Expectations of Characters in a Thriller Film

There are a lot of generic character types within the thriller genre. They make up tension and suspense and the development of their character and behaviour often is the main focus of the film. Conventional characters within the thriller genre include: criminal, stalkers, innocent victims (on the run), characters with dark pasts, down-on-their luck losers, defiant women, cops and escaped convicts, psychotic individuals, private eyes, femme fatales, terrorists, drug addicts and people involved in twisted relation ships.

A range of obvious characteristics are used to present the characters in quite a conventional and sometimes exaggerated way. Greed, jealousy, envy, pursuit, political conspiracy, murder and romantic entanglements are often the themes apparent within thrillers, relating to characters motives etc.