The three thriller films that I have chosen are; Psycho
which is a 1960’s psychological horror thriller and is one of the first
thrillers ever produced, directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock and was
based on the novel ‘Psycho’ by Robert Bloch; Gone Girl which is a 2014
psychological thriller directed by Davis Fincher and based on the book Gone Girl
by Gillian Flynn and finally Coraline which is a fantasy thriller directed
written and produced by Henry Selick and based on Neil Gailman’s book also
called Coraline.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJe856nCN8uf03MtkZ5j2RWXIZjiOg-zEEweCp6b_fL9arHnLp0JcWz9WU_BXR_nanzu_e4Z-vkGOx4AO-f7jjxsVZCt4DsNtsUAEXh0bWulA4NlNieQPsoXS_QYApPYuXk8Ncs-itytDr/s320/Psycho+Opening+scene.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitLD_HYDmYF4Df2mkJdgXgp0ugfcS-etlkOQgpjyKbGyynjW-lbT055cDbPRfz1p2Gk0yuQ3Z_eV54WvjD8oYib6V9MDlG_sONI5aHPGWCgNaSNbXWcX0R10Wcjrw-D2JDtJGnVNoKfMl2/s320/Opening+title.gif)
Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho was the first major thriller film
and as a result of that has all of the conventions that are typically
associated with that genre of film and although as time had gone by and films
have interpreted these conventions in a different manner generally Psycho is
the basis on which all thrillers have followed and taken some kind of
inspiration from. The convention associated with psycho is that there is a
pretty blond female victim really highlighting how vulnerable the character is
and also attracting male viewers this is the male gaze theory, a male murder,
an isolated house in a rural area so it seems that there is no place that the
victim can escape to creating a panicked feeling, bad weather as some kind of
foreshadowing for the bad events to come or pathetic fallacy, and a mind
twisting storyline that makes the audience question everything that happened
during the course of the film. The opening titles for Psycho are presented in a
very clever way, only three colours are used in the titles black, white and
grey. These colours come together using a jagged effect and jointing together,
possibly symbolising the idea of split personality. When the title Psycho
appears on the screen it is more prominent and abrupt really drawing attention
to the title which creates a atmosphere of tenseness and fear. In the first scene the victim is presented to
us her costume is really important as not only does it further prove the male
gaze theory but the colour of her underwear, all white, connotes innocence and
a form of purity and vulnerability in her however when we learn more about the
character and that she is not so innocent, her underwear changes from white to
black making the audience associated her with danger and a sense of
mislead. The non-diegetic music that is
played in the opening make the opening more mysterious and tense, also the
music is rather distorted which links to the main ideas behind the film. Overall the film Psycho is constantly making
the audience feel uncomfortable and panicked throughout the entirety of the
film.
The film Gone girl is a 2014 psychological thriller and as
it is rather modern had changed or entirely missed out on some of the
conventions that we saw in Psycho.
Before the narrative of the film even starts the audience Is already put
into a state of emergency as the titles are only on the screen for around 3
seconds, making the audience feel forced to rush to read the names (in a
similar way to Psycho the titles already put us in a state of alarm and may
foreshadow to events that may happen in the rest of the film). The, also,
non-diegetic music is rather different to psycho as it is more slow paced
however just as effectively gives of an eerie atmosphere which also add to the
sense of emergency for the audience. Similar to Psycho the first shot of a
character that we, the audience, see is of a blond woman head with a man’s hand
stroking her hair. Without the need for any dialogue this scene creates tension
because of the slowness of the man’s hand on her head and also because it seems
to give of some kind of possessive attitude that the man may have over the
woman, showing a rather stereotyped relationship between men and women. While
this acting of taking place the first piece of dialogue we hear is the words “I
picture cracking her lovely scull” this almost immediately adds a psychopathic
image for the man in this shot as it is a hugely violent phrase, which makes the reader feel worried for this ‘poor’
woman. Although we then find out later on that this woman is his wife allowing
the audience to realise that he is just referring to the fact that their
marriage is breaking down. Then the girl turns around and we see her face
properly and it is almost as if she is looking into the camera making the
audience feel a connection towards her. The location is in a rather urban area
which is quite different to a typical thriller however as it is a modern film
set recently it may be vital to the film. What is strange but clever about this
film is that we think the woman is the victim and the male is the antagonist
however it is the opposite way round, which would probably be a surprise for
the audience and make them feel uneasy as they don’t know what the film is
going to throw at them, this also is a good way of challenging the stereotypes
of gender roles. Generally this film uses the majority of conventions that are
typical to a thriller and that’s what makes it a good, tense and exciting film
however the way they have change these features as well has made it stand
out and not only makes the audience question what is really going on but also
how they hold and see thrillers as a genre of film.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ_k_V7xNowUrIUJyY2Z2QpZzAtw5nyItZ3ElkygKrKji9EtvxWXHQhIYWIV-vjEvheyRm1xSlbKK_WnXv7vJzSrCWojePmo9w-u3h3wf4ry9IgetiBDtHR_fFvWz8mm209lkMRj3rj3FS/s400/Scene+break+down.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtb5JI_yClv39EnUqyAViHs_3VN8OUvX7TDO9orw2XBQdtmHMAGRtHotVC0kXSrLy8qCMKyfykoRsWfa1l4a72dnw_X1aHq5OFKQkmW0hdQPtPSUAMqT9dVKIex8b5I1MTtGOk6j6vbRDQ/s200/Creating+Coraline.gif)
The film Coraline is a 2009 stop-motion animated thriller
fantasy film. It is a rather peculiar thriller as it although it follows the
conventions of a thriller it is also a children film (PG) so it has to stay
within the boundary of what that entails. Coraline sets the tone of a thriller
in the opening with really sinister music that creates a mood of
comfortableness and shows us that this film is not going to be like all the
other typical PG rated films. Also the lighting in the opening scene (which is
low key lighting) also adds to that tense
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW_12JrlDAVlq3mZJxHsFVMvJ9Mh0v1EBiKWCKhPIY8HMemy8QpId-nSMnw0ODHBDD9POMOtO1XlAc01Rz_ob5vb_Zer2yJcR91h5ro8d8FYJQGsPZlqt-Y9VMxFmPwXpLhpE-NfQrasYp/s200/Moon+Hands.gif)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghwtRUHGn1abqMUOioeKSt3UewcDIFrOfgRAAdg9tLoqUfVSKfhZAgRsr9WDYPi_uoTKd7Djc6LXErXk4Cc5E3JY0OgcEvjYBKLE1UJ7i8UBi3MLzvNruUiWlH0a2LLSzBD2zyQitqMNI0/s200/Coraline+and+the+other+mother.jpg)
uncomfortable atmosphere making the
audience feel really intrigued into what type of a film this is generally going
to be. The supernatural vibe we get from this film with the monster/needle hands is not typical for a thriller film as
thrillers usually are focused on fact and what can be proved and not on things
that cannot be proven, however this makes it, in my opinion, a better film for
the audience (which is made up of mainly children) as it shows that the
antagonist if not a real thing in real life and that these events are not
able
to be replicated making it less scary for the young children, but can also be
seen as taking away a vital aspect of thriller (the possibility that this could
happen to you). This film is the only film out of the three that I have chosen
that shows women (in this case a women monster and a young girl) as being bot
the antagonist and protagonist. Overall I think Coraline is a really interesting
and clever (and personally one of my favourite) films and cunningly navigates
the fact that it’s a child’s film but also being careful not to lose what makes
it a thrilling and genuinely scary film.
Generally these films are all extremely different yet rather
similar but I feel that there is no way of being able to choose which of off
these films see more effect as they are
all so different and for different audiences. Personally I feel that my
favourite is Coraline as it plays with the typical conventions and make it into
its own film, however I do also appreciate Psycho as the first mainstream film
that was created that was a thriller. Overall I believe that each of these
films hold their own in the thriller genre and all effectively establish what a
thriller film is.