Thriller conventions essay

With reference to Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), Fincher’s Se7en (1995), Cuarón’s Children of men, and James Wan’s Saw, discuss the thriller genre, its forms and conventions 

Whilst almost all genres of film contain some of the conventions of the Thriller genre, as some aspects that lie at the core of the Thriller genre also play a role within other film genres, some films classify as being a Thriller film because they contain so many of those conventions that they cannot simply be an action adventure film or an outright horror film. Whilst the Thriller genre can be re-categorized into vast variety of different sub-genres (which I have gone into more detail about separately), there are a series of components or conventions that appear across the whole Thriller genre. Before I begin however, it is worth a mention that a Thriller does not have to strictly comply to every single convention or else all Thrillers would be exactly the same, but a high quality Thriller will possess within it the majority of the conventions which I am about to mention. The Thriller films that I will be analyzing in order to draw up a list of conventions for the Thriller genre are Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), David Fincher’s Se7en (1995), Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of men (2006) and James Wan’s Saw (2004) – whilst Thriller is not the first genre that Saw applies for, is contains many of the conventions seen in a classic Thriller film.

Within the Thriller genre, like with all genres, there is a key character to every film – a protagonist to be exact – whose journey the audience is allowed to observe. Within the Thriller genre the protagonist is given a specific set of characteristics or qualities that are similar throughout all Thriller films. Unlike the action/adventure genre of films, the protagonist is likely to be a more human character and therefore someone that the audience can relate to and empathize with. Sometimes the protagonist may have a dark side that they are grappling with and so do not always start out the film as a particularly heroic character. This allows the audience to better relate to them, as no human being is fully perfect and so having a main character that is not fully perfect makes them more relatable. Most Thriller films will show the progression and development of the protagonist and a really good Thriller is one that has the potential to mold and change the perspective that the audience has on the world too.

In Psycho, the original protagonist – Marion Crane – is a simple office-worker. Her innocence and inexperience are revealed when she is questioned by the policemen after being caught sleeping in her car, as she acts in a way that suggests she may be feeling guilty of being caught doing something that she should not have been doing – the previous day she had run away from work carrying a bagful of cash that she was supposed to put in the bank for her employer but the temptation of money had at the time been to great for her. The ease with which temptation grabs ahold of her makes her more relatable because many member of the audience would agree that they too would likely have felt a similar temptation even if they themselves would not have been quite so susceptible to it as she was.

In Se7en, Detectives Mills and Somerset are the two police officers working on a murder case. Unlike an action adventure film, the two of them do not possess any kind of superpowers to help them crack open the case with seeming ease nor are either of them some kind of Sherlock Holmes in their problem solving ability making the two of them more human to the audience and therefore more relatable. Later in the film, we see Detective Mills succumb to the temptation of wrath as he murders the antagonist in cold-blooded revenge. This again makes him more relatable to the audience as many would agree that they would feel similar temptations to commit similar acts of violence should their loved ones be taken from them in a similar fashion.

Usually within the Thriller genre, the protagonist is thrust into an extraordinary situation when the antagonist breaks the equilibrium seen at the beginning of the film. This situation into which the protagonist is thrust is usually one in which, to begin with, they are in no way prepared either mentally or physically for. However, as the narrative progresses the audience witnesses the development of the protagonist as they learn to deal with the strange and often frightening world into which they have been thrust.

In Children of men, Clive Owen is thrust into a mission to save a young woman – who is later revealed to be pregnant – and ultimately the future of the human race. As he is an ordinary citizen, Clive is to begin with in no way prepared to deal with the chaos in which he must now survive, but as the film goes on he gradually grows used to having to deal with such madness and is able to deliver the woman along with her child safely to their destination.

In Saw, Dr. Gordon is thrust into a lethal game orchestrated by the Jigsaw killer. He is trapped inside a bathroom alongside another young man named Adam. His objective is to kill Adam before the time runs out or else his wife and daughter will die. Before being trapped within the room, he had been neglecting his family as he had been buried in work and cheating on his wife, but the longer he is in there and with the threat to the life of his family he realizes how much he truly loves them and wishes that he had been a better husband/father beforehand.

Just as the protagonist has a series of characteristics with which are similar throughout every Thriller film, the antagonist too has a set of traits, which are similar within the Thriller genre. The antagonist is usually someone who has been transformed by an event in their life that has changed their view on humanity and so they set out with a goal to do something about that. The exact identity of the antagonist is usually hidden, they will appear disguised or hidden in the shadows and their identity may be revealed bit by bit during the film. The identity of the antagonist has the potential to be a plot twist (see section on plot twists later on) as it could be someone that we have already met and so the audience is left in a state of shock when they discover the true identity of the antagonist. The antagonist is likely to be a human character, which adds to the sense of realism, as there is nothing more frightening than a monster that is a human.

In Psycho, the antagonist appears to be the Mother of Norman Bates, who is a mysterious figure that we see sitting by the bedroom window, whilst Bates himself appears to be a perfectly normal human being and loyal son when he clears up the murder scenes and hides all of the evidence. In truth, Bates had murdered his mother several years before the events shown in the film but had developed a split personality and the mother personality side of him would take over from time to time and murder guests that came to stay at the motel. As the film progresses, the audience learns more and more about the identity of Norman Bates’ mother until right at the end of the film the full revelation explained above is revealed.

In Saw, the Jigsaw killer sets intricate puzzles for his victims to solve, puzzles which threaten the mortality of his victims and others. All of the victims that he chooses are people who have something wrong in their lives whether that being that they are suicide risks, drug users, family neglectors, partner cheaters, basically anyone who he believes have thrown away their lives. The aim of his games is to teach people the true value of their life and so help them to turn their lives around for the better. The Jigsaw killer represents himself using a doll in his video recordings so that his identity is masked and his voice is altered so that it is unrecognizable.

In Se7en, the antagonist is a mysterious figure who is going around committing a series of violent and unconventional yet carefully orchestrated acts of murder each one designed to teach of the dangers of the seven deadly sins. He believes that this is his duty and views it as some kind of holy mission. Early on in the film, there is a chase sequence in which he is almost caught by Detective Mills. This sequence culminates when the antagonist manages to trap the detective and holds him at gunpoint though his identity is masked. Unlike a traditional action adventure film in which the antagonist would have taken Mills hostage or Mills would have found a way to escape the antagonists clutches, the antagonist releases Mills and then escapes – hinting at the fact that he has some kind of plan for the detective, which cannot be achieved if Mills were dead.

Whilst all Thriller narratives will contain twists and turns as the story progresses, within the plot to a Thriller – and something that I would regard as being crucial to making a great Thriller – there is likely to be some form of plot twist in which a monumental unforeseen event occurs that throws the whole narrative into utter chaos. A good plot twist is in some cases hinted at by a series of hidden clues (which at the time of them being shown to the audience they appear to be random and seemingly insignificant pieces of information) so that at the climax of the plot twist all the clues slot into place or its something that the audience had no way of knowing until the moment that the twist is revealed and so it serves to take them completely by surprise. Plot twists can sometimes make subsequent viewings of the film more interesting as the audience now knows the secret and so is able to pick up on the subtle hints that they missed at the first viewing. A plot twist could be anything from a surprise that the antagonist has in store for the protagonist that will turn the situation to his/her favour or it could be an “ace up the sleeve” that the protagonist had that he/she can use to get out of a sticky situation in which the antagonist had put them.

One example of a plot twist can be taken from the film Se7en, in which the antagonist has the head of Detective Mill’s girlfriend hidden inside a box, and so her and her baby were dead. At the time, Mill’s did not know of the baby’s existence as he had not yet been told but earlier on in the film we see Detective Somerset being told this particular piece of information and at the time it appeared to be completely irrelevant – one such example of a clue, if a very subtle one, being given to the audience. This serves to throw the whole narrative into chaos as it leads to the antagonist’s victory over the detectives when Mill’s murders him as an act of wrath thereby completing the set of seven deadly sins.

Another such example of a plot twist would be in Saw, the Jigsaw killer’s true identity (which the audience is led to believe is a man named Zep, someone who had worked for Dr. Gordon) was revealed right at the end of film – had secretly been the dead body in the middle of the room the entirety of the time, watching his game play out. Like in Se7en, a hint is dropped earlier on in the film in which the police investigating the Jigsaw killings discover that the Jigsaw killer likes to have a ‘front row seat’ to observe how all of his games play out. Like in Se7en, the audience has no idea as to quite how relevant this piece of information is.

Usually in a Thriller film, there will be some form of puzzle for the Protagonist to try and solve. This could take the form of a crime being committed and so the criminal needs to be caught or a mystery that needs to be solved. This problem is usually caused when the equilibrium that exists in the beginning of the film is broken. Todorov was a film theorist and in 1969 he came up with an idea he called narrative theory, which described the basic structure of any narrative. This has five stages: There is equilibrium at the beginning of the film; something happens which breaks this equilibrium; the protagonist recognizes that the equilibrium is broken; the protagonist attempts to fight back against the disequilibrium; equilibrium is restored. The problem that the protagonist must solve is the disequilibrium described in Todorov’s theory.

In Psycho, Marion Crane goes missing (and is later murdered). At first, it is down to a private detective to investigate but he soon goes missing too. Finally, Marion’s lover and sister go to the Motel that the detective had mentioned and they discover the truth behind both disappearances.

In Se7en, Detective Mills and Somerset are on the trail of a serial killer who is basing their murders on the Se7en deadly sins.

With each murder they learn more and more about the identity of the killer who was responsible for committing each crime.

Traditionally in a Thriller film, rather than the audience being shown extra pieces of information like they would in an action/adventure film so that would be able to better understand what was going on, the audience is able to pick up the pieces of the mystery at the same rate as the protagonist. This serves to allow the audience to try and work things out for themselves and means that the plot is not dumbed down so that the audience is able to understand everything.

Unlike a typical action/adventure film, in which the ending tends to be more a ‘happily ever after’, a Thriller film is likely to have a more unusual/unexpected/unconventional sort of ending. This allows for the director to be more creative with how he/she chooses for his/her film to end and also may mean that the audience is left wanting to re-watch the film a second or even third time so that they be allowed to deepen their understanding of what exactly is going on.

In Children of men, Clive Owen and the woman that he is supposed to be protecting are able to successfully escape from civilization. However, it turns out that a bullet had caught Clive during the crossfire that they had been caught up in. The film ends with him passing out due to blood loss just before the boat of the organization that they had been trying to reach catches up to them. This ending leaves the audience wondering what is going to happen next, whilst refusing to supply them with an answer and so allowing them to come to their own conclusions.

In Saw, Adam is left trapped in the room by Jigsaw who tells him that its “game over” and then the doors close so leaving Adam’s fate to be a mystery. Dr. Gordon has at this point already left to go and see if he can find what has happened to his family, but we see no more of them leaving their fate to also be a mystery.

Yet again, in Se7en, Detective Mills murders the suspect (John Doe) after its revealed that he had Mills’ girlfriend’s head in a box. This leaves the film to end with Mills’ being arrested for the murder of an unarmed suspect.

Both the endings of Saw and Se7en suggest that sometimes the protagonist doesn’t get to win and so allows for less conventional endings.  

Creating suspense and tension is one of the most core components to the Thriller genre, as the feeling of tension possesses a peculiar but infallible ability to ‘thrill’ the audience. The most successful Thriller directors will be able to build up suspense and tension and then release it giving them total control over the viewers’ thoughts and feelings. Suspense is felt the most when the audience is led to believe that something bad is about to happen and yet are left unable to do anything in order to prevent that something and so are left on the edge of their seats as they wait for events to unfold on the screen.

The ultimate fear for any human being and therefore something commonly used in order to create suspense and tension is the impending threat of death and/or excruciating pain. This is used within the Thriller genre by threatening the protagonist with his or her own mortality. This creates suspense for the audience as throughout the film the audience grows so that they can root for the protagonist and so they fear for the protagonist as the protagonist fears for him/herself.

One example of this is within the film Psycho, we see first the protagonist (Marion Crane) murdered in famous shower sequence and then the private detective who goes looking for her murdered as he enters Norman Bates’ house. This leads to, later on in the film when Marion’s sister goes to the house, the audience fears for her life as they have already witnessed the unfortunate fates of those who have gone before her. Whilst at the time the audience would not have been able to directly witness the violent acts of murder that takes place, within the two murder sequences the idea of them being violently stabbed to death is heavily implied leading to the audience getting feelings of tension.

Another such example of death being used to create suspense and tension is in Saw, the ‘victims’ of the Jigsaw killer’s games are presented with a variety of different traps that they must attempt to survive with the threat of an excruciating death if they don’t. One sequence in Saw shows the reverse bear trap, a device that is set to rip the victim’s face open should they fail to find and use the key that will remove the contraption from their head. Whilst she is able to successfully get the trap removed from around her head, the whole sequence has the threat of an excruciating death heavily implied which serves to bring about suspense and tension for the victim and ultimately the audience as well.

One thing that is crucial to creating suspense and tension within a Thriller film is the sense of realism. Unlike other film genre’s, Thriller films have a high tendency to stay within the confines of the real world or at least something that is very plausibly within reach of the real world, which leads the audience to believe that the events playing out on screen are physically possible in reality. The audience is much more likely to be held in a state of suspense and tension if they believe that the events that the protagonist is experiencing could potentially happen to them. Some Thriller films, such as Children of men in which conception of a human child is rendered seemingly impossible, may stretch the fabric of reality to a certain degree but ultimately will not go into the impossible as that will make the film appear to be less realistic and therefore suspense and tension are less likely to be felt.

One of the core components to creating an atmosphere of suspense and tension within a Thriller film is the use of soundtrack. Soundtrack can be used to emulate and build on the tension already being created by events within the sequence unfolding on the screen. Music is a very powerful tool in controlling and emulating human thoughts and feelings as it possess the capacity to ‘strike a cord’ within the human mind. Successfully directors will be aware of this fact and so will use this particular tool effectively when building up suspense for the audience.

This particular piece of audio is taken from the Saw franchise, and is used within each and every Saw film to hint at the plot twist that is about to be revealed to the audience. When this soundtrack begins to play, it is a signal to the audience that something drastic is about to occur and so they are left hanging on the edge of the their seats waiting to see what that is going to be. The soundtrack continues to build up the tension until ‘bang’ the information is revealed and the audience is left shocked at what has just happened.

So, in conclusion, it is paramount that a director implements as many of the aforementioned conventions – suspense and tension most of all as that is the key to really thrilling an audience – of the Thriller genre in order to successfully deliver to his/her audience a high quality piece of cinematography. It is my view that all of the films that I have discussed above are high quality examples of the genre.