An Introduction To Thrillers That Give Goosebumps

What Are Thrillers? 

Thriller is one of the most easily identifiable genres among movies and books, it is characterized by the excitement it induces upon the audience. Most individuals would describe the experience of watching a thriller movie as having kept them on “the edge of my seat”.  It gives the audience a break from their repetitive/ mundane routine and allows them to experience a sense of fear, suspense, interest, anxiety, anticipation, tension and exhilaration all within the four walls of a movie theatre or the pages of a book.

As the plot thickens you place yourself in the shoes of the protagonist and feel their emotions as your own, with every passing second you wonder “what could possibly happen next?”.

When Oh Dae Su is released from his captivity after 15 years, we feel his desire to revenge his captor as our own, in Chan-wook Park's Oldboy.

 As the audience puts together the plot like pieces of a puzzle and the climax unfurls itself a sense of satisfaction that puts at rest our curious and inquisitive minds.

As Louise Banks's story unfurls and establishes the relationship between her daughter it strikes an emotional chord with the viewers in Denis Villeneuve's Arrival.

 Or when a movie employs an unreliable narrator and fills the story with an exciting sense of unpredictability & suspense and delivers the most unexpected ending after multiple plot twists and meaningful character development.

When the truth behind Tyler Durden is finally revealed in David Fincher's Fight Club.

The same can be said for books, as we turn the page looking for answers, watching the protagonist work against time to achieve their goal or catch murderer and understand their motive. This sense of thrill that reader experiences is unique in a way, that no one else experiences the same thrill as them. As the saying goes "No two people read the same book", no two people watch or read the same thriller.

Both the novels are written in a fast pacing manner that entices the reader to continue reading the book and both the novels end with an epic climax, leaving the rider satisfied.

Are All Thrillers The Same?

All thrillers differ from each other by the sub-genre involved in the thriller. In most cases thrillers appear as a hybrid, combined with another genre.

Psychological Thriller

Thrillers that focus on the psychological aspect of the protagonist come under this category. These films often blur the line between the protagonist and the antagonist. They involve classic tropes such as the psycho-stalker trope, unreliable narrator and the obsessed artist trope.

                  

Teddy Daniels from Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island is an example of an unreliable narrator.

Me-Mania from Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue is an example of the psycho-stalker trope as he is obsessed with Mima and goes to great lengths because of his obsession.

 Nina Sayers from Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan is an example of the obsessed artist.

Crime Thrillers 

Thrillers that focus on law & order and topics like murder, kidnapping, drugs, robbery and revenge. In most cases these thrillers contain a clear cut protagonist and antagonist. They explore issues of truth, justice and revenge in a nuanced manner.

Satyaveer Randhawa of Navdeep Singh's Manorama Six Feet Under is given the task to find proof of the irrigation minister's extramarital affair.

The anime explores the concept of justice and punishment in a cyber punk Japan.

Detective Benoit Blanc of Rian Johnson's Knives Out is a classic detective character. 

Mystery Thriller

A thriller that contains a mystery that needs to be solved usually within a limited time period while the consequences are heavy. They are usually combined with other thriller genre such as crime thriller and mystery thriller.

Leonard Shelby of Christopher Nolan's Momento suffering from retrograde amnesia is set to find the killer of his wife.

John Anderton of Steven Spielberg's Minority Report is accused of crime he didn't commit. But why? That is the mystery.

 

David Kim of  Aneesh Chaganty's Searching is set to find out his missing daughter.

But in reality, thrillers are combination of many different genres that make them exciting and suspenseful. 

"Thrillers provide such a rich literary feast…this openness to expansion is one of genre's most enduring characteristics. But what gives the variety of thrillers a common ground is the intensity of emotions they create, particularly those of apprehension and exhilaration, of excitement and breathlessness, all designed to generate that all-important thrill. By definition, if a thriller doesn't thrill, it's not doing its job"

An excerpt from:  Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night by James Patterson