Mind Game Thriller backdrop

Mind Game Thriller movies

Psychological pressure and manipulation: gaslighting, obsession, paranoia, and control as the core suspense engine.

221. Owning Mahowny

Owning Mahowny
Crime Drama Thriller Con Artist Crime Professional Drama
7.0
20031h 44minCanada
Director: Richard Kwietniowski

Overview

Dan Mahowny was a rising star at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. At twenty-four he was assistant manager of a major branch in the heart of Toronto's financial district. To his colleagues he was a workaholic. To his customers, he was astute, decisive and helpful. To his friends, he was a quiet, but humorous man who enjoyed watching sports on television. To his girlfriend, he was shy but engaging. None of them knew the other side of Dan Mahowny--the side that executed the largest single-handed bank fraud in Canadian history, grossing over $10 million in eighteen months to feed his gambling obsession.

Themes

Embezzlement and fraud, Gambling addiction, Illicit funds and deception, Trust versus betrayal, Secrecy under scrutiny, Routine masking risk

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

222. Phone Booth

Phone Booth
Thriller Crime Mind Game Thriller Organized Crime
7.1
20031h 21minUnited States
Director: Joel Schumacher

Overview

A slick New York publicist who picks up a ringing receiver in a phone booth is told that if he hangs up, he'll be killed... and the little red light from a laser rifle sight is proof that the caller isn't kidding.

Themes

Manipulation and coercion, Public image vs private life, Deception and exposure, Real-time pressure, Consequences of lies, Professional ethics under threat

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

223. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Comedy Crime Drama Romance Thriller
7.0
20021h 53minGermany, United Kingdom
Director: George Clooney

Overview

Television made him famous, but his biggest hits happened off screen. Television producer by day, CIA assassin by night, Chuck Barris was recruited by the CIA at the height of his TV career and trained to become a covert operative. Or so Barris said.

Themes

Television producer ambition, Double life tension, Mole risk, Show business pressure, Assassination fame, Secret agent risk

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

224. Spider

Spider
Drama Mystery Thriller Psychological Drama Unreliable Perspective Mystery
6.7
20021h 38minFrance, United Kingdom
Director: David Cronenberg

Overview

A mentally disturbed man takes residence in a halfway house. His mind gradually slips back into the realm created by his illness, where he replays a key part of his childhood.

Themes

Perception vs reality, Asylum dependence, Halfway house confinement, Past haunts the present, Memory distortion under stress

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Fandango At Home
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

225. Ripley's Game

Ripley's Game
Crime Thriller Con Artist Crime Mind Game Thriller
6.6
20021h 50minUnited Kingdom, United States
Director: Liliana Cavani

Overview

Tom Ripley - cool, urbane, wealthy, and murderous - lives in a villa in the Veneto with Luisa, his harpsichord-playing girlfriend. A former business associate from Berlin's underworld pays a call asking Ripley's help in killing a rival. Ripley - ever a student of human nature - initiates a game to turn a mild and innocent local picture framer into a hit man. The artisan, Jonathan Trevanny, who's dying of cancer, has a wife, young son, and little to leave them. If Ripley draws Jonathan into the game, can Ripley maintain control? Does it stop at one killing? What if Ripley develops a conscience?

Themes

Deception as strategy, Loyalty under coercion, Reputation at stake, Family protection vs crime, Moral ambiguity under pressure, Power through manipulation

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

226. One Hour Photo

One Hour Photo
Drama Thriller Mind Game Thriller Psychological Drama
6.8
20021h 36minUnited States
Director: Mark Romanek

Overview

Sy Parrish has lovingly developed photographs for the Yorkin family since their son was a baby. But as the Yorkins' lives become fuller, Sy's only seems lonelier, until he eventually convinces himself he's part of their family. When Sy's picture-perfect fantasy collides with an ugly dose of reality, a bizarre and thrilling confrontation ensues.

Themes

Isolation and longing, Affair and deception, Voyeurism and boundary violation, Fixation on an idealized family, Misperception and projection, Consequences of obsession

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

227. Below

Below
Thriller Horror Mystery Mind Game Thriller Psychological Horror
6.1
20021h 45minUnited States
Director: David Twohy

Overview

In the dark silence of the sea during World War II, the submarine USS Tiger Shark prowls on what should be a routine rescue mission. But for the shell-shocked crew, trapped together in the sub's narrow corridors and constricted spaces, this is about to become a journey into the sensory delusions, mental deceptions and runaway fears that lurk just below the surface of the ocean.

Themes

Survival under pressure, Deception and cover-up, Paranoia in cramped spaces, Record suppression, Mistrust in confinement, Duty versus self-preservation

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

228. Signs

Signs
Drama Thriller Science Fiction Mystery Mind Game Thriller
6.8
20021h 46minUnited States
Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Overview

A family living on a farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields which suggests something more frightening to come.

Themes

Family resilience under threat, Faith under pressure, Fear of the unknown, Grief and renewal, Survival in isolation, Dealing with loss

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

229. The Bourne Identity

The Bourne Identity
Action Drama Mystery Thriller Spy Action
7.8
20021h 59minUnited States, Germany
Director: Doug Liman

Overview

Wounded to the brink of death and suffering from amnesia, Jason Bourne is rescued at sea by a fisherman. With nothing to go on but a Swiss bank account number, he starts to reconstruct his life, but finds that many people he encounters want him dead. However, Bourne realizes that he has the combat and mental skills of a world-class spy—but who does he work for?

Themes

Loyalty under pressure, Deception and double lives, Pursuit and evasion, Memory loss and reconstruction, Covert operations and manipulation, Surveillance and misdirection

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

230. Frailty

Frailty
Drama Thriller Crime Mind Game Thriller Serial Killer Crime
7.2
20021h 40minGermany, United States
Director: Bill Paxton

Overview

Police are searching in vain for a serial killer. Meanwhile, a mysterious man comes to an FBI agent and says that his deeply religious father had visions in childhood, urging him to kill people who are, in fact, demons.

Themes

Trauma from loss, Rose garden violence, Angel influence, Family secrecy and manipulation, Religious fundamentalism control, Moral coercion and punishment

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.