Film

Repulsion

Name: Repulsion
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Horror
Released: 1965
Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Ian Hendry, John Fraser, Yvonne Furneaux, Patrick Wymark

Polanski's second film traps you inside the mind of a young woman quietly unravelling in a London flat, and it never lets you out. It's slow, silent, and suffocating rather than jumpy — cracks appear in walls, hands reach from nowhere, and dread accumulates like dust. Essential for anyone who wants horror that works through atmosphere and psychology rather than plot.

TMDb rating

3.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love slow-burn psychological dread where the horror lives in a face and a sound rather than in gore, and you want a film that trusts its own unease.

Skip it if you need plot momentum or a clear explanation, since this one drifts through an apartment for long stretches and offers its unease without explaining much.

What it asks of you: At a little under two hours, it moves at a deliberate crawl, lingering in long held silences and closed rooms while its darkness deepens steadily.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Rosemary's Baby1968

Polanski's very next film, and the natural companion piece — another woman isolated in an apartment, another slow erosion of trust in her own perception, but with a conspiracy instead of a void.

But More plot-driven and less abstract; if you loved Repulsion's formlessness, this feels comparatively conventional.

The Tenant1976

Polanski completes his 'apartment trilogy' here, this time with himself as the paranoid tenant convinced his neighbours are conspiring against him. Same claustrophobia, dialled up to absurdist nightmare.

But Tonally stranger and often darkly comic — it can feel like a fever dream rather than a coherent descent.

Black Swan2010

Aronofsky's ballet horror shares Repulsion's DNA almost exactly: a woman's body and mind betraying her, mirrors that lie, a psychological collapse rendered as visceral horror.

But Far more melodramatic and kinetic — this trades stillness for hysteria and body horror set pieces.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Repulsion

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Perfect Blue1998

Same subjective descent into madness and unreliable perception as Repulsion, just relocated to Japanese animation — proof the mechanism works in any medium.

A Japanese animated psychological thriller about a pop idol whose grip on reality dissolves under stalking, fame, and self-doubt — hallucination and identity collapse rendered in anime instead of live action.

But Animation and a pop-idol setting might read as an odd match if you're expecting live-action realism.

The Shining1980

Kubrick's haunted hotel does for space what Repulsion does for an apartment — turns architecture itself into a source of dread as isolation curdles into madness.

But Runs longer and centres a man's breakdown rather than a woman's; the horror is grander, less intimate.

Jacob's Ladder1990

A masterclass in unreliable perception — you're never sure what's real, and the film uses that uncertainty to build genuine dread rather than cheap twists.

But Leans more into supernatural/war-trauma imagery and jump-scare horror than Repulsion's quiet dissolution.

Persona1966

Bergman's two women merging identities is the arthouse cousin to Carol's disintegration — cold, formally daring, obsessed with what happens when the self stops holding together.

But Even more elliptical and demanding; there's barely a plot to hold onto if abstraction isn't your thing.

Take Shelter2011

A quietly devastating study of a man convinced disaster is coming, and whether that conviction is prophecy or breakdown — the domestic dread builds exactly the way Repulsion's does.

But Rooted in American realism and family drama rather than expressionist horror imagery; a different kind of slow.

The Babadook2014

Grief and isolation curdle into something monstrous inside one house, with a mother's unravelling mind as the real horror — visually and emotionally in Polanski's lineage.

But More explicitly a 'monster' film with a clearer metaphor; less ambiguous about what's actually happening.

Safe1995

Julianne Moore drifting through a life that's quietly poisoning her, with no one believing her and no clear villain — a spiritual sibling in tone, dread, and ambiguity.

But Glacially paced even by arthouse standards, and offers little catharsis or resolution by design.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari1920

This is the film that invented the idea of distorted environment as a map of a broken psyche — Repulsion's apartment is Caligari's set, forty-five years and a country later.

A silent German Expressionist landmark where warped sets and jagged shadows externalise a disturbed mind decades before Polanski did it with cracking walls and grasping hands.

But Silent, theatrical, and nearly a century old — the acting style and pacing require patience from modern viewers.

The Entity1982

Same nightmare — a woman assaulted in her own domestic space while the world doubts her — stripped of arthouse subtlety and played as lurid genre horror instead.

A woman is repeatedly attacked in her own home by an unseen, possibly supernatural force, and no one believes her — pulpy, sweaty, and genuinely unsettling B-movie horror.

But Far trashier and more exploitative, with none of Polanski's restraint or ambiguity — this one wants to scare you, not unsettle you.