Entertainment
10 Worst Psychological Thrillers of the Last 25 Years
The psychological thriller genre has delivered some of the greatest masterpieces of all time throughout the years, and over the course of the last 25 years in particular, the world has been treated to some absolutely masterful films from that genre. But for every psychological thriller masterpiece, at least a couple of bad ones come along as well; and for every few bad psychological thrillers, cinephiles have been subjected to a couple of truly atrocious ones.
From 2001 until the present, there have been a few psychological thrillers so terrible and universally panned that they may very well be counted among the absolute worst films of the 21st century. Whether it’s a horror movie, an action wannabe-spectacle, or a pure psychological thriller that doesn’t even have the decency to sprinkle some other genre elements on top for variety’s sake, the worst movies in this genre from the last 25 years are unforgettable for all the wrong reasons.
10
‘Dark Crimes’ (2016)
From The Truman Show to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Jim Carrey has given us ample evidence that on top of being one of the most gifted comedic actors of his generation, he’s also perfectly capable of delivering strong dramatic performances. He’s actually quite decently committed in Dark Crimes, but the problem is that the film around him is nothing short of horrible.
Dark Crimes holds a rare 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it’s all too deserved. Though it’s based on a compelling true story about convicted murderer Krystian Bala, director Alexandros Avranas and writer Jeremy Brock somehow find a way to make the movie’s story both incomprehensibly messy and painfully dull. Such a lethal combination, combined with the morbid way in which the film portrays violence toward women, makes for a thriller that’s impossible to recommend.
9
‘I Know Who Killed Me’ (2007)
There are many examples of actors who destroyed their own careers, but few are sadder than Lindsay Lohan‘s. Currently, the actress’ career is going through a modest revival through her work in crowd-pleasing Netflix rom-coms, but her first attempt at a comeback came with 2007’s I Know Who Killed Me. Designed to transition Lohan into darker, more mature roles, this psychological thriller instead drove her career further into the ground.
For one, the plot is ludicrously bizarre and convoluted to the point of being incomprehensible, and the many gratuitous torture porn elements that director Chris Sivertson sprinkles in certainly don’t help one bit. It’s such a ridiculous film that any camp value it may have had is squandered in favor of a psychological puzzle no one in their right mind would be interested in solving.
8
‘Getaway’ (2013)
A fast pace does not a fun action thriller make, as demonstrated by Courtney Solomon‘s box office disaster Getaway. Despite featuring stars of the stature of Ethan Hawke and Selena Gomez, this flop speeds through its narrative at such a monotonously breakneck speed that there’s no time for any substantial character development, any interesting story moments, or even any action sequences that aren’t completely incoherent.
Indeed, Getaway is one of the most incompetently-made Hollywood psychological thrillers of the 21st century, and may even be one of the worst action thriller movies of all time. It’s 90 minutes of pure boredom, sticking Ethan Hawke in a car where he doesn’t get any key moment to show off his acting chops, instead having to speed through a paper-thin plot.
7
‘Ticker’ (2001)
Albert Pyun was one of the most notorious and infamous directors of low-budget B-movies and direct-to-video action films, often collaborating with actors well past their prime. For the perfect introduction to his work—and “perfect” in this case means absolutely terrible—, one needn’t look any further than Ticker, starring actors like Steven Seagal, Tom Sizemore, Nas, and Dennis Hopper.
This eclectic group of actors all deliver entirely weak and even bizarre performances in Ticker, a movie that looks and feels so painfully cheap that even finding it for a buck at the supermarket DVD bargain bin would make it seem overpriced. Incoherently stitched together in the editing room, it’s not even entertaining enough to be a so-bad-it’s-good classic.
6
‘The Open House’ (2018)
Netflix has made some exceptional films throughout the years, but they’ve also made plenty of terrible ones, and The Open House undoubtedly belongs to the latter group. This horror thriller directed by Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote is neither thrilling nor scary, instead serving as nothing more than a waste of time jam-packed with trite clichés.
Through and through, The Open House is one of the worst horror mystery movies of modern times, and one of the worst ways Netflix subscribers could possibly choose to spend 94 minutes. The narrative is full of pointless red herrings that go nowhere and twists that surprise no one, causing it to have a complete lack of momentum throughout each second of its runtime.
5
‘Wounds’ (2019)
Wounds was directed by British-Iranian filmmaker Babak Anvari, whose previous outing, Under the Shadow, is one of the greatest horror films of the 2010s. As such, a lot was riding on this Hulu-original horror thriller starring Armie Hammer and Dakota Johnson, which made the fact that it’s terrible all the more disappointing once it finally came out.
The messy and glacially-paced story makes it impossible to care about anything going on in Wounds beyond its stars’ performances.
Hammer and Johnson perform as expected, but the messy and glacially-paced story makes it impossible to care about anything going on in Wounds beyond its stars’ performances. There are some bits of Lovecraftian lore here which could have made for a fascinating horror thriller if they had been properly expanded upon, but Anvari instead moves through the story in such a convoluted way that the absurd ending feels more frustrating than it does surprising.
4
‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’ (2025)
Canadian singer-songwriter the Weeknd has been trying to get his acting career off the ground ever since he made a cameo as himself in 2019’s Uncut Gems, but every attempt has been a disaster. None more disastrous, however, than Hurry Up Tomorrow, a companion piece to the Weeknd’s album of the same name. It’s one of the worst movies that have ever been seen in a theater.
For one, the Weeknd’s performance is beyond embarrassing, despite the fact that he’s playing himself—a task anyone may have assumed wouldn’t be very actorially demanding. On top of that, Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan are utterly squandered, and the visuals are so excessive that they’re dizzying. It’s just a series of overly expensive music videos, rather than the arthouse psychological thriller that it clearly intended to be.
3
‘They/Them’ (2022)
John Logan is one of the most prolific and successful screenwriters in Hollywood, having worked with titans of the stature of Ridley Scott and Martin Scorsese in movies of the caliber of Gladiator and The Aviator. In a directorial debut which demonstrates that not all screenwriters have what it takes to be a great director, however, Logan’s They/Them delivers one of the most embarrassing cinematic experiences of the 2020s thus far.
It’s one of the least scary horror movies of the 2020s, a sad attempt at a slasher without much of an identity. Its critique of conversion camps is honorable, but it never sinks its teeth deep enough into the subject for any of its commentary to pack a punch. Instead, it’s a completely misguided and poorly written disaster that even fails to be campy enough to be a so-bad-it’s-good queer cult classic.
2
‘Slender Man’ (2018)
.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2)
By no means was this year’s Backrooms the first time: Hollywood has been making feature-length movie adaptations of infamous creepypastas (horror-related urban legends shared on the Internet) since as far back as the early 2010s. Though controversial, a film adaptation of Slender Man only made sense, but no one could have predicted just how atrocious it would be.
It’s a generic PG-13 teen horror movie with nothing of value to offer, but what really makes it one of the most unwatchable movies of the 2010s is how painfully boring it is. From the characters to the story, everything here is paper-thin, which makes it impossible to care about anything going on in the narrative. Add to that the fact that watching Slender Man is about as scary as watching paint dry, and you get one of the most disastrous horror thrillers of modern times.
1
‘The Fanatic’ (2019)
John Travolta has made some decent movies during the 21st century, but for the most part, he has starred in generally quite terrible projects. He has also starred in films that go beyond just being terrible, however, one of the most ridiculous being the psychological thriller The Fanatic. It’s the sort of movie you know will suck 10 minutes in.
The film is at least a masterclass in unintentional comedy, being one of the most infamous so-bad-they’re-good movies of the late 2010s, but it’s so awful that some may opt to steer clear of it even as an ironic watch. Full of ridiculous acting choices on Travolta’s part, uninteresting characters, and staggeringly bad dialogue, it’s one of the most bafflingly—and hilariously—atrocious movies of the last 25 years, regardless of genre.
The Fanatic
- Release Date
-
August 30, 2019
- Runtime
-
89 Minutes
- Director
-
Fred Durst
- Writers
-
Fred Durst, Dave Bekerman
You must be logged in to post a comment Login