How we change what others think, feel, believe and do

Psychological thriller

Disciplines > Storytelling > Plots > Classic story types > Psychological thriller

Description | Example | Discussion | See also

Description

The psychological thriller deliberately uses psychological tricks to create tension in the audience, for example by showing only indirect signs of a stalker or playing on the anxiety of the victim.

As these stories make maximum use of suspense, action can be relatively slow, fizzing along like a slow-burning fuse. Whilst the audience may not be excited, they should be gripped by the story and glued to their seats.

Example

Psycho (and many other Hitchcock movies)
The Sixth Sense (and others by M. Night Shyamalan)

Discussion

A good psychological story actually shows very little although the audience may swear later that they saw things that were not there.

By stimulating the imagination of the audience, the storyteller gets half of the story written inside the heads of their audience.