With reference to Hitchcock’s “Psycho” (1960) and at least 2 other thrillers you have studied, as well as your wider research, discuss the thriller and its forms and conventions.

Thrillers are usually made for the older end of cinematic viewers, as the aspects of the genre often requires a certain level of maturity from the audience, as it is rare you see a thriller that has a censorship under the age of fifteen, I believe this is due to conventions of a good thriller such as suspense, the understanding of protagonists, plot twists and so on, which can only be understood and appreciated properly by a mature audience, where as genres such as action or comedy usually appeal more to a younger audience as they could be seen as “easier” to watch. Therefore it is important that these conventions are done properly so that the film isn’t seen as being dumbed down, or else a mature audience won’t get the same excitement. Thrillers can be defined into further sub-genres such as crime thrillers like “Seven” (David Fincher, 1995) and “Taking Lives” (D.J Caruso, 2004) or mystery thrillers such as “Memento” (Christopher Nolan, 2000) it’s these sub-genres that define the overall tone of the thriller. I will be discussing the conventions and aspects that form a “thriller”.

The suspense and tension in a thriller is crucial, as it keeps the audience on edge whilst they are guessing on what’s going to happen next, for example, the shower scene in “Psycho” (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) only the audience can see the silhouette of the killer, where as the female “Marion Crane” (Janet Leigh) is completely oblivious and therefore we emphasize and fear for her, the suspense is created with the time in which it takes for the killer to walk towards the shower, if the killer had quickly walked up to the shower the same tension wouldn’t have been created, however Hitchcock timed it perfectly so that it  built up enough suspense and the audience are anticipating that it could be leading up to something terrifying, and therefore keeps them on edge and adds excitement. The same can be said about “No country for old men” (Ethan and Joel Coen, 2007) when “Anton Chigurh” (Javier Bardem) is in the gas station, the tension is built through the silence in-between the conversation of him and the owner. Towards the end of the scene the Anton says “What’s the most you’ve ever lost in a coin toss?” it is at this point that the conversation becomes quicker between the two as it is becoming more serious, and creates suspense as the audience know that this man has a 50/50 chance of dying because we know this man is a psycho, and therefore leaves the viewers guessing at the gas station owners fate, tension is immediately cut when Anton says “Well done” as the audience knows the man is safe. Finally in “Seven” the scene with the almost dead man in the bed, creates suspense with the music that is being played, when the music dies down it builds tension to suggest something is about to happen and then makes the audience jump when the man gasps, and the music builds again, its this “jump” that scares and excites an audience which is very similar to what you’d see in a horror movie. Overall it is suspense and tension that discomforts the audience in a thriller, as they have little knowledge of the outcome and therefore can only predict the worst possible scenario for the protagonist, if it is done well the viewers will be on edge and eager to find out what will happen next, and in my opinion it is the main convention that excites an audience.

Another convention of a thriller is the representation of the characters. Most often in thrillers the audience can somehow relate and emphasize towards the protagonists, and it is usually a normal character that is thrown into extraordinary situations. For example in “Seven”, Somerset the veteran (Morgan Freeman) and Mills the rookie (Brad Pitt) are just ordinary detectives that have to deal with an extreme case, the reason we can relate to these characters is that outside of their work Somerset is just an ordinary man that lives on his own and Mills lives in an apartment with his partner (Gwyneth Paltrow) therefore we can relate to them as they are living ordinary lives. Also in “Psycho” Marion is just a normal woman with no extra-ordinary skills or aspects, therefore we can relate to her and this makes her death scene so much more shocking as she is just a normal woman that we can feel and fear for. A final example is in “The Silence Of The Lambs” (Jonathan Demme, 1991) as Clarence (Jodie Foster) is a young FBI cadet who is given a difficult task of confronting an extremely dangerous serial killer, “Hannibal” (Anthony Hopkins) , therefore viewers can emphasize towards her as she is out of her comfort zone as we would be. It is important that we can relate to protagonists in thrillers as it makes the film and characters decisions so much more believable, where as in other genres such as action, protagonists usually have extraordinary skills that they use throughout and often beat evil, however in thrillers we can never be sure if the protagonists will triumph over evil.

A final convention that makes a good thriller is the use of plot twists that are usually unexpected by the audience. These plot twists often shock and completely surprise the viewers and therefore excite them and keeps them hooked. For example in “Taking Lives” when Costa (Ethan Hawke) is revealed to be the killer when it was thought to be Hart (Kiefer Sutherland) or in “Psycho” when Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) is revealed to be the killer who we previously thought was his mother. Finally in “Memento” the audience are expecting there to be a killer that Leonard (Guy Pearce) is hunting down, however the twist is that Leonard has already hunted down his wife’s killer. A plot twist often makes a good thriller as it takes the story into a new direction and interests the audience further.

Overall I believe thrillers are set apart from any other genre, down to the conventions I have discussed and the reality within the situations and characters that the audience can relate to, and therefore has a bigger impact on them when something unexpected happens, because viewers can show empathy towards them, which allows the film to be more memorable and in my opinion more exciting than those in other genres.