Thriller Sub Genres

The thriller genre can be broken down into many sub-genres. This includes the following:

• Action thriller - an action thriller often features a character's race against the clock, it contains lots of violence, and an obvious antagonist. These films usually contain large amounts of guns, explosions, and large elaborate set pieces for the action to take place. Examples of these films are: James Bond, The Transporter, and Bourne Ultimatum
  
  
  



• Conspiracy thriller - a conspiracy thriller usually has a hero/heroine that confronts a large, powerful group of enemies whose true extent only he/she recognizes. The Chancellor Manuscript and The Aquitane Progression by Robert Ludlum fall into this category, as do films such as Three Days of the Condor, Capricorn One, and JFK.
  
  



• Crime thriller - This particular genre is a mixture of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasize action over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, and double-crosses are central ingredients. Some examples include The Killing, Seven, Reservoir Dogs, Inside Man, and The Asphalt Jungle.
  
  
  



• Disaster thriller - Disaster thrillers are films which the main conflict is due to some sort of natural or artificial disaster, such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, etc., or nuclear disasters as an artificial disaster. Notabley the most recent big disaster film is the film 2012.






• Drama thriller - In which the story consists of the elements of a thriller and drama film. These films are usually slower paced and involves a great deal of character development along with plot twists. Examples include The Illusionist, The Interpreter and Collateral.






• Medical thriller - In these films the hero is a medical professional struggling to solve some type of dangerous/frightening medical problem. examples of this type of thriller include Coma, The Andromeda strain and Awake
  
  
  



• Political thriller - in political thrillers the main character must ensure the stability of the government that employs him or her against enormous odds. exaples of this type of thriller are In The Line of Fire, Notorious and The Crying Game.
  
  
  



• Psycological thriller -Psycolgical thrillers are the ones that mess with your head. In these types of thrillers the suspense is character-driven rather than action-driven. Characters play deceptive games and try to destroy one another. Sometimes the conflict exists within one character's mind. examples of this type of thriller include Freaks, Laura and Jacobs Ladder .
  
  
  
  



• Supernatural thriller - These are very similar to horror films, but are often not as violent. The character (could be the hero or the villain) has some sort of supernatural power that must be called upon. Supernatural thrillers often find the protagonists either battling an evil paranormal force or placed in a situation controlled by an other-worldly force beyond their comprehension. exaples include the films, Carri and Cat People.
  
  
  
  



• Religious thriller - Thrillers based on religious teachings, events, and customs. Religious prophecies, evils unleashed, and ancient scriptures often come into play. At times they can be quite controversial as they examine people's beliefs, not always in a flattering way. examples include The Da Vinci Code, Angel and Demons and The Omega Code.
  
  
  
  



• Spy Thriller - in spy thrillers the hero is usually a government agent who must take violent action against agents from a rival government or terrorists. Examples include, The Bourne identity and mission impossible.

The type of thrillers that I enjoy are mostly Action and spy thrillers. I enjoy the explosions and special effects that are put in them. Some of them also have amazing stunts that I really enjoy watching. Spy thrillers also have new technology, I like to see what new technology ideas that the producers have come up with, whether it is real or fake. My favourite Action and Spy thrillers are: Taken, Transporter 1,2 and 3, James Bond films. Recently I've started to watch other type of thriller films that I enjoy such as drama and psycological thrillers, I like these kind of thrillers because of the way characters are developed throughout the whole film, the plots are usually more developed contrasting to action thrillers. Ive only watched a handful of these type of thrillers but the ones ive enjoyed are: Collateral, Lakeview Terrace, and se7en.