Thriller Sub-Genres

There are many different Thriller sub genres and I thought it would be good to take time to research these, as they can make up the foundations of a classic Thriller film.

Action-Adventure Thriller:
This is one of the most common sub genres and also one of the hardest to write, because of the need for hard-hitting action scenes. The genre focuses on face-paced, out of control themes, it also includes the more adventure side of things, the mystery, the quests, etc. This works so well as it can almost help bring back the childhood 'adventure' memories which helps make the film more effective.

Psychological Thriller:
This more so focuses on the characters of the film, whilst implementing elements of drama and mystery, Psychological Thriller's are one of the most loved Thriller sub genres. They also have some overlaps with psychological horrors and drama. They are so effective as they aimed to make the audience become very involved and get very sucked into the story and almost get a bit worried or scared of the events happening, they are aimed to almost just 'mess with you head'.

Historical Thriller:
These films are based in the past. They tend to focus on a well-known historical event or create a fiction one themselves. It is a rather uncommon Thriller sub genre and when used it often coupled with another genre, like action-adventure.

Disaster Thriller:
These films are just simply fully based around some sort of disaster. Usually natural disasters like earthquakes or volcano eruption, something very severe and hugely dangerous. They work around the danger to help bring in the elements of a normal Thriller to make these films effective and Thriller based


Medical Thriller:
Robin Cook introduced this sub genre that has all the usual ideas of a Thriller, but incorporates them around a specific theme of medicine. Usually modern medicine that turns into a very deadly substance. This is effective as everyone can relate to the extremeness of the events if something like this were ever to happen.

Romantic Thriller:
This is usually based around focusing on two people, with the normal Romance storyline. However the difference is that is contains a lot more suspense and a lot more tension to help give it the elements to make up a Thriller.

Crime Thriller:
This is also sometimes referred to as Serial-Killer Thriller. It is a hugely popular sub genre as it is based around some sort of crime, wether it be a detective hunting down a serial killer, or a gang who have robbed a bank. This is so popular because we can relate to it, in that sometimes, events like these do happen.