Movies are meant to make audiences feel a variety of feelings. Horror movies stir up feelings of unease, anxiety, and sometimes, sorrow. Comedies make audiences laugh. Sometimes, movies cut deep in how they manage to convey disturbing themes. These psychological thrillers keep audiences at the edge of their seats, putting them in the shoes of the characters onscreen. Here are 9 psychological thrillers from the 1970s that will break your mind.
10 Deliverance (1972)
A tale of survival of the fittest, Deliverance follows the tale of Lewis, Ed, Bobby, and Drew, a group of friends that decide to take a canoe ride down to the northern Georgia wilderness. Their journey soon takes a dark and violent turn when they become separated and encounter violent mountain men who hold the four men in contempt. From physical assault to attempted murder, the mountain men push the group into a survival of the fittest. At its core, Deliverance is a story about humanity’s animalistic tendencies when pushed to life and death stakes.
9 Straw Dogs (1971)
This film stars Dustin Hoffman as a mathematician, David Sumner, that moves with his wife, Amy, to a house near her hometown in the Cornish Moonland. As David attempts to make friends with the townspeople, they in turn show hostility and judgmental attitudes towards David and Amy for their former city life.
As the town becomes increasingly more violent towards the couple, David decides to take the law into his own hands to protect his wife and a defenseless man pursued by some of Amy’s childhood friends. A harrowing tale of wits, depravity, and human survival,Straw Dogs is a psychological thriller that leaves a bittersweet taste in audiences.
8 Bad Ronald (1974)
Bad Ronald follows the story of Ronald Wilbur, a misunderstood teenager subject to ridicule by his peers. When Ronald accidentally kills a classmate one day, his mother sets out to help Ronald cover the crime by concealing the body inside their home. After his mother dies unexpectedly, Ronald fabricates a story within his mind to cope with the loss, slowly losing touch with reality and putting his former home's new residents in danger.
A story about coping with grief and neglect, Bad Ronald gives audiences a raw look into society’s unbending judgment.
7 Coma (1978)
This psychological thriller follows the story of Susan Wheeler, a doctor who starts noticing that several healthy patients have died while in a coma after emergency surgeries. After Susan further investigates, she realizes a dark plot is at hand involving harvesting the patients' organs. Not before long, Susan finds herself in the operation room, about to be silenced indefinitely. Thrilling, suspenseful, and chilling. Coma keeps audiences at the edge of their seats from beginning to end.
6 A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Based on Anthony Burgess dystopian novel, this psychological thriller follows the escapades of Alex, a violent, sociopathic youth with no limits as to his sadistic acts. When Alex kills a woman during a home invasion, he is sentenced to a lengthy prison sentence, but given a bargain, to serve as a guinea pig for a new conditioning program to lower crime in exchange for his freedom.
Alex agrees, only to find himself overwhelmed by his violent urges and his former victims, who are out for revenge. A Clockwork Orange makes audiences root for Alex despite him being one of the most despicable antiheroes in film history, an impressive feat by filmmaker Stanley Kubrick.
5 The Stepford Wives (1975)
Though most people think of the 2004 Nicole Kidman remake when The Stepford Wives is mentioned, the original 1975 classic takes a drastically different approach to Ira Levin’s classic novel. The story follows Joanna and Walter Eberhart as they leave their metropolitan New York lifestyle to start a new life in Stepford, Connecticut. Joanna quickly realizes that the women present themselves immaculately, almost unrealistically so, wearing dresses for all occasions and leading domesticated lifestyles, while the men are all part of the exclusive Men’s Association.
As Joana does research on Stepford and its inhabitants, she soon realizes a sinister plot is responsible for the idyllic landscape she finds herself living in. Things take a darker turn when Joanna’s children go missing, her husband reveals himself complicit in Stepford’s machinations, and Joana discovers the true nature of The Stepford Wives. The Stepford Wives is a thought-provoking dark comedy that addresses the misogyny prevalent in 1970s American society.
4 When a Stranger Calls (1979)
This 1979 psychological thriller’s first twenty minutes are arguably its strongest. When babysitter Jill agrees to babysit for the Mandrakis family, she doesn’t suspect the nightmarish ordeal she is about to experience. Tormented by an unknown caller prompting her to check on the children, Jill finds herself the pawn in a murderer’s twisted mind games. When a Stranger Calls completely changes its pacing for its second act, but its opening is one of the tensest in all of cinema.
3 Taxi Driver (1976)
This psychological thriller stars Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle, a Taxi Driver that witnesses first-hand the societal decline in New York City in the 1970s. As Travis indulges in late-night visits to seedy theaters and his budding relationship with a campaign volunteer, Betsy, to deal with his insomnia and feelings of loneliness, he realizes that crime and corruption are now controlling his city.
After meeting Iris, a young runaway dragged into a life of substance abuse and exploitation, Travis sets out to restore some order to the city, by taking the law into his own hands. Dark, unsettling, and gripping, Taxi Driver shows the darkest depths of humanity in a way not many movies manage to.
2 Frenzy (1972)
The first Hitchcock movie to get an R-rating, Frenzy proved to be one of Hitchcock’s most riveting psychological thrillers during its time of release. Following the story of Dick Blaney, a recently unemployed man dealing with his divorce and financial struggles, Frenzy's plot quickly thickens when Blaney is accused of killing his ex-wife, Brenda.
As Blaney tries to prove his innocence, he realizes one of his closest friends may be responsible for Brenda's murder, along with a long list of victims. In the style of Dial M for Murder, this psychological thriller proved extremely controversial during its time of release due to its depiction of violence and sexuality.
1 Obsession (1976)
By far the most bizarre movie on the list, the psychological thriller Obsession deals with familial loss and the obsession that can ensue. Sixteen years after losing his wife and daughter in a ransom plot gone terribly wrong, Michael Courtland meets Sandra Portinari, a woman that resembles his late ex-wife.
When Sandra is kidnapped in the exact same manner as his family, Michael sets out to safe her before history reveals itself. In what’s the most unsettling moment in the film, Michael discovers that Sandra is actually his daughter Amy, who is very much alive and out for revenge after being made to believe Michael didn’t pay her ransom over not loving her enough. Obsession is not for the faint of heart.
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