Charles Derry - The Suspense Thriller

In his book, CHARLES DERY outlines the who, where, what and why behind the THRILLER genre. It was the first book of its kind to analyze the popular, yet misunderstood, genre of the SUSPENSE THRILLER.

After completing his first book about contemporary horror films, Dark Dreams, he was struck by the similarities in the use of SUSPENSE between the horror and suspense thriller genres.

What particularly drew Derry into the realm of the suspense thriller was the PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT that films have upon viewers.

"How is it possible that we can go to a movie which on some level creates anxiety for us, yet on another level somehow seems to be pleasurable at the same time?"


"All suspense thrillers, basically, are working out what is the proper psychological dynamic between our relationship to thrills how we balance the objects and safe things in our life which give our life continuity and the new adventures that come out of the void." - Ballint.

This quote leads me to believe that the ‘THRILLS’ come from viewers putting themselves in ‘DANGEROUS’ situations, or experiences all to do with the mise-en-scene, plot, and dialogue.

Analysis of Seven

This opening sequence includes conventions of the Thriller genre that make it easily identifiable and classed into the genre by an audience, which is something that is important for me to achieve with my final media product.

Conventions in this sequence include:

-fast and short cuts create high levels of anticipation as it is unclear as to what is going on, yet a bricolage of images and shots create an eerie theme.
-slightly gruesome shots such as shaving the skin off a finger create terror and anxiety, and repetition of the colour red, contrasting to the consistant black and white used in the rest of the sequence triggers associations to blood and therefore terror yet again.
-the shadows, unusual angles and distortions create tension and suspense.


The audio in the sequence such as creeks and distorted screams is in keeping with the disturbing images and the sequence therefore suggests themes of crime and murder common conventions of Thrillers.

What is a Thriller?

THRILLER AS A GENRE 


Every genre has defining characteristics, for example, with thrillers:


-Suspense.
-Tension
-Excitement.


-Sub-genres are mystery, crime and psychological thrillers.


Atmospheres of:


-Violence.
-Crime.
-Murder.


-Show society as dark corrupt and dangerous.
-Often feature a happy ending in which the villains are killed or arrested.


-Red Herrings.
-Plot Twists.
-Cliffhangers.
-High levels of anticipation.
-Adrenaline rushes.
-Ultra heightened expectation.
-Anxiety.
-Terror.

-Common elements in psychological thrillers are mind games, psychological themes, stalking, confinement/deathtraps, horror-of-personality and obsession. While elements such as conspiracy theories, false accusations, paranoia and sometimes action are common in paranoid thrillers.

First Post

For my AS media production I will come up with a concept for a Thriller. I will then film and edit a two minute opening sequence to this film.

In order to ensure that my opening sequence is easily categorised in the 'Thriller' genre by the audience, I will be analysing opening sequences of current films from the same genre, and identifying characteristics and aspects of these opening sequences that I feel help to define the genre, and including these in my own media product.