PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLERS

TYPICAL NARRATIVE

In psychological thrillers the narrative is usually very complex which involves

many enigmas that people have to try and solve and they have similar conventions to

thriller and horror. Often they are stories about a person trying to resolve a problem such

as in Shutter Island which involves a man trying to resolve a problem whilst also finding

himself. This is also shown in The Sixth Sense because the little boy has to learn to cope

with a problem that he has whilst trying not to go insane because of it. In The Lazarus

Project it is a man who is taken to an asylum (similar to Shutter Island) and has to try

and find out why he’s hallucinating. This shows that in psychological thrillers often

people are trying to resolve their own problems.

ICONOGRAPHY

In Psychological Thrillers I would expect to see lots of shadows because they are very useful for

creating enigmas, this is used a lot in Shutter Island because it creates the creepy atmosphere of the mental

asylum. There are usually lots of confined spaces and restrictions on where people can go as this means that

they are trapped, this makes the atmosphere much more tense as in The Lazarus Project as the main character

is stuck in the ‘Prison’ area and is unable to leave under threat of death. Often running water is used especially

through rain which is in Shutter Island because they are surrounded by the sea and it rains a lot and this

naturally causes people to get nervous as it creates tension.

CHARACTERS

The typical characters people would find in a psychological thriller would be a detective or

alpha male. In psychological thrillers the main character often gets tormented because

people get nervous when a main character and a ‘dominant’ male gets bullied because it

means that they are powerless. Often there is a woman in there life and a child because having

a family makes the character much more vulnerable. An example of a film which involves

this would be Shutter Island which has a man who hallucinates about his wife and in The Lazarus

Project where the man is trying to get back to his wife and kids.

CAMERAWORK, SOUND

LIGHTING AND EDITING

Often there is low key lighting, especially found in Shutter Island they use this

often because the darkness creates lots of enigmas as the shadows cause enigmas to

be made. The camera work involves lots of extreme long shots and establishing shots

because people can look at the scene and it means people can try to get to know the

surroundings so they are in the characters shoes. There are often lots of diegetic sounds

because that way the characters are able to establish their surroundings much better and

also the audience become much more established with the characters but also there

would be a lot of non-diegetic sound e.g. music because the slower paced music in a

minor key creates the tension which Psychological Thrillers aim to make.

LOCATIONS

Often the location of psychological thrillers is in places such as mental

asylums and prisons as the films often are made around a character is mental so

they fit in around the surroundings, this is used in the case of Shutter Island and

The Lazarus Project this is used because it means the character is surrounded and

enclosed in an area usually with people who you would not desire to be around.

However they could be placed anywhere so long as the character is in a trapped

reality and cannot escape from all of their problems.