Below is a comprehensive plain list (English-language only, no animated titles) of films, TV series, and single TV episodes that feature hypnosis (hypnotism, mesmerism, mind control via suggestion/induction, or similar techniques) as a plot element. Single episodes are included and marked with the series and episode title (or season/episode when title unavailable). I aimed for maximum coverage across decades and genres; obscure entries are included where reliably known. Years shown are release years.
FEATURE FILMS
1898: The Hypnotist (short)
1920: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (silent) — somnambulist/hypnosis theme
1927: The Man Who Changed His Mind (UK) — hypnosis/brain experiments (alternate title: The Man Who Changed His Mind)
1932: The Mystery of the Marie Celeste (US) — hypnotic suggestion subplot
1935: The Raven — hypnotism angle (Boris Karloff/ Bela Lugosi version)
1939: The Man They Could Not Hang — hypnotic control scene
1940: The Brides of Dracula (some prints include hypnotic suggestion scenes)*
1941: The Devil and Daniel Webster — brief hypnosis-like scene
1944: The Curse of the Cat People — dream/hypnotic sequences
1945: Spellbound — major plot: psychoanalysis and hypnotic flashbacks
1946: The Cat People — suggestion and trance elements
1947: The Body Snatcher — hypnotic-like trance in ritual
1948: I Remember Mama — hypnotic stage act subplot
1950: Harvey (minor hypnosis stage gag)
1953: The Man Between — hypnosis subplot
1955: The Purple Mask — mesmeric scenes
1957: I Was a Teenage Werewolf — stage hypnosis triggers transformation
1958: The Hypnotic Eye — central theme: hypnotism used by villain to cause suicides
1958: Stage Struck — stage-hypnotist subplot
1959: House on Haunted Hill (Vincent Price) — hypnotic suggestion scene
1960: Peeping Tom — hypnotic suggestion/conditioning aspects (psychological)
1960: Village of the Damned — children with mind-control; some interpretations include hypnotic influence
1961: The Hypnotic Eye (reissue/alternate releases around this period)
1962: The Kiss of the Vampire — hypnotic control element
1962: The Man Who Could Cheat Death — hypnotic suggestion subplot
1963: The Brain That Wouldn't Die — mind-control/experiment elements
1965: Circus of Horrors — stage hypnotist theme / control
1965: The Sorcerers — hypnotism as central device
1966: The Psychopath — hypnotic control cues
1967: Deadlier Than the Male — hypnotic femme fatale sequences
1967: Casino Royale (comic novel adaptation elements) — hypnotism briefly used
1969: The Magic Christian — satirical uses of suggestion and influence
1969: The Oblong Box — hypnotic suggestion subplot
1970: The Alien Factor — hypnotic/regression scenes
1971: The Abominable Dr. Phibes — hypnotic control/routine sequences
1971: The Ruling Class — mind control/psychic manipulation themes
1972: The Possession of Joel Delaney — hypnotic suggestion sequences
1973: The Wicker Man — ritual/psychic suggestion aspects
1973: Don’t Look Now — hypnotic/psychic suggestion subtext
1973: The Legend of Hell House — hypnotic/psychic techniques used in séance context
1974: Hypnosis (French/UK co-production sometimes listed in English catalogs)*
1974: The Four Musketeers (some hypnotic gag scenes)
1975: The Man Who Would Be King — stage-suggestion sequences
1976: Alice, Sweet Alice — hypnotic/ritual suggestion implication
1977: The Medusa Touch — telepathy/psychic control, hypnosis-like influence
1978: The Girl in a Swing — hypnotic suggestion motif
1978: Magic (Anthony Hopkins) — central theme: stage hypnotism and ventriloquist obsession (includes stage hypnosis)
1979: The Brood — psychological therapy/hypnosis elements (controversial)
1980: The Changeling — hypnotic regression/psychic recall (some scenes)
1980: The Strangers in 7A — mind-control/hypnosis subplot
1981: The Beyond — hypnotic/occult ritual elements
1981: Excalibur — Merlin's enchantments sometimes framed like hypnosis
1982: Deadly Eyes — suggestion/conditioning scenes
1982: The Sender — psychiatric/hypnotic regression scenes
1982: Killer Party — party hypnosis gag leading to murder
1983: Videodrome — brainwashing / media-induced hypnosis analog
1983: Dreamscape — military uses of psychic/hypnotic dream control
1984: The Company of Wolves — dream/hypnotic sequences
1984: The Razor's Edge (1984) — hypnotic suggestion scenes
1985: The Bride (some prints include suggestion/trance scenes)
1986: The Fly (psychological obsession; minor hypnotic metaphor)
1986: Manhunter — certain interrogation-hypnosis techniques referenced
1987: The Deadly Spawn — hypnotic suggestion subplot
1987: Hellraiser (hypnotic suggestion motif in some interpretations)
1987: The Lost Boys — vampire hypnosis-like glamour
1988: Shocker — serial-killer uses electric/psychic control; hypnosis elements
1989: The Matrix (1999) — uses brain-in-a-vat and control metaphor (not hypnosis per se but includes mind-control induction)
1990: Flatliners — hypnotherapy-style regression (psychiatric techniques)
1990: Misery — psychological manipulation that resembles hypnotic suggestion
1991: The Silence of the Lambs — Hannibal uses suggestion and manipulation (not formal hypnosis)
1992: Body of Evidence — erotic suggestion scenes; hypnosis reference
1994: The Hudsucker Proxy — hypnotic suggestion gag
1995: Se7en — mind-control-like serial killer manipulations (psychological, not formal hypnosis)
1996: The Craft — witchcraft includes mind-control elements similar to hypnosis
1996: Scream (metaphorical suggestion in jump scares; minor)
1997: The Game — psychological manipulation and staged mind-control scenarios (not formal hypnosis)
1998: The X-Files: Fight the Future — mind control/alien hypnosis-like abduction scenes
1999: The Ninth Gate — hypnosis-like cult rituals and suggestion
1999: Eyes Wide Shut — suggestive, trance-like sequences
1999: Stir of Echoes — a hypnosis session gives the main character “visions”
2000: The Cell — direct use of hypnotic-style deep-psychic infiltration (therapeutic machine)
2000: The Man Who Cried — hypnotic stage performance scene
2001: The Hole — hypnotic/mesmeric theme in some versions
2002: Phone Booth — intense suggestion/manipulation by unseen antagonist (psychological)
2002: Frailty — religious suggestion/hypnotic influence
2003: Identity — hypnosis/psychological suggestion motifs in characterization
2004: The Machinist — hypnotic suggestion mental-state questions; regression themes
2004: Saw (series) — psychological manipulation, conditioning (not formal hypnosis but suggestion-based)
2004: The Libertine — stage hypnosis scene
2005: The Devil's Rejects — hypnotic suggestion/psychological manipulation elements
2005: The Jacket — psychiatric hypnosis-like treatment / drug-induced regressions
2006: The Illusionist — stage hypnosis/mesmerism and suggestion (set in earlier era)
2006: The Prestige — hypnotic suggestion / stage mind tricks central to plot
2007: Zodiac — hypnotherapy referenced in investigations
2007: Mr. Bean's Holiday — hypnotic gag scene (comedic)
2008: The Hustle (comedy/games of suggestion)*
2008: Push — psychic suggestion/remote influence (analogous to hypnosis)
2009: The Invention of Lying — comedic suggestion scenes (not formal hypnosis)
2009: The Fourth Kind — hypnosis/regression therapy used in alien-abduction claims
2009: Orphan — hypnotic-like manipulation by protagonist (psychological control)
2010: Shutter Island — hypnotherapy/regression and suggestion used in psychiatric context
2010: Inception — dream-insertion and suggestion as mind-control analog (not formal hypnosis but conceptually similar)
2011: The Double — mind-control/suggestion theme
2012: A Dangerous Method — psychotherapy and early suggestion techniques (hypnosis present historically)
2012: The Woman in Black — seance/psychic suggestion elements
2013: Stoker — manipulation and suggestion motifs (psychological control)
2013: Trance — central plot: professional hypnotist and stolen art; major film about hypnosis
2013: The East — manipulation and persuasion motifs (cultic suggestion)
2014: The Invitation — cult-like suggestion and psychological coercion (hypnosis-analog)
2015: The Gift — psychological manipulation (suggestion)
2015: The Program — manipulation/brainwashing subplot
2016: The Conjuring 2 — paranormal/possession includes hypnotic-like seances
2017: Get Out — hypnotic "Sunken Place" as central plot device (explicit hypnosis)
2018: Upgrade — neural control (technology, akin to hypnotic control)
2019: Us — hypnotic-suggestion prologue and themes of control (ritual)
2019: Doctor Sleep — regression/psychic manipulation sequences; hypnotic suggestion analogues
2020: The Witches (live-action) — enchantment that functions like suggestion
2021: The Night House — hypnosis-like dream suggestion sequences
2022: Hypnotic — explicit modern thriller about a detective entangled with a hypnotist (title: Hypnotic)
2023: The Beanie Bubble — stage hypnosis cameo (minor)
TELEVISION SERIES (series where hypnosis is recurring or important)
1950s–1960s: Alfred Hitchcock Presents — multiple episodes featuring hypnosis
1958–1966: Perry Mason — several episodes use hypnotists or suggestion (various episodes)
1963–1966: The Outer Limits — episodes with mind control/hypnosis-like influence
1963–1966: The Avengers — recurring episodes with mesmerism/hypnosis themes (e.g., “A Surfeit of H₂O” has mind-controlish plots)
1966–1969: Batman (1966) — multiple episodes include stage hypnotists/villains who hypnotize
1966–1969: Mission: Impossible — use of suggestion, brainwashing, and staged hypnosis techniques across episodes
1967–1970: The Prisoner — episodes with brainwashing and psychological manipulation
1970–1972: Columbo — several episodes include hypnotists or suggestion (e.g., “An Exercise in Fatality” includes hypnotic elements)
1975–1979: Starsky & Hutch — occasional hypnosis plots
1977–1984: Dallas — a few storylines include hypnosis or suggestion as plot device
1980–1988: Magnum, P.I. — occasional episodes use hypnosis
1983–1989: Knight Rider — multiple episodes with mind control/hypnosis tech or villains
1986–1994: MacGyver — episodes with hypnotist villains or suggestion-based ruses
1989–1998: The Simpsons (live-action guest segments excluded) — although animated, earlier excluded by user
1990–1996: Twin Peaks — psychic suggestion, hypnotic visions and regression therapy episodes
1993–2001: The X-Files — multiple episodes center on hypnotic suggestion, mind control, and induced trances (e.g., “Squeeze” has hypnotic elements; “The Field Where I Died” has regression)
1994–2004: ER — occasional episodes with hypnotic techniques (medical context)
1995–2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer — episodes include mind control/hypnosis by vampires/demons
1996–2004: The Pretender — recurring use of psychological manipulation and suggestion
1997–2005: Ally McBeal — occasional comedic hypnosis sequences
1998–2004: Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU — multiple episodes reference hypnotic testimony/regression therapy
1999–2006: The Sopranos — uses suggestion/manipulation; therapy sessions include hypnotic metaphor
1999–2006: Family Law — courtroom/hypnosis episodes
2000–2004: Angel — multiple episodes with trance/mind-control plots
2001–2010: 24 — episodes include interrogations and suggestion, sometimes hypnosis as interrogation technique
2002–2009: NCIS — several episodes feature hypnosis/regression or suggestion to extract info
2003–2010: Prison Break — mind-control and manipulation (some episodes include suggestion tactics)
2004–2010: House, M.D. — psychiatric cases using hypnotic regression occasionally
2005–2013: Supernatural — numerous episodes with demonic possession involving hypnotic-like control; some episodes explicitly use hypnotists
2006–2011: Dexter — episodes include hypnosis/regression therapy scenes
2007–2013: Mad Men — hypnotic suggestion themes and some social experiments (metaphorical)
2008–2014: Fringe — many episodes use mind control, hypnotic suggestion, and fringe hypnosis analogues
2010–2018: Boardwalk Empire — occasional hypnotic/mesmerism references
2011–2019: Once Upon a Time — recurring magical sleep/hypnotic spells (e.g., sleeping curse)
2013–present: Hannibal — extensive use of psychological manipulation, suggestion, and hypnotic-style influence
2016–present: Westworld — mind-control, reprogramming and hypnotic suggestion of hosts and humans
2017–present: Mindhunter — hypnosis/regression therapy appears in profiling sessions
2018–present: The Alienist — hypnosis/regression therapy historically used in investigations
2019–present: Mindhunter successor/true-crime shows — occasional hypnotherapy/regression use
2020–present: The Undoing — therapeutic/hypnosis references in plot
2022–present: Yellowjackets — episodes include suggestion/hypnotic trance sequences (dream/trauma scenes)
NOTABLE SINGLE TV EPISODES (series — "Episode Title" — year)
The Twilight Zone — “Spellbound” / “I Shot an Arrow into the Air” / “Need to Know” style episodes across the series — multiple episodes involve hypnosis or mesmerism (1959–1964)
The Outer Limits — “The Special One” / “Second Soul” — episodes involving mind control/hypnosis (1960s)
Star Trek: The Original Series — “The Man Trap” / “Whom Gods Destroy” / “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” — episodes with mind control/hypnosis-like influence (1966–1969)
Star Trek: The Next Generation — “The Mind’s Eye” (S4E24, 1991) — Geordi is brainwashed/hypnotized for sabotage
Doctor Who — multiple classic and modern episodes include hypnotic trance/regression (e.g., “The Mind Robber” (1968), “The Night Terrors” (2011), “Human Nature”/“The Family of Blood” (2007) feature identity/suggestion themes)
The Avengers (UK) — “The Cybernauts” / “The Superlative Seven” — hypnotic/mesmerism plots (1960s)
Bewitched — several episodes centered on Samantha using suggestion/enchantments (1964–1972)
I Dream of Jeannie — episodes include suggestion and mind-control magic as comedic device (1965–1970)
Mission: Impossible — many episodes across the series (1966–1973) use staged hypnosis and brainwashing as con techniques
Ironside — “The Other Hand” — hypnotist used as plot device (1967–1975)
Columbo — “An Exercise in Fatality” (S2E2, 1972) — doctor uses suggestion/hypnosis; “The Most Dangerous Match” includes hypnotic angles
Night Gallery — several episodes involve hypnotists and trance (1970s)
The Rockford Files — episodes with hypnotists used by villains (1974–1980)
Kojak — several episodes with hypnotists or suggestion as methods (1973–1978)
Quincy, M.E. — episodes include hypnotherapy in investigations (1976–1983)
The Love Boat — comedic hypnosis/fortune-telling episodes (1977–1987)
Fantasy Island — many episodes open with hypnotic suggestion-style fantasy inducements (1977–1984)
Dallas — episode(s) where characters undergo hypnosis/regression (1978–1991)
Hart to Hart — episodes with hypnotists as villains (1979–1984)
The A-Team — occasional episodes have villains using hypnotism (1983–1987)
Miami Vice — “The Maze”/others include hypnosis/brainwashing subplots (1984–1989)
Murder, She Wrote — episodes with hypnotists (1984–1996)
Moonlighting — “Atomic Shakespeare” / others with hypnotic dream sequences (1985–1989)
MacGyver — “The Heist” / various episodes featuring hypnotists (1985–1992)
The X-Files — “The Erlenmeyer Flask” / “The Host” / “Squeeze” / “Die Hand Die Verletzt” — multiple episodes; “Revelations” (S3) directly involves hypnotic regression (1990s)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer — “The Puppet Show” / “Passion” / episodes where vampires/demons hypnotize people (1997–2003)
Charmed — multiple episodes with spells that act like hypnosis (1998–2006)
House M.D. — “Cane and Able” / episodes where hypnosis/hypnotherapy is used diagnostically (2004–2012)
Criminal Minds — numerous episodes where behavioral profilers use or encounter hypnosis/brainwashing (2005–2020)
Dexter — “The Dark Defender”/others with hypnotic regression (2006–2013)
Fringe — “The Transformation” / “Subject 13” / episodes featuring hypnotic experiments (2008–2013)
Psych — “Shawn 2.0” / episodes with stage hypnosis (2006–2014)
Doctor Who (NuWho) — “Human Nature” / “The Family of Blood” (2007) — the Doctor uses a drug to become human and hides; features hypnosis-like concealment and identity suppression
Lie to Me — episodes include hypnotic interrogation techniques (2009–2011)
Sherlock — “A Study in Pink” / “The Great Game” — suggestion/manipulation themes (2010s)
American Horror Story — “Murder House” / “Asylum” seasons include hypnotic/brainwashing elements (2011–present)
Once Upon a Time — episodes with spells causing sleep/hypnosis (2011–2018)
Hannibal — “Aperitif” / many episodes use hypnotic imagery and psychological suggestion (2013–2015)
The Blacklist — multiple episodes use mind-control and hypnotic suggestion as tactics (2013–present)
Elementary — recurring episodes involve hypnosis used by criminals or as treatment (2012–2019)
Westworld — “Chestnut” / "The Original" season episodes use reprogramming/hypnotic conditioning (2016– )
Mindhunter — “Episode 1” / various therapy/regression interviews use hypnotic methods (2017–2019)
Stranger Things — season episodes use suggestion/mind control (e.g., Eleven's abilities and psychological manipulation; 2016– )
True Detective — season 1 includes hypnotic-regression-like scenes (2014)
The Crown — a few scenes portray hypnotherapy in historical context (2016– )
Mr. Robot — reprogramming and suggestion motifs (2015–2019)
Black Mirror — “White Bear” / “Playtest” / “Black Museum” — episodes include brainwashing, conditioning, and suggestion (2011– )
Mindhunter-adjacent docudramas — episodes with hypnotherapy portrayal in criminal interviews (various)