It’s Thursday and I’m back with a new Thursday Movie Picks feature post. This series is hosted by Wandering through the Shelves and offers you a weekly prompt to post some movie recommendations/talking points according to the theme. Usually, you are supposed to post about 3-5 examples, which I find a very manageable amount.
This week is all about Psychological Thrillers. I like them more than regular crime or horror movies, but once again, not my field of expertise. I’m such a sucker for fluff and comedy and just regular dramas, but this darker stuff really isn’t my wheelhouse. I will still try to give you my best picks!
*the genre of the following movies is probably debatable, but I picked them from the most popular list of psycho thrillers on IMDB … so, take up the classification with them*
Gossip
I watched this movie up and down when I was younger. It actually has a really excellent cast, but barely anyone I know has seen it. Basically, it’s a study of what happens when you put fake rumors into the world and how wrong things go when they develop a life of their own.
Ex Machina
I like my thrillers sci-fi based? Again, Ex Machina has a fantastic cast and deserved its praise back in the day. They weren’t the first to talk about sentient “machines”, but they did it well and I enjoyed it quite more than I expected.
The Invisible Man
I rarely do horror, but Oliver Jackson Cohen is the exception! He can get me to watch just about anything (I really mean that. I watched some terrible stuff, but also brilliant projects he was in) and he is one of my favorite on screen villains. Although, I also love it when he is the genuine love interest … anyway – probably not the most impacting horror movie ever, but the reality of someone gaslighting you and making you seem crazy to the world is my worst nightmare!
Inception
So many friends tell me they were confused by the movie, but I wasn’t really and I loved the dream-hopping and idea planting. Is it really a thriller? I don’t know, but it has several psychological aspects and it was number one on the imdb list.
Life and Other Disasters 
One of my favorite psychological thrillers is the anime film Perfect Blue, about a pop star dealing with a stalker, which causes her mental state to falter as she deals with a career change forced on her by her agency. And this description doesn’t do it justice.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I actually think you’ve mentioned that one before. At least it sounds very familiar haha
LikeLike
I may have written about it in a blog post or two.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Some nice choices. I’ve only seen bits of Gossip. I always seem to tune in halfway through, someday I’ll have to give a front to back look.
I liked but didn’t love Ex-Machina. Alicia Vikander was very good but I’ll never watch it again.
I was good with The Invisible Man almost up until the end but they ruined it by having both Cecilia and James act in ways that their characters never would have at the climax. So I left the theatre utterly disgusted with the entire thing. I’ll always remember it though since it was the last film I saw in an actual theatre before the pandemic slammed the lid on such things. I’m an Oliver Jackson-Cohen fan as well, I saw him when he was just starting out in Lark Rise to Candleforth.
I LOVE Inception, I didn’t find it confusing either. It was clever and inventive. Leo was good but Tom Hardy stole the picture right from under his nose.
DiCaprio features prominently in my third pick, all three lean into the crazy side of this week’s theme.
The Baby (1973)-Recently widowed social worker Ann Gentry (Anjanette Comer) is given the case of the Wadsworth family: raspy-voiced Mrs. Wadsworth (Ruth Roman in a wonderfully complex performance), her two very strange adult daughters Alba and Germaine (Suzanne Zenor & Mariana Hill), and her 21-year-old son Baby (David Mooney) whom they have kept infantilized to the point that he still lives in a crib and diapers. Discovering that Baby’s condition isn’t physiological but rather a result of abuse and neglect Ann tries to intercede, but Mrs. Wadsworth is having none of it. Thus begins a battle that escalates to extremes as Mrs. Wadsworth fights to keep control and Ann insists that she’s only interested in Baby’s best interests…. but is she?
Shock Corridor (1963)-In pursuit of a Pulitzer Prize ambitious reporter Johnny Barrett (Peter Breck) feigns madness and has himself committed to an insane asylum to investigate and solve a recent murder sure it will win him the award. But once inside the rigors and horrors of confinement lead him to slowly lose his grip on reality. Lurid by necessity but director Sam Fuller keeps a firm hand preventing the film from slipping into exploitation.
Shutter Island (2010)-In the 50’s two Federal Marshals, Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), enter the peculiar dream like world of Ashecliffe Hospital, an insane asylum located on the remote, windswept Shutter Island, to investigate an apparent escape from the seemingly impenetrable skerry. As a hurricane engulfs the madhouse the men and in particular Teddy begin to question all they know as both their safety and sanity are imperiled. Top-flight Scorsese.
LikeLike
I actually own Inception, but I still haven’t seen that movie yet. I need to do so soon! Great list!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hahaha thank you! I hope you will enjoy Inception if you ever get to it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great selection! I nearly went with Ex Machina too. It’s such a fascinating, multi-layered film. Gossip sounds very interesting. I hadn’t heard of that before.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I haven’t seen Gossip in a while, but young me liked it. There must have been something good about it haha
LikeLike
I’ve never heard of Gossip, I’ll have to look into that. I like all your other picks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gossip isn’t exactly a cinematic masterpiece, but I loved it so much when I was younger. The cast remains its strongest selling point haha
LikeLike
I heard so many good things about Ex Machina! I remember a guy who was in a course with me at university was writing his Master thesis about it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can definitely see how someone could write a whole thesis about it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I thought ‘Inception’ was over-rated, but I loved ‘Ex Machina’ and ‘The Invisible Man.’ I wasn’t expecting to like ‘The Invisible Man’ at all, but I’m glad I watched it! 🙂
LikeLike
I’m definitely not saying that Inception is the best movie ever, but I had a really good time watching it. I think we need to be able to just let movies be okay instead of brilliant sometimes.
I know a lot of people who would disagree about The Invisible Man with you for example haha
LikeLiked by 1 person
Really? I thought ‘The Invisible Man’ was very well-received. 😛
LikeLike
I absolutely loved Inception! There are a few on your list that I have yet to try and Gossip sounds like one that is right up my alley. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m so happy this post introduced people to Gossip, but at the same time, it’s been ages that I watched it and I am terrified that I remembered it wrong or something and it’s no good at all hahaha
LikeLike
I’m all about psychological thrillers! Ex machina was super interesting and had an unexpected ending 🤫 and Inception… It really puts your mind to work!
I recommend “The Call”(Korean) available on Netflix, which plays with time.
LikeLike