Section 1: The Thriller Genre

Definition:
A thriller is a genre of fiction that attempts to thrill the audience by placing the characters at risk. There is no clear ingredience what a thriller should consist of.
A thriller is a problematic genre.
Thrillers can be categorized by fast paced action and editing, and heroes who must outwit the villain. Devises such as red herrings and cliff hangers are common.
Thrillers usually take place in exotic places, such as foreign cities, deserts etc.
The hero is usually a "hard man" accustomed to danger, usually a normal person.
Thrillers often overlap mystery stories, however, thrillers usually work on a much grander scale. Big crimes, mass murders etc.


Sub Genres:
Action Thriller - Race against time containing violence.
Conspiracy Thriller - Hero confronts a powerful group.
Crime Thriller - Hybrid of crime films and thrillers. Usually focuses on criminals rather than the police.
Disaster Thriller - Conflict against a natural disaster.
Drama Thriller - Slow paced, great deal of character development.
Eco Thriller - Protagonist must rectify environmental problems.
Erotic Thriller - Popular since the 1980's. See "Fatal Attraction".
Horror Thriller - Conflict between the main character is up against a superior force.
Legal Thriller - Lawyers in danger, have to do the case to save their lives.
Medical Thriller - Heroes are doctors who solve a medical expanding problem.
Political Thriller - Hero must create stability for the government.
Psychological Thriller - Conflict is mental and emotional.
Spy Thriller - Government Agent. See "Bourne Identity".
Techno Thriller - High tech equipment.


Rules:
The Transformed City (GK Chesterton) - Usually in a boring, everyday, usual place such as an urban environment so that they become transformed into an exciting one by what happens there or who invades the place.

Heroic Romance (Northrope Frye) - An ordinary person who becomes someone different (a hero) in extrodinary circumstances. The hero is similar in worlds to romance but exchanges romantic settings for modern cities. The laws of nature are suspended, for example, the hero has 5 minutes to get to a destination and he succeeds.

The Exotic (John Cowetti) - This is usually an exotic place such as a jungle or an exotic woman. Either are used to create unusuality in a normal, boring location.

Mazes & Labyrinths (Will Matthews) - Used because mazes are full of twists, turns, dead ends and the type of film keeps the audience entertained. The maze/labyrinth has to be kept very complex and needs to give the audience clues and even false clues etc.

Partial Vision - The audience is only given so much to see, e.g. The villain's legs walking across a room.

Concealment & Protraction (Lars Ole Saurberg) - This is a suspense technique. It diliberately hides information to make people confused and delays the outcome.

The Question & Answer (Noel Carroll) - If a film is constantly giving the audience clues, then simultaneously the audience will loose interest. False clues & wrong answers are given, and after the opening sequence the audience are left with clear questions, which will finalise in them having felt in suspense.