Thriller market research

Top 5 thriller films.

The Sixth Sense

The sixth sense is a horror/thriller that combines conventional elements of horror with the conventional elements of thriller. It had a high expectation and it delivered on every promise. We got a very exhilarating and suspenseful horror/thriller hybrid – and many others try and fail so very often.

The film has an overall rating of 85% on Rotten Tomatoes a popular review site. But critics are what make up scores and we need to analyse why the film was highly praised.

Critical response

The film was highly praised for its narrative and unique direction, the plot and characters were also praised too. Most of the technical elements were effective in pushing the plot forward, critics praised the scene direction and the acting was sound and never made it feel forced or hurtful. The film had a lot going for it, the cast was popular and there were a lot of big names entering the field here, but for all that it still wasn’t perfect: at times it didn’t always feel very horrific sometimes shots would linger for far too long, but none of this would have affected the film in a terrible way.

Overall the critics were right to call this a masterpiece because once you get past the novelty of it, you can’t escape its charm.

Shutter Island

Similar to Sixth Sense but also very different, it combines a little more action into the horror mix but also keeping the atmosphere heavily integrated into the narrative which is always a fine point.

The film was well received by critics; holding an average score of 68% , but just being over average isn’t a very special thing at all. It wasn’t at all perfect, but overall it was well received.

Critical response

Holding an average score of 68% is not an amazing feat in the slightest, it actually tends to be a little on the average side. But as with a lot of things it seems like an “acquired taste” sort of film, many criticized the complicated plot and some thought that the twist was largely disappointing. It really was a lucky dip, but most critics praised the film for what it was trying to do and although it wasn’t perfect it did deliver tense and exciting moments that are conventional of the genre.

The Bourne Identity

The Bourne Identity is an action thriller, these are very popular and the market is saturated with many action thrillers being released each year, and if there’s anything I’ve learned through this it’s that most films need innovation to make it in the market, however this was 2002 so the only thing people were expecting was an action focused thriller with a minimalist plot. So with that in Bourne Identity was a very conventional thriller, it holds a very respectable 83% on Rotten Tomatoes and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t.

For most people who watched this film, they were expecting a very generic thriller, but it turned out to be a very exciting film with plenty of memorable moments.

Critical response

Bourne was well received by critics and viewers alike, the film was praised for having good action, nice set pieces and good direction. However as mentioned before the film can sometimes be described as generic and I don’t really disagree, but does that make it bad? No, it doesn’t because the end goal was to make you feel tense and on edge at all times and it did it for me as well as other critics.

If a film like this were to be released now then it would be torn to pieces by reviewers claiming it’s unoriginal and very boring.