With reference to Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ (1960) and a least two other thrillers you have studied, as well as your wider research, discuss the thriller and its forms and conventions.
The Thriller genre is one of the broadest genres there are meaning it can be sub categorised into several different types of thriller such as these for example, crime thrillers, psychological thrillers or prison thrillers. This is because thriller is very popular with film audiences and many people try and take a thriller and put their own spin on it, the evidence that it is a popular thriller is that the three highest rated films, as rated by the world, are thrillers on www.imdb.com. However despite the fact many directors try and make their thriller film different to many others of the genre, most thrillers all share the same forms and conventions, these are the elements of the genre that make it so appealing to audiences all around the world.
Thrillers will often use suspense in a film, moments where the viewer is on the edge of their seat anxious of what is about to happen, this is used to keep the viewer watching and have excitement in the feature, keeping the audience uncertain on what’s going to happen to the characters by using tension and playing with the audiences minds is a key component of the thriller genre. For example in the film ‘Taking Lives’ Directed by D.J Caruso, suspense is used in the ending scene and when she is in the murderers mothers house.
While Illeana is in the killers mother’s home, she finds a room in the cellar, we are convinced something bad is going to happen from the use of music while she is looking at the killers toy men. We are then lulled into a fake sense of security because the eerie music has stopped and she is lying on the killers bed and finds a clue to the identity of the murderer, all of a sudden a hand comes through the bed and grabs her, the fact this has happened has raised the level of suspense throughout the rest of the film because we now feel uncomfortable and frightened anything could shock us at any time.
After a huge plot twist which has changed the view of the audience of the murderer who we originally assumed was just an innocent artist, who has been the victim the murderer when he has his desk smashed. Illeana is pregnant and when the serial killer Costa is in her house at the final fight between the two characters the films has been made in a way where we are just nervous by Costa being there, not only because of what we know of his character but also because it is typical in thrillers for there to be a conversation scene which raises the tension even further.
In ‘Seven’ there is a scene where they are looking to find the suspect who had been involved with child abuse, who actually turns out to be a victim of John Doe because he has committed Sloth. As the police approach the bed, we are pretty certain that the Victim is dead and that is why there are several air fresheners in the room to cover up the smell, however the man then screams after the audience thought he was dead raising the tension for the rest of the film making us feel less comfortable .In ‘Psycho’ there is a conversation between Norman Bates and Marion, throughout this scene we as viewers are uncomfortable because of the stuffed animals showing death all around the room and the way he watches her eat makes the audience feel uncomfortable however she continues to have a conversation with Norman raising the tension and making the viewer frustrated with Marion for not seeing the obvious signs of danger. The audience will be uncomfortable watch this because they can see that Norman
This is a huge part of the Thriller, raising tension and suspense but not doing it throughout the whole film, there are several other films that use this element as well. In ‘True Romance’ there is a conversation where Clarence’s father is being interrogated by Vincenzo and towards the end, his father gets quite offensive towards the Sicilian people, however Vincenzo is just laughing along with Clarence’s father but the audience can feel that there will be conflict and the film is raising tension through a conversation, this is used in other Tarantino films as well such as Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs.
In a thriller, the story and plot must be intelligent. This component is vital to a thriller as it was makes the genre, and differentiate on several occasions from a thriller. Thrillers will use plot twists and not just keep giving the audience information, it allows audience to have their own opinions about what is going on. This adds suspense for the viewer which interlopes with my previous paragraph about suspense. The lack of information that is just spoon fed to the viewer will mean that they will have to pay more attention to the story and the characters involved and that the viewer can’t just come into the film at any time and understand what is going on, thrillers are known for not treating their audience as a ‘dumb’ person and the film will be as complicated as the director and/or writer chose it to be.
An example of this is Richard Kelly’s ‘Donnie Darko’ a film with an extremely complicated plot about a boy who suffers with what we assume is a mental illness. I believe that one of the main reasons that this is a popular film, (which I know that it is popular from the fact it is the top 130th film on the internet movie database) is because, it rarely explains what is going on in the plot, for example, the rabbit that only Donnie can see, is not really understood by the viewer until near the end, and this sort of element makes the Rabbit, who is named Frank, all the more scary and mysterious keeping the viewer interested in his character.
This sort of plot is a lot more intense for the viewer it requires all the attention of the viewer and they might not understand it the first watch. Unlike most films as well, a thriller might not stick to Tzvetan Todorov’s theory about equilibrium, for example David Fincher’s ‘Seven’.
Todorov’s theory is that all narratives will have an equilibrium at the beginning which then gets turned into disequilibrium due to a conflict or a new character or some plot point that drives the narrative in a different direction and finally, there is equilibrium restored where everything is not exactly back how it was but everything is normal with no conflict. In ‘Seven’ there isn’t really an equilibrium restored as the film ends very shortly after the conflict between John Doe and Detective Mills, however it could be argued that equilibrium is restored because once again Summerset is alone even though he is not working again but still this shows that the plots for a thriller are a lot more complicated than what a theorist’s view of a storyline is.
‘Seven’ is another thriller with an intelligent storyline that is also extremely popular, (It is number 28 on the IMDB top 250) it is the story of two Detectives who are investigating the murders of people that have been killed for breaking one of the Seven Deadly Sins. The film shows us the lives of both Detectives and how they differ in lifestyle and the way they work. Summerset is retiring and has a strong belief that Mills is very inexperienced, and that this case is going to drag out. As the days pass the murders continue each a brutal murder justified by a sin, eventually the sins involve Mills and Mills murders John Doe making him commit Wrath. As you can see this plot is also quite a complicated story where the characters will need to be very detailed and three dimensional to work. Another film that does not apply to the Todorov theory is Psycho, there is no equilibrium restored because the main character is dead so it appears that most thrillers either brake the laws of Todorov’s theory or at least bend them.
Another convention of thriller that is important to make it a real member of this genre is that the Characters should be well developed and realistic, despite the plot being something complicated and slightly unbelievable like ‘Donnie Darko’ it will still need realistic characters to help keep the narrative interesting. This helps the audience empathise with the characters keeping the viewer interested in the narrative and make them actually like the character by making them human. In ‘Seven’ for example, both of the Detectives have rarely ever used their weapons, Mills says that he’s only fired his gun twice in 5 years of homicide which is a lot more of a realistic figure than what would be in a standard action film, this helps the characters become relatable and more enjoyable.
Also Mill’s reaction to his wife’s death, despite the fast what Summerset is saying, telling him that if he shoots John Doe, John Doe will win, Mill’s reaction is like most people you would think, in that situation would do, which is to kill the man who killed your wife, this helps us make a connection with the characters, it helps us become more involved in the film, which is why this genre is so successful and why this convention plays a big part in that. It is very uncommon that in thrillers any of the characters could be summed up using Propp’s theory, this is because the characters all have to appear realistic and the descriptions that Propp gave the characters were originally based on Russian fairy tales, but even so, most action films, all of its characters will have Proppean roles in the film, this is because unlike thriller the characters are all simple and have simple objectives and are easy to sum up.
‘Psycho’ doesn't have a Proppean roles either and all the characters are very relatable to a certain extent and obviously not including Norman Bates, we can understand why they do the things they do, and when a character does something that we wouldn’t, we get anxious and it raising the tension, for example when she continues her conversation with Norman Bates despite his appearance, or later on in the film where Marion’s sister is in the house looking for Norman Bates mother and chooses to just hide barely below the stairs, this links in with my first paragraph about how directors of thriller use suspense to keep the audience excited and nervous.
In Conclusion, I generally believe that thriller is the most successful genre of film because of its use of all three of these main points. The genres use of these forms and conventions all add together to give the genre it’s well known level of intelligence, they add to the depth of the film making it more popular and captivating for an audience. This is useful because an audience will to see a thriller with the intention to be on the edge of their seats and watch an interesting protagonist that the audience can relate themselves to, and the audience enjoys seeing characters in realistic situations and having realistic reactions to things increasing the fear and tension when something bad happens.
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