Genre Research - Storylines

Psychological thrillers are a sub-genre of the thriller genre. Different to just typical thrillers, the storylines of psychological thrillers delve into the depths of characters minds and usually their unstable psychological state. Psychological thrillers tend to incorporate elements from other genres of film such as horror, drama and action. It is a unique sub-genre of film as it focuses on the complex state of mind and the moral struggles which come with the psychological tensions. Unlike horror films psychological thrillers aren't made to scare the audience, but instead face them with uncomfortable social issues. Some genre conventions of the genre are plot twists and an unreliable narrator. Also psychological thrillers tend to explore very original themes that aren't commonly explored in other genre's such as the state of someone's mind, identity, perception of reality and also existence/purpose.

For example a great example of a psychological thriller's storylines is Donnie Darko. The film follow Donnie, a young teenager who narrowly survives a deadly experience by following a giant bunny before a jet engine crashes through his bedroom. After this the bunny, Frank, becomes a regular occurrence in his life and tells him the world is going to end in 28 days. Over the course of the film Donnie is drawn into a series of alarming events that could be a product of his growing insanity. 



For example this scene when Donnie is in a therapy session and he discussing dying alone it shows the psychological battle that he is fighting in his own head that is typical of psychological horror films. This is something That I would say has now become a staple of the genre.

During psychological thrillers characters have to face an internal problem rather than an external one, this exploration and fight with oneself tends to make the films very complex and may even make the audience want to watch the film multiple times to see fully understand the plot. A perfect example of this in my opinion is Fight Club. This film follows a depressed man who is seeking some sort of thrills in his life meets a soap salesman Tyler Burden and together they set up Fight Club, a place for men to come and fight recreationally. However over the course of the film what initially seems to be an external problem with Tyler Burden through the use of a plot twist, another story convention of psychological thrillers, it is revealed that Tyler is just a figment of Ed Norton's character and they are in fact the same person making this an internal battle.

 

 

Storylines of psychological thrillers are primarily unpredictable and usually connote a sense of ambiguity and mystery to the audience unlike most other genres. This helps set them apart from most other films as they have plots that can be very suspenseful and I believe this is why we chose this genre.