Thriller Sub Genre Research

Crime Thriller:

Crime thrillers focus on external threats like criminals and violence. They are made to feel dangerous and morally grey. 

Lighting: In this sub-genre they often use low-key lighting. They use strong shadows and limited light sources. It is realistic, they use things like street lamps and desk lamps. The shadows can represent characters and their personalities, like how they are often morally grey. The darkness can also make the films more suspenseful since you can't see everything clearly. 

A good example of a crime thriller is The Dark Knight 

This movie has a lot of dark lighting. The shadows add to the entire vibe of the movie. It adds to the suspense and sort of mystery around Batman's identity. 

Setting: These films are often set in ordinary locations like cities. Using The Dark Knight as an example again, this movie is set in a city. The setting can make the crime feel more realistic and shows that it can happen anywhere. 

Cinematography: Some very common shots used in crime thrillers are tracking shots. These are used a lot when pursuing a villain so we get to follow along the chase. 

Iconography: Very common props in this sub genre are weapons, police cars, and other police force tools. 

 Psychological Thriller:

 Psychological thrillers focus on internal threats rather than external ones. For example battling with your own mind. This is meant to make us feel more unstable rather than scared. 

Lighting: Often use high contrast lighting, shadows on faces, and unnatural/harsh light. These types of light can help emphasize the mental instability the character can be feeling. It can also separate the reality from the delusions/hallucinations a character might be having. 

Setting: These types of films can be done in isolated environments forcing the to battle themselves, it can add to the sense of them feeling trapped mentally. This also takes away the perspectives from other characters to we are seeing everything the was the main character would They also often use repeated environments. Repeating the environment lets the directors build on previous scenes and the director can slowly make subtle changes, this can make what was familiar feel dangerous and give off a sense of dread. 

Cinematography: This genre uses a lot of close ups and slow zoom ins. It lets the viewers see all the emotions a character is feeling and sort of lets you get a glimpse of what's going on in their head. 

A great example of this is Black Swan. This movie uses a lot of close up shots which allows you to see the main characters emotion and see how her mental stability is slowly deteriorating throughout the movie.

Iconography: They often use mirrors, hallucinations, medications, and doubles of the character. All this is used to show how they are battling identity and how what we are seeing can be unreliable. Black Swan also does a good job showing this. It shows the main character going against herself figuratively and literally.  

Spy Thriller

Spy Thrillers go into the topics of secrecy, global issues, and deception. They often balance reality with craziness. 

Lighting: They use dim lighting in more secretive scenes to be mysterious and a lot of bright high key lighting during the action. 

Setting: In this genre many different settings are used. They use international locations that are often constantly moving to show that there isn't any permanent safety and to show how high the stakes are for the world. 

A good example of this is Mission Impossible. In these movies you see the main character going to many different places like Berlin, Rome, and China. 

Cinematography: A lot of fast editing is used in action scenes to create a sense of chaos in the fighting. They also use close ups during dialogue so we can see the emotions a character is going through as they get deceived and figure things out. 

Iconography: They use things like disguises, codes, weapons and gadgets, all things associated with spies. 

This all adds to the realism of the films. 

Citations:

Thriller Genre Subgenres: 10 Types of Thriller Novel, self-publishingschool.com/thriller-genre-subgenres/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.

“Thriller Definition - Screenwriting I Key Term.” Fiveable, fiveable.me/key-terms/screenwriting-i/thriller?utm_. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.

“Psychological Thrillers Definition - Film and Media Theory Key Term.” Fiveable, fiveable.me/key-terms/film-and-media-theory/psychological-thrillers?utm_. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.

“Film Appreciation: Mise-En-Scène.” Mise-En-Scène | Film Appreciation | OpenALG, alg.manifoldapp.org/read/film-appreciation/section/6c87565c-8398-40fd-9c82-7d9aec5ead99?utm_ Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.

“Crime Genre Conventions.” Savannah Gilbo, www.savannahgilbo.com/blog/crime-conventions?utm_. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.