10 Most Underrated Psychological Horror Movies

Released in 2014, The Canal is an underrated Irish indie and a masterpiece of the psychological horror sub genre.

Unnerving and unsettling, the film's slowly unravelling central mystery tells the tale of a gruesome murder committed in a Dublin house as our hero investigates the story decades later. Said hero is a stressed, paranoid archivist played to perfection by The Man From High Castle star Rupert Evans, who balances relatable angst with enough nervy intensity to leave the viewer questioning the trustworthiness of his perspective.

The film's sparse and simple story line owes a debt to the early, more self-contained films of Roman Polanski such as Repulsion and The Tenant. Meanwhile, the film benefits from universally superb performances from its small cast, whilst the main character's obsession with old and damaged film allows the director to indulge in some fun and inventive filmmaking trickery without it ever feeling self-indulgent.

This creative camerawork also never gets in the way of the film's steady stream of scares as, in classic psychological horror fashion, the main character's perspective becomes gradually more unhinged.