Bleak, brutal and full of gut-wrenching tension thrillers always leave us reeling from start to end. The engaging storytelling, the fantastic performances and the larger-than-life situations were both intriguing and terrifying in a very impossible sort of way. However, these larger-than-life scenarios might not sit right for all viewers who enjoy something closer to home and more terrifying in a plausible sort of way. I mean, let’s be real – Cate Blanchett isn’t going to be playing Ddakji in an alley near my house any time soon.
With that in mind, these 5 disturbingly real thrillers will leave you on edge for all the right reasons (or maybe wrong) and give you nightmares!
Disturbingly Real Thrillers That Hit Close to Home
The Åre Murders
If Scandinavian noir is something up your alley, then The Åre Murders should be high on your watchlist. Unfolding in a quiet mountain town blanketed in snow, we slowly learn of the horrors that lie beyond the calmness that masks horrors beyond anyone’s wildest comprehension. When a detective transforms from Stockholm, hoping for peace, her first case surrounding the disappearance of a teenage girl takes her on a wild and treacherous labyrinth of lies, trauma and decades-old secrets.
The series builds a slow-burning dread through the relentless icy landscapes, and the atmospheric cinematography adds to that feeling. The complex characters are also an interesting addition, whose emotional wounds add depth to the investigation. The twists, moreover, are organic, and the mystery lingers for a long time because of it. Plus, the melancholy tension is terrifying and makes the Scandi-thriller all the more terrifying.
Pyramid Game
Set inside an elite all-girls high school, Pyramid Game is a psychological survival story that blends the social hierarchy cruelty with the emotional devastation of school bullying dramas. The series follows the students of a school who, every month, vote anonymously to rank their classmates. Those at the bottom become “legal” targets for bullying and ostracism. When new student Seong Soo-ji is pushed to the bottom, she makes it a mission to climb to the top and stop the madness once and for all.
If you’re familiar with bullying dramas, then you will be familiar with how terrifying these can get. The brutally realistic games of this drama are rooted in real-life social violence that students in South Korean schools are subjected to every day. The emotional stakes, thus, are high, and you are extremely attached to the different characters in the drama quickly. The series also explores power imbalances and herd mentality that we see a lot, and goes into the psychology of cruelty. It’s a constantly unsettling watch that never lets up.
Copycat Killer
Set in 1990s Taipei, this is a procedural drama that follows a determined prosecutor engaging in a cat-and-mouse chase with a serial killer who is adept at manipulating media attention to get attention and glorify his crimes as well as taunt investigators. The show does a great job of capturing the shifting of media ethics, the dangers of sensational journalism and the public’s obsession with violent crimes.
Copycat Killer gets under your skin more often than not, as it uses the dark, atmospheric portrayal of a city haunted by moral decay to its benefit. The kills are gory, and the notion that the killer uses the media as their weapon adds a modern psychological layer to the series. Moreover, the series also showcases a complex investigation by a competent prosecutor that unearths corruption, trauma and complicity that viewers will be all too familiar with. The stylish, yet grounded tone adds a layer of realism while keeping things interesting.
Harlan Coben’s Caught
The 2025 Argentine thriller follows a journalist specialising in exposing criminals who have gone free in the past finds her loyalties tested when the prime suspect in her latest case turns out to be someone unexpected. With her own principles threatened, she enters a web of betrayals, lies and dangerous alliances to get to the bottom of this horrible situation and expose the truth.
The series’s emotional stakes are rooted in personal history rather than abstract survival games, where loyalties are tested, and people turn out to be something that they are not. The sharp, twist-filled story showcases themes of memory, guilt and the cost of chasing the truth and explores whether people can hold on to their principles when their own people’s lives are on the line. The protagonist is also an interesting addition here as she is both flawed and compelling, and so it’s interesting to watch what her choices will be.
The Killer
David Fincher’s 2023 action-thriller follows a professional hitman whose life is upended when a job goes wrong, and his routine, discipline and worldview collapse in one swift motion. The film then takes us on a journey to find out who is out to get him, resulting in an interesting and oftentimes amusing sequence of events to unfold.
The sleek, stylish assassin thriller takes a psychological dive into a hitman’s mind as things go from bad to worse. It’s a little different from the other shows on this list, but it still feels realistic and rooted because of Fincher and Fassbender’s deadpan approach to the story. The taut pacing emphasises the tension over action, and the stark, minimalist style will heighten the paranoia and entertainment. It’s a very different but engaging film that will keep you on edge throughout, despite its rather simple plot.
These thrillers don’t build spectacle but, instead, use psychological tension, moral dilemmas, and immersive world-building to build a terrifying watch full of real-world thrills. The narrative brutality goes beyond dying while playing “Red light, green light” with a giant, murderous caller because it’s a situation that can happen to anyone. That’s where its horrors lie.
Which of these shows are you excited to check out next? Let us know in the comments below!
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