psychological horror
Fear without monsters
Psychological horror is a genre of fiction—in film, literature, and games—that disturbs through mental and emotional unease rather than graphic violence or monsters.
It exploits fears of madness, paranoia, isolation, and the uncanny, often leaving viewers uncertain about what is real.
The dread comes from atmosphere and suggestion: The film relies on psychological horror, never showing the threat directly.
Where conventional horror startles, psychological horror lingers.
- suspenseAnxious uncertainty about outcomes
- mind gamesPsychological manipulation tactics
- gaslightingManipulation causing self-doubt
- paranoiaIrrational persecution fears
- unreliable narratorStoryteller whose credibility wavers
unreliable memory · dread · creeping dread · foreboding · jump scare · psychosis · uncanny · loneliness · slow burn · haunting · hallucination · repression · dark secrets · delusion · isolation · trauma · dream sequences · obsession
- horrorterror, fear, dread, haunted, bloody
- Horror FilmsThe Exorcist, Halloween, The Shining, Friday the 13th, Night of the Living Dead
- Gothic horrorghost story, haunted houses, Dracula, vampires, Frankenstein
- scary storiesghost story, scary story, spine-chiller, campfire story, haunted tale
- thrillerssuspense, thriller, nail-biter, page-turner, cliffhanger
- Gothic LiteratureEdgar Allan Poe, Jane Eyre, Heathcliff, Wuthering Heights, The Tell-Tale Heart
psychological horrorbody horror
Genre exploiting physical revulsion
gore · slasher · shock horror · blood and guts · creature feature