Thrillers are a genre of literature, film, video gaming and television programming that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as the main elements.[1] The primary subgenre is psychological thrillers. After the assassination of President Kennedy, political thriller and paranoid thriller films became very popular. The brightest examples of thrillers are the films of Alfred Hitchcock.[2]
Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods such as; a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, suspense, excitement, tension, terror. Literary devices such as red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively. The cover-up of important information from the viewer and fight/chase scenes are common methods in all of the thriller subgenres, although each subgenre has its own characteristics and methods.[3]
Common methods in crime thrillers are mainly ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings. More common in mystery thrillers are investigations and the whodunit technique. Common elements in psychological thrillers are mind games, psychological themes, stalking, confinement/deathtraps, horror-of-personality, and obsession. Elements such as fringe theories, false accusations, paranoia, and sometimes action are common in paranoid thrillers.[4]
"Homer's Odyssey is one of the oldest stories in the Western world and is regarded as an early prototype of the thriller." [5] A thriller is villain-driven plot, whereby he presents obstacles that the hero must overcome.[5]
Characteristics
An atmosphere of creepy menace and sudden violence,
crime and
murder characterise thrillers. They mostly are
adrenaline rushing, gritty,
rousing and
fast-paced. Thrillers often present the world and society as dark,
corrupt and dangerous. Characters in thrillers include
criminals,
stalkers,
assassins, innocent
victims (often on the run), menaced
women, characters with dark pasts,
psychotic individuals,
terrorists,
cops and escaped
cons,
private eyes, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends, and more. The themes of thrillers frequently include
terrorism,
political conspiracy,
pursuit, or
romantic triangles leading to murder.
[6]
A genuine, standalone thriller is a film that provide thrills and keeps the audience cliff-hanging at the "edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a
climax. The tension usually arises when the character(s) is placed in a menacing situation, a mystery, or a trap from which escaping seems impossible. Life is threatened, usually because the principal character is unsuspectingly or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation.
[7]
Thrillers mostly take place in ordinary suburbs/cities. Though sometimes, they may take place wholly or partly in exotic settings such as foreign cities, deserts, polar regions, or the high seas. The heroes in most thrillers are frequently ordinary citizens unaccustomed to danger. However, more common in crime thrillers, they may also be "hard men" accustomed to danger, like
police officers and
detectives. While such heroes have traditionally been men, women lead characters have become increasingly common.
Thrillers often overlap with mystery stories but are distinguished by the structure of their plots. In a thriller, the hero must thwart the plans of an enemy rather than uncover a crime that has already happened. While a murder mystery would be spoiled by a premature disclosure of the murderer's identity, in a thriller the identity of a murderer or other villain is typically known all along. Thrillers also occur on a much grander scale: the crimes that must be prevented are serial or mass murder, terrorism, assassination, or the overthrow of governments. Jeopardy and violent confrontations are standard plot elements. While a
mystery climaxes when the mystery is solved, a thriller climaxes when the
hero finally defeats the
villain, saving his own life and often the lives of others. In thrillers influenced by
film noir and
tragedy, the compromised
hero is often killed in the process.
In recent years, thrillers have been slightly influenced by the horror genre; they have more gore/sadistic violence, brutality, terror, and body counts.
[8] Recent thrillers which took this route include
Eden Lake,
The Last House on the Left,
P2,
Untraceable and
Funny Games
Similar distinctions separate the thriller from other overlapping genres: adventure, spy, legal, war, maritime fiction, and so on. Thrillers are defined not by their subject matter but by their approach to it. Many thrillers involve spies and espionage, but not all spy stories are thrillers. The spy novels of
John le Carré, for example, explicitly and intentionally reject the conventions of the thriller. Conversely, many thrillers cross over to genres that traditionally have had few or no thriller elements.
Alistair MacLean,
Hammond Innes, and
Brian Callison are best known for their thrillers but are also accomplished writers of man-against-nature sea stories.
Thrillers may be defined by the primary mood that they elicit: fearful excitement. In short, if it "thrills", it is a thriller. As the introduction to a major anthology explains,
| “ | ...Thrillers provide such a rich literary feast. There are all kinds. The legal thriller, spy thriller, action-adventure thriller, medical thriller, police thriller, romantic thriller, historical thriller, political thriller, religious thriller, high-tech thriller, military thriller. The list goes on and on, with new variations constantly being invented. In fact, this openness to expansion is one of the genre's most enduring characteristics. But what gives the variety of thrillers a common ground is the intensity of emotions they create, particularly those of apprehension and exhilaration, of excitement and breathlessness, all designed to generate that all-important thrill. By definition, if a thriller doesn't thrill, it's not doing its job. | |
Writer
Vladimir Nabokov, in his lectures at
Cornell University, said that "In an Anglo-Saxon thriller, the villain is generally punished, and the strong silent man generally wins the weak babbling girl, but there is no governmental law in Western countries to ban a story that does not comply with a fond tradition, so that we always hope that the wicked but romantic fellow will escape scot-free and the good but dull chap will be finally snubbed by the moody heroine."
[10]
Sub-genres
The thriller genre can include the following sub-genres,
[11] which may include elements of other genres:
- Conspiracy thriller: In which the hero/heroine confronts a large, powerful group of enemies whose true extent only he/she recognizes. The Chancellor Manuscript and The Aquitaine Progression by Robert Ludlum fall into this category, as do films such as Three Days of the Condor,[12] Awake, Flightplan, Snake Eyes, Edge of Darkness,[13] Absolute Power, Marathon Man, In the Line of Fire, Capricorn One, and JFK.[14]
- Crime thriller: This particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal(s) rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasise action over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include serial killers/murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, heists and double-crosses. Some examples of crime thrillers involving murderers include, Seven,[15] A Perfect Murder,[16] No Country for Old Men, Firewall,[17] Hostage, Silence of the Lambs, Kiss the Girls and Copycat.[18] Examples of crime thrillers involving heists or robberies includes The Asphalt Jungle,[19] The Score,[20] Rififi, Ocean's 11, Entrapment,[21] The Killing and Reservoir Dogs.[22]
- Disaster thriller: In which the main conflict is due to some sort of natural or artificial disaster, such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, etc., or nuclear disasters as an artificial disaster. Examples include Earthquake, 2012,[23] The Day After Tomorrow,[24] Poseidon, Knowing,[25] Deep Impact and Twister.
- Erotic thriller: In which it consists of erotica and thriller. It has become popular since the 1980s and the rise of VCR market penetration. The genre includes such films as Basic Instinct,[26] Chloe, Color of Night, Dressed to Kill, Eyes Wide Shut, In the Cut and Lust, Caution.
- Legal thriller: In which the lawyer-heroes/heroines confront enemies outside, as well as inside, the courtroom and are in danger of losing not only their cases but their lives. The Runaway Jury by John Grisham is a well known example of the type. Other examples include The Client, Fracture, A Time to Kill, Primal Fear, A Few Good Men, Presumed Innocent and The Juror.[27]
- Medical thriller: In which the hero/heroine are medical doctors/personnel working to solve an expanding medical problem. Robin Cook, Tess Gerritsen, Michael Crichton, and Gary Braver are well-known authors of this sub-genre. Nonfiction medical thrillers are also a subcategory, comprising works like The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. Films such as Extreme Measures, The Experiment, Anatomy, Coma and Pathology are other examples of medical thrillers.
- Mystery thriller: Suspense films where characters attempt solving, or involved in, a mystery. Examples include Flightplan, Mindhunters,[28] The Number 23,[29] Unforgettable, Shutter Island, Secret Window, Vertigo, Identity and Memento.[30]
- Political thriller: In which the hero/heroine must ensure the stability of the government that employs him. The success of Seven Days in May (1962) by Fletcher Knebel, The Day of the Jackal (1971) by Frederick Forsyth, and The Manchurian Candidate (1959) by Richard Condon established this sub-genre. Examples include, The Constant Gardener, Rendition, The Good Shepherd, Topaz, Syriana, The Interpreter,[31] Proof of Life[32] and The Ghost Writer.
- Psychological thriller: In which (until the often violent resolution) the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical. The Alfred Hitchcock films Suspicion, Shadow of a Doubt, and Strangers on a Train and David Lynch's bizarre and influential Blue Velvet are notable examples of the type, as are The Talented Mr. Ripley, Jacob's Ladder (film), "Orphan", House of 9, Phone Booth, Cape Fear,[33] Red Eye,[34] The River Wild,[35] Psycho, P2,[36] Breakdown,[37] The Collector, Panic Room,[38] Don't Say A Word, Frailty,[39] The Good Son, Dead Calm,[40] Funny Games,[41], Marianne [42] and Misery.[43]
- Rape and Revenge films: Out of the sub-genres of exploitation film, this focuses more on the thriller elements such as suspense, tension, some action and fast-pacing rather than scares and the supernatural. Some famous rape and revenge films are The Last House on the Left, Irréversible, Thriller - A Cruel Picture, Baise-moi and I Spit on Your Grave.
- Religious thriller: In which the plot is closely connected to religious objects, institutions and questions. While suspense stories have always shown a significant affinity for religion and philosophical issues (G. K. Chesterton's novel The Man Who Was Thursday has been called a "metaphysical thriller"; and Umberto Eco's novels The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum both display thriller characteristics), Dan Brown's 2003 best-seller The Da Vinci Code has led to a current boom in religiously oriented thrillers. Other examples include the film version of The Da Vinci Code, The Devil's Advocate, The Ninth Gate, Angel Heart, The Sin Eater, The Omega Code and Angels & Demons.
- Supernatural thriller: In which the film brings in an otherworldly element mixed with tension, suspense and plot twists. Sometimes the hero and/or villain has some psychic ability. Examples include, Lady in the Water, Fallen,[44] Frequency, In Dreams,[45] Flatliners, Jacob's Ladder, The Skeleton Key,[46] Signs, What Lies Beneath, Unbreakable, The Gift,[47] and The Dead Zone.
- Techno thriller: A suspense film in which the manipulation of sophisticated technology plays a prominent part.[48] Examples include The Thirteenth Floor; The Matrix; I, Robot; Eagle Eye; Terminator; Hackers; Futureworld; eXistenZ and Virtuosity.
Although most thrillers are formed in some combination of the above, there are some however that are formed with other genres, which commonly are the
horror genre,
spy genre and the
action/
adventure genre.
[49]
