What We’re Watching: Psychological Thrillers and Horror

Greetings from The Paley Center for Media’s Education Department!

Hearst High School Media Interns Takeover!

For the next six weeks, What We’re Watching will be taken over by the Paley Center’s Hearst High School Media Internship cohort!

Each week different interns will share their thoughts on the 2024 media landscape along with personalized recommendations. This week we hear from Fatou Diallo, a rising senior at Uncommon Collegiate Charter School and Gabe Barrios, a rising homeschooled senior. Enjoy this unique educational opportunity to hear directly from young voices about media that impacts them!

As always, if you have any questions, thoughts, or ideas, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at eduny@paleycenter.org.

Happy viewing,
Rebekah Fisk, Director of Education
Carlos Pareja, Manager of Education

‌What We're Watching: Psychological Thrillers and Horror

Why do we as humans watch horror movies? Is it because our lives are so boring that we have to watch scary content in order to pump adrenaline through our veins? Or is it because we’re afraid of an alternate life where these things do exist, and we want to know everything about it in order to “prepare?” The answer differs per person. Some people like to watch complex horror movies that make you think a bit, while others want to be mindlessly afraid without control. Either way horror movies can make us feel and think at the same time. Here are some horror movies that cover a broad idea of some of the supernatural thrillers that are out there.

Escape Room (2019)
Recommended for Grades: 8+
Available on Hulu

Escape Room is such a good psychological thriller. If you like escape games, you'll love this real thinker. Six strangers, all sole survivors of their own individual accidents, receive an invitation to play an escape game to see which of these players will be the sole survivor of this game. By solving puzzles, they evade near death experiences organized by the game master Minos. The sequel Escape Room: Tournament of Champions continues the survivors' stories as the main character Zoe is determined to put an end to this game.

This movie had me shocked and excited every minute. Watching the second movie for the first time in theaters reminded me how thrilling psych thrillers are. The theories for this movie are endless, you'll be hooked on wanting to find out more about the gamemaster Minos as well as Zoe and her intelligence.

Child’s Play (1988)
Recommended for Grades: 11+
Available for free on Tubi

Though it sounds innocent, Child’s Play is no game. This movie is set in New York City where a serial killer called the Strangler is shot and killed inside of a toy store by a policeman. As he realizes that he’s going to die he puts his soul into a doll. The doll then acquires his soul and becomes the killer that the Strangler was. After being bought by a mom for her child, the doll then starts to fulfill the legacy of the Strangler. The doll, who was originally called a “Good Guy Doll,'' now goes by the name of Chucky and starts to kill a bunch of people. Nobody expects the killer to be a doll. However when it’s found out that Chucky is the killer, the police force now has to figure out how to destroy him.

I recommend this movie because, even though it was made in the '80s, it is still a pinnacle marker of what the horror movie industry has become today. It's one of the great films that experiments with the aspect of possession and a stone-cold object becoming alive. Watching this movie is always a great way to just sit back, relax, and watch a doll rampage through New York. Since it was made in the '80s the “realism” of the doll, CGI, and characters won't seem completely real to us in 2024. However, watching this movie is still a great pastime if you're wanting to feel a little bit scared.

It (2017)
Recommended for Grades: 11+
Available for free on Tubi

It all starts after a boy loses his boat in a storm drain and instead of finding a boat he finds a clown. That clown is Pennywise, a clown/spirit that feeds off fear and targets children in order to get his food.

Why I recommend this movie: It may sound like a stupid movie, however this film is good for a remake. The amount of art that’s integrated into this movie is astronomical. As an adaptation of the original TV miniseries and book by Stephen King, it has wonderfully recreated the original idea that It was.

Bird Box (2018)
Recommended for Grades: 11+
Available on Netflix

Imagine a society where a dark cloud suddenly roaming through the air is the cause of suicides and other sinister activities across the world. Bird Box explores the lives of a pregnant woman and other survivors hiding in a single house as they navigate a dystopian society without their sense of sight.

Bird Box peaked after its release in 2018 and attracted attention with lead star Sandra Bullock who portrays a fascinating depiction of real time fear in this apocalyptic world. The entire Bird Box cast truly captures your attention throughout the movie.

Additional Recommendations

Read

Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897)

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)

It by Stephen King (1986)

Watch

Before I Wake (2016)

Final Destination (2000)

Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)

Hellbound (2021)

Saw X (2023)

Squid Game (2021)