AS Media Studies

What makes a Thriller...

Key: menace, crime (often murder), high level of tension and suspense.

Narrative: (story & plot) how it's told, complex paths, clues, resolutions, enigma, happy endings, extrordinary events.  The story is what the audience works out from watching it. The plot comes from the key events and what we actually see.

The Protagonist: (the hero) usually disempowered, becomes drawn into the 'web of intrigue' by...

The Antagonist: (the antihero/villian) they usually put the protagonist in peril.

Conventional Characters: the hero, the villian, the innocent victims, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, terrorists, private eyes and spies.

Themes: identity, mirroring and voyeurism.

Key Elements: cliff hangers, plot twists, red herrings, terror, adrenaline rush, anticipation, anxiety, investigations, obsession, mind games, stalking, captives/hostages, revenge, paranoia, conspiracy, ransoms, chase scenes, cover ups, espionage. The protagonist defeats the antagonist.

Mise en Scene and Titles: echoes, how the protagonist's plight reflects their state of mind. Props - weapons - crime

Supernatural Thriller

Combining the edge-of-your-seat tension of the classic thriller with such basic horror oriented ingredients as ghosts, the occult and psychic phenomenon, the supernatural thriller combines the best of both worlds in creating a frightening but often restrained film that will have audiences hearts pounding and palms sweating. Generally eschewing the more graphic elements of the horror film in favor of sustaining a mood of menace and unpredictability, supernatural thrillers often find the protagonists either battling a malevolent paranormal force or trapped in a situation seemingly influenced or controlled by an otherworldly entity beyond their comprehension. Early {supernatural thrillers included such frightful efforts as Dead of Night (1945), The Innocents (1961) and Carnival of Souls (1962), filmgoers of the 1970s were treated to an abundance of superior efforts including Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now (1973) and The Wicker Man (1973) and Roman Polanski's The Tenant (1976) to name just a few. Sustained by such efforts as The Dead Zone (1983) and The Lady In White (1988) throughout the 1980s, the supernatural thriller received a strong renaissance in the late 1990s in the wake of M. Night Shyamalan's massive hit The Sixth Sense (1999). Followed closely thereafter with such notable efforts as The Gift, What Lies Beneath (2000) and The Others (2002), it seemed that audiences were still eager to be frightened and filmmakers were more than willing to oblige.


The History of the Ghost Story

Ghost stories have been popular for thousands of years, and people have various reasons for enjoying them, whether it's to learn something of the spirit world, or simply for a good scare. Ghost stories often reflect upon religious or spiritual beliefs concerning death and the afterlife. People naturally want to believe in and thus, read about the survival of the spirit upon the passing of the human body. Descriptions of ghosts in stories fascinate mankind, because one day we too will will be like them. So in reading ghost stories, we learn of ghostly conditions and appearances, enabling us to become somewhat enlightened with what our future may hold.
Ghost stories, whether modern or of old, all seem to tell similar stories about ghosts' tragedies, unfinished business, unrest, visitations, and hopeless roamings among the living. Ghost stories also sometimes share common ghostly messages of warning to aid those still alive, or tell of spirits with ill intentions, seeking revenge from those who wronged them in life. Some ghost stories truly enlighten, while other ghost stories paint a picture of hell to frighten!
Many famous authors have written stories about ghosts, such as Shakespeare, Henry James, M.R. James, Dickens, Wakefield, Irving, Aickman and of course, Edgar Allen Poe. Today, Stephen King has carried on the tradition of ghosts, by telling stories through books, television, and even movies!
Beyond the masters who have written many a ghost story, lies cultural traditions and legends we share with one another. Many stories are passed down generations within families, never to be told to the world, yet these ghost stories are very personal and of greater meaning to many. The stories seem to evolve over time, though, as details are lost or forgotten. Yet, it seems almost every family, everywhere has some sort of good ghost story hidden somewhere in their history.
Ghost stories can be fiction or true but usually include a haunting or experience with a ghost. Stories about ghosts are found within most cultures, whether modern or ancient. Ghost stories in classical literature have primarily been fictional, as they were typically used to teach a moral lesson. Charles Dickens' classic ghost story, A Christmas Carol , taught not only should we be benevolant to our fellow mankind, but that leading an immoral life can imprison one in their self-created hell in the afterlife.
Children also enjoy ghost stories, as evidenced by the popular Goosebumps books of recent years. It seems a good, non-terrifying ghost story awakens them to the supernatural and the unseen.