Thriller Recipe

To make a good thriller, ever director needs a list of things they must include in a thriller in order for it to be a massive hit. Here are a few of those things;

Here are some of the types;

spy thrillers - North By Northwest
political thrillers - the manchurian candidate
conspiracy thrillers - Salt (my personal favourite)
psychological thriller - Black Swan
legal thrillers - Michael Clayton

Sub Genres; These are smaller categories of thriller

Spy Thrillers
Usually involving some form of government villain, lots of violence and and another rival source of authority, such as MI5 agents, FBI agents.

Political Thrillers
The hero of the thriller is involved in the government in some way, may it be the actual head of state or lower staff eg a security guard

Conspiracy Thrillers
When a single hero goes against a number/group of enemies.

Legal Thrillers
Where lawyers are involved being either the villian or the hero. These kind of thrillers can take place in and outside the courtroom.

Psychological Thrillers
Mental and emotional conflict between characters usually ending in a violent situation

Action Thrillers
Usually containing lots of violence and in a 'race against the clock' scenario. typically very touch and go, using fast car chases and running scenes.

Crime Thrillers
involving crime scenes either successful or unsuccessful and normally containing dramatic irony or hidden clues.

Characteristics of a thriller
Thrillers are normally known as fast pacing action packed films. They are meant to give the audience a 'edge of your seat' experiance. A fair amount of thrillers take place in foreign settings and have english subtitles giving them a sense of unknown.

Thriller devices
McGuffin - Something in the film that the characters care about but means nothing to the audience. Eg- the money is a mcguffin as it is only something the characters care about, the audience only care about what happens to the woman.

Red herrings - a clue or piece of information in the film which is intended to be misleading. For example, when a villain looking character goes into his pocket, making it look like he is getting a weapon, but instead pulls out a phone or a key etc.

Cliff-hangers - A part of the film which is made to make the audience feel suspence. This normally happens at the end of films for a long amount of time- maybe a risky chase up a mountain (North by Northwest on the side of Mount Rushmore) And then has a very short cut ending, this would either end in disaster or show some sort of hero.

Thriller vs Mystery
It is a common occurance for thrillers and mystery films to overlap in genure. This is due to the fact that they both have similar trates such as mass murders, large explosions etc. Thrillers always contain large violent confruntations and fast pacing action, whereas mystery normally contain a climax to the end where everyone finds the answer to the mystery.