A romantic thriller is a hybrid genre that blends elements of romance and thriller stories. It works on two levels, combining a specific theme with structural elements from both genres. This allows for variety in production techniques and story structures, appealing to a wider audience than a single genre film. Common characters in a romantic thriller include possessive male leads and dependent female characters. However, the romance aspects give female roles more prominence at times. Due to the contrast between romance and thriller, romantic thrillers attract a wide target audience that includes both male fans of thrillers and female fans of romance stories.

1. Genre Analysis
Romantic Thriller

2. What is a Romantic Thriller?
• Romantic thriller in terms of genres, is a hybrid genre (a
genre in fiction that blends themes and elements from two
or more different genres).
• The genre works on two levels. First a specific theme exists.
Then general relationships, patterns and structural
elements are merged with the specific theme. This means
that there can be a large variety of visual styles and story
structures in romantic thriller.
• This allows for a wide range of production techniques to be
used to create a desired effect as well as it being able to
appeal to a larger and more varied target audience than a
simple Thriller or Romance film would.
• A Romantic Thriller is a good film to contrast because the
genres are so different and varied from each other, allowing
for an interesting and somewhat unique production.

3. Stereotypical Characters you see in a
Romantic Thriller
• Males tend to be possessive and overpowering, the
male figure in the ‘love’ story tends to be obsessed
with the female characters, for example something
similar to the narrative in the film ‘Prom Night’.
• Female characters tend to depend on the male
characters for protection. Females tend to be
portrayed as feeble and unable to fend for themselves
in when it comes to dangerous situations with the
villain of the story.
• However when the romance aspects of the genre come
into play the female roles sort of take the lead as,
stereotypically, women invest more time in romance
than men tend to.

4. Target Audience
• Romantic Thrillers attract a wide audience due
to the vast contrast between the two genres.
• For example, the typical audience attracted to
a romance film are generally females, tending
to age from 16+.
•
• Thrillers are mainly appealing to males, due to
the somewhat violent nature and slight action
aspects of the genre.