Why do we watch horror? Some might say it’s to make the actual horrors of the world manageable. For others, there’s a thrill and fun in being frightened by things we (hope) would never experience in real life. But for a lot of contemporary horror movies, that most potent weapon is the jump scare. That moment when something happens to specifically make the audience jump. Love it or hate it, everyone who has seen a horror movie at any point in the past two centuries knows that jump scares work.
But what if you’re looking for something that’s not a traditional horror movie this spooky season? Here are five psychological thrillers with no jump scares needed.
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
A classic slow-burn horror movie; nobody would ever say this movie isn’t utterly terrifying. If you’ve never seen it, just explaining the premise feels like a spoiler. Rosemary’s Baby is, in many ways, one of the most unsettling horror movies ever made. Watch at your own risk, but it is a classic for a reason.
Rosemary’s Baby streams on YouTube.
Vivarium (2020)
This hidden gem from 2020 finds a young couple (Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots) touring a new housing development only to get trapped in an endless maze of identical houses. This is like one long modern Twilight Zone episode. Eisenberg and Poots are great in this one.
Virarium streams on Tubi.
Rebecca (1940)
One of Alfred Hitchcock’s best, Rebecca stars Joan Fontaine as a shy young bride, basically haunted by the memory of another woman, the titular Rebecca, who technically doesn’t appear. That’s right, there’s no jump scare, just the constant memory and the obsession with Rebecca. A weird, unsettling classic.
You can watch Rebecca on DVD, Blu-ray, or on the Internet Archive.
Gaslight (1944)
Yep, this 1944 movie is pretty much where we get the modern use of the word “gaslight.” In the film, a husband manipulates the environment to make his wife Paula (Ingrid Bergman) believe she’s insane. One of Bergman’s best films, and an oddly important and scary film, for all sorts of reasons.
Gaslight streams on Plex and on Prime Video, with add-ons.
Vertigo (1958)
Another Hitchcock classic. Jimmy Stewart stars as a retired detective who is afraid of heights. Meanwhile, Kim Novak plays Judy, a woman who also starts to embody another woman named Madeleine. There’s a lot of weird obsession in this one, and the star power of Stewart and Novak is undeniable.
Vertigo is available for rent on YouTube, Prime Video, and elsewhere.
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