Thrillers - Sub Genres

There are many sub-genres within the thriller genre, these include:

• Spy thrillers - The Bourne Series
• Military thrillers - Rambo
• Erotic thrillers - Fatal Attraction
• Legal thrillers - The Pelican Brief
• Psychological thrillers - The Talented Mr. Ripley
• Horror thrillers - 28 Days Later
• Crime thrillers - Reservoir Dogs

Definition of a Thriller

Dictionary.com - thrill·er (thrĭl'ər) n. One that thrills, especially a sensational or suspenseful book, story, play, or movie.

From the films I have watched so far I have been able to come up with my own definition of a thriller. A thriller to me, is a film that creates suspense and anticipation in the audience. It does this using cliffhangers, moments of mystery and climaxes.

Psycho

This shot from the film really represents thriller. It's a medium close up, straight angle and the character is very central. The character is blacked out with their right arm raised above their head. We can see in the background the outline of the door. It is a black and white shot. The lighting in this scene was articficial.

The character raising their hand in the air demonstrates that they are about to stab someone. It's a very threatening position.The character all blacked out hides the expression on the character's face and also means that we can't really see who the murderer is, which adds to the sense of mystery. The shape of the character's head gives the audience a clue that it's a women as it looks like the character is wearing a wig. The shot is distorted with grey streaks which add to the effect of mystery and makes the shot look really old. In this shot the audience is positioned directly in front of the character which would be the position of the victim, which would mean the victim had a chance to look at their killer.

I found Psycho quite interesting, it was full of suspense and mystery. The setting of a derelict looking mansion and a rarely used motel was excellent. It added to the atmosphere of the film, it added to the thriller effect. The death scene with young girl wasn't as good as it could have been, I think the acting was a little melodramatic and the stabbing took too much time. The most thrilling part was seeing Bates' mother in the fruit cellar and realising that Bates' really was the killer!! The psychological aspect of the film also added to the thrill felt in the audience. The film at the beginning seemed really predictable but the psychological twist changed that and the ending was very unexpected, it made the Bates character seem even more deranged and twisted. It's almost incomprehensible to understand that the Bates character was two people, his mother and himself.

Layout

Like my layout? well apparently the godfather is the best thriller according to imdb, i think its a very good film so yeah the background seemed appropriate.

Disturbia - Shia LaBeouf

I Love Him!!! He was amazing in this film.

Disturbia

errm yes well errm watched disturbia the other day, thought it wz very gd had many similarities to rear window but it was much better. There was a little more to the plot and there was a lot more tension and "jumpy" moments. It was also a little more violent and there was more gore but not too much. The start almost spoilt it as nothing really happened for like the first half hour but the rest of the film made up for it. The chinese guy was hilarious and all the characters worked really well together. Also I love Shia LaBeouf!!!!

Welcome

Welcome to the Latymer School Thriller Video Project!!!

From the Media Team.....