The Film
When Mara awakens in a post-apocalyptic limbo, she has no memory of how she got there. Her only companion is a vintage computer; with the voice of a disembodied artificial intelligence, a guide without a face. What begins as a survival story slowly opens into something stranger and more intimate. A journey through consciousness, where every horizon of the environment reflects Mara’s fractured inner world. Guided and manipulated in equal measure by the computer she begins to call her mirror, Mara must navigate a series of escalating psychological trials, each one drawn from her memory, her fears, and her longing for connection. PSYCHE is a meditation on the search for redemption within the human soul.
Director Stephon Stewart
Lead Sarah Ritter
Runtime 71 minutes
Genre Sci-Fi Horror
Streaming Amazon Prime Video
For Immediate Release
Starboard Entertainment Acquires Stephon Stewart’s Existential Fantasy-Horror Film PSYCHE, Now Available on Amazon
The FrightFest-Glasgow Opening Night selection marks Stewart’s second feature following Lionsgate-released found footage thriller BIGFOOT COUNTY
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – (May 1, 2026)
PSYCHE, the critically acclaimed independent feature from writer/director Stephon Stewart and producer Tracy Keyser, has been acquired by Starboard Entertainment, and is now available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video. With its longstanding reputation for championing distinctive genre cinema and cult-audience discoveries, Starboard is a natural home for PSYCHE as the film reaches a wider audience.
The release marks a major new chapter for Stewart, whose debut film, the found footage thriller BIGFOOT COUNTY, was released by Lionsgate in 2012. More than a decade later, Stewart returns with his second feature -- a bold, atmospheric, and deeply personal film that explores artificial intelligence, and the search for meaning in an increasingly technological world.
PSYCHE made its international debut as the Opening Night selection at FrightFest-Glasgow, one of the UK’s most respected genre festivals. Following its acclaimed festival bow, the film drew strong critical attention for its surreal visual language, philosophical ambition, and hypnotic lead performance from Sarah Ritter.
“PSYCHE reminded me of the kind of existential science fiction that stays with you long after the credits. There is a spiritual kinship to Tarkovsky’s STALKER in the way Stewart uses landscape, silence, and mystery to explore the inner life of a human being.”
— Thomas Zambeck, CEO of Starboard Entertainment
PSYCHE will also screen at the Cannes Film Festival for international buyers.
FrightFest Glasgow 2025 Opening Night
Popcorn Frights Film Festival 2025
Panic Fest
Macabro Horror Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
Now on Amazon Prime Video
The Director
Stephon Stewart
Stephon Stewart is a filmmaker, author, and theorist whose work moves between cinema, technology, and physics. He is the founder of Drifter LLC, a startup company pioneering CO2 extraction technology. Stewart’s breakthrough feature, Bigfoot County (Lionsgate, 2012), was acquired by Lionsgate and became part of the found-footage horror wave of the early 2010s.
Beyond film, Stewart is a published author whose novels explore futuristic doomsday realities with a kind of modern Nostradamus-like imagination. Dry, Ice, and Wet form a trilogy of end-days scenarios, against the backdrop of collapsing worlds.
Stewart has also developed a body of physics research, with papers available through Google Scholar and in collaboration with scientists. This scientific inquiry increasingly informs the philosophical architecture of his creative work, giving his films and novels a distinct metaphysical edge.
With PSYCHE, Stewart merges psychological and existential horror with a search for meaning at the edge of human experience.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
Everything you need to know about PSYCHE
Where can I watch PSYCHE?
PSYCHE (2025) is streaming free on Amazon Prime Video and free on Tubi. No rental fee. Stream it tonight.
Is PSYCHE similar to Black Mirror or The Twilight Zone?
Yes. Critics have described PSYCHE as having David Lynch's fingerprints all over it. If you're drawn to the psychological intensity of Black Mirror, the surreal dread of The Twilight Zone, or the existential weight of Annihilation or Tarkovsky's Stalker -- PSYCHE is built for you.
What is PSYCHE about?
Mara awakens in a barren desert during a near-death experience with no memory of how she arrived. Her only companion is a 1980s computer monitor that speaks to her through cryptic puzzles. To escape her ethereal prison, she must face the buried memories of her past. 71 minutes. No filler. No easy answers.
Is this related to the TV show Psych?
No. PSYCHE (2025) is an entirely separate independent sci-fi horror film by director Stephon Stewart -- no connection to the USA Network comedy series Psych (2006-2014).
What festivals screened PSYCHE?
PSYCHE was selected as the Opening Night film at FrightFest Glasgow 2025 (March 6, Scottish premiere) and also screened at Popcorn Frights Film Festival 2025.
Where can I watch the trailer?
The official trailer is embedded above on this page. You can also watch it directly on YouTube.
Who directed PSYCHE?
PSYCHE was written and directed by Stephon Stewart, an author, theorist, and filmmaker. Cinematography by Aitor Uribarri. Score by Tom Hawk. Co-written with Gibran Lozano.
