By Konner Kern

Horror movies have been at a new height of popularity for the first time in years and continue to break boundaries in the movie space. Horror now dominates the scene with a new record of “Sinners,” which was nominated 16 times during the Oscars. These included best picture, best director (Ryan Coogler), best actor (Michael B Jordan), and best supporting actor (Delroy Lindo). To achieve this massive milestone in the horror genre, a lot of horror classics have paved the way for Sinners to tie the record for most Oscar nominations ever.

The first noted psychological horror movie is “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”, which is a German movie from 1920. “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” is about a man telling a story on a bench and the story he is telling is Dr. Caligari. He is using a somnambulist (a sleepwalker) to murder people by hypnosis and there are quite a few disturbing scenes. It’s not explicitly shown on screen using shadows and no blood in sight. This is a normal person doing disturbing things instead of a supernatural element or monsters. It uses disturbing framework, eerie faces, and dark rooms. It truly changed horror for the time to focus on inner madness instead of the Universal monsters.

“Psycho” is the movie that truly mainstreamed the term psychological. “Psycho” (1960) differs from an average slasher or Universal monster. Psycho follows Marion Crane, who steals money and ends up at the isolated Bates Motel, where she meets Norman Bates and his odd mother. One of the most famous scenes in horror history is the shower scene, which uses rapid cuts and music, implying the death rather than explicitly showing it. What makes Psycho so disturbing is that Norman does not look like a traditional monster. He appears to be an ordinary, quiet man, which makes it even more shocking when he murders someone.

Years later, The Shining (1980) took psychological horror in an even more disturbing direction. Directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on Stephen King’s novel, The Shining takes place in a hotel distant from civilization. Jack Torrence and his family are staying at the Overlook hotel as he is the winter caretaker. As he stays as the hotel, he is slowly going crazy from the hotel by its lack of people, his alcoholism, and his writer’s block. Kubrick uses psychological horror by showing breakdown from the mind and dream sequences to give the scares.

Psychological horror continued to evolve into the modern era with Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017). While the movie contains traditional horror elements, it uses psychological horror to explore racism, prejudice, and the fear of being trapped in a situation where nobody believes you. Chris is dating Rose, who invites him to meet her parents. This turns into Chris unveiling a deep secret set by the family. Later, Rose’s mother hypnotizes him, and it shows him falling in some sort of void. It shows that the whole family is running a secret cult where they sacrifice Black people’s minds to maintain their youth forever.

Psychological horror movies will continue to grow and flourish. It elevates the horror genre in the most positive way possible and gives horror the well-earned respect they deserve. “Psychological horror movies is where the really good stuff is, especially movies like The Shining and The Descent. I just love movies, man,” said by Junior, Shane Thomas.

Pictured: Scene from The Shining

Credit: The Shining