Thriller genre insight

The word “Thriller” is used to describe a certain genre in films, television programmes etc. The genre of a Thriller film can be identified by looking at what it as a movie, it attempts to do- if its main aim is to create suspense, excitement and tension, then it is a thriller.Thrillers are expected to contain these and other aspects in their films such as mystery, anticipation, uncertainty, anxiety and plot climax. The story-line of a Thriller gives the audience thrills, and keeps them “on the edge of their seats” as the plot builds up towards the climax.
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Action Thriller:
Thrillers are often genre hybrids which means that it has a mix of two genres. An example of this is an action-thriller which although contains most of the aspects of the Thriller genre, also incorporates aspects of those from an Action film. Below is an example of this which is a scene from the movie “Limitless”. We can see that it is a Thriller from the tension,uncertainty and anticipation developed but can also see the Action side of the film from the obvious antagonist and chase scene:

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Science-Fiction Thriller:

Another genre hybrid is a Science Fiction Thriller. An example of this is the following scene taken from the film “Looper”. We can see that it is a Thriller from the suspense and tension built up but can also see that it is Science fiction from the terminology: “Time travel”. We can also class it as a science fiction thriller due to the shot where the young boy makes the antagonist fly in the air:

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Crime Thriller

Crime-Thriller is another genre hybrid which once again like the other hybrids contains aspects from both genres. An example of this is the following scene from the movie “Taken” which we can see is a Thriller from the obvious tension and suspense that it contains but also Crime genre from the crime of kidnapping. The kidnappers create a plot climax that will keep developing until we the end where the protagonist is going to come out on top:  

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Psychological Thriller:
Just like a normal Thriller, a psychological thriller incorporates suspense and tension. However, the difference from this genre hybrid to others is that it gives a sense of danger mentally and the characters are in danger in their mind instead of being in physical danger. Either this is the case or the protagonist has to use their mental resources to get out of the situation they are in. I believe that this would be a very good genre hybrid to target towards for our opening scene as it provides a lot of suspense and tension and is aimed towards people of the age of 12 and over- the age rating we are targeting towards. A good example of this is the following scene taken from "Memento" which falls under this thriller sub genre:

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Religious Thriller:
The Religious Thriller genre like all other thriller genre hybrids incorporate what all thriller films do; suspense and tension, but incorporate it with religious themes. For example, ceremonies, religious questions and objects are incorporated. Very often in these types of thrillers, aspects such as demons, exorcisms and church covers up are used. A good example of this is the following extract taken from the Religious Thriller film "The Da Vinci Code": 

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Alfred Hitchcock's first thriller was his third silent film "The Lodger", a suspenseful Jack the Ripper story. His next thriller was a film called "Blackmail", Britain's first film that had sound. Out of Hitchcock's fifteen main films made between 1925 and 1935, only six of them were Thriller films; "The Lodger", "Blackmail", "Murder!", "Number Seventeen", "The Man Who Knew Too Much" and "The 39 Steps". From 1935 on-wards though, the majority of his films fell under the thriller genre. 

Hitchcock continued to perfect his recognizable brand of suspense-thriller, directing "Foreign Correspondent", the haunting Oscar-winning "Rebecca", which is about the unusual romance between a young woman and an emotionally distant rich widower– overshadowed by a vindictive housekeeper, "Suspicion" about a woman in peril from her own husband, "Saboteur" and "Shadow of a Doubt", which was Hitchcock's own personal favorite and based upon the actual case of a 1920s serial killer known as The Merry Widow Murderer.




In the 1950s, Hitchcock added colour to his thrillers, and by now was so big that he used very famous stars in his films. He reached the prime of his career with a succession of classic films such as, "Strangers on a Train" which had big stars used such as Farley Granger and Robert Walker, "Dial M For Murder" with Ray Milland as a villainous husband who attempts to murder his wealthy wife (Grace Kelly), "Rear Window", "To Catch a Thief", "Vertigo", with James Stewart as a retired police detective who becomes obsessed with the disturbed enigmatic 'wife' played by Kim Novak and "North by Northwest".

After Hitchcock's classic films of the 1950s, he produced the shocking and engrossing thriller "Psycho" (1960). "Psycho" initially received mixed reviews, but outstanding box office returns prompted a re-review which was overwhelmingly positive and led to four Academy Award nominations. "Psycho" is now considered one of Hitchcock's best films and is highly praised as a work of "cinematic art" by international critics. It is often ranked among "the greatest films of all time" and is famous for bringing in a new level of acceptable violence and sexuality in films. After Hitchcock's death in 1980, Universal Studios began producing follow-ups: two sequels, a prequel, a remake, and a television movie spin-off. In 1992, the film was selected to be preserved by the Library of Congress at the National Film Registry.