad by the suspicion of bugs in her room and under her skin.
Ashley Judd plays the protagonist who starts a dysfunctional relationship with a stranger played by Michael Shannon. The man complains of aphids in their bed and starts becoming erratic with every passing day, even convincing her that there are bugs in their room everywhere,planted by the government to observe them. Egged on by his paranoid behavior, the protagonist loses her grasp on the boundary between real and imagined and is driven mad by the suspicion of bugs in her room and under her skin. The powerful performances can affect viewers because of how real they make the paranoia look.
Jacob’s Ladder
Jacob’s Ladder is a horror mystery centering on a mourning father and scarred Vietnam War vet named Jacob that is dealing with dissociation. After his child dies, Jacob struggles to separate reality from his delusions. Jacob’s Ladder stars Tim Robbins alongside Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello, Matt Craven, and Jason Alexander.
An auteur of erotica, director Adrian Lyne is a well-known director ofrewatchable R-rated movies from the 1980sand the 1990s. Sexual depravity and dark romance can be found in nearly all of his films, barring one. In an uncharacteristic deviation from his usual style, Lyne directed a psychological thriller about the perils of war in 1990, which has influenced the visual design of movies, TV shows, and games dealing with similar subjects.
A Vietnam War vet, Jacob, is haunted by inexplicable and confusing visions that seep into his real life, warping his vision and his perception of life. His division had come under heavy fire during a deployment in Vietnam, and he keeps getting flashbacks of that experience, which he wakes up from, seeing weird visions of monstrosities everywhere. Jacob’s descent into madness isdriven by paranoia and conspiracy theories as he tries to uncover the truthbehind what happened to him during his war and stop his visions from recurring.
The Lighthouse
The Lighthouse is a psychological thriller directed by Robert Eggers. Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson star as Thomas Wake and Ephraim Winslow, two lighthouse keepers who begin to experience strange and supernatural phenomena after they get stranded on a remote island in the 1890s.
2019 was one ofthe best years in movie history, as the modern holy trinity of modern horror directors, comprising Robert Eggers, Jordan Peele, and Ari Aster, came out with new horror films. Eggers’The Lighthouseis a character study of two men in charge of a lighthouse. Played by Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, the two of them come from different generations and never stop clashing.
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The shore that their lighthouse is located on is haunted by inexplicable occurrences, along with the appearance of mermaids. The characters start unraveling as they get agitated from their encounters with supernatural phenomena, which leads them to lose their trust in each other. Both characters' behavior starts to become increasingly erratic, with one of them even killing a seagull with their bare hands in one of the most disturbing scenes of the movie.
Black Swan
In Darren Aronofsky’s 2010 psychological thriller Black Swan, talented ballet dancer Nina Sayers struggles with her mental health while preparing for her performance in a production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. Natalie Portman earned a Best Actress Oscar in the lead role, and the cast made up of Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, and Winona Ryder received high praise from critics and audiences.
Aronofsky is known for depicting the psychosis of his characters in depraved situations that explore harsh realities or the nature of human conditions. Even hisdrama films verge on becoming horrorbecause he uses psychedelic and fearsome visuals to depict his characters' experiences as they lose their grip on reality. The most famous of his films, and one that is most obviously a horror movie, isBlack Swan.
It follows a ballerina, played by Natalie Portman, as she tries her best to keep up with the extreme demands of her performance. She clashes with a newcomer, played by Mila Kunis, who she believes is there to replace her if she slips up even once. The elements of the dance she’s performing start manifesting in her real life –even her body starts growing feathers. The body horror is used to explore the experience of pushing one’s body and mind to their limits in pursuit of perfection. Portman’s character has completely unraveled by the end of the film.
It is one of the greatest horror movies in recent years that changed the genre forever, as is often the case with movies directed by maestro Stanley Kubrick. Among its other forms of legacy, though, Shelley Duvall’s performance, one of thehilarious horror movie moments supposed to be scary, persists as an extreme case of method acting. Her performance, despite extreme dedication and rumored emotional abuse by Kubrick, comes across as funny because she looks nervous and stressed, but exaggeratedly so.
Mike Flanagan directedDoctor Sleep, a sequel toThe Shining,in 2019, whose protagonist is Jack’s son Danny, now an adult, played by Ewan McGregor.
The fictional location of the Overlook Hotel is one of the most iconic locations in horror movie history. Writer Jack Torrance takes up a job as the winter caretaker there and moves there with his family. He’s informed that the previous caretaker killed his family before taking his own life. Thetruth to these presumed rumors starts making itself apparentafter Jack starts experiencing violent outbursts after living in the hotel for a while. Torrance loses all semblance of his reserved past self as he descends into madness over the course ofThe Shining.
Pearl
Pearl, a prequel to the film X, follows the story of a young woman named Pearl residing on a secluded farm during the early 20th century. Directed by Ti West, this psychological horror explores Pearl’s descent into madness, delving into her troubled psyche and the haunting circumstances that surround her. Starring Mia Goth, the film provides a chilling backdrop and a character study of ambition and isolation gone awry.
Mia Goth broke through in Hollywood for her dual role of Maxine and Pearl in Ti West’s retro slasher filmX. Both her characters got their own movies to complete a trilogy.Maxxxine, one ofKevin Bacon’s horror movies, is a sequel and follows Maxine.Pearlis set during the youth of the titular character, who was an old woman inX.
Her descent into psychopathic madness, which drives her to kill both her parents and her best friend, comes out of nowhere.
In 1918, a young Pearl in her twenties, lives with her German immigrant parents in Texas. Her husband is away, serving in the war, and her strict mother prevents her from having a social life. Pearl is hellbent on being a movie star, and takes it personally when she fails at an audition. Even though she shows signs of lacking empathy from the very beginning, her descent into psychopathic madness, which drives her to kill both her parents and her best friend, comes out of nowhere.Pearlstarts like a sinister melodrama and ends with a highly terrifying moment that is characteristic of horror cinema.
In the Mouth of Madness
In the Mouth of Madness, directed by John Carpenter and starring Sam Neill, follows an insurance investigator tasked with locating a missing horror novelist whose work has begun to affect readers in peculiar ways. As he delves deeper, he finds the line between fiction and reality blurred, confronting nightmarish truths. Released in 1995, the film explores themes of madness and the power of storytelling.
At 13 films, theHalloweenfranchise is one of the longest-running horror movie franchises featuring an iconic villain, Michael Myers. It was created by John Carpenter,one of the most influential horror filmmakers of all time. While it’s still considerably famous, in comparison to some of his more popular works,In the Mouth of Madnessfeels like one of Carpenter’s most underrated movies. It informally concludes the Apocalypse trilogy afterThe Thingin 1982 andPrince of Darknessin 1987.
A Lovecraftian horror film that derives its title from a novella by H. P. Lovecraft,In the Mouth of Madnessis the quintessential descent-into-madness movie. Protagonist John Trent, played by Sam Neill, famous forJurassic Park, amovie adaptation written by its source’s author, is an insurance investigator. He gets assigned to a case he believes is a hoax, but soon discovers that the writer he’s investigating has somehow managed to make his horrifying imaginations manifest in reality. Trent gradually loses his mind, becomes murderous, and ends the film with hysterical laughter.
Perfect Blue
Perfect Blue is a psychological thriller directed by Satoshi Kon. The film follows Mima Kirigoe, a pop idol who transitions to acting, only to find herself stalked by an obsessive fan and plagued by mental instability. As she grapples with her evolving career and identity, Mima’s sense of reality begins to blur, culminating in a suspenseful and haunting narrative.
If the experiences of the protagonist ofBlack Swanfeels like one of the best instances of a character descending into madness, that’s because ofPerfect Blue. Satoshi Kon’s Magnum Opus, the film follows a woman after she leaves her J-Pop group to pursue acting. She isstalked by an obsessive fan, and soon afterward, murders start happening. She starts losing her grip on reality as she undergoes a transformation she can’t understand.
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Even though Aronofsky denies that it is an adaptation or remake ofPerfect Blue, he has acknowledged thatBlack Swanbears resemblance to the anime film. Using the unreliable narrator device, the film explores the role of voyeurism, self-perception, and performance in the lives of celebrities and performing artists. Kon’s other celebrated works,Paprika, which influenced Christopher Nolan’sInception, asci-fi movie with an incredible ensemble cast, andMillennium Actress, also deal with similar themes, especially in the form of psychologicalhorror.
