Top ten thrillers +Thriller villans of all time

Top 10 Thriller Movie Villains   

I feel its a good idea to add the top villains in the thriller genre to help me understand the key elements they portray to be able to use them features in my thriller opening.

• villains don’t necessary need accompanying characters, they can often operate completely alone.  If they do have henchmen or minions, one of these may appear to everyone including the reader as being the villain, hiding the real one behind.
• The anti-hero. It is possible to have a hero who acts as a baddy, or an anti-hero. Movies nowadays setup viewers expectations that there should be a good winning over bad ending, however television series allow for the anti-hero, who oversteps the law, seeks revenge, is a rebellious little-man, and holds traits that don’t generally make him an overall good guy. Anti-heroes should still invoke the reader’s sympathies and understanding, however; have easily identified imperfections, and should emphasise human frailty and society’s more hidden or darker values.

Top 10 Thriller movies

What makes a Perfect Thriller? Actually Thriller is such a broad genre that you can not define a perfect thriller film. Thriller could be easily meshed up with horror or crime. You will find a lots of sub genres of Thriller films, Most Popular Being – Crime Thriller, Action Thriller, Horror Thriller, Mystery Thriller and even comedy Thriller. But the question is what actually defines a thriller film.
A Thriller film is one whose plot revolves around such elements and characters that create anxiety, suspense, surprise and even terror among the audience. So sometimes a good thriller film can give you more chill than a horror film. Thriller films are full of surprises and plot twists and you can never guess what is going to happen at the next moment. The tension build around the plot can easily gulp the audience in it and you might feel like one of the character and even if you don’t, you surely will run your mind to guess the next move in the film.

Thriller sub genere

Within the thriller genre it can be broken down into subcategory's these are shown below with photos of classic examples of there sub genre. The thriller genre has been known by several names over the decades. 'Action' is somewhat dated, while 'adventure' remains as a broader description.
Perhaps a 'thriller' concentrates more on fast external action and suspence. So that is why these sub genres have been created.

These slides taken from  slideshare.com

well known thriller actor- Robert De Niro

 Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro, thought of as one of the greatest American actors of all time, was born in New York City. He first gained fame for his role in Bang the Drum Slowly in 1973, but he gained his reputation as a volatile actor in Mean Streets In 1974. De Niro received an Academy Award for best supporting actor for his role in The Godfather: Part II and received Academy Award nominations for best actor in Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter and Cape Fear. He won the best actor award in 1980 for Raging Bull.De Niro heads his own production company, Tribeca Film Center, and made his directorial debut in 1993 with A Bronx Tale in 1993.

                           Here is the top ten moments of the man himself in action.
                                                 this taken from youtube

best thrillers of all time - se7en

Se7en

This American neo-noir thriller film mae in 1995 is about two detectives, a rookie and a veteran and the hunt for a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his modus operandi.

Director:David Fincher

Writer:Andrew Kevin Walker

Stars:Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey
The thing that make me believe this film is one of the top all time thrillers is because firstly the actors it has in them.Brad Pitt especially is a top thriller actor and always conveys a top performance on camera to really enhance the atmosphere of this type of genre.This film also has won many awards this to me also verifies how it is seen as a top thriller.

This photo is taken from google to show what awrds have been won for this film.

After researching online this film appears in many if not all top thriller countdowns.The photos below are screen shots ive taken from some of these notice how they are in the top ten and some these countdowns are out of 100.

                                                     This taken from IMDb best 100 thrillers.

 

 This taken from film4 top 50 thriller list.

 Here is the trailer to this film. 

Best thrillers of all time - silence of the lambs

Silence of the lambs

Is a 1991 American thriller film that blends elements of the crime and horror genres.The film is about a young F.B.I. cadet must confide in an incarcerated and manipulative killer to receive his help on catching another serial killer who skins his victims.

Director:Jonathan Demme

Stars:Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Lawrence A. Bonney
I believe this film fits in as one of the best all time thrillers because firstly it shows how this genre can still be done before 2000 and still be one of the best thrillers without high tech equpment that they now use to enhance a film.Secondly it is a multi award winning film  from looking on google here are only some awards this picture received;




From my research in majority they  included this film in there count down of all time best thrillers.
here`s some examples;

This is taken from film4 top thriller count^

This taken from IMDb highest rated thrillers list^

This taken from Gear Patrol which voted this film its top rated thriller^


Here is the trailer for this film;

steven spielberg -popular thriller director

sourced from http://www.slideshare.net/MattSmith1995/thriller-film-directors-17288378


Steven Spielberg has directed some of the most famous thrillers like jaws.he really helps capture the fear in this film by building great suspense before the shark is shown.this film links to many peoples irrational childhood fear of there being a shark in a deep water like a swimming pool and i felt this was captured as when you finish the film you wont swim for at least a month.

                                         The man himself speaking about the film

personal favorite thriller - The shining

The shining is a 1980 British-American psychological horror/thriller film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, and starring Jack Nicholson. The film is based on Stephen King's 1977 novel also called `the shining` though there are significant changes.
In the film, Jack Torrance, a writer and recovering alcoholic, takes a job as an off-season caretaker at the isolated Overlook Hotel. His young son has psychic abilities and is able to see things from the past and future, such as the ghosts who inhabit the hotel. Soon after settling in, the family is trapped in the hotel by a snowstorm, and Jack gradually becomes influenced by a supernatural presence; he descends into madness and attempts to murder his wife and son.Below is the trailer to the film hopefully you can see why this is my favorite thriller.

The shining is my personal favourite because to me it is what a thriller is all about. It captivated me due to its bizarre nature of events but also the way in which the music sounds in key times throughout the film really makes an impact on what you are on the edge of your seat waiting for, I feel this really changed the they use music to build suspense in thrillers. Another great aspect of this film is the use of mixing children associated things to make them scary. ideas like this are commonly known in horrors by using clowns ect. But in this film these are things like jack Nicholas quoting nursery rhymes at nail biting times in the film. also how its one of them films i could watch over and over again but still jump at the high tension built moments.

Jessica Biel top actors associted to thriller genre

Jessica Biel is an American actress, model and singer. She has since starred in many films including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Blade: Trinity, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, The A-Team , New Year's Eve, and Total Recall. She will appear in the thriller indie film Emanuel and the Truth about Fishes in 2013. She won the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress in 1997 for her role in Ulee's Gold.

 

Tom Hanks - top actors associted to thriller genre

Tom Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks is known for his roles in Apollo 13, Big, Sleepless in Seattle, Charlie Wilson's War, Catch Me If You Can, Forrest Gump, The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons. He has been nominated for many awards during his career, including winning a Golden Globe for Best Actor and an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Philadelphia and a Golden Globe, an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a People's Choice Award for Best Actor for his role in Forrest Gump, and earning the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film from the BAFTAs in 2004. Hanks is also known for his collaboration with film director Steven Spielberg on Saving Private Ryan and the mini-series Band of Brothers, which launched Hanks also as a successful director, producer and writer. As of 2012, Hanks' films have made over $4.2 billion at the United States box office alone, and over $8.5 billion worldwide making him the highest all-time box office star. I feel he is a very versatile actor with an ability to draw an audience by making them believe in every character he plays.

vin diesel - top actors associted to thriller genre

Vin Diesel who's actual birth name is Mark Sinclair Vincent, is an American actor, writer, director, and producer.he is also well known for his film appearances as wisecracking or hard-edged characters, often in spectacular action thriller films. He came to to the stage in the late 1990s and became best known for appearing in successful Hollywood films such as Saving Private Ryan and The Fast and the Furious,to name only a few. He is also the founder of the production companies One Race Films, Tigon Studios, and Racetrack Records.



   Here is Vin diesel in action,in what i believe is his best  film- fast and furious 6 here is the top 10 ten clips.

Alfred Hitchcock - father of thriller genre

 

After watching a few of of his films and doing some research it seems Alfred Hitchcock was a key figure in helping to shape the modern-day thriller genre.The way he seemed to do this was by introducing the suspence aspect to these types of film,this really giving it the edge as it helps to draw in the viewer to want to wait and see what happens.You get a strong feel of this from his movie physco.I want to use key elements like suspence building in my thriller opening. Here is a link to the tralier of the film pscho where you can begin to see these elemnts of suspence being incoraprated but also generic thriller elements. This is a website that shows other key thriller directors and also gives background on them and what have contributed to the world of the thriller genre.

what are the generic conventions used in a thriller film?

There are many features that characterise the thriller genre. Here is a list of them with what they contribute to a thriller:

 Lighting: from watching a number of thrillers the most dangerous scenes mostly take place at night because of fear that we get from the dark which links to the unknown and what could be out there or following us and to this dark areas increase the feeling of danger and suspense (i.e. woods or forest). Sometimes though murder or violent scenes happen in broad daylight instead. This adds surprise to the violence and could sometimes even add more thrill and horror, because it is so unsuspected.People usually feel safer in daylight, so a murder at that time could be more shocking.

typical night time scene in a thriller

 Camera angles: Long shots helps set the scene. Sometimes the director wants the audience to know the scene, sometimes they don't, if the do the shot will show the location by possibly a short scan round it,if they don't its to build suspense or not give something away, they would zoom in on perhaps a victims face like eyes to show there expression or so the audience concentrates and possibly even identifies and empathises of a relevant item like a gun for example.



Locations: Generic thriller locations are usually enclosed or remote areas which add a sense of claustrophobia with no escape or having anyone walking by in which save the victim.to show no way out for the character in panic situations. but Other locations used in thriller films are plain,very unglamourous and surrounded by pale or dark colours like Car parks which are very commonly used in thrillers, also abandoned places which adds fear as it makes the audience realise they wouldn't want to be stuck there like for example the bates motel in the film psycho.

                                                     









 


 Props
Weapons Usually weapons are often used. Many main characters in a thriller own a gun or a knife. If they do not own a typical weapon, they tend to use items which don't normally have a purpose to originally harm someone with as weapons. For example glass vases, baseball bats, high heel shoes, stones etc. White vans are often used in thrillers. They are very suspicious, because anything could be hidden inside as you cant see
in. Plain white -> faceless -> Enigma.




 Characters Thrillers mostly focus on illegal, dangerous behaviour, usually involving characters that are gangsters, part of the mafia, spies, detectives or any kind of murderers. The idea of hidden identity is quite integrand to viewers as well it keeps them wanting to watch till the end to find out who they are. Sometimes, important key characters are complete enigmas , so the audience doesn't find out much information. Some of these enigmas get cleared up at the end of a film, but sometimes the character stays mysterious and you never finds out their actual identity.

what is a thriller?

A thriller is a genre in plays, films and novels. Traditionally revolves around keeping you on the edge of your seat by building suspense with a high level of anticipation. Some traditional elements of a thriller involves crime and a killer of some description.

 This picture is soured from google images

Here are some well known old and new thrillers: