Genre Research: Iconography

Iconography of Psychological Thrillers

Shadows are a typical icon in Psychological Thrillers as they cause anonymity, which makes the audience fear what is in the shadows. An example of this is shown in the film Shutter Island, where the character, Teddy is searching through a mental ward in the dark, he doesn't know what is in the shadows so when he lights a match it makes the audience fear what is going to be lurking in the shadows.

Confined spaces are another typical icon shown in thriller films. Many people are claustrophobic and afraid of small, confined spaces so using this in thriller films is a great advantage to scare the audience. For example in the film Phone Booth, filming in a phone booth is a very small, confined space, which many people may be frightened of being trapped in a phone booth.

Big buildings often appear in psychological thrillers as they are interesting to film in because there are a lot of places for things to hide, e.g. ghosts, murderers, etc which make the audience jump. Buildings like churches, hospitals and mental asylums are typically featured in Psychological Thrillers, for example, a church is featured in the film The Omen. Films like Shutter Island and Girl Interrupted are set in mental hospitals/asylums. 

Woods are very typical settings for Thriller films as they are wide open spaces that are large and there are a lot of obstacles e.g. logs, branches, rocks and it is typical in a thriller film that a character may trip over these obstacles whilst running through woods. This is seen in the film The Last House On The Left where two girls are being chased through the woods to try and escape when one of them trips over a rock.