Real-life incidents similar to our thriller

Woman Kills Her Mother Inspired by Breaking Bad

Kuntal Patel had often fantasised about killing her mother after she had been forbidden her to marry her boyfriend Niraj. She had then contacted a poison dealer on the dark web and claimed that she needed a deadly toxin to get her mother out of the way. When the poison arrived, she claimed it was simply supposed to knock her out but it ended up killing her. She did all this because she felt like she was a Mexican drug warlord similar to the main characters of the television series Breaking Bad. Currently, she is saying that she had nothing to do with it and the only reason that she was doing it was to fulfil her fantasies. This relates to our thriller because the main antagonist Sebastian Giles is using a toxin to get Sean Finch to do what he wants which in this case is forcing him to kill the people on his list.

Russian Spy Killed by Poison Umbrella

On September 7th 1918, Russian Spy Georgi Markov was stabbed on his back thigh with a poison umbrella, which at that point was no more painful than an insect bite. However as time progressed, the area that was stabbed was clearly showing a bruise and it was continuing to get larger. Over the course of the following week he became progressively sicker until he eventually died on September 11th 1918. This incident relates to our thriller because Sean Finch has also been injected with a toxin that is set to kill him extremely painfully in 36 hours and what happened with Markov is that he had also died a painful death as a result of a toxin being injected into his bloodstream.

Feedback from our thriller idea

From presenting our idea, we have decided to make a few changes. Instead of showing the syringe as a prop in the opening sequence, we will not showcase the syringe. This will create suspense as the ending of the film could be that he didn’t actually get injected, showing the whole act was a facade and therefore the character was set up. Feedback also showed that instead of a teenage boy acting the role, we decided that the role should rather be an older, middle-aged man who seems mature and even less likely to be involved in a plot like this.

Looking at other movie openings will provide us with further inspiration. These films are Crank, The Bourne Identity and The Long Kiss Goodnight, which as a group have discovered. These are examples of action thrillers, which can be analysed in how they connect to our thriller and how we can possibly develop our idea. At the moment our thriller has a working title and we will deliberate ideas at a later stage.

Group idea for our thriller

My favourite thriller idea

Thriller ideas from news articles

This news article is about a man who died after being found lying in the road 90 minutes after a woman was murdered one street away. They both knew each other.

I could turn this into a thriller as there could be a serial killer who, by killing a person, someone the murderer knew would also die. It could begin with someone distant, but as the murderer kills more and more people, his friends and family could start to die.

From this article, I have thought that my thriller could be about a father and teenage daughter who have a close relationship, but her mother is dead. The daughter could be unaware that her father is a serial killer and is in fact the person who killed her mother. The thriller could show him killing different people and show his daughter’s gradual realisation of the truth.

This article has inspired me to think about creating my thriller about a kidnapper who continues to frame a woman she hates for her own kidnappings of people connected in some way to the woman she is blaming. The thriller could show everyone believing that she is guilty, although she promises of her innocence.

The Art of the Title Sequence

What is a thriller?

Thrillers tend to play around with the audience’s experience of the film; so thrillers commonly create tension and suspense to make the audience unaware of what will happen next to cause shock and excitement.

This genre of film usually includes a lot of action and physical and emotional violence at a fast pace. Generally the plot also involves a protagonist in danger from an immoral villain. On many occasions, the villain has the upper hand through most of the story as they often have information that the protagonist doesn’t, which is used to their disadvantage. Sometimes, the information is even hidden from the audience so their surprise is heightened.

Although the feelings created by thrillers are very similar, there is a large range of sub-genres in thriller films including conspiracy thrillers, science-fiction thrillers, crime thrillers, psychological thrillers, action thrillers, spy thrillers and supernatural thrillers.

A conspiracy thriller involves the protagonist unravelling a vast plot (often without meaning to) and ends up with them confronting a powerful group of enemies.

‘Awake’ is an example of a conspiracy thriller film. The story focuses on a man who suffers from anesthesia awareness and finds himself awake, but paralysed, during heart surgery. As a turn of events unravels around them, his mother tries to uncover the story hidden behind her son’s wife.

‘Snake Eyes’ is another conspiracy thriller. It is about a shady police detective who finds himself in the middle of a murder conspiracy at an important boxing match in an Atlantic City casino.

A science-fiction thriller incorporates science-based themes into the plot of the film. Classically, a sci-fi film will have heroes, villains, unexplored places, unusual missions and advanced technology. Often, a sci-fi will explore the theme of the future going bad, including plots that contain alien invasions, dystopian settings, and super-diseases.

‘Inception’ is an example of a sci-fi thriller. It is the story of a thief who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream-sharing technology and is given the task of planting an idea into the mind of a CEO.









‘District 9’ is also a sci-fi thriller and is about an extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth who suddenly find a friend in a government agent who is exposed to their biotechnology.

A crime thriller shows a suspenseful account of a criminal with murders, robberies, chases, shootouts or heists. The storyline tends to focus on the protagonist as well as the criminal with a lot of action and psychological aspects to build tension.

‘The Usual Suspects’ is a crime thriller where a sole survivor tells of the winding events that lead up to a shocking gun battle on a boat, which begin when five criminals meet at a police lineup.









‘The Score’ is another crime thriller about an ageing thief who hopes to retire and live off his ill-gotten wealth when a young kid convinces him into doing one final heist.

A psychological thriller incorporates elements of drama and mystery film. The protagonists in psychological thrillers must rely on their mental resources to solve the situation. The suspense in this sub-genre comes from the mind, rather than from a psychical threat, until the often violent resolution.

‘The Machinist’ is an example of a psychological thriller film. It focuses an industrial worker who hasn't slept in a year and begins to doubt his own sanity.

‘Shutter Island’ is also a psychological thriller and is about a marshal who is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is thought to be hiding somewhere nearby.

An action thriller uses physical action to create excitement within the film. Like a traditional action film, it will commonly have physical stunts, chases, fights, battles, and races. Often, these scenes will add to the sense of danger that the protagonist is facing.

‘The Expendables’ is an action thriller about a CIA operative who hires a team of mercenaries to eliminate a Latin dictator and a traitor CIA agent.

‘The Bourne Identity’ is another action thriller film concerning a man who is picked up by a fishing boat, riddled with bullets and suffering from amnesia, before racing to avoid assassins and recover his memory.

A spy thriller is a thriller in which the protagonist is normally a government agent who must obtain political or military information and take violent action against agents of a rival government or terrorists. The thriller is usually combined with action and science fiction genres.

‘The Recruit’ is an example of a spy thriller film and is about an extraordinary young CIA trainee who is asked by his mentor to help find a mole in the agency.

‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ is also a spy thriller about an espionage veteran who, in the bleak days of the Cold War, is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet agent within MI6.

A supernatural thriller film brings in a paranormal element mixed with a lot of tension, suspense and plot twists. Sometimes the protagonist and/or the villain has psychic abilities or superpowers and the plot will revolve around that.

‘The Gift’ is a supernatural thriller about a woman with visionary perception who is asked to help find a young woman who has disappeared.

‘The Invisible’ is another supernatural thriller film. It is about a boy who, after an attack, is left invisible to the living.