10 Psychological Horror Movies to Haunt Your Dreams
Everyone knows that horror movies beget nightmares. But did you know that peak nightmare experiences are a common trigger of lucidity? It's like the terror of realizing you're about to be ripped to pieces by the knife monster shocks you into realizing you're dreaming. So next time you're writhing about in a nightmare scenario, or screaming at yourself to wake up, take a second to focus your energy on declaring the dream for what it is: a harmless rendering of your innermost thoughts and fears. Lucidity is then yours.
It Follows (2014)
For nineteen-year-old Jay, Autumn should be about school, boys and weekends out at the lake. But after a seemingly innocent sexual encounter, she finds herself plagued by strange visions and the inescapable sense that someone, something, is following her. Faced with a deadly curse, Jay and her friends must find a way to escape the horror that's perpetually closing in.
Trivia: The poem that Jay's English teacher reads out loud is TS Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock". The poem seems to share some commonalities with the film.
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The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Three film students travel to Maryland to make a student film about a local urban legend: The Blair Witch. But when they go into the woods on a two-day hike to find her, they never come back. One year later, the students' film was found in the woods. The footage was compiled and made into a movie. This movie.
Trivia: This film was in the Guinness Book Of World Records for "Top Budget : Box Office Ratio" (for a mainstream feature film). The film cost $22,000 to make and made back $240.5 million, a ratio of $1 spent for every $10,931 made.
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A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
On Elm Street, Nancy Thompson and a group of her friends including Tina Gray, Rod Lane and Glen Lantz are being tormented by a clawed killer in their dreams named Freddy Krueger. Nancy must think quickly, as Freddy tries to pick off his victims one by one. When he has you in your sleep, who is there to save you?
Trivia: More than 500 gallons of fake blood were used during the making of the film.
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The Ring (2002)
Rachel Keller is a journalist investigating a videotape that may have killed four teenagers, including her niece. There is an urban legend about this tape: the viewer will die seven days after watching it. If the legend is true, Rachel is against the clock to save her son's and her own life.
Trivia: Subliminal frames from the Ring video are inserted in the film.
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The Shining (1980)
Signing a contract, Jack Torrance, a writer and former teacher agrees to take care of a hotel which has a long, violent past that puts everyone there in a nervous situation. While Jack slowly gets more violent and angry, his son, Danny, tries to use a special talent, the "Shining", to inform the people outside about whatever's going on in the hotel.
Trivia: To get Jack Nicholson in the right agitated mood, he was only fed cheese sandwiches - which he hates.
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The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Young FBI agent Clarice Starling is assigned to help find a missing woman to save her from a psychopathic serial killer who skins his victims. Clarice attempts to gain a better insight into the twisted mind of the killer by talking to another psychopath, Hannibal Lecter, who used to be a respected psychiatrist. However, Clarice must first gain Lecter's confidence before the inmate will give away any information.
Trivia: The Silence of the Lambs was inspired by the real-life relationship between criminology professor Robert Keppel and serial killer Ted Bundy. Bundy helped Keppel investigate the Green River Serial Killings before he was executed in 1989. The Green River Killings were finally solved in 2001 and Gary Ridgway pleaded guilty to 48 counts of aggravated first degree murder.
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The Sixth Sense (1999)
Malcom Crowe is a child psychologist who receives an award on the same night that he is visited by a very unhappy ex-patient. Crowe then takes on the task of curing a young boy with the same ills as the ex-patient. This boy claims to see dead people. Crowe spends a lot of time with the boy, much to the dismay of his wife. But Cole's mom is at her wit's end with her son's increasing problems... and Crowe is their only hope.
Trivia: Toni Collette said that she was so moved by the emotional resonance of the story whilst filming, she didn't even realize it was a horror film until after its release.
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Jacob's Ladder (1990)
New York postal worker, Jacob Singer, is trying to keep his frayed life from unraveling. His days are increasingly invaded by flashbacks to his first marriage, his deceased son, and his tour of duty in Vietnam. Athough his new wife tries to help Jacob keep his grip on sanity, the line between reality and delusion steadily grows more and more uncertain.
Trivia: The closing legend of the film mentions the testing of a drug named BZ in Vietnam. BZ is NATO code for a hallucinogen called 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, which was rumored to have been administered to US troops during the Vietnam War in an attempt to increase their combat abilities.
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The Omen (1976)
Robert and Katherine Thorn seem to have it all. They are happily married and he is the US Ambassador to Great Britain. But they long for a child. When Katharine has a stillborn baby, Robert is approached by a priest at the hospital who suggests that they take a healthy newborn whose mother has just died in childbirth. Without telling his wife, he agrees. After relocating to London, strange events - and the ominous warnings of a priest - lead him to believe that the child he took from that Italian hospital is evil incarnate.
Trivia: The day after filming was completed at the Longleat Safari Park, a zookeeper was killed in the lion area, thereby fueling the sense of a curse on the film.
The Others (2001)
Grace retires with her two children to a mansion on Jersey, towards the end of the Second World War, where she's waiting for her husband to return from battle. But the children have a rare skin disease which means they can't be touched by direct sunlight. The family live in isolation with oppressive and almost religious rules, until Grace hires a group of servants. But their arrival breaks Grace's rules with unexpected consequences.
Trivia: The house - supposedly on the island of Jersey - is actually located in the north of Spain (Santander).
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About The Author
Rebecca Casale is a lucid dreamer and a science writer with a special interest in biology and the brain. She is the founder of World of Lucid Dreaming and Science Me.
