Also known as suspense films, thriller films have the sole purpose of promoting intense excitement and suspense to create a high level of anticipation coupled with anxiety, uncertainty, nerve-wracking tension, and above all, ultra-heightened expectation. Whether you name it thriller movies or suspense movies, it is the same because the features and characteristics are completely identical, which gives liberty to use the names interchangeably. Thrillers are films that have a single goal of holding the audience to the edge of their seats and provide pure thrills and excitement as the plot keeps moving towards the climax. To build up the tension, filmmakers place the protagonist and the main characters in the most challenging situations like what we see in James Bond films that immerse the audience is a mystery and hold them on tenterhooks as they keep guessing the outcome
Heart pounding films
Thrillers aim at inducing the audience’s adrenaline for which they choose some special characters to play the lead roles. Typically, the characters in thrillers include criminals and outlaws, convicts and assassins, stalkers and losers who are down on their luck and can even include menaced women, prison inmates, and innocent victims on the run. Any other character that has a dark past can be the protagonist of thriller films – from terrorists to psychotic individuals to fugitives, drifters, and many more. Since the aim is to make the audience stand up on their feet with unbelievable excitement that sets the heart pounding as if it would stop at any moment, filmmakers are ready to go any length that one can imagine.
Exotic settings
Thriller films are set in exotic locales, either throughout the film or in parts, and you can see the characters performing unbelievable acts of bravery in sub-zero temperatures in the polar region or blazing the trail across deserts or wild forests in hot pursuit of the enemy. High seas and snow peaked mountains are also some chosen settings for thriller films because, besides the characters and the plot, the locale itself offers tremendous thrills.
Tough men and women
The characters of thriller movies might sometime appear to be like any other common man, but they are tough guys who are ready to play hardball with the most dangerous situations without caring for their lives. The never say die attitude of the main characters that are ready to perform the most unthinkable valiant act enhances the thrills many more times. The audience starts looking upon the protagonists as supermen and superwomen who can do the most incredible things by defying death as if it is part of their daily lives.
Mystery stories can sometimes look like thrillers, but pure thrillers have a special plot that puts the hero against the enemies instead of the hero trying to unearth some crime or mysterious activities. Thriller films have a huge scale with high doses of violence and involve the use of superior technology and equipment to accomplish nearly impossible missions. The introduction of monsters like Godzilla in thrillers has added a unique dimension to the thrills that surpass human capabilities.