Settings in Thrillers

Settings in Thrillers

The settings of Thrillers greatly changes between each movie. This is greatly dependent on the plot and the characters involved in that plot.

For example, in 2010's Shutter Island, the setting is that of a mental institute on a remote island where the criminally insane live and are cared for. As Edward Daniels turns out to actually be a patient there, the movie is highly centered around that setting of the island and never leaves it as that character is bound to it.

In 'detective' or crime Thrillers, the settings are often busy are highly populated areas like cities. This is evident in films like 1995's 'Seven' where the setting is that of an unnamed city. Another example of this setting in a crime Thriller is 1994's 'Léon: The Professional' who's setting is in New York City in the Little Italy neighborhood.

However, not all crime Thrillers are set in city type settings. An example of a movie that breaks this trend is 2007's 'No Country for Old Men' who's setting is in the vicinity of the New-Mexico border and in more deserted desert areas with few homes and few people living in those areas. This film is set in the 1980s and the fact that it is based on a book which may be the reasons for this more obscure setting whereas more recently set crime Thrillers are set in cities. 

The 1999 movie Sixth Sense has quite an outer and inner urban setting where Dr. Malcolm Crowe moves between inner city home settings to outer city church settings to speak with Cole Sear and help him. This is vastly different from Shutter Island's setting as the main character's profession and mental situation affects where they live and spend most of their time. This then changes where most of the film is set as it follows the main character to allow the plot develop and to reveal new twists to the audience.

The sporadic and constantly changing nature of settings in Thrillers makes it difficult to identify the genre of Thriller based on setting alone. However, most settings have a dark tone to them with hidden meanings similar to a setting like a church or a haunted house that have hidden elements like a person hiding. This use of settings is also quite similar to horror films that have many hidden parts in them. As said above, it should also be remembered that films set on books often have their settings already decided for them and the director is forced to film at this setting otherwise the plot could suffer from not making sense. Thrillers that are set on books include: Fight Club, The Shining, The Silence of the Lambs, The Talented Mr. Ripley and Minority Report. Most of these films have in some way altered their setting to better match the setting in the book and so are not always able to keep to the general trend of settings in Thrillers.