A psychological thriller is a story that emphasises the abnormal psychological state of its characters. It is a sub-genre of the broader thriller genre. Psychological thrillers often incorporate other genres such as; mystery, drama, action, slasher and horror.
Psychological thrillers often contain a plot twist. 'Psycho' directed by Alfred Hitchcock contain a plot twist. These are used to completely shock the audience. Another psychological film that does this is 'The skeleton key' but a bad plot twist can completely ruin the film, for example 'The Village' did terrible and suffered at the box office and this was all because of their predictable and cliché plot twist. Some consistent themes of the new psychological thrillers are; reality, perception, mind, existence, identity, death. Characters often battle their own minds. A example would be 'Memento' directed by Christopher Nolan.
In memento, Leonard is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife however, he suffers from a rare, untreatable form of memory loss. Although he can remember what happened before his accident he cannot remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he's going or why. Leonard uses Polaroid's and tattoos to keep track of important information. 
Another example of a psychological thriller is 'The Stanford Prison Experiment'The plot tells the story of the Stanford prison experiment in which students play the role of a prisoner or a prison guard conducted at Stanford University under supervision of psychology professor Philip Zimbardo in 1971. This experiment last for 14 days and mocks a prison environment to try and get the participants to act in their roles. During the film, the student who are the guards become abusive and violent - hitting the prisoners even when they've been ordered not to.
Horror:
The horror genre's goal is the get a negative emotional reaction from its viewers. In order to do this, they play on the viewer fears.They deal with the situations that the viewers themselves would not want to be in as well as the fear of the unknown - evil forces, extraterrestrials, demons, killers, ghosts, zombies, cannibals, vicious animals, gore and torture. Horror films have existed for more than a century and are normally inspired by literature, some examples of horror writers are; Edgar Allen Poe, Bram Stoker and Mary Shelly.
An example of a horror film is Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'. Despite there being many different adaptations (both old and modern) they all follow the plot line. Victor Frankenstein is a scientist who is obsessed with having control over life and death, he sews body parts together, creating a monster which then comes to life. The monster escapes from the laboratory and disappears until hes found in the Swiss alps. He was rejected by society because of his inhumane features. Eventually the monster kills Frankenstein best friend and Frankenstein seeks revenge but fails as his creation drifts away.A more modern example of horror films is 'The Blair Witch Project' directed by Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick. The film shows video footage found from three film students who go to a small town to document the famous local murder. Over several days, they gather clues which lead them to the woods.It takes a turn hen they get lost and begin hearing horrific noises and they capture it all on tape.
This film focuses on the scenarios that the viewers would not want to be in and this is what creates the horror. Compared to Frankenstein, its much more modern and appealing to audiences while Frankenstein is based off of a Gothic horror novel.
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