Background to the thriller genre

Thriller Film Conventions

• Music to suit the thriller mood
• Tension
• Suspense - Audience becomes anxious
• Mystery - Audience is in the dark about important information - secrets revealed
• Sinister Plot - lots of twists
• Typical narrative structure - beginning is normal, middle has a disruption by evil characters, end builds up tension - climax, villain is foiled
• main character - hero
• villain is usually male
• female in distress
• Deception

There are certain common aspects and conventions that appear in films that are associated with the thriller genre, these conventions will be used in order to achieve; tension, suspense, anxiety and mystery. The main thing that film makers will consider in order to create these things will be the way the characters are and the way that they act. Usually in a thriller film there is a main character who is a normal person forced to act the hero and there is a villain, usually male, who causes distress, normally to a female, but then is foiled towards the end. This will cause the audience to side with the hero and connect with them, thus, causing the audience to become worried if anything were to go wrong. This will create suspense. Another main characteristic the film makers will consider is the music that will be needed in each scene. Normally, the music in the film suits the mood, for example, if the main character is hiding from the villain then there will be music used that will create tension and suspense within the audience.

Red Eye

The definition of a thriller is a film that creates suspense and excitement. The film Red Eye is a good example of a thriller as it creates suspense and excitement in different, yet, subtle ways. In a thriller film there are certain conventions used in order to convey to the audience that it is of the thriller genre, these include things like; music to suit the mood, a sinister plot and deception. Again, the film Red Eye is a good example of a thriller as it uses these conventions and more.

Northrop Frye argued that thrillers took ordinary people and threw them into extraordinary situations. Red Eye does this as it takes an ordinary girl, who works in a hotel and throws her into a world full of murder, lies and deceit. The fact that she is an ordinary girl adds to the suspense as the audience won’t want anything to happen to her and they will just want her to be safe at the end of the film. But the situation will have to be extraordinary as otherwise the audience will get bored very easily. The Characters In the film are typical of a thriller film; there’s an ordinary girl who gets made to act the heroine and there’s a male villain who ends being foiled in the end, again this adds to Frye’s argument.

Pascal Bonitzer said that the audience gets a partial view of things and important details are obscured. Red Eye holds important information like who the villain really is, why he wants what he wants and who the person he wants to assassinate is. Again, this adds to the suspense as the audience don’t know exactly what is happening or why it is happening and this will mean that the audience won’t be sure of what to expect. As the audience don’t know about any of the characters’ pasts they won’t know what to believe and what’s true and what’s not. This adds to the element of deception in the film as the villain can easily lie to the audience. This will therefore add to the thriller genre.


W.H Matthews stated that thrillers often use the idea of a character being trapped and needs to find a way out of their situation. Red Eye shows this theory quite clearly as the film is set on a plane and there is no way that any of the characters are able to escape, meaning that the heroine has to use wit and luck to get herself free from the awkward situation. This adds to the suspense and tension as it would seem that the female in distress has to do what the villain wants as there looks as though there is no means of escape.

Red Eye is a good example of a thriller as it conveys all the common conventions of the thriller genre. It shows these conventions in a subtle yet intense way. It adds music in order to add to the intensity of the mood and it has a sinister plot which breaks certain taboos.