The Thriller Genre

Examples of Thrillers

• Pulp Fiction
• Phonebooth
• Psycho
• Mission Impossible
• Kill Bill
• Flight Plan
• Vantage Point

Generic Features of Thrillers

Generic elements/features:

• Crimes and Corruption (kidnapping, murder, assassination, heist)
• Police
• Weapons and Gadgets

Claustrophobic spaces and entrapment:

• Planes
• Coffins
• Lifts
• Trains
• Underwater
• Boot of car/van
• Freezer
• Small room
• Carparks
• Alleyways

Unglamourous and Isolated locations:

• Back alleys
• Carparks

Lighting:

• Noir (dark setting)
• Chiaroscuro (light against dark - creates sense of illusion/nightmare, whilst also being aesthetically pleasing)
• Ambient (natural lighting)
• Long Shadows (creates scary image or vulnerable person)

Sound:

• Diegetic (natural sounds, on set)
• Non-Diegetic (music, special effects, added)

Characters:

• Gangsters (mafia-esque men)
• Femme Fatal (dangerous, manipulative or deadly woman)