Thriller key characterstics

The thriller genre can be broken down into four main categories: themes, characters, iconography and narrative events. Under each of those categories there are some conventional elements which often appear in thriller films.

Themes

• Isolation
• Loneliness
• Entrapment
• Innocence v. guilt
• Claustrophobia
• Stalking
• Voyeurism
• Secrets
• Suicide
• Mysterious deaths
• Predetermined deaths
• Criminal activity
• Gangster culture
• Vulnerability
• Revenge
• Anxiety
• Stalk & slash
• Deception
• Treachery
• Corruption
• Law & order
• Murder
• Rape
• Spying
• Terrorism
• Romance/sex/seduction
• Seedy underworlds
• Political conspiracies
• Ambiguity
• Power
• Money
• Torture
• Heists
• Complex relationships
• Danger
• Tension
• Obsession
• Betrayal
• Adultery

Characters

• Lone detectvies
• Femme fatales
• Gangsters
• Gangster's moll
• Psychopaths
• Sociopaths
• Female victim
• Downtrodden wives
• Fugitives
• Assassins
• Terrorists
• Cops
• Escaped cons
• Drifters
• Police chiefs
• Lawyers
• Shadowy figures
• Clowns
• Final girl
• Children (both good and evil)

Iconography

• Shadows
• Street lights
• Guns
• Knives
• Binoculars
• Blood smears
• Artificial lighting
• Metal
• attics
• Basements
• Alleyways
• Graveyards
• Mist
• Briefcases
• Drugs
• Masks
• Technology
• Water (lakes, rivers etc)
• Tunnels
• Candles
• Woodlands
• Glass
• Blinds/curtains
• Derelict buildings
• Cars
• Frames
• Underworld 'dends'
• Rain
• Neon lights
• Extreme camerwork
• Blackclothing
• Night
• Wells
• Bars

Narrative events, sounds or actions

• Being watched
• Someone being followed
• Discovery of a body
• Entrapment
• Gunshots
• Screaming
• Chase
• Scamming
• Love triangles
• Deaths
• Creaks
• Dramatic music
• Stabbing
• Kidnapping
• Heists
• Spooky sound effects
• Spying
• People tied up
• Searches
• Phonecalls
• Secret conversations
• Arguments
• Smashing objects
• Recording/CCTV
• Meetings

Here's a moodboard I created, featuring images depicting some of thriller's main characteristics: