know of any good psychological horror films

See if you can get a hold of a 1973 British film called, "The Wicker Man". A bit cornball, the way it is set lulls you, and then......wham!

It scared the sh!t out of me, and I don't scare easily.

i love this sort!

Welcome to A2K, jimimb77.

"The Silence of the Lambs"
The granddaddy of all serial killer horror films with some very scary, suspense filled scenarios.

"The Haunting" (the original Robert Wise, not the terrible remake) Black-and-white hightens the sustained suspense and insidious unseen horror.
The "bulging walls" were copied at Disneyland's Haunted House.

"The Thing" The original or the remake.

"The Exorcist" The granddaddy of all possessed by the Devil flicks.

"Alien" and "Alien II" No other menacing alien life form can top this one.

"Suspiria" Like a nightmare.

Not sure if this is technically a horror movie, but the movie which scared me the most and in my opinion is the most psychologically terrifying movie is "A Clockwork Orange."

I think "A Clockwork Orange" fits the psychological horror premise exactly. It's not fun house kind of scary which is the pitfall of many of horror movies.
Of the oldies, "The Sprial Staircase" and "The Lodger" are two great ones. "Psycho" is a psychological horror classic. Of the last several decades the genre has been given over to gratuitous slasher movies and are bloody popcorn flicks (sorry to our British members for the double entendre). Most of Hitchcock is psychological horror or thriller material. In that way, I'd also include "Rebecca" in the list. I included the "Alien" movies because it's the psychological terror of encountering an insidiously evil alien life form.

One of my favorite oldies is "Gaslight".

It's difficult to define psychological mystery, thriller or horror. The horror may often not be the usual monster in the closet. Haven't seen "The Grudge" as it's just hitting theaters. There's a user review:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0391198/

"The Ring" was good as far as it goes but had some script problems. I guess one would qualify "The Village" as a psychological horror/thriller film but for me the ending was telegraphed at the beginning of the film and a lot of time was spent on the love story (which was well done).

Memento

Seven

8mm

recent movie...Identity starring John Cusak ..i thought was well done...

"good psychological horror films" is an oxymoron to me. Have you tried "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer"?

There are lots and lots. These come to mind:

Psycho
The Collector
Monster
4 Flies on Grey Velvet, by Argento
Dementia 13, one the first films by Coppola
Le Locataire, AKA The Tenant, by Polansky

'Identity" was good thriller/mystery with psychological and metaphysical overtones:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0309698/

It owes homage to "Ten Little Indians" or in another movie version and also a classic, "And Then There Were None."

This movie disturbed me too..probably due to the fine acting of Michael Rooker.

I don't know if that's a true oxymoron but any good horror film has strong psychological aspects. It can prey on the psychology of the audience and often by the interacted psychology of one character with another (as in "Identity"). It can actually be about psychology like Hitchcock's "Spellbound." "Vertigo" for me is the antithesis of psychological mystery and in it's way is horrifying -- the final scene when I first saw the film, well, it made my jaw drop to the floor and my heart sink. The film is permeated with psychological anomalies.

(I think the bad horror films are those that just orchestrate situations that aren't much better than the plastic ghoul jumping out at the funhouse so if it's psychological, it's .10 cent psychology from Peanuts).

that may be true LW..but i know that after watching Jaws in 1975 i have yet to swim in the ocean...and it was the head that popped out of the little dinghy that did it for me...lol...though even the opening scene of the girl in the water was powerful enough psychologically that the head scene was just icing on the cake.

George Orwell's 1984?

The psychology of fear of sharks was exploited with genius in "Jaws." Reading the book had be one of the most excruciating experiences of primal fear and it was a sustained suspenseful kind of fear that's hard to come by. The movie delivered much of the same atmosphere and shocks. There may have been some shock surprises but hardly in the genre of, say, Friday the 13th which is a funhouse cum slasher extravaganza. The original "Halloween" is a good psychological horror yarn -- is Michael the real boogey man?

Orwell's "1984" is a nightmarish vision that is definetely horrifying, especially when one realizes what a delicate balance there is in politics, always walking that ideological high wire. It can't happen here? Yeah, sure... The best version is, of course, the Richard Burton.

And welcome to A2K, krisco.buns. What a handle!

Well, I watched Manhunter last night on American Movie Classics. I thought it was really good. Silence of the Lambs may have been better, but I like William Peterson.

http://www.fast-rewind.com/

Hey, Mr. Wizard. Wanted to put this in the Worth Watching Twice thread, but I was too lazy to look for it.