History Main / PsychologicalHorror

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* ''Irwin Segarane's ''VideoGame/{{Mother|IrwinSegarane}}'' is about a single mother who must protect her two children from paranormal beings that stalk her apartment complex.

* ''VideoGame/Metro2033'' is a first person shooter, but while it has gunfights against bandits, mutants, and Neo-Nazis and/or Communists, those are brief levels of heart-pounding adrenaline between long stretches of isolation, unexplained but explicitly supernatural horrors such as ghosts and 'anomalies', and a growing sense of gloomy, claustrophobic despair in the tunnels that manages to evolve into agoraphobic paranoia when Artyom is in the open on the surface. Worst of all are some of the completely unexplained instances of blatant and lethal MindScrew that defy explanation -- the less said about the Dark Ones, the better. It's saying something when it's ''comforting'' to have a level with Nazis to shoot at, versus the game's alternatives.

* ''Anime/DanganronpaTheAnimation''

* Any movie by Creator/AndreiTarkovsky, but particularly ''Film/{{Stalker}}''.

* ''Film/{{Bug|2006}}'' with Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon is actually this; not the Body Horror film the trailers and ads advertised.
* ''Film/{{Carrie|1976}}''

This may involve replacing physical threats with psychological ones (e.g. madness), thorough exploration of the mind of the disturbed or mentally ill protagonists (including the bad guys/MonsterOfTheWeek), replacing [[PeekABooCorpse overt displays of horror]] by more subtle, creepy details, and so on. Often overlaps with SurrealHorror.

This may involve replacing physical threats with psychological ones (e.g. madness), thorough exploration of the mind of the involved protagonists (including the bad guys/MonsterOfTheWeek), replacing [[PeekABooCorpse overt displays of horror]] by more subtle, creepy details, and so on. Often overlaps with SurrealHorror.

Psychological Horror is a subgenre of {{Horror}} that aims at creating horrific or unsettling effects through in-depth use of psychology.

* ''Film/{{Psycho}}''.

** ''TheBadSeedReturns''

** ''Film/{{Reincarnation}}''

* ''Anime/PerfectBlue''

** ''Film/RosemarysBaby''

* ''Literature/TheBadSeed''

* ''Franchise/SilentHill'': The enemies and environments of each game are pulled from the screwed-up psyche of one or more of its characters, and the series relies far more on NothingIsScarier, surreal imagery and symbolism than jump scares and gore. The games occasionally hint that the protagonist may simply be insane.
* ''VideoGame/SilentHillShatteredMemories'' in particular relies on psychological horror, since it prefers to downplay the "survival" element. Especially with the reveal that [[spoiler:the entire game was literally taking place in one character's mind in response to attempt psychological therapy]].
* ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'', especially since one of the three traits in the game is Sanity, alongside vitality and Mana. Not only are you dealing with enemies that defy common logic, they are purposefully distorting your perception of reality. If you beat them [[EverythingFades they're gone]] and not only will you be trying to describe something that sounds insane, you probably are insane. Even if the psychological tricks don't scare you, let that sanity bar run out and your vitality will quickly go down the drain.
* ''VideoGame/TheSuffering'' is a cross between psychological and physical horror. While you will be fighting inmates, guards, and wretched abominations, you will also encounter horrific hallucinations and the ghosts of Carnate Island's insane and psychopathic residents.
* ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon F.E.A.R.]]'' blends supernatural horror, achieved primarily through unnerving atmosphere rather than any overt monsters, with a scifi-ish tactical shooter set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture.

%%* ''VideoGame/RuleOfRose''.

%%* ''VideoGame/YumeNikki''

* ''Franchise/DeadSpace'' is more of an Action SurvivalHorror mixture, but the copious use of insanity, both in the player character and in the world around them, vivid and terrifying hallucinations, and recordings of the slow descent of the world into madness [[LateToTheTragedy before you arrived]]. All punctuated with the need to brutally rip apart corpses before they turn into horrific monsters and do the same thing to you.

* ''VideoGame/CondemnedCriminalOrigins'' explores themes of violent insanity and whether or not the player can trust they aren't going crazy, even as they fight off waves of delusional, psychotic killers.

* ''VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesAlice'' is a famous example of this, in which the monsters Alice fights are physical representations of her own psychological issues, mostly regarding her survivor's guilt after the death of her family.
* ''VideoGame/AliceMadnessReturns'', carries on the tradition, adding [[spoiler:overhearing but not knowing to stop the rape of her sister]] to her list of guilts. Unlike the first game, parts of the plot take place in the real world, which then hammer in the horror as the two realms start to bleed together.
* ''VideoGame/CallOfCthulhuDarkCornersOfTheEarth'', naturally, makes heavy use of this trope due to being a first person perspective retelling of the famous "Shadow over Innsmouth" story.
%%* ''VideoGame/{{Calling}}''
* One or two of the missions of ''VideoGame/{{SWAT 4}}'' tackle extremely disturbing crime cases in very creepy locales.
* One of the reasons why the original ''VideoGame/OperationFlashpoint'' and its current successor ''VideoGame/{{ARMA}}'' are praised for their realism is how they not only accurately portray the tech and tactics employed on a modern battlefield, but also [[WarIsHell the tension, paranoia and uncompromising unpredictability of military operations]]. Compared to most other military games, which are usually action-pumped thrill rides with lots of loud set pieces, these titles have the player experiencing almost unbearable tension while moving through enemy territory. The enemies can be well hidden, may already know of your position, may be already surrounding you stealthily and killing you before you even manage to register them and realize your grave mistake. And don't even get us started on situations like being TrappedBehindEnemyLines, completely out of ammo and hiding in the bushes, because heavily armed brigades of soldiers and vehicles are combing the whole area. All of this goes hand in hand with the horror occurring [[DaylightHorror commonly during missions set in broad daylight]].
* ''VideoGame/IronStorm'' is a shooter that has zero supernatural elements, but is set in a nigh-nightmarish DieselPunk world scarred by an increasingly insane and [[{{Dystopia}} dystopic]] ForeverWar.
* ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'' is a curious example of the trope. It opens much like any other modern military shooter, but about halfway through the game (after the protagonists [[spoiler:unwittingly burn forty-seven innocent civilians to death with white phosphorous rounds]]) it starts to take on more and more elements of psychological horror, including surreal, horrific imagery, hallucinations etc.
* ''VideoGame/Metro2033'' is a first person shooter, but while it has gunfights against bandits, mutants, and Neo-Nazis and/or Communists, those are brief levels of heart-pounding adrenaline between long stretches of isolation, unexplained but explicitly supernatural horrors such as ghosts and 'anomalies', and a growing sense of gloomy, claustrophobic despair in the tunnels that manages to evolve into agoraphobic paranoia when Artyom is in the open on the surface. Worst of all are some of the completely unexplained instances of blatant and lethal MindScrew that defy explanation -- the less said about the Dark Ones, the better. It's saying something when it's ''comforting'' to have a level with Nazis to shoot at, versus the game's alternatives.
* ''VideoGame/CryOfFear'' fits this neatly. The game is focused on exploring the madness of the main character Simon through the environment (which twists and changes whenever Simon has a psychotic fit), enemies (each of which is based on one of Simon's fears and [[spoiler:the anger he has about his unusable legs]]) and flashbacks with his doctor.
* ''VideoGame/FranBow'' in which the titular character, a young girl, tries to cope with the trauma from witnessing the gruesome murder of her parents, a event so awful that the thought of it regularly causes her perception of reality to break down.
* ''VideoGame/Prey2017'' has you dealing with breaks from reality, such as your reflection talking to you or hallucinating being consumed by shadowy tendrils.
* ''VideoGame/{{Imscared}}'' toys with the player in a very interesting way of immersion; the game torments you with the prospect that the game's villain is a real entity, and is actively playing around with your computer by downloading text files pretending it's a computer virus. That's right, a real life version of TheMostDangerousVideoGame.
* ''VideoGame/{{Anatomy}}'' has a very slow NothingIsScarier grind in comparing the house you're in to a human mind and body, going on about how important and how deceitful a home can be. The house accommodates itself accordingly.
* ''VideoGame/HellbladeSenuasSacrifice'' is very much this, since it deals with Senua, a ShellShockedVeteran who suffers from psychosis after losing her lover (and many other misfortunes). Disturbing images are everywhere, Senua is constantly fighting her own demons and voices in her head constantly bicker with each other, making it even ''harder'' to determine what is real and what is not.
* ''VideoGame/{{Postal}}'''s first installment is VERY VERY much this with its harrowing and almost psychedelic loading screens and the protagonists' "war journal" entries elaborating on his mental state/filling in for the story.
* ''VideoGame/{{Paranoiac}}'' is this overlapped with SurvivalHorror, with grief and mental illness playing large roles in the plot. After moving into her late aunt's house, Miki finds herself being stalked by a monster every night, along with other strange and spooky occurrences, but it soon becomes obvious the underlying conflict is around Miki battling with depression and guilt over her aunt's death. It's even suggested that [[spoiler:[[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane the monster may not actually be real]]; real or not, it's implied to represent Miki's inner turmoil and struggle]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Blackout}}'' follows a PlayerCharacter with a SplitPersonality and plenty of AlternateIdentityAmnesia, who tries to piece together his own identity, all while trying to get to the bottom of the mystery of the headless body that suddenly appeared in his apartment one night, before disappearing just as mysteriously almost immediately thereafter. [[spoiler:Much of it involves his DarkAndTroubledPast and AbusiveParents.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Smile}}'' is about a guy seeing a doctor for help with his mental health and addictions, only to end up trapped in a strange world, pursued by horrifying beings who want to kill him.
* ''VideoGame/{{Okaeri}}'' is [[InformedAttribute stated to be this]] on its UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} page. This can probably be backed up by [[JumpScare the random noises]] that occur in the game.
* ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'' is this, particularly during the real world at night via hallucinations and also during the sections inside [[spoiler:Blackspace]].
* ''VideoGame/WhenTheDarknessComes'' is a game that tries to illustrate depression and anxiety through horror visuals.
* ''VideoGame/TheWorksOfMercy'' is about the protagonist being forced to murder people, or otherwise try desperately to save them while being tormented by an unknown psychopath.
* House Beneviento in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'' takes this tone compared to the rest of the game, as protagonist Ethan Winters finds himself [[NoGearLevel stripped of his items]] and is tormented with images, apparations, and anguished recordings of his wife. This reaches its peak when Ethan finds himself [[spoiler:being pursued by a horrific giant baby monster that cannot be fought in any way]]. Even the boss fight is a rush to find a doll hiding among the other toys rather than the action formula of other bosses, making the house feel more supernatural and ambiguously real, like a mind trip that's deeply personal to Ethan's fears. [[spoiler:Indeed, Donna Beneviento, who presides over the house, is revealed to use hallucinogenic powers to torture her victims rather than brute force, and is playing on Ethan's fears after the shooting of his wife and his concerns about his baby's normalcy.]]
* ''VideoGame/RootsOfInsanity'': [[PlayerCharacter Dr. [=McClein=]]] suffers from epilepsy that causes him to have scary hallucinations. Expect to see zombies and various other horrors pop in and out of existence.
* ''VideoGame/NeedyStreamerOverload'' is about helping a girl become internet famous, but should she end up overstressed (or overdosed), the player will be subjected to her resulting mental breakdown and psychotic fits, unable to do anything but watch her fall further and further into madness.
* ''VideoGame/SubwayMidnight'' is set in a series of subway cars that are being haunted by the ghosts of children, and the protagonist (also a child) has to navigate them while also being stalked by the sinister figure that's responsible for their deaths.

* ''Anime/{{Ghost in the Shell|1995}} 2: Innocence'': The whole part in Kim's mansion goes quite into this.

* ''Anime/PerfectBlue''

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

* How much of it is intentional is debatable, but for a series about playing soccer with aliens, the second season ''Anime/InazumaEleven'' has this in spades.

* ''Film/Sarmasik'' or Ivy in English. A skeleton crew of a bankrupt cargo ship is left alone for months to care for the ship and they eventually succumb to OceanMadness.
* ''Film/{{Session 9}}'', appropriately enough for a film set in a real abandoned mental hospital.

** ''Film/{{Oldboy 2003}}''