Plot: Psychic Ally Sheedy helps police solve murders by mentally linking with the murderer. Then she discovers a murderer with the same talent – who wants to share the fear of his victims with her.

KBZ’s Take: Most films involving telepathy typically show a one-way connection where the telepath reads or controls another’s mind. Fear is one of the better films that shows a telepathic connection between two psychics where they can see what the other is seeing – and one of them is a serial killer.

This film has a similar plot to the Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) which is a much more well-known film of the subgenre. But where Eyes of Laura Mars focuses more on themes of clairvoyance, Fear is a great suspense thriller that delves into the psychological effects of a telepathic link. A forgotten film of the 1990’s that’s worth checking out by fans of the subgenre.

Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon

Plot: One day the peaceful village of Midwich is cast into a mysterious sleep for several hours, but with no obvious consequences, until soon all the women of child-bearing age turn out to be pregnant. Their children are all born at the same time, and grow quickly into very spooky young people, with strange white-blonde hair and eerie eyes.

KBZ’s Take: Though we personally prefer John Carpenter’s 1995 remake of this film, the original is a classic film of the subgenre and one that is a must-see for fans of Films about Psychic Powers. Though the film was released over 60 years ago, it’s had a massive influence on the subgenre – especially with respect to the more sinister effects of mind control.

Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon

Plot: Four children become friends during the summer holidays, and out of sight of the adults they discover they have hidden powers. While exploring their newfound abilities in the nearby forests and playgrounds, their innocent play takes a dark turn and strange things begin to happen.

KBZ’s Take: The Innocents is a good companion film to our previous entry, The Village of the Damned. While both films are focused on children with telepathic powers, they explore much different themes. Village of the Damned incorporates themes of telepathy within an Alien Invasion framework whereas The Innocents is focused solely on young children developing psychic powers and their inability to understand or control them.

We do have to note that The Innocents is not an action-packed film of the subgenre. It’s a slow burn type of film that takes it’s time exploring themes of adolescence and how quickly the innocence of youth is lost once the children start using their newfound psychic powers with increasingly malicious intent.

Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon

Plot: Cho-In can control other people’s minds when they are within his field of sight. Except one man.

KBZ’s Take: The South Korean film, Haunters, is one of the most unique films about telepathy. We don’t want to go too much into the plot here as it’s best going into the film knowing as little as possible. We will say though that the film features some of the best displays of telepathy in the subgenre and how dangerous telepathy can be in the hands (and mind) of the wrong person.

Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon

Plot: A government funded project looks into using psychics to enter people’s dreams, with some mechanical help. When a subject dies in their sleep from a heart attack, Alex Gardner becomes suspicious that another of the psychics is killing people in the dreams somehow and that is causing them to die in real life. He must find a way to stop the abuse of the power to enter dreams.

KBZ’s Take: While Dreamscape’s main psychic power theme is dream telepathy, it’s also a film about traditional telepathy and ESP.

This is another classic film of the 1980’s that has been forgotten over time. While most people over the age of 35 have seen this film (and still have an emotionally scarred childhood as a result), it’s a much tamer film in this day and age. But that doesn’t take away from the film’s great concept, execution and genuinely terrifying dream sequences. If you somehow have still not seen this film, it’s a much watch of the subgenre.

Additional Lists: Top Films About Psychic Powers You Haven’t Seen #2

Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon

Plot: Advertising executive Nick Marshall is as cocky as they come, but what happens to a chauvinistic guy when he can suddenly hear what women are thinking? Nick gets passed over for a promotion, but after an accident enables him to hear women’s thoughts, he puts his newfound talent to work against Darcy, his new boss, who seems to be infatuated with him.

KBZ’s Take: Most comedies about psychic powers often use telekinesis resulting in physical or slapstick comedy situations. What Women Want is one of the few comedies that utilizes telepathy as its comedic theme and it’s one of the best of the subgenre.

In a role seemed tailor-made for Mel Gibson (as Nick Marshall), the film uses the theme of telepathy to explore the age-old conundrum of how men and women think differently and can’t relate to each other…with often hilarious results. Though it’s pseudo-sequel, What Men Want (2019), reverses the gender roles, it can’t quite live up to its predecessor’s level of comedy and chemistry between Gibson and Helen Hunt.

Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon

Plot: Two mutants, Rogue and Wolverine, come to a private academy for their kind whose resident superhero team, the X-Men, must oppose a terrorist organization with similar powers.

KBZ’s Take: We could have used any of the X-Men films in this slot as they all feature various forms of telepathy. But we wanted to focus on Professor X (Patrick Stewart) as he’s the most powerful telepath of the X-Men.

While Logan (2017) shows how destructive and unstable Professor X’s telepathic ability can become, it’s the first film that introduces the Cerebro supercomputer and how telepaths can use it to find fellow mutants. It’s also a great introduction to the power of telepathy in the X-Men world that’s equal parts benign and destructive.

Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon

Plot: Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren’t prepared for the madness that lurks within.

KBZ’s Take: Some subgenre fans might question why Stanley Kubrick’s classic horror film isn’t tops on our list. There are a few reasons we had while compiling our rankings.

First, though Danny Torrance’s ‘shining’ psychic ability is a major part of the story and film, it takes a back seat to the eventual psychological breakdown and possession of his father, Jack Torrance.

Second, there are two films that better explore and expand upon the nature of telepathic ability – one of which is closely related to this film.

Regardless of its ranking here, The Shining is a classic horror film, one of the scariest films of all-time and a perfect film to watch on Halloween night.

Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon

Plot: Scanners are men and women born with incredible telepathic and telekinetic powers. There are many who exercise the benefits of their special gifts in a safe and judicious manner. However, there is a group of renegade scanners who plan to create a race that will rule the world.

KBZ’s Take: As with most Cronenberg sci-fi films, there’s almost always a healthy dose of Body Horror. Scanners delivers on both fronts as one of the best Films About Psychic Powers and some of the most iconic Body Horror of the entire subgenre. There are so many classic psychic powers-induced Body Horror scenes in this film that it’s hard to choose just one. Note: graphic content in the previous links and not for the faint of heart.

What also gives this film an edge over other subgenre films is the entire backstory of how Scanners are created and their plan to take over the world. It’s also Michael Ironside’s defining role as the villainous scanner, Revok.

Though David Cronenberg is mostly known for his iconic Body Horror Films such as Videodrome (1983) and The Fly (1986), it’s his terrifying view of the destructive and nihilistic nature of psychic powers in Scanners that are some of the most unforgettable themes of the subgenre.

Additional Lists: Best Telekinesis Films #2, Best Body Horror Films of All Time #2, Best Cronenberg Body Horror Films #3

Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon

Plot: Still irrevocably scarred by the trauma he endured as a child at the Overlook, Dan Torrance has fought to find some semblance of peace. But that peace is shattered when he encounters Abra, a courageous teenager with her own powerful extrasensory gift, known as the shine. Instinctively recognizing that Dan shares her power, Abra has sought him out, desperate for his help against the merciless Rose the Hat and her followers.

KBZ’s Take: This film is the main reason we could not rank The Shining higher on this list. Where the first film is an introduction to ‘the shining’s’ mix of telepathic and clairvoyant abilities, Doctor Sleep expands on the powers of this psychic ability while also exploring various forms of telepathy.

There’s Dan Torrance’s (Ewan McGregor) suppression of the shining ability through alcoholism, the cult of psychics that can use various psychic powers including telepathy to hunt down and kill other psychics for their ‘life force’ and the telepathic link between Dan and Abra (Kyliegh Curran) which is explored in greater detail than the first film’s link between Dan and Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers).

We’re not saying Doctor Sleep is a better film than The Shining by any means. However, it better expands on the psychic abilities introduced in the first film and provides closure to Dan Torrance’s story and that of the Overlook Hotel.

Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon