Thriller Subgenres

Thriller Sub-genres

During my media course I’ve learnt quite a lot about thriller movies, particularly their sub-genres, their wide variety, and the

When it comes to thriller movies, writers try and get the film to play on audiences’ emotions, their innermost thoughts and fears; this gives the thriller genre a wide range of subgenres, that show why the "Thriller" genre is so diverse:

 - Action                        - Disaster

- Conspiracy                 - Spy

- Crime                          - Horror

- Legal                           - Supernatural

- Political                        - Mystery

- Psychological

An example one of a popular action/thriller film series is Taken. It's dark lighting, tense music, and serious plot (yet relatable plot - a father determined to look after his family / daughter no matter what), makes it qualify as a thriller (as well as many other conventions of thriller films. However the high-paced gun fights, fist fights and car chases make the film qualify as a hybrid, an action-thriller. Furthermore, an example of a mystery/thriller is the Borne series - not one film, but a series, which over the course of three films, has a box office profit of over $300 mil.

Another thriller hybrid - and a personal favourite of mine - is The Imitation Game. Being a thriller-biography, the Imitation Game is based on a true story - the story of WWII code-breaker Alan Turing. Much like Taken, this film contains numerous conventions of the thriller genre: a relatable plot (the race against time to solve a major problem - the puzzle of the "Enigma" code), the character's suppressed and hidden side / past (in this case Turing's homosexuality), and the dark lighting and tense music. The film is also a biography as it is largely (if not entirely) based on fact / the story someone's life. One can also argue that this film has three, or maybe four sub-genres that make up this hybrid film. IMDB acknowledges 3: Thriller, Drama and Biography. The idea of a "drama" film is quite simple, it revolves around a specific subject, however, I think that there is an extra sub-genre, one that plays on the ideas of the mind. A psychological, biography thriller / drama. The psychological element is quite justified, Cumberbatch's presentation of Turing is quite sociopathic, quite alien, and it raises several questions about Turing's mental state - which is a defining convention of psychological films. Even the film's title "The Imitation Game" revolves around Turing's own theory on emotion, he uses this theory to categorise people - are they human? Are they machine? Or are they something else entirely? 


Overall, there are many types of hybrid thrillers, and they can contain a wide variety of thriller conventions, and when mixed with another genre (usually horror, action, or mystery) they usually create a brilliant film.
Anyway, more next week... onwards and upwards