Three Can't-Miss Twisty Psychological Thrillers Streaming Now
Murderous Christian Bale, creepy Matt Damon, and a thriller about Big Pharma
From Psycho to The Silence of the Lambs, it’s hard to resist the complex pleasures of the psychological thriller. Movies are an inherently subjective art form, and many filmmakers have reveled in that fact by telling stories that keep you off balance. There’s nothing quite like a movie that burrows into a character’s psyche to portray something about human nature. It’s thrilling and unsettling at the same time.
Here’s a few of our favorite psychological thrillers streaming now. And keep an eye out for a Very Spooky bonus edition of Do You Like Apples next week before Halloween. Oh, and sign up if you haven’t yet!
Billy recommends…
American Psycho (streaming on Netflix)
The more sadistic a psychological thriller, the more enjoyable they seem to be. American Psycho is sadistic in an incredibly fun way. Director Mary Harron rides the line of funny and terrifying throughout by letting her young but veteran actor, Christian Bale, command the screen. Close-up shots allow the descent into madness infect the audience with terror, while being funny at the same time.
Terror and humor are closely linked. Hard to source and a moment of terror can morph into humor quickly, and vice versa. Harron creates a character that is aware of his thoughts and he masters hiding the most evil of them. Bale plays Patrick Bateman and to everyone he is the classic white, powerful, arrogant, and successful businessman that masks it all. The audience is the only party that knows the madness that this character hides.
Bateman’s “crazy” stems from a societal pressure. During the day resisting his psychotic urges, but at night, letting loose. This is an exaggerated look at the way many people live their lives. Sadly, I admit a similar struggle. I go to work and play the game. Win the game sometimes. Feel insecure about “losing” the game and go home to lash out. This “lash out” tends to let laziness take over, but that is kind of psychotic isn’t it?
How is a movie about a person with murderous… tendencies(?) so relatable? The intention is not to get to deep about an outrageous psychological thriller. There's a message that goes past the entertainment. Watch this for the entertainment. There are amazing performances, masterful direction, and dark humor. Allow yourself to enjoy the entertainment while enduring the oddly relatable commentary.
Drew recommends…
The Talented Mr. Ripley (streaming on Amazon Prime)
On its surface, The Talented Mr. Ripley is utterly gorgeous. This alluring and cerebral drama from 1999 features exciting young actors (Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow), beautiful scenery shot on location in Italy, and rich characters living a carefree lifestyle abroad. It’s quite a pretty picture to take in. And yet, there’s a dark and warped undercurrent lying beneath this glamorous sheen.
The story, which was adapted from a 1955 Patricia Highsmith novel, follows Tom Ripley (Damon), a young scammer in 1950s New York who is getting paid by the father of a spoiled millionaire to bring his son back from Italy. The only problem is that the son, Dickie Greenleaf (Law), really doesn’t want to come home, and Ripley becomes enamored with Dickie’s Italian exploits -- and Dickie himself. I won’t give away any more than that, because I don’t want to telegraph too much about this wonderfully twisty plot.
In the lead role is a Matt Damon that you have never seen before. He plays Ripley as creepy and unbalanced with a thin veneer of fake charm. It’s a far cry from Jason Bourne and Will Hunting, showing off the range Damon has always possessed as an actor. However, Jude Law kind of steals this movie. He could not be more perfect as the self-assured trust fund kid. Law is magnetic, lively, and seductive in this role. (Related: my wife would not stop commenting on 27-year-old Jude Law during the movie.) The Talented Mr. Ripley also features early performances from Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, only three of the most accomplished actors of the last 25 years. I hope this movie’s casting director got a monster raise.
Not only is the cast attractive, but so is the setting. Almost the entire film takes place in Italian coastal towns and cities, like Naples, Rome, and Venice. The characters are in and out of jazz clubs, stylish cafes, and lavish yachts. Director Anthony Minghella makes everything look so enchanting that you wonder why every movie isn’t set in Italy.
But! As I said at the top, there is something dangerous lurking in the metaphorical shadows of The Talented Mr. Ripley. This fascinating element is what keeps you guessing throughout. Why are these characters who are living such fashionable and envious lives so dissatisfied? What do they desire, and what will they do to get it? This intriguing complexity and intelligence is what makes The Talented Mr. Ripley one of the most underrated films of the 90s and a near-masterpiece.
Side Effects (streaming on Amazon Prime)
If Alfred Hitchcock made a movie about the pharmaceutical industry, it would look a lot like Side Effects. This clever, twisty psychological thriller is a perfect example of the type of movie we need more of these days. Side Effects has movie stars, interesting ideas, and enough suspense to keep you hooked from the first scene to the last.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh (who we wrote about just a few weeks ago), the plot concerns a woman (Rooney Mara) who becomes depressed after her husband (Channing Tatum) is released from prison. She drives her car into a wall in a suicide attempt, so she’s placed on multiple antidepressants, including a new experimental drug, by her psychiatrist (Jude Law). As the movie’s title suggests, there are some serious side effects.
Rooney Mara is one of the most compelling actresses working right now, and she plays the main character like a cipher. You can never quite tell what she’s thinking or feeling, to the movie’s benefit. In just about every performance, Mara brings a level of mystery that makes you want to figure her out.
For the second time in this newsletter, I’m going to praise a Jude Law performance in a psychological thriller. He’s excellent in Side Effects as a morally ambiguous psychiatrist that feels like he’s being fooled by somebody -- or everybody. He’s a classic Hitchcock character. Channing Tatum doesn’t have as much to do, but Catherine Zeta-Jones appears here as Mara’s previous psychiatrist, and she’s as good as she’s been in years.
Side Effects is a surprisingly effective thriller that can sneak up on you. Soderbergh is the perfect director for a screenplay like this, because he’s a sophisticated filmmaker that also wants to entertain you. He shoots the film with a kind of hazy fog around the edges of the picture, so that you, too, feel like you’re on medication. Don’t come expecting a high-octane ride, just a smart thriller that slowly seeps its way into your nervous system.
Streaming TV Corner
What we’re watching this week
Drew: Succession (streaming on HBO)
Admittedly, I am late to HBO’s hit show about the dysfunctional family behind a global media mega-corporation. I dragged my feet on giving it a try, because it didn’t seem all that interesting of a story. As I made my way through the first season these past couple weeks, I realized Succession isn’t really about who is going to “win” or what happens to Waystar Royco. It’s about the relatable family dynamics of these very unrelatable wealthy elites.
It takes a few episodes to get rolling, but once you get to know these deeply flawed (and shockingly funny) characters, you start to look forward to the profane and highly entertaining behind-the-scenes drama at the heart of Succession. Plus, it truly has a banger of a theme song.
Links to get you hyped
The final trailer for the final chapter of the Skywalker saga is upon us. Prepare yourself for the many emotions to come.
The upcoming adaptation of Little Women screened for critics and the early buzz looks terrific for Greta Gerwig’s film. It sounds like we could have a major Oscar player here. Little Women is in theaters this Christmas.
Disney is stoking 90s nostalgia by announcing a sequel to Hocus Pocus, and just in time for Halloween!
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