10 Horror Films About Psychotherapists

Description: A former astronaut turned psychiatrist takes charge of a military psychiatric hospital, where he confronts his own demons while trying to help his patients, leading to a bizarre and intense exploration of sanity.

Fact: The film was written and directed by William Peter Blatty, who also wrote "The Exorcist."

Description: FBI agent Clarice Starling seeks the help of the brilliant but cannibalistic psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter to catch another serial killer, leading to a cat-and-mouse game of psychological warfare.

Fact: This film is one of only three movies to win the "Big Five" Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Description: A psychotherapist enters the mind of a comatose serial killer to find the location of his last victim, navigating through his twisted subconscious in a visually stunning journey.

Fact: The film's surreal visual effects were inspired by the works of H.R. Giger and Salvador Dalí.

Description: A group of asbestos cleaners working in an abandoned mental hospital uncovers old audio tapes of therapy sessions, which start to influence their own mental states, leading to paranoia and madness.

Fact: The film was shot in the Danvers State Hospital, which was known for its history of lobotomies and other controversial treatments.

Description: While not directly about a psychotherapist, this film involves a priest who is accused of negligent homicide after performing an exorcism on a young woman, delving into the psychological and supernatural aspects of her condition.

Fact: The movie is loosely based on the real-life case of Anneliese Michel, whose exorcism and subsequent death led to a legal trial.

Description: In this psychological thriller, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a psychiatric hospital on a remote island, only to uncover a web of deception and his own fractured psyche.

Fact: The film was based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, and the ending was kept a secret from the cast until the last day of shooting.

Description: A young woman finds herself in a psychiatric ward with no memory of how she got there, and as she tries to escape, she uncovers the dark secrets of the institution and its patients.

Fact: This was John Carpenter's first film in a decade, marking his return to directing.

Description: A widow struggles to raise her troubled son while dealing with her own grief, only for a sinister children's book to manifest a terrifying entity that blurs the lines between reality and nightmare.

Fact: The film was initially banned in some countries due to its intense psychological horror themes.

Description: A father-son team of coroners discovers that the body of an unidentified woman holds supernatural secrets, leading to a night of terror as they perform an autopsy.

Fact: The film was praised for its unique approach to horror, focusing on the autopsy process rather than traditional jump scares.

Description: After being wrongly accused of murder, a Gulf War veteran undergoes experimental treatment at a mental institution, experiencing visions of the future that lead him to seek redemption and love.

Fact: The film's plot was inspired by the real-life experiments of sensory deprivation and the use of straitjackets in psychiatric treatment.