Thrillers feature ordinary people who experience extraordinary events. They aim to provoke emotions like suspense, fear, and anxiety in viewers. Thrillers typically build tension throughout the plot until reaching a climactic conclusion, and often involve an antagonist like a criminal or psychopath threatening the main characters. Character development usually occurs as the story progresses rather than being the initial focus, and plots commonly use nonlinear storytelling with flashbacks or shifts in perspective to enhance mystery. Common settings are ordinary neighborhoods or exotic locales.

1. Thrillers
By Adam Picton and CJ Lewis

2. Definition
A thriller film, by definition, is a plot where
extraordinary things happen to ordinary people.
Unlike action films, which can share many of the
same conventions, thrillers feature characters
who are often as ordinary as you or I.
Extraordinary things are different to
supernatural/paranormal things, so although the
genres of horror and thriller often overlap they
are separate in their own right.

3. Themes
Thriller is a broad genre of film that has many
subgenres categorized by what emotions they
provoke. E.G fear would be categorized as
horror.
Thrillers can instill suspense, fear, anxiety,
anticipation, excitement and surprise.
Thrillers usually build throughout most of the plot
to one big climax.
Thrillers also often have enigma plot points, like
mystery’s “whodunit”.

4. Characters
Thrillers usually include a villain/antagonist. This
can range from criminals, to psychopaths to
terrorists.
It is often unclear who the antagonist is during
the beginning of a thriller film, as the element of
mystery often leaves viewers in the dark.
Characters are often thrown straight into the
action and we learn more about them as the
story progresses, rather than films which focus
on character development at the start of the film.

5. Plot
Thrillers often follow a non-chronological
structure, using flashbacks or a switch of
narrative to add to the mystery of the plot.

6. Setting
There are two common settings for thriller films:
Ordinary suburbs and cities, a la Gone Girl or
Welcome To The Punch
Exotic locations such as foreign cities, deserts,
polar regions, or the high seas.