What is a thriller?

What is a thriller?

After starting research into what a thriller is, I discovered that it has many sub-genres. There are many however the main three are Mystery, Psychological and Crime, as they have been the most popular in recent years. This agrees with David Buckinghams theory of genre as he suggests that genre is a constant negotiation within the time period. Consequently, currently in 2020 we believe that this is what a thriller and its sub-genres are:

A mystery thriller normally consists of a story with many twists and turns that keep the audience guessing of who is telling the truth. Traditionally, they are told from either the hero's or villain's point of view. They mostly reveal the crime but then work backwards to discover who done it. Some examples of these are: The irishman, Jaws and Inception.

A psychological thriller contains a protagonist who is mentally unstable normally with a questionable approach behind their actions. The Joker is a good example of this as everything he does is to combat his loneliness. Psychological thrillers also use horror to help play with the audiences mind. 

A crime thriller is similar to a mystery however a crime normally reveals its villain early on with the rest of the movie showing the binary opposition between good and bad. However a mystery is all about solving the crime. The trailer below is for the movie '21 Bridges' which is a crime thriller that follows these conventions.

However, thrillers and horrors are very different although they do share some similar characteristics. For example, thrillers are intend to scare you but in different ways as the thriller intends to make you question things psychologically but a horror is meant to make you jump and have nightmares. Furthermore, thrillers have the intention to use action and adventure but a horror will use blood and gore.

This initial research into what is a thriller helped me understand the different types of thrillers which I didn't know how to differentiate before this research. Knowing these types allow me to decide what sub genre I would like to use.