Conventions of a good thriller

A good Thriller above all must Thrill Plato said “man is more frightened of Shadows”. Shadows can be Metaphorical or real so Mystery is important. Lights creates Shadows so lightening is important, e.g. In ‘Seven’ the head of the actress who played the cops wife (Brad Pitt) is not shown, only the reaction of the cop. This creates questions such as why? Fear of Shadows?
Chases generally Violence, Thrills, (case to be Thrilling if they are continuous they become boring- repetitive and above all we have to care as an audience about the protagonist, we heed to identify with the hero and heroine the main Characters, so that when the Hero is threaded or suffers we “suffer” feel danger with him. It may be good therefore if the Hero is a believable “human being” so flaw or Character traits are important.
The “Villain” has to create fear, seem powerful, arrogant, hatred, you must be etherified sinister – The Dark side. The “bad” can be interesting but evil, have good qualities, or you can even feel sympathy.
To set the mood, - e.g. sinister-dark-frightening, confusing, etc. Taking “seven’ as an example how was the mood, stage set.
The street was dark due to lighting and dingy, it was winter – the weather was almost a character incessant rain.
Architecture- sets, locations dark- run down, the mean streets, slums- graffiti, dirt, filth, dark corridors leading to sounds, Strong use of diabetic sounds, stet noise, wind, rain pouring sounds.
The none diabetic music – set moods – psychological metaphor for the killer mind. Build tension – and – releases tension in anti-climax.