Dating can be a nightmare, especially when you’re the main character in a thriller or horror movie. In the new thriller Drop, starring Meghann Fahy (The Perfect Couple) and Brandon Sklenar (1923), a single mother goes on her first date in years only to receive threatening messages that make her regret having jumped back into the dating pool.
Bad relationships and first dates from hell are popular tropes in the thriller sphere, dating back to the dawn of early cinema. There’s nothing scarier than being vulnerable with a stranger — or a loved one who turns out to be a stranger. Do you really know the person beside you?
Here are 10 horror movies and thrillers that will keep you on the edge of your seat while also making you want to give up on dating entirely.
10
‘Gaslight’ (1944)
- Release Date
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May 4, 1944
- Runtime
-
114 Minutes
- Director
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George Cukor
- Writers
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John Van Druten, Walter Reisch, John L. Balderston, Patrick Hamilton
Set in 1875, Gaslight features one of the biggest movie stars of the 1940s and follows the tale of a woman who returns to London with her new husband to live in her late aunt’s London home. Paula (Ingrid Bergman) and Gregory (Charles Boyer) experienced a whirlwind romance, marrying after just two weeks of dating. Once they move to the London house, however, odd things begin to happen to Paula that Gregory insists are delusions.
How The Term “Gaslighting” Was Invented
The term “gaslighting” was coined from this story. Paula thinks the gas lamps in the home are flickering and discovers that her husband, who has been lying to her and telling others she is hysterical, is to blame. Gregory is really a man named Sergis Bauer. He was the one who had murdered Paula’s aunt. Unable to locate the aunt’s jewels, he decided to trick Paula into falling in love with him so he could search through the aunt’s belongings, inherited by Paula. It was all a long con.
9
‘Fear’ (1996)
Nicole Walker (Reese Witherspoon) is a normal sixteen-year-old when she meets handsome, charming David McCall (Mark Wahlberg). Of course, Nicole’s father disapproves of David’s influence. Nicole starts missing her curfew and exploring her sexuality with David. Soon, however, David starts exhibiting violent behavior that begins to escalate, putting Nicole and everyone she cares about in danger.
A Huge Box Office Success
Fear was made during a time when erotic psychological thrillers were incredibly popular. It did well at the box office but received mixed reviews. “On one hand it’s a shameless thriller that makes up for the inevitability of its story by consistently being bigger, faster and more appalling than you might expect,” wrote Mick LaSalle for SF Gate when the movie was released. “On the other hand it contains enough truth about fathers, teenaged daughters and young lust to distinguish it from most thrillers and ground it in vivid emotion.”
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8
‘What Lies Beneath’ (2000)
Claire Spencer (Michelle Pfeiffer) is married to scientist and professor Norman (Harrison Ford), who is often busy with his work. SInce their daughter has recently gone off to college, Claire often finds herself alone in their beautiful Vermont home. Something doesn’t feel right and when she starts to believe the house is haunted, Norman dismisses her concerns.
Wife and Mistress Both Betrayed
What Lies Beneath is one of those movies that makes audiences think twice about both dating and marriage. During the course of the film, Claire discovers that her husband had been having an affair with a woman who later went missing. It turns out, Norman murdered that woman when she threatened to expose the affair. Once Claire knows the truth, Norman tries to kill her, too.
7
‘You’re Next’ (2011)
Erin (Sharni Vinson) gets more than she bargained for when she accompanies her boyfriend, Crispian (AJ Bowen), to a weekend getaway with his family. During dinner, an attack is launched by outside intruders. One by one, members of the Davison family are killed off. Having grown up in a survivalist compound, Erin is uniquely capable of fighting off the intruders — a surprise neither the family nor the attackers saw coming.
A Family to Die For
So, what makes the underrated slasher You’re Next a movie about bad relationships? The twist at the end is that Crispian’s brother and girlfriend planned the whole attack so they could inherit the family’s wealth. They weren’t alone in their plan, either. Crispian was in on it and only brought Erin to the cabin so she could serve as a witness who could testify that Crispian and his brother were survivors, not perpetrators.
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20 Years Later, This Psychological Thriller Is Still One of Cillian Murphy’s Most Underrated Movies
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6
‘Gone Girl’ (2014)
Directed by David Fincher (The Social Network), Gone Girl stars Ben Affleck as Nick Dunne, a writing instructor whose wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), goes missing. Amy’s disappearance becomes a huge media sensation, and soon it starts to look like Nick might be responsible for her murder.
Framing Her Husband For Murder
Based on the bestselling novel by Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl features one of the biggest twists of the 2010s. Nick didn’t kill Amy. In fact, Amy is alive and well. After discovering that her husband had been cheating on her, Amy decided to stage her disappearance and frame Nick for her murder. Gone Girl puts a fresh new spin on the genre, capitalizing on expectations set by movies like What Lies Beneath.
5
‘Get Out’ (2017)
It can be said that Get Out is more horror than thriller, but any list about bad movie relationships would be remiss without it. Jordan Peele made his directorial debut with this film and won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) is a Black photographer who travels to upstate New York to meet the white, supposedly liberal family of his girlfriend, Rose Armitage (Allison Williams). Things with Rose’s family start off strange and get stranger, with Chris eventually realizing that something is very wrong in this house.
Worst Girlfriend Ever
The twist in Get Out is disturbing. Chris learns that members of the Armitage family are performing surgeries that take the consciousness of old white people and put those minds into the young, strong bodies of Black people. They lure in Black people specifically to steal their bodies. What makes it worse? Rose is completely in on the scheme. She targeted Chris on purpose and brought him to her father willingly.
4
‘What Keeps You Alive’ (2018)
- Release Date
-
August 24, 2018
- Runtime
-
99 minutes
- Director
-
Colin Minihan
- Producers
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Brittany Allen, Jeremy Guilbaut, Kurtis David Harder, Brandon Christensen, James McKenzie Moore, Ben Knechtel, Chris Scordo, John Upton, Chris Ball
-
-
Hannah Emily Anderson
Jackie
-
-
Jackie (Hannah Emily Anderson) and Jules (Brittany Allen) have been married for one year, and to celebrate their anniversary, the two embark on a mountain getaway. They visit a remote cabin that belongs to Jackie’s family and, in true thriller fashion, things quickly go awry. Jules learns that Jackie isn’t her wife’s original name and that is just the tip of the iceberg.
The Black Widow
Jackie didn’t just change her name. She’s married several women before and murdered all of them. She had intended to murder Jules, just like the others, for the insurance money. What Keeps You Alive is a taut, tense thriller with an 82% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
3
‘The Invisible Man’ (2020)
The Invisible Man has been adapted many times from the original 1897 novel by H. G. Wells, but it is Leigh Whannell’s 2010 The Invisible Man that really explores the story as one of physical and psychological abuse. Cecilia Kass (Elisabeth Moss) escapes the home of her abusive husband, Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), to start a new life. A few weeks later, Cecilia finds out that Adrian has died by suicide and left his fortune to her.
The Abuser Returns
The catch? Adrian faked his death and is now using an invisible suit he invented to stalk Cecilia. It was challenging enough for her to escape him the first time and now that he is invisible — something no one will believe — the danger to Cecilia and those she cares about is all the more heightened.
2
‘Fresh’ (2022)
In this Mimi Cave horror thriller, Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is used to the disappointments of online dating. When she meets a charming man named Steve (Sebastian Stan) at the supermarket, she’s thrilled to actually feel a spark. They go on a few dates, which go well, and Nora eventually agrees to go on a weekend away with him.
In the Business of Cannibalism
This is where things get grim. Steve drugs and kidnaps Nora, hiding her away in captivity. To Nora’s horror but not the audience’s surprise, Steve isn’t a good guy. He procures women and harvests their bodies so that he can sell their meat to cannibals like himself. He intends to sell Nora’s fresh flesh as part of his business.
1
‘Companion’ (2025)
4.5
/5
- Release Date
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January 31, 2025
- Runtime
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97 Minutes
- Director
-
Drew Hancock
- Writers
-
Drew Hancock
Companion is the type of sci-fi movie that makes audiences question everything about a relationship, including their own realities. The film starts off with a young woman named Iris (Sophie Tatcher) recounting the first time she and her boyfriend, Josh (Jack Quiad), met at a grocery store. The only problem? That meet-cute never happened.
When Humans Are the Monsters
Through a series of unfortunate events and the murder of a rich man, Iris learns that she is a companion robot. She is programmed to be the perfect companion for Josh, who bought and paid for a robot that would love him unconditionally. Iris discovers this when Josh messes with her programming in order to get her to kill someone so he and his friend Kat (Megan Suri) can abscond with millions. They intend to pin the whole thing on Iris.