Conventions of a Thriller with examples

Thriller Conventions

These are the general conventions which most thrillers will have.

- Darkness - Most thrillers will be set in a dark places for effect and for suspense. Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight' (2008) is mostly in darkness, however the protagonist is the one in a dark costume, not the villain, this reflects the inside struggle between good and bad which Batman suffers with throughout the film.

- Music for effect - For example Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' (1960) has the infamous shower scene with high pitch screeches of a violin immediately creating a danger effect. Again with Stephen Spielberg's 'Jaws' (1975) two notes create suspense, and also tell audience that danger is near.

- Vulnerable victim, usually female - Ridley Scott's 'Alien' (1979) has Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) who is the only character left alive besides Jones, the cat. She single-handily fights off and kills the alien.

- Serious Baddy/villain/Antagonist - James Cameron's 'Terminator 2' (1991) features T-1000, an advanced cyborg sent back in time to kill John Connor. This is the ultimate Antagonist as he seems to be indestructible.

- Narrative Enigma - A question which is usually resolved at the end of the film David Flincher's 'Fight Club' (1999) is an example as right at the end the audience find out that Tyler and the Narrator are the same person.

- Mystery - Thrillers must convey a sense of mystery for example the opening in The Wachowski Brothers' 'The Matrix' (1999) there's a phone call "You sure this line's clean?" What line, who's the woman and man talking, who's the 'one' why are they going to kill him?

- Suspense - This the edge of seat, nail biting which a thriller relies on. Alfred Hitchcock is reguarded by the experts at Radio Times as "The master of suspense".