Genre Research - Locations

Psychological thrillers as a genre tend to use iconic locations which can be a vital point to the plot and definitely help create a certain ambiguous atmosphere that is found primarily within psychological thrillers. Sometimes the locations can be treated in just as much of a necessary way as the main characters of the films and are crucial parts towards the films. For example some locations which have stuck in the mind of viewers since watching them have been Shutter Island and also the Bates Motel. These are iconic locations which help make the film feel so mysterious and frightening in a sense as both these locations connote themes of isolation and confinement to the audience which is helped in unison with their terrifying inhabitants such as the patients of Shutter Island and Norman Bates in the Bates Motel.

The locations of psychological thrillers a lot of the time tend to be shrouded in mystery and don't have many people there just to emphasise the feelings of isolation and also the internal battles that a lot of the typical protagonists have in these films. This all helps come into the genre of psychological thriller and make it what it is. Some other typical locations that are featured in psychological thrillers could be asylums, prisons, islands, abandoned houses and remote villages.