PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLERS

TYPICAL NARRATIVE

In psychological thrillers the narrative is usually very complex which

involves many enigmas which people 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. Therefore this shows

that 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 as this means that they are trapped which 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 horror 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.

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 find out 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.

LOCATIONSOften 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.