Why do we watch thrillers?

Thrillers are made up of many different amounts of sub genres, making them viable to appeal to almost anyone. We also like the jumps and rushes we get from watching a character being chased or walking slowly to meet their demise. We know what will happen, but not how, or when, giving us suspense to look forward to. A thriller is also very common for showing the suggestion of something scary, but then we find out later, it was nothing, but we know there was something there and still is. A thriller can take part as the point of view of the main character(s) or it could be a sort of documentation of something that has already happened, showing the viewers more than what the characters know.

The characters are typically seen as very good at their job, very strong and quite heroic looking, but the villain is always better equipped, and seems to be cleverer than the hero, until they are inevitably caught. You can either get the ‘I don’t care’ thriller lead, or the ‘all I think about is my job’ lead, and the villain always sees the flaw in the hero and at one point or more in the movie, will exploit it, such as in the movie face off, his son was shot by the villain, and it is frequently brought up on the hero. The themes of thrillers are almost always exaggerated and only include crimes in a much larger scale, such as an alien invasion, mass murder, terrorists or assassinations, identity,

Main plot points include violent confrontations, saving the Femme Fatale, themes of mirroring past events, and recent, or the villain mocking or arguing against a flaw in the modern society that they do not like. More modern types of thrillers are psychological thrillers, where the villain could be less superior to the hero, but knows well of the heroes flaw, and is stronger only intellectually, making a whole new different way of scaring the audience. The monster in psychological thrillers could be anything; an inferior physical force made superior only by their intellect, a supernatural entity, aliens or serial killers.

Sub Genres
Action Thrillers consists of a race against the clock, lots of explosions and chases. The antagonist is exposed the whole time, and the protagonist is usually searching for something. The hero isn’t always a good guy in this; they could be someone who we just cheer for due to his characteristics.
A Crime Thriller is usually based around the crimes the villain creates, rather than the characters themselves, we are only given the characteristics of the villain by what crimes they create. The good guy is usually very good at his job, and it is his last job he has to solve, but always the worst.
A Disaster Thriller is based around natural events where the protagonist may be a group of people who are stranded and the antagonist is not a physical being, but the idea of the reason why the natural event came, such as in The day after Tomorrow, the antagonist is us, due to global warming.
A Drama Thriller is based wholly on character relationships and twisted plot lines. The crimes in these are usually quite controversial, and take a very long time to develop.
A Horror Thriller is a mix between physical, mentally and emotionally conflict between characters. The thrills are created through fear and gruesome images rather than a psychological wait created by suspense. The protagonists are usually up against an overwhelming force, and will soon become victims themselves, and the antagonist is a monster, of physically or mentally being.
A Psychological Thriller is based on an emotional and mental side of the heroine’s character. The antagonist exploits the flaw in the protagonist and eventually, they have a showdown where the flaw is overcome by the antagonist’s defeat.
A Spy Thriller is much like an action thriller, in the fact that the hero is often a government agent who has to take action against an overwhelming force against the government.
There is also Science-Fiction Thrillers where the villain is an alien or supernatural force. The hero in this is usually well equipped with powerful weapons, or completely exposed with only their intelligence and coincidental events that assists in the defeat of the villain, such as in Signs and Jurassic Park.