Key Elements of a Thriller

Once we watched North by Northwest, we spoke about some of the elements that were in the film that are key elements of a thriller. One of these things was MacGuffin's. A Macguffin is a plot element that catches a viewers attention, and even though we dont know what the object is the characters are willing to do almost anything to obtain it. Commonly the MacGuffin is just an object most of the time we dont know what the object is, such as in North by Northwest. Common examples are money, victory, glory, a source of power, threat and even sometimes is forgotten about in the end. Another key element is a Red Herring. A Red Herring is an element of a film/plot that diverts attention away from something that may be obvious towards something else that will lead the viewer onto another trail (the wrong one). At the end of the film it will be revealed that it was just a red herring and the correct trail would be revealed. Suspense is a big key part is a thriller. Thrillers use suspense to make it thrilling, not ordinary and boring it adds excitement, thrill and a sense of wanting to know more. This is how most thrillers keep the viewer entertained and involved in the film. One last element is that a thriller always has a Villain. The villain is the 'bad guy' the 'evil one', some say that it is a 'cruelly malicious person who is devoted to being wicked or to crime'. They mainly have a bad influence on other characters in the film.