What Are The Typical Characteristics of a Thriller Movie?

A thriller is a film that provides thrills and keeps the audience "on the edge of their seats" as the plot drives towards a climax. the tension usually arises when the characters are places in a menacing situation.

Thrillers usually take place in ordinary suburbs/cities, though sometimes they take place in exotic settings like foreign cities, deserts, polar regions or the high seas. The heroes in most thrillers are frequently ordinary citezens unaccustomed to danger. However, more common in crime thrillers, they may also be "hard men" accustomed to danger, like police officers or detectives. While such heroes have typically been men, female heroes are becoming increasingly popular.

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. Eg- Eden Lake.

Alice Humphries