Differences in conventions of horror

and thriller films

Definitions

Thriller: Horror:

Thriller films: “Thriller Film is a genre that revolves around anticipation and suspense. The

aim for Thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats. The protagonist in

these films is set against a problem – an escape, a mission, or a mystery.”

http://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/thriller

Horror films: “Horror film is a genre that aims to create a sense of fear, panic, alarm, and dread for the audience. These films are often unsettling and rely on scaring the audience through a portrayal of their worst fears and nightmares. Horror films

usually center on the arrival of an evil force, person, or event. Many Horror films include

mythical creatures such as ghosts, vampires, and zombies. Traditionally, Horror films incorporate a large amount of violence and gore into the plot.” http://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/horror

Character TypesThriller:There is often a brave male as a protagonist who seeks to make everything right again. In every sub-genre of thriller the film will always emphasis the danger the protagonist is in. Whereas, the antagonist seeks revenge for a past event and the audience will uncover their secret identity throughout the film.

Other characters include criminals, stalkers, assassins, innocent victims (often on the run), menaced women, psychotic individuals, spree killers, sociopaths, agents, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, private eyes, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends, and more.

Horror:The main protagonist is often the victim/hero of the film. However, the villain is often a monster, vampire, mutated freak, alien, serial killer or ghosts (and many more).

Other characters might be creepy children, the stupid/immoral teenagers who always get killed, cops that could be good or bad, zombies, demons, psychopath, stalker, weirdo, werewolf, cheerleader etc.

One difference which is obvious is that in thrillers there’s a lot less of supernatural beings, thriller films are a lot more realistic in that sense.

ThemesThriller:

The themes in thriller films can include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder. Plots of thrillers involve characters

which come into conflict with each other or with outside forces. Common methods and themes in crime and action thrillers are mainly ransoms,

captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings. In mystery thrillers there are usually investigations and the whodunit technique. Common elements in dramatic

and psychological thrillers include plot twists, psychology, obsession and mind games. Common in horror thrillers are serial killers, stalking, deathtraps and

horror-of-personality.

Horror:Themes in horror films are used to thrill, scare and entertain the audience.

Horror films centre around the “dark side of life”; the strange, forbidden and alarming events. Some common themes in horror films are; revenge,

haunting, gore, serial killers, demons and exorcisms, religious beliefs, ghosts, insanity, suicide, science gone bad, childhood issues, beyond death,

nightmares, good verses evil etc.

A difference in themes would have to be the supernatural side again because the majority of horror films are centred around hauntings of ghosts and demons. Another difference is that in horror there’s a lot of gore whereas in thrillers there’s hardly any.

IconographyThriller:Iconography means symbolic representations, which often has a conventional meaning attached to

an image or object. Iconography adds to the mise en scene of a film and is important as it helps the audience construct certain messages. To start off, shadows help create the mystery for the

audience that is common in thrillers. It builds up fear for the audience also because it shows the audience that the protagonist is being watched by someone. They often induce thoughts of fear

and darkness for the audience as well as giving them clues and they ask questions out of suspense. The shadow is usually the antagonist. Another iconography in thrillers are confined

spaces, this makes the audience feel as though they are trapped too. When we see a scene like this we usually hear heavy breathing and panting from the protagonist which emphasizes that

they are trapped and cannot escape. Woods often appear in thrillers, it creates a sense of being lost and then the protagonist has to escape. Woods also bring in the theme of isolation, which

creates a sense of vulnerability. Street lamps are used to emphasise that the protagonist is alone because they’re in darkness apart from the street lamp. This creates fear for the audience because they don’t know what’s underlying in the darkness and then a tense atmosphere is created. All of these things that are iconography are meant to hold your interest and keep you on the edge of

your seat whereas horror films are there to scare you and it’s more about violence than the actual plot.

IconographyHorror:

Iconography in horror films is huge element, in my opinion it’s what makes horror films. The use of the colours red and black in horror films link to danger and blood, the colours are usually seen on film posters. Props such as knives, chainsaws, firearms, machetes, costumes etc are seen in the majority of horror films, its what usually defines a certain character (mainly the villain) and by

using these type of props it helps the audience to further identify that it’s a horror film. Additionally, there are other props used like masks, icons of the supernatural, religious icons etc.

There are also typical locations that are featured in horror films like abandoned places, dark alleys, forests etc these all are there to help connate extreme fear for the audience. Which is one main

difference between horror and thriller, the majority of horror films are there to scare the audience but thriller films want the audience to constantly be on the edge of their seat. Lighting is essential

to many horror films because low key lighting creates dark shadows and a sense of fear.