Codes and Conventions of a Psychological Thriller

Psychological thrillers tend to open on a blank white or black screen, with title text over layered on top. However, some films start without a title at all. A psychological thriller is a subgenre of the horror/thriller genre. However, it incorporates other elements that would be seen in a mystery drama. They tend to focus deep on the stability of a characters mind, therefore having this character have to overcome disruptions mentally, rather than physically. The archetype usually involves a character finding ‘the devil inside’ themselves - the loss of innocence.

Themes of a psychological thriller include: reality, perception, the mind, existence, identity, and death. Reality is all about the quality of being real. Within the film, characters often try to determine what is true, and what is not, within this narrative. Perception is a character’s own interpretation of the world around him through his senses. Often characters misperceive the world around them, or their perceptions are altered by outside factors within the narrative. American Psycho is quite different to a lot of other psychological thrillers as the ending to the film depends on one’s own interpretation of it. However, the way in which I view it is that Patrick Bateman does actually murder the people he thinks he has, he is so fixated in the idea of it that he loses his mind. Many audiences interpret Bateman as just insane because of a scene in which he is drawing a victim. This leads on to the theme of the mind. The mind is the human consciousness; the location for personality, thought, reason, memory, intelligence and emotion. The mind is often used as a location for narrative conflict, where characters battle their own minds to reach a new level of understanding or perception. Existence is the object for which something exists; an aim or a goal humans strive towards to understand their reason for existence. Characters often try to discover what their purpose is in their lives and the narrative’s conflict often is a way for the characters to discover this purpose. The identity theme is the definition of one’s self. Characters often are confused about or doubt who they are, and try to discover their true identity. And finally, death is obviously the cessation of life. Characters tend to either fear or have a fascination with death. The perfect example of this is Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island. Shutter Island features all the above themes, for instance, the main protagonist, Teddy Daniels, is having a constant battle throughout the film about his sanity. The reason for this is because of the death of his wife that is seen through a flashback as well as a dream eerie sequence. The narrative is all about Teddy discovering who he really is.

The narrative is usually told through a first-person literary technique, in which the story is narrated by one or more of the characters. This technique is used to make the audience more involved with the characters themselves, and thus able to understand how this character’s mind works. The film Fight Club, makes perfect use of a voiceover to tell a story and give the audience and insight on The Narrator’s, the protagonist’s, feelings. But more importantly, within this film, the point of view of The Narrator is used in a way to mislead the audience, for he really doesn’t understand his identity. Additionally, there is an editing technique in which there is a flash of the character Tyler Durden in the scene. He is shown in the The Narrator’s POV before these two characters have even met, suggesting it’s just a figment of The Narrator’s imagination (leading to the conclusion of his split personality). A back story is also often used; this is the history behind the situation right at the start of the plot. This deepens the psychological aspect of the story since the read is able to more fully understand the character; more specifically, what the character’s motivations are and how his past has shaped his current cognitive perceptions. The narrative can also be non-linear. Donnie Darko shows a narrative that isn’t quite linear as it involves a lot of time travel. Additionally, David Lynch’s Mulholland Dr. is clear to fit this convention of a non-linear narrative. This film actually, in my opinion, covers all the codes and conventions for its genre, it really goes out its way to confuse and entertain the audience.

Camera angles are vital in a psychological thriller. There are many close-ups used. Mirrors are used to portray a reflection of a character’s inner self, and addition can be used to represent the ‘dark side’ of some characters. Shadows and low key lighting are used in order to add tension to a scene. These also represent a character’s inner darkness. Quick cuts, obtrusive and montage editing are all frequently used in psychological thrillers to highlight the feeling of suspense and tension; these are mainly used during important and key scenes. This is blatant in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. There are many scenes within Black Swan in which the lead protagonist, Nina, finds herself looking into mirrors where her reflection isn’t quite a reflection but more like a person on the other side. This represents Nina’s darker side, or to link with the title, her ‘black swan’. Flashbacks are also a typical convention of a thriller. These can show the audience what has happened previously, thus aiding in the audience’s insight of the character’s past. Again, Shutter Island is an example of a use of flashbacks. There’s a flashback when Teddy finally discovers his true self. This also helps give the audience the backstory of the film. The location of a psychological thriller tends to be in a very urban city or in a small town. 

So through review, it is clear that one of the critical themes that psychological thrillers feature is the theme of identity and discovering one’s true self. Moreover, they are always darkly set and tend to get the audience thinking about the situation, usually leaving them confused for their first time viewing of the film. On repeated views, people start to notice bits they haven’t seen before in the film, this is what makes psychological thrillers so entertaining.