Thriller Sub-Genres

The Conspiracy Thrillers

Normally the main character within the film is a protagonist. They are most often journalists or investigators who become tied up in a full blow investigation of a conspiracy. It is typical that the villains in the movie cause trouble and the heroic characters endeavour to solve the problems. There is often a narrative in the movie, which is similar to the style of a detective story in a murder mystery. The heroic character of either a journalist of investigator comes across troubles on the way in the form of propaganda or lies, which complicate the situation and build on the conspiracy. Apart of the conspiracy may be a hidden secret of history

Examples of Conspiracy thrillers include: The Conversation, The Bourne Identity, Eagle Eye, and All the President’s Men.

The Political Thriller

A political thriller is one that has the background of a struggle in power of politics. They sometimes involve aspects of political events happening in reality to add a believable aspect to the thriller. Some usual themes used in political thrillers are terrorism and warfare. Usually the party in power have ideas to take complete control. Normally the basic plot consists of an innocent person examining information, which leads to total and complete political or governmental corruption.

Examples of Political thrillers include: The Ghost Writer, Green Zone, Night Train to Paris, and Seven Days to Noon.

The Spy Film

The Spy film genre involves fictional trickery and the preparing of a cleverly assembled trap. It is a sub-genre of both thriller and action.  A spy film could either be portrayed in a realistic way, such as John Le Carre, or based on a fictional idea, such as James Bond. Spy films are a strength of British Cinema as James Bond is famously British. There are many leading British directors of Spy films such as Alfred Hitchcock and Carol Reed. Their films involve plots set in the British Secret Service. The Spy film has transformed from Nazi espionage thrillers in the 1940s to James Bond in the 1960s to highly edited blockbusters of today. The films often involve technological scares where characters escape to exotic locations. The spy film involves the action and science fiction genres.

Examples of Spy films include: James Bond, Hanna, Salt, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Psychological Thriller

The psychological thriller is a sub-genre heavily associated with the possible emotionally unstable state of mind the character possesses. It can be combined with a mystery and thriller. The genre of psychological thrillers often overlaps with the genres of drama and mystery, and horror. Psychological Thrillers are based on the battle of the mind, where the character relies on their mental resources to gain the equilibrium of their state of mind, completely abandoning their physical strength, which are a vital aspect of the movie in many action-thrillers to overcome the protagonist’s enemies. In movies, which are bracketed within the sub-genre of psychological thrillers, characters playing misleading games with each other in order to destroy the other’s mental state create the suspense.  Within the movie Inception, Christopher Nolan displays the themes of perception, realism, mind and identity.

Examples of the psychological thriller include: Inception, Silence of the Lambs, Seven, Black Swan, Psycho, The Eye, Paranormal Activity, and Shutter Island.

Techno-thrillers

Techno thrillers are normally focused on science fiction and thrillers. The films under this genre normally have an unequal amount of technical details on the main subject matter. The plot includes explorations of secretive workings of technology and the procedure of different disciplines. As technology is a key aspect to everyday life in most countries today, most modern thrillers are ‘techno-thrillers’. The genre of techno-thrillers is often merged with hard science fiction and conspiracy fiction. Techno thrillers often have a wide choice in the narrative however world wars are a common topic chosen. The characteristics of a movie of this genre are focus on current or realistic futuristic technology as well military action. 

Examples of techno-thrillers include: Westworld, Jurassic Park and Die Hard 4.0.

Supernatural Thriller

Supernatural Thrillers incorporate fantasy elements into the film as well as tension and added suspense with plot twists. The protagonist is almost always in danger but possesses a superpower or alternatively the villain has a power of some kind. The film may have numerous different subjects such as ghosts, the ability to see the dead, and demons. There is a noticeably reduced amount of action within the film as the main attention goes towards the suspense and build up of tension within the film through altering the storyline.

Examples of supernatural thrillers include: Shelter, The Sixth Sense, Fallen, What Lies Beneath, and The Others.