The most affecting thing a motion picture can do is install a sense of dread in you. And not just a quick jump scare that'll startle, but a real feeling of impending doom that lingers with you for days. "Jaws" convinced a generation to avoid the water because of shark attacks, "The Exorcist" led to a spike in demonic possessions. That's the real power of effective filmmaking: the ability to make adults paranoid.
These movies aren't all horror picks, and not all are thrillers, but they do plant the seeds of doubt in your head — of something not being right. Are you being watched like in "The Truman Show," or has something cursed you and is following your every footstep? Maybe you keep forgetting something like Leonard Shelby. Sometimes you can't quite place your finger on why. These movies tap into that primal fear.
Let us know your favorite paranoia-inducing thriller in the comments below.
Horror — 'The Lighthouse' (2019)
For anyone with imposter syndrome, or for any actual frauds out there living a double life with a different name, Robert Eggers's "The Lighthouse" is the perfect watch. It's a taut, twisty nightmare of a film about two lighthouse keepers played brilliantly by Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe. It's all in black-and-white, is obsessed with old timey seafaring fables and legends and features the best salty pirate-esque dialogue you'll ever hear. But it's the paranoia shown by Pattinson in particular that makes this movie sing. Or scream, technically. It's a very spooky film, and an excellent example of elevated horror that has graced our screens in recent years.
Neo-Noir — 'Klute' (1971)
We've written about an Alan J. Pakula political thriller before with "The Parallax View" (which would have been a great selection here too) but we opted to go with another one of his '70s classics in "Klute." This, alongside "All the President's Men," make up a trilogy of films that speak to the era of American culture and politics that formed after the JFK assassination and Watergate scandals. It was a time where Americans really questioned what was going on in the news, and Jane Fonda did such a good job of portraying a woman who is potentially being stalked that it won her the Oscar for Best Actress.
Political/Legal Thriller — 'The Pelican Brief' (1993)
This was the second to last movie Alan J. Pakula made, well after his trilogy of government conspiracy theory thrillers. "The Pelican Brief" is not based on real life events, but on a John Grisham novel about a woman (Julia Roberts) who is being hunted for figuring out the dangerous secret behind two dead Supreme Court justices. Denzel Washington also gets in on the chase-scene heavy plot by being the journalist she works with to crack the case and expose the truth. Or, at least, they attempt to while dodging being killed themselves.
Medical Disaster — Contagion (2011)
Am I sick? Is that person contagious? Am I dying? These questions have never been more prescient than after the global COVID-19 pandemic, and that makes Steven Soderbergh's "Contagion" even more alarming and scary. The writer director rarely misses, as we've covered in the past, and this star studded affair gets into the slow spreading panic that a new deadly virus causes within our neighborhoods, communities and the media.
Mystery/Psychological — 'Cube' (1997)
Co-written and directed by Vincenzo Natali, the series of "Cube" films were far ahead of their time. Before the booby-trapped filled rooms of the "Saw" franchise, there was the anonymous mystery surrounding the Cube: a place where people wake up and don't know where they are. Suspicion and desperation set in as escaping one cube leads to another cube, and soon the endless connected cubes these people are trapped in have motion detectors, puzzles, clues, numbers and death. This one will freak you out if you're into Kafkaesque existentialism.
Indie — 'Primer' (2004)
Shane Carruth, wrote, produced, edited, scored, starred in and directed the Sundance Film Festival hit "Primer" back in 2004. The film, which is only 77-minutes long, is the most bare bones independent movie you'll ever see yet is infinitely rewatchable because the plot is so dense and impossible to follow. It's about time travel, but in the most grounded and realistic way possible, bringing to light what it would actually be like to discover this power for oneself and the paranoia of wielding (and misusing) such power.
Sci-Fi — 'Altered States' (1980)
Ken Russell is the master of the weird, bold, shocking, twisted and subversive. His most famous movie is written by the great Paddy Chayefsky, and marks the debut of both William Hurt and Drew Barrymore. This body horror sci-fi thriller deals with sensory deprivation tanks, dreams, psychoactive drug-fueled trips and the monsters we create in our minds that might some day come to life. The human mind is capable of extraordinary things, and once you've gone past the limits of understanding and reality, it can be quite scary exploring the unknown using only your perceptions and thoughts.
Romantic Comedy — 'The Science of Sleep' (2006)
What's the most paranoid thing most people worry about? It's "does this person truly love me?" — and what better way to test that out than a film that mixes both literal science experimentation and the chemistry of love? Michel Gondry, best known for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," wrote and directed this less-seen rom-com that mixes fantasy and surrealistic sci-fi imagery into a very cute and quite tame film compared to the rest of the picks on this list. Paranoia is a part of psychology, and this leans more into the fun side of that science than trying to outright spook you.
Action — 'Source Code' (2011)
What happens when you mix the time rewinding of "Groundhog Day" with the mystery and setting surrounding "Murder on the Orient Express?" You get Duncan Jones's action film "Source Code," a very underrated mind-warping movie where Jake Gyllenhaal has to find the person responsible for bombing a train, and resets the scene every time he fails (and the bomb goes off.) The ticking clock element really kicks the mystery into high gear, alongside the questions raised about the "brain in a vat" thought exercise and the nature of human consciousness. So every time you take a train from now on, ask yourself, "is there a bomb on board?" That's what I do after seeing this film.
If you enjoyed this list, we have more, like a pick of animated movies for adults you haven't seen or the best Western films you've never heard of but should.
[Image: YouTube]
