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.
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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/AVvXsEgtb5JI_yClv39EnUqyAViHs_3VN8OUvX7TDO9orw2XBQdtmHMAGRtHotVC0kXSrLy8qCMKyfykoRsWfa1l4a72dnw_X1aHq5OFKQkmW0hdQPtPSUAMqT9dVKIex8b5I1MTtGOk6j6vbRDQ/s200/Creating+Coraline.gif)
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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.
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