Psychological thrillers depict the unstable or delusional psychological states of its characters. They focus on the complex and often tortured relationships between obsessive and pathological characters. In this edition of Trends of Terror, film critic Steve Hutchison reviews 64 psychological thrillers sorted from best to worst. How many have you seen?

THE NEW NEIGHBORS SEEMED TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. I SHOULD HAVE TRUSTED MY INSTINCTS. NOW MY LITTLE BOY MAY PAY THE PRICE. When Abbie Rambally meets the couple next door for the first time, she’s convinced something isn’t right. Why are the Paynes so fascinated with her oldest son and why do they ask so many questions about him? Then Abbie’s loyal and dependable nanny quits without giving notice, and Jenna Payne is only too happy to step in and help out. But Abbie begins to suspect that the Paynes' choice of neighborhood was no accident. Though Abbie wants to believe she can trust her neighbors, too many things about the couple don’t add up. So when a stranger in a café calls Jenna by a different name and insists they've met before, one thing becomes clear. If Abbie doesn’t uncover what the Paynes are hiding, her family will be in terrible danger.

Film Noir and the Cinema of Paranoia is an overview of 20th- and 21st-century noir and fatalist film practice from 1945 onwards. The book demonstrates the ways in which American cinema has inculcated a climate of fear in our daily lives, as reinforced, starting in the 1950s, by television, and later videocassettes, the web, and the Internet, to create, by the early 21st century a hypersurveillant atmosphere in which no one can avoid the barrage of images that continually assault our senses. The book begins with the return of American soldiers from World War II, 'liberated' from war in the Pacific by the newly created atomic bomb, which will come to rule American consciousness through much of the 1950s and 1960s and then, in a newer, more small-scale way, become a fixture of terrorist hardware in the post-paranoid ear of the 21st century. Film Noir and the Cinema of Paranoia is constructed in six chapters, each highlighting a particular 'raising of the cinematic stakes' in the creation of a completely immersible universe of images. Selling points:*Expands the definition of noir to include numerous lesser known works.*Deals with Red Scare films of the 1950s in the US.*Examines the 'dark side' of the 1960s, or films that questioned the emerging counterculture.*Explores such neo-noir films as The Last Seduction (1993), Angel Heart (1987), The Grifters (1990), Red Rock West (1993), The Usual Suspects (1995), Mulholland Drive (2001), L.A. Confidential (1997), and Memento (2000).*Details the 'noir' aspects of the cybernetic age, both in online and videogame uses.

Challenging the classic horror frame in American film American filmmakers appropriate the “look” of horror in Holocaust films and often use Nazis and Holocaust imagery to explain evil in the world, say authors Caroline Joan (Kay) S. Picart and David A. Frank. In Frames of Evil: The Holocaust as Horror in American Film, Picart and Frank challenge this classic horror frame—the narrative and visual borders used to demarcate monsters and the monstrous. After examining the way in which directors and producers of the most influential American Holocaust movies default to this Gothic frame, they propose that multiple frames are needed to account for evil and genocide. Using Schindler’s List, The Silence of the Lambs, and Apt Pupil as case studies, the authors provide substantive and critical analyses of these films that transcend the classic horror interpretation. For example, Schindler’s List, say Picart and Frank, has the appearance of a historical docudrama but actually employs the visual rhetoric and narrative devices of the Hollywood horror film. The authors argue that evil has a face: Nazism, which is configured as quintessentially innate, and supernaturally crafty. Frames of Evil, which is augmented by thirty-six film and publicity stills, also explores the commercial exploitation of suffering in film and offers constructive ways of critically evaluating this exploitation. The authors suggest that audiences will recognize their participation in much larger narrative formulas that place a premium on monstrosity and elide the role of modernity in depriving millions of their lives and dignity, often framing the suffering of others in a manner that allows for merely “documentary” enjoyment.

Hammer Film's is justly famous for Gothic horror but the company also excelled in the psychological thriller. Influenced by Henri-Georges Clouzot and Alfred Hitchcock, Hammer created its own approach to this genre in some of the company's very best films. This book takes a chronological, film-by-film approach to all of Hammer's thrillers. Well-known classics such as Seth Holt's The Nanny (1965) and Taste of Fear (1961) are discussed, together with less well known but equally brilliant films such as The Full Treatment (dir. Val Guest, 1960) and Michael Carreras' Maniac (1963). The films' literary ancestry, reflection of British society and relation to psychological theories of Freud and Jung, architectural metaphor, sexuality, religion, and even Nazi atrocities are all fully explored.

The Encyclopedia of Sixties Cool profiles over 250 of the most intriguing personalities of the 1960s. The men and women covered in the book include a wide range of celebrities—from well-known superstars (the Beatles, Dustin Hoffman, Muhammad Ali) to lesser-known icons (Nico, Terry Southern, Bo Belinsky)—who had a significant impact on popular culture. The figures include musicians, actors, directors, artists, athletes, politicians, writers, astronauts . . . anyone and everyone who made the sixties the most influential decade of the twentieth century! Over 200 vintage photographs and more than fifty sidebars are featured throughout the text. The sidebars include lists of Best Picture winners, great quarterbacks, Playmates of the Year, memorable TV theme songs, favorite toys, Disneyland rides, Wimbledon champions, groovy screen cars, surf stars, Indy 500 winners, cool cartoons, sci-fi classics, Bond girls, “bubblegum” hits, beach-movie cameos, and legendary concerts. A “what happened on this day” calendar highlighting landmark events in the lives of those profiled appears on every page. Entertaining and enlightening, The Encyclopedia of Sixties Cool is truly a celebration of the grooviest people, events, and artifacts of the 1960s!

THE GLOBAL BESTSELLER • Soon to be a BBC One and HBO Max limited four-part series, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw (The Morning Show; Misbehaviour) and multiple Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Emmy-nominated actor David Oyelowo (Selma; Les Misérables) “A pitch-perfect novel of psychological suspense” (Lee Child) that spins one woman’s seemingly good fortune, and another woman’s mysterious fate, through a kaleidoscope of duplicity, death, and deception Please make a list of every possession you consider essential to your life. The request seems odd, even intrusive—and for the two women who answer, the consequences are devastating. EMMA Reeling from a traumatic break-in, Emma wants a new place to live. But none of the apartments she sees are affordable or feel safe. Until One Folgate Street. The house is an architectural masterpiece: a minimalist design of pale stone, plate glass, and soaring ceilings. But there are rules. The enigmatic architect who designed the house retains full control: no books, no throw pillows, no photos or clutter or personal effects of any kind. The space is intended to transform its occupant—and it does. JANE After a personal tragedy, Jane needs a fresh start. When she finds One Folgate Street she is instantly drawn to the space—and to its aloof but seductive creator. Moving in, Jane soon learns about the untimely death of the home’s previous tenant, a woman similar to Jane in age and appearance. As Jane tries to untangle truth from lies, she unwittingly follows the same patterns, makes the same choices, crosses paths with the same people, and experiences the same terror, as the girl before. Praise for The Girl Before “Dazzling, startling, and above all cunning—a pitch-perfect novel of psychological suspense.”—Lee Child “The Girl Before generates a fast pace. . . . [J. P.] Delaney intersperses ethics questions on stand-alone pages throughout the book. . . . The single most ingenious touch is that we’re not provided either woman’s answers.”—The New York Times “J. P. Delaney builds the suspense.”—Vanity Fair “Immediate guarantee: You will not be able to put this book down. . . . Fans of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train will realize that there’s not only more where that came from, but it’s also more thrilling.”—American Booksellers Association

He'll do whatever it takes to find his missing sister. But playing a killer is a dangerous game... 'Eerie, smart and brutal - this is a proper chiller' HEAT Darren Evans was only eleven when his sister Carly disappeared, along with four other teenage girls. Eventually, a woman confessed to their murders. But Olivia Duvall never told the police where the girls' bodies were buried. Ten years later, Darren gets a job in the psychiatric hospital where Olivia was committed, hoping he can make her tell him his sister's fate once and for all. And so begins a chilling game of cat and mouse - one which will put Darren and those he loves in danger...

The first major biography of the great actress draws on personal interviews with friends, family, and colleagues to offer a revealing study of Kim Stanley's extraordinary career and her acclaim as the finest stage actress of her generation, as well as her turbulent, self-destructive personal life, from her childhood and early training to her rise to stardom and the demons that destroyed her life.

The volume aims to be a reference work for all researchers interested in the study of fictional dialogue and its translation in suspense novels and films as well as in related genres. The volume also aims to determine the interplay between the creation of suspense and fictional dialogue. The particular interest in dialogue comes from the host of roles it plays in fiction. It helps create suspense and arouses a whole range of feelings in the reader or the audience related to the development of the plot. Fictional dialogue is the discursive method of evoking orality, conferring authenticity and credibility on a plot and giving fictional characters a voice. As a narrative strategy, dialogue is an important resource that enables the writer to shape the character’s subjectivity. In thrillers the characters’ voice is part of the process of creating suspense, an element of uncertainty, anxiety and excitement, which is not exclusive to this genre. To clearly differentiate suspense from the tension created by other types of fiction, this volume aims to study the relationship between the characters’ voices and the building of suspense and to describe the translation difficulties arising from this particular interdependence.