I haven’t really done a lot in terms of watching or writing horror in the last month. However, Sunday (for some reason) I recalled the movie Ronin, which I love dearly, and how I like Jean Reno’s cautious cool persona. This led me into trying to find a film he starred in I couldn’t remember off hand, so, off to Google. I found it. The Crimson Rivers (2001), is a psychological thriller. To my surprise, it had a sequel in 2004 (with Christopher Lee).
This is not a film review, though I did take the time to watch both films. Reno stars as Commissaire Pierre Niemans, the world-weary policeman who, in film one, is called to a university in the French Alps to solve a gruesome murder. The second film involves murder as well, and both center on clandestine cult behaviors and the darkest recesses of the human condition. Both are good, I recommend them.
However, as I looked at them, I had a fun thought experiment, “Wait. Isn’t this just horror?” So, while watching, I Googled ‘psychological thriller vs. horror,’ and, as you may have guessed, there are already a plethora of online articles on the subject. I gave a few a read, sat back, and pondered.
Generally, while thrillers and horror can overlap, the main difference the articles push is a thriller is all hanging on suspense, while horror is living for the fear, dread, doom. I suppose this is a fair, generalized comparison. But if you don’t mind, I’d like to give my own. You are under no obligation to accept it or take it seriously. It’s just the jumbled mental castoff from one guy. Because truly, each can be with or without gore, sexual situations, foul language, violence, the usual tropes. But one unnoticed mark (or so I think) stands out.
Okay. A thriller is horror from the viewpoint of a trained professional, typically a cop.
Horror is perceived from the victims, and possibly, survivors.
They aren’t so different, just two sides of the same coin.
Any thriller I can think of is mainly about a troubled, disgruntled cop/agent/profiler trying to catch a sick individual before they kill again. Every horror movie or book is about a person or persons trapped in an environment while a killer/monster is after them. A thriller is a horror film/novel with its focus on the investigator trying to catch that killer/monster in the environment.
One centers on the law, the other, on those hurt.
So this makes the police procedural a natural fit for a psychological thriller. It’s all about the cop, after all. Heck, the victims in these films often play second fiddle to how the crimes make the cop feel. Horror is all about those directly in the killer’s sights, with law enforcement the bystander, or haplessly mowed down during the bloody cat and mouse game.
They’re both thrillers.
They’re both horror.
Only the POV shifts.
This may seem dim, uninteresting, or just plain wrong to some, and I admit it’s a flash-in-the-pan thought born of a lazy Sunday layabout. But I like it. I think it holds to a degree while being in no part all inclusive or an end-all to the discussion. Often genres are described in vague or excruciatingly detailed adjectives. This watch made me realize, Point Of View is often never considered as to how it affects genre.
Once I figured this would be the topic of this week’s post, it made me wonder two things. What do you think makes horror separate from thrillers? Do you think POV should be considered in defining a genre? Heck, do you like psychological thrillers? If so, what do you recommend?
While I await your answers, I’m gonna go find Matango. It’s been too many years not seeing that classic…
Threads that Bind 
4 responses to “THRILLSEEKING”
Very interesting, my friend, and I really think you’ve nailed it beyond any insights I might add. As to what I recommend, British television went through a phase a decade or more back that is still lingering a bit. They are series about cold-case squads looking at decades-old unsolved crimes and trying to solve them from a modern viewpoint. They’re usually murders, the case often restarted by construction projects unearthing a skeleton, and the cops have to work backward through a few new clues: a coin in a pocket might offer a date, for example, or the victim was wearing a distinctive tie clip or necklace.
In my opinion, the best of these is New Tricks in which a hot-shot female detective screws up and is then assigned to recruit a rag-tag band of retired cops to review old crimes. It’s very character driven and includes a lot of comedic banter between the young female go-getter and her aging “boys.” Ran for 11 seasons, so there’s a lot of it. Other good looks are The Bay, Unforgotten, and Broadchurch. One that I’d stay away from is Waking the Dead. The stories and forensics are good, but the “team” are all nasty and don’t seem to like each other all that much. All available on Amazon, Acorn, or Britbox.
And that’s enough recommendations to get you going. The tension here lies in seeing these cops coming up with new insights and making everyone squirm. The killer, obviously, doesn’t want to get caught, but maybe the bank manager doesn’t want his wife to become aware of the affair he was having back then, or the straight-laced wife doesn’t want her politico husband to find out that she used to sell dope on campus. Everyone seems to have a reason to impede the investigation, and the cops have to sort out who has the real one. Highly recommended!
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Thanks for the recommendations ! I have seen the first season of New Tricks, and it’s a really good show.
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I think you might be on to something about the difference between thriller and horror being rooted in the point of view. I might even generalize it just a bit more to say it really depends on how much control the point-of-view character has over the situation. If the character has a certain amount of power in the situation (such as a police officer), you have more of a thriller. If the character feels powerless or grows hopeless, you have more of a horror situation.
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Exactly. I mean, I realize Thrillers are police procedurals, or if we get nitpicky, old school dirty detective mags turned movie, add more blood. But still a horror. It is strange to watch a thing and then have a realization over it. Especially POV. But power. That even more on the nose, thank you.
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