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 person trying to resolve a problem whilst also finding

themselves. This is shown also 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 from 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 there own problems.

ICONOGRAPHY

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

creating enimgas, 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 which people would find in a psychological thriller would

be a detective or alpha male because they often get 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 pf 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.

Often there is minimal editing involved in the actual film because often the steadicam and the

minimal editing makes the film much more minimal and raw which means that people get

tension because it means they feel more like they are in the characters shoes.

LOCATIONS

Often the location of psychological thrillers is in places such as

mental asylums 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.