What is a thriller?

A thriller is expressed as a novel, play or movie with an exciting plot that uses suspense, tension and excitement as main elements within the composure. A thriller is close to what you could call a puzzle of the mind. Thrillers aren't simple films which you understand as soon as you start watching them, they're something that takes a while to understand but once you do it changes the whole picture. Thrillers never set the scene, they're always fast moving so you can never quite gather the plot of the story at the beginning  This helps the film to encourage the audience to watch it for longer, as they will be intrigued to see what is going to happen.

The main reason for a thriller is to nerve people, make them feel on edge. Different techniques help to make a film more scary such as the use of sound and the way the camera is portrayed. You could have a silent thriller and this could build up more tension that it could if it had sound. Thrillers have been used as a genre since the 20's. Alfred Hitchcock decided that he would try silent films and this is when he explored the idea of his films 'The Lodger' and 'Blackmail'. 

Over the years different technology has been invented, making thrillers very different today. Technology has enabled them to be able to use special effects such as 3D making them a lot more tense. This helps with putting the audience on edge and making them feel permanently nervous.  

Some examples on thrillers are: