2. What is a Thriller?
A film is represented as a thriller when the
storyline gives the audience thrills, and keeps
them on the ’edge of their seats’ as the plot
builds up towards the climax. The tension is
usually built up by a character being placed in a
life frightening situation, a mystery, or a trap
which seems impossible to escape.
A Thriller is used in film and television to create
suspense, excitement and tension. The most
common use of this subgenre to thriller are mystery,
crime and psychological thrillers, however there are
also many other subgenres. Thriller is also very
closely matched with the horror genre, To which both
use suspense and atmosphere to cause feelings of
terror in their audiences.
3. What is the typical stereotypes
used in a thriller?
Thriller is a genre of fiction in which
tough, resourceful, but essentially ordinary heroes are
pitted against villains determined to destroy them, their
country, or the stability of the free world. Part of the
allure of thrillers comes from not only what their stories
are about, but also how they are told. High stakes, non-
stop action, plot twists that both surprise and
excite, settings that are both vibrant and exotic, and an
intense pace that never lets up until the adrenalin
packed climax.
There is also use of life threatened during a thriller
film, as the main character is usually accidentally or
mistakenly involved in an extremely dangerous
situation. The common plots in crime thrillers are
ransoms, revenge and kidnappings, which are
expanded on for the effect on the audience.
4. 1960-80’s
One of the most well known and popular thriller films is ‘Psycho’ which
was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and was produced during 1960. This
film is a psychological thriller based on the American 1960‘s time
period. The film was modified from the1959 novel which was written by
Robert Bloch also called ‘psycho‘. Both the film and novel are based on
the cases on convicted serial killer Ed Gein, this therefore allowed the
directors of the film to secondary the film with other genres such as
horror, drama and mystery, as well as the thriller.
One of the most well known and popular thriller films is ‘Psycho’ which
was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and was produced during 1960. This
film is a psychological thriller based on the American 1960‘s time
period. The film was adapted from the1959 novel which was written by
Robert Bloch also called ‘psycho‘. Both the film and novel are based on
the cases on convicted serial killer Ed Gein, this therefore allowed the
directors of the film to associate the film with other genres such as
horror, drama and mystery, as well as the thriller.
5. 1990’s-2000’s
The decade started with Rob Reiner's Misery (1990), based on the book by Stephen King, with Kathy Bates as
an disturbed fan named Annie who terrorizes, in her care, an incapacitated author named Paul (James Caan);
in one horrifying scene, she 'hobbles' his ankles so that he can't escape, a battered wife who left her sadistic
husband to find a better life was vengefully pursued in Sleeping with the Enemy (1991),
Curtis Hanson's The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992), with Rebecca De Mornay as a nanny intent on
seeking revenge against her dead obstetrician husband's patient (Annabella Sciorra),
Unlawful Entry (1992) with Ray Liotta as cop being obsessed with a woman he saved,
Barbet Schroeder's suspenseful Single White Female (1992), with Bridget Fonda and her obsessed roommate-
from-hell Jennifer Jason Leigh,
Harold Becker's Malice (1993) with Alec Baldwin and Nicole Kidman
Anthony Minghella's psychological thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) with Matt Damon being obsessed
with, and then assuming the identity of, Jude Law.However, despite how common the obsession theme was in
this decade, there was another popular theme of the thriller genre – detectives/FBI agents hunting down a
serial killer.
Until today, thrillers do borrow themes and elements from those in the past decades. However, to cut the
repetitiveness, there are a number of recent thrillers that maintain the aspects of the horror genre; having more
gore/sadistic violence, brutality, terror and body counts. The recent thrillers which took this approach include
Eden Lake (2008),
The Last House on the Left (2009),
P2 (2007), Captivity (2007)
Funny Games (2008)
Even action scenes have gotten more elaborate in thriller films within the past 10 years, especially in spy
thrillers. Thrillers such as Joy Ride (2001), Unknown (2011), Hostage (2005), Cellular (2006), A History of
Violence (2005) and Firewall (2006) were borderline-action.
6. Conclusion of the Thriller Genre
Overall, the genre of thriller is used in
various ways to create an atmosphere
which excites, thrills and attracts the
audience to carry on watching a film. This
is done in several ways, such as through
the use of lighting, mise-en-scene and also
with the added use of non diegetic and
diegetic music. The thriller genre was a
popular genre during the past fifty years
and is still increasingly popular within the
industry today
7. How this research has
benefited my work
This research has improved my work by
informing me what the typical conventions
of the Thriller genre is and it has also given
me ideas towards being creative with
different ways of the characters interacting
with each other, how the littlest hints of
objects, quotes and weapons can give the
audience of what could happen in the story
or even the whole plot if you put to much in
the opening. It also shows that a thriller has
so many possibility's to put many different
ideas in my film opening. The
lighting, mise-en scene, props, special
effects etc.
