In Depth Look at Two Different Thriller Films

Pyscho (1960) and Se7en (1995)

Pyscho (1960)

In the murder scene, Marion of which is the female protagonist, enters the shower and there is a high angle shot of her looking content as she showers. As a result of the high angle shot, we as an audience naturally look down on Marion and are clearly too able see how unsuspecting and innocent she is. In the shower she is also naked, which is again a commonly used convention in horror films before the female victim dies, as it represents how vulnerable they become as danger approaches them or they approach danger.

 Throughout the scene, there is a constant close-up of the protagonist’s face before, during and after the sudden murder. When the silhouetted killer, in the shape of an elderly woman approaches the shower, there is a front over the shoulder shot of Marion which creates dramatic irony for the audience because the protagonist is totally oblivious to the fact she is in grave danger, too the silhouetted character. Often in horror or thriller films, the killer is masked and unidentified which creates this suspense and edgy fear of the unknown in the audience, while adding to a film’s effectiveness to put terror in the minds of viewers. In ‘Psycho’ the killer actually subverts to the generic conventions, as she initially appears to be an old woman but turns out to be the hotel manager who disguised himself as his mother, to perhaps shift the blame. This gives us as an audience, a slight shock when the truth is revealed and makes the story line all the more chilling and twisted.

The conventional knife murder weapon used to kill Marion, adds to the gruesome gore in the film, as the murder scene becomes very bloody. When the knife is about to be used to attack the protagonist, it is shown in the light and therefore juxtaposes its shadowed background. The use of lighting on the murder weapon is used to draw the audiences’ focus towards it and alarm them of an impending attack.

‘Psychos’ popular shower scene, also caused a stir among some viewers as they argued that “Hitchcock may be scaring his female viewers, but he is turning his male viewers into potential rapists”, states Serge Kaganski (French film critic). Having said that, the films unique use of the portrayal of horror conventions used, did alternatively adds to its outstanding representation of the brutal killer and how far he/she would go to cover up his murderous actions.

Se7en (1995)

In the crime scene of the ‘Sloth Victim’ there are numerous close up shots that represent the emotion shown on a characters face, in this example, there are close up shots of the two detectives, showing the scarce look on their faces as they are evaluating the murder scene. With the lighting, this film/clip has dark and dingy lighting, representing the mysterious and secretive feel to the crime scene.

 Throughout this scene there is many high and low angle shots to represent the vulnerability of certain characters and the power of others, more often than not there are low angle shots of the detectives and the high angle close up shots of the police, which represents the detectives have a higher prestige over the police, also shows that the police perform the more dangerous jobs, and the detectives come in after the police.

In the clip of them discovering the body, there is a small light on in the background, of which doesn’t illuminate the room enough to provide sufficient detail of the setting, creating a lot of tension and suspense for the audience. Also the only light that is significant within the clip is the torches on the end of the police guns, of which provide that sense of insecurity, as the characters cannot see everything in the room.

The main props that are represented in this clip is a gun, of which is used to keep the police officer safe, which implies the the gun is a safety mechanism. On the end of the gun is a flashlight which is used to shine on a object, or a place of which the character wants to look at, in this case, the officer wanted to look around the room to see whether there is any danger, and to look at the dead body, to attempt to work out how the body was murdered. The flash light plays a significant part of the clip as it is used for a lot of reasons, for example the location in which the characters are situated is very dark and dingy, therefore the flashlight is very significant, so the character can see what they want to look at.

Contrasting both Thriller Films

Although the scene in which I have chosen are completely different, one being a crime scene, which is the clip from ‘Se7en’ and one being a murder scene, which is the clip from ‘Pyscho'. Both films share the same sort of conventions, although they are completely different, there are many close up shots, which is key in any thriller film to represent the emotion shown on a characters face, in the murder scene there is a lot of close up shots of the victim, which represents the oblivious state in which she is shown, and in the crime scene, there is many close up shots of the detectives and police, implying that they are nervous and afraid of what is in the crime scene.

In both films there are many high and low angle shots to represent the vulnerability of a character and the power of another character. In the clip from Se7en, there are many close up shots of the detectives and police showing that one is in more danger than another, for example the detectives are in less danger than the police as the police have to go into the crime scene first. In the clip from Pyscho, there is many low angles shots of the murderer, of which represents the character as being more powerful than the victim.

The props that are used in both scenes are completely different, in terms of the objects that are used. In the clip from Psycho, there is a knife which the murderer uses, where as in the clip from se7en, the murder has already occurred and the murder weapon has been hidden, which also relates to the clip from Pyscho, as the murderer takes the murder weapon with them, in turn hiding the weapon that is used.

In the clip from Se7en, there is very dark and dingy lighting, which informs the audience that there may be something very mysterious about to happen. Whereas in the clip from Pyscho, the film is done in all black and white, but from the lighting you can see mostly everything, which tells the audience that it may have been very bright, which is unique as it normally a murder is represented by lighting by being very dark and dingy, which makes the viewer not know who the murderer is, but in the clip from Pyscho it is very light, but they made it unique, by making the shadow of the killer very dark, so the viewer doesn't know who the murderer is.