I've watched a couple movies that were labeled with the "psych thrill" tag. The only one that sticks out in my mind is The Forgotten, mostly because I thought it was too dumb to forget. And then a friend told me to watch the Saw franchise because it was, in this person's opinion, an excellent piece of psy-thrill. I never intend to watch any of that series because gore-fests don't interest me at all.

I've always understood psy-thrill to mean stories where the conflict is in the mind, which sounds cool, but the products I've seen haven't been that interesting. Am I looking at the wrong stuff? because so far, what I've seen on screen hasn't convinced me that it'll be worth my time to read anything off the bookshelves from that sub-genre.

"Wait Until Dark," is an excellent movie that I have seen many times, but after all the bad reviews, have not bothered with the "Forgotten."

I've written a couple in short form and my upcoming novel comes close to falling in that category. (But I'm calling it supernatural thriller instead.)

And "The Forgotten" made my list of worst movies of all time.

However, do not write if you are basing the your concepts on the silver screen. Writing is words on paper and the skill of screenwriting is entirely different from the skill of writing we normally discuss here. You can use silver-screen examples only to relate the simplest of ideas and only because it might be a more common experience than a particular book.

A written psych thriller is a much more moving experience than any movie. You will not be the same person after reading yourself into the mind of a loon.

Good psychological thrillers, hm, look at some of Hitchcock's stuff. Vertigo and Rear Window, specifically. A psychological thriller is basically a thriller (ie it's meant to scare you) that is not horror (there is no supernatural aspect) and it involves getting deep into the psyche, the thought-processes, of the characters. It isn't necessarily that the conflict is some kind of mind-game, or that the conflict exists inside the minds of the characters, although those can be aspects of a psychological thriller. It's more about the perspective the author (or filmmaker) chooses to present to the audience, in terms of POV, than it is about building suspense on the backs of external dangers.

Or so's my understanding.

The Grudge does not meet my definition of psychological horror at all. I mean, not even close. The Grudge is a horror film.

There's no problem basing your concept of what is and isn't psychological thriller on movies -- I think the movies perfected it. Particularly if you're using really excellent movies, like Vertigo, as a guide.

The Grudge is about what a man's fears can do to him and others that get caught up in his energies. Fear is psychological.

How about these examples, (not in any specific order):
Manchurian Candidate
The Game (this is one of my favorites)
Pacific Heights (great!)
Cape Fear
Rear Window (just about any Hitchcock movie, but I think this is the best)
Primal Fear

These are the ones that came to mind right away. I am sure there are more. I'm not saying these are the best, just the ones that popped into my head.

But seriously, it's supposed to be from the POV of someone (usually insane), and show you the disturbing stuff in there... and if it's done well, you don't know whether to hate or sympathize with him/her. Either that or it's just supposed to mess with your mind. Something like Sybil or Butterfly Effect?