Top Ten Thriller Box Office Movies

1) HANNIBAL

Domestic Total Gross: $165,092,268
Hannibal is a 2001 American crime thriller film directed by Ridley Scott, adapted from novel of the same name by Thomas Harris. It is the sequel to the 1991 Academy Award-winning film The Silence of the Lambs and returns Anthony Hopkins to his iconic role as serial killer Hannibal Lecter. Julianne Moore co-stars, taking over for Jodie Foster in the role of U.S.Federal Bureau of Investigation Agent Clarice Starling.

2) SE7EN

Domestic Total Gross: $100,125,643

The newly transferred David Mills and the soon-to-retire William Somerset are homicide detectives who become deeply involved in the case of a sadistic serial killer whose meticulously planned murders correspond to the seven deadly sins: gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, pride, lust and envy.

3) THE BONE COLLECTOR

Domestic Total Gross: $66,518,655
The film begins in winter 1997. Tetraplegic forensics expert Lincoln Rhyme and a patrol cop, Amelia Donaghy, teams up to solve a string of murders all connected to a serial killer by his signature: a single shard of bone is removed from each of the victims. Rhyme was paralysed from the neck down in an earlier accident and is bed bound and completely reliant on machines and his nurse Thelma to function. He communicates with Amelia via headset as she examines the various crime scenes and collects evidence and reports back to him.

4) THE RAVEN

Domestic Total Gross: $16,008,272

 This movie is set in the mid 1800s and involves poet Edgar Allan Poe. A serial killer is on the loose and murdering people using Poe's descriptions from his published stories and poems. Poe teams up with Detective Fields, a Baltimore policeman to try and catch the killer by using his knowledge of the descriptions. Even though the stories are fictional, they start to become reality and the killer is a step ahead of them. Then it takes on a personal note as Poe's lover becomes a target.

5) AMERICAN PSYCHO

Domestic Total Gross: $15,070,285
Set in Manhattan during the Wall Street boom. American Psycho follows the life of wealthy young investment banker Patrick Bateman. Bateman, in his late 20s when the story begins, narrates his everyday activities, from his recreational life among the Wall Street elite of New York to his forays into murder by nightfall. Through present tense stream-of-consciousness narrative, Bateman describes his daily life, ranging from a series of Friday nights spent at nightclubs with his colleagues — where they snort cocaine, critique fellow club-goers' clothing, trade fashion advice, and question one another on proper etiquette — to his loveless engagement to fellow yuppie Evelyn and his contentious relationship with his brother and senile mother.

6) MANHUNTER

Domestic Total Gross: $8,620,929
Will Graham is a former FBI agent who recently retired to Florida with his wife Molly and their young son. Graham was a 'profiler'; one who profiles criminal's behavior and tries to put his mind into the minds of criminals to examine their thoughts while visiting crime scenes. Will is called out of his self-imposed retirement at the request of his former boss Jack Crawford to help the FBI catch an elusive serial killer, known to the press as the 'Tooth Fairy', who randomly kills whole families in their houses during nights of the full moon and leaves bite marks on his victims. To try to search for clues to get into the mind of the killer, Will has occasional meetings with Dr. Hannibal Lecktor, a charismatic but very dangerous imprisoned serial killer that Will captured years earlier which nearly drove him insane from the horrific encounter that nearly cost Will's life. With some help and hindrance, Will races against the clock before the next full moon when the 'Tooth Fairy' will.


7) SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

 

Domestic Total Gross: $130,742,922
Young FBI agent Clarice Starling is assigned to help find a missing woman to save her from a psychopathic serial killer who skins his victims. Clarice attempts to gain a better insight into the twisted mind of the killer by talking to another psychopath Hannibal Lecter, who used to be a respected psychiatrist. FBI agent Jack Crawford believes that Lecter, who is also a very powerful and clever mind manipulator, has the answers to their questions and can help locate the killer. However, Clarice must first gain Lecter's confidence before the inmate will give away any information.

8) BASIC INSTINCT

Domestic Total Gross:$117,727,224 

A former rock star, Johnny Boz, is brutally killed during sex, and the case is assigned to detective Nick Curran of the SFPD. During the investigation, Nick meets Catherine Tramell, a crime novelist who was Boz's girlfriend when he died. Catherine proves to be a very clever and manipulative woman, and though Nick is more or less convinced that she murdered Boz, he is unable to find any evidence. Later, when Nilsen, Nick's rival in the police, is killed, Nick suspects of Catherine's involvement in it. He then starts to play a dangerous lust-filled mind game with Catherine to nail her, but as their relationship progresses, the body count rises and contradicting evidences force Nick to start questioning his own suspicions about Catherine's guilt.

9) IDENTITY

Domestic Total Gross: $52,159,536 

Malcolm Rivers has been convicted as the perpetrator of several murders and is sentenced to death. An eleventh hour defense by his lawyers and psychiatrist that Malcolm is insane based on new evidence has resulted in them meeting with the prosecutors and the judge to discuss if the verdict should be overturned. Meanwhile, on a dark night during a torrential rainstorm in the Nevada desert, a series of chain reaction events results in several people needing to stay at an out of the way motel managed by Larry.

10) SAW 3D

Domestic Total Gross $45,710,178.
Matt Gibson chases the psychotic Detective Mark Hoffman while jigsaw's widow Jill Tuck tries to kill him as assigned by her husband. However he escapes and Jill meets Gibson and offers to sign an affidavit listing the murders committed by Hoffman. In return, she requests protection. Meanwhile, the prominent Jigsaw survivor and leader of a support group Bobby Dagen is abducted with his wife and friends and forced to play a mortal game to save himself and his beloved wife.

Titles and Fonts

Sweeney Todd Example Font

As you can see from this title, the 'Sweeney Todd' part of the title has purposely been made the colour red, to resemble blood. This has been done in representation that somehow Sweeney will be associated with blood and the colour red quite frequently throughout the movie. As you an see the letters a readable, The font which has been chosen gives a rather gothic feel which help the audience since the time period of the film was set in old-time London. The font used is a Serif which helps add the more gothic feel to the picture.

We can also see from this image later on that the same type of font has been used and that this time it's all white instead of featuring the colour red. The hue was only used to symbolize the fact that Sweeney Todd would have something to do with the colour red, meaning blood.

I found this font on Dafont which resembles the earlier text which is presented within the film. The text which i found is called Optimus Princeps and it seems to match the font in the actual film. 

Se7en Example Font

With the title of 'Seven' or 'Se7en' as written in the opening titles and on the logo, the purpose of making the title say se7en is to link to the meaning behind the actual story line, and hint to the audience on what will happen during the actual film. During the title the effect put on the lettering has purposely made it slightly hard to read than what you may see in the Sweeney Todd title, and this effect could be linked to the fact that the plot line will be harder to understand.

There is very little variation what it comes to the title and the rest of the text shown throughout the rest of the opening but as you can see there is a slight change. The text, as linked to the film looks almost as though it's been written, and this is connected to the opening sequence when the murder / bad guy, is writing in his scrapbook.

I found this on Dafont, this typeface is called Cheeky Rabbit and it looks pretty similar to that was shown in the opening titles of Se7en.

Hostage Example Font

As you can see from the film Hostage, you can see that the typeface is a striking and formal font, it shows the name of the film and the actors in it clearly against the background which it's set. Although this hardly gives any evidence on what the film may be, and although i've never seen the film Hostage, i guess it's linked to some sort of police thriller, this could be connected to the fact that the font looks like the typeface you'd see in a crime drama.

I found this font on DaFont and it's called Hydrant Special, from the comparison on both the font an the actual font in the Hostage opening title.

Continuity Task

For my continuity task I along with my team ( Orla and Lucy ) created a sort film containing Lucy and Luke where by they are walking around, sitting down and then speaking to each other and handing each other pieces of paper with information on them. 

We created this by using rushes which we filmed of different sections and then editing them to fit what we wanted. Each section which we recorded individually was about a minute long and then we snipped it down to fit in about ten seconds. After then adding them together and making sure that the tasks different clips would fit together as well as possible we ensured that each edited piece of film was made to the best that we possibly could for the time period given.

There were of course many things that we could have changed and that we could have made better, one of which being the change between walking through doors, and then making the entry up the stairs a less of a time scale, due to the fact that it continued to longer than it should have done. 

Analysis : Sixth Sense

As we can see when the film actually starts theres a huge amount of enigma connect to opening titles. This being said, as you can see the blue titles appear whilst an growingly intense piece of music is being played in the background. We can also see a flash across the screen which adds even more enigma. Once the titles have vanished the camera focuses slowly on a light bulb to which this reveals they're in a basement or cellar of some sorts.
Once we've been introduced to the location we then see that there is a woman walking down the stairs and then towards a wall to get something, so far we dont know what that is, and from this we hear a none-diegetic sound from behind her. This automatically adds suspicion and tension.

from this scene we can slightly see the darkened, cold, and bland colour pallet which is being used whilst the woman is in the basement. The use of space makes the audience believe something Is standing their, and that she's possibly looking at something, but due to us not seeing anything we know there isn't actually something standing there, but only given the idea there is. This also adds enigma and also curiosity.



In the next scene we're transformed to what Is portrayed to be a warm home, from the use of candles and a fire the audience would expect this to be a lived in and loved home, unlike the dark basement just before. Before long we can see a couple talking and looking at something, but we don't know what it is yet, this enigma adds to the audiences curiosity from the previous scenes and has been done purposely to do this. We now know that the woman, whilst down in the dark room was actually getting some wine, and although the house is presented as being warm she informs her husband that she is in fact cold. This evidently can lead the audience to expect something ghostly, maybe to what she saw or felt in the basement, but also meaning that something may not be right.
As the camera turns we see a mounted plaque and this explains about his job.

The scene after the previous one shows a transition shot to the stairs and then shows the couple both upstairs, undressing and acting rather drunk. Although everything seems to be good, we can actually see a a broken window and phone on the floor. This adds an extreme amount of enigma due to the fact we don't know why it's broken, but also in a later scene we wind a man standing in his underwear shouting at this 'doctor' whom supposedly tried to help him. Not only this but we can see who is more intimidating in this scene with the use of visual hierarchy.

After talking and trying to figure out what might happen we actually see the man being shot, and falling back onto his bed, but whilst the camera is panning across the screen we also see the partly nude man shoot himself.

Analysis : The Purge Thriller

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0lcdgDCytA

Theses are the opening titles to The Purge. From what we can see is that there is a grainy video film, from what seems to be a CCTV camera outside a shop. From the typeface used, we can see how the producers have tried to match the type of font you would see on normal CCTV camera footage. This helps the audience believe the film being played is realistic. This helps with the film, since it's about an yearly Purge whereby for eight hours everything is legal, and no media services are in use. This footage makes the audience believe that the footage being shown on the CCTV camera is what's happening during the Purge. This can also be supported by the fact the worlds " SYRACUSE, NY PURGE FEED " is at the top of the screen. We can also see one of the main actors names to the side which is Ethan Hawke,
In this screen capture of the film, if we look at the Mise-en-Scène the colour palate is strickly on the grey scale, this adds to the darkness feeling which is presented in the rest of the film.

In this scene we can see more titles and more actors names. Just like the first scene we can see that the same typeface has been used and that they producers are keeping that consistent. From this we can also show that it's trying to reproduce the font used on a real CCTV camera. Although within this scene we can't see an visual hierarchy, the way people are running around gives the audience a sense of panic, and of being scared. This also helps link to the rest of the film, since it contains panic and pain. From scene to scene of the CCTV camera's the producers have purposely used jump shots to show how the movie will be fast paced and jumpy.

In this scene we can see the continuation in the typeface and the colour palate. Although this colour palate contains grey scale it also contains a little more colour, which is red. This can give the audience the idea that the film will also be dark and contain red, which would be the blood. This helps  a lot since the film is not only a thriller but also a horror, which instantly means there will be some type of gore and death.
This film is perfect to display this, since we can see a number of dead people laying face down on the street. The lighting in almost non-existent as it's so dark.

Analysis : Se7en Thriller

The audio to this opening has a lot of Enigmatic elements to it, which help to confuse and unnerve the viewer, creating the desired suspense. When you first start to listen to the opening music you believe that it's simply a random mess of sounds and beats, but what most don't actually realize is it's actually a song by the alternative rock band Nine Inch Nails, and the song is called Closer (Precursor)

Click To Listen To Nine Inch Nails - Closer (Precursor)

This is in fact perfectly worked, because the title of the album is " Closer To God " and the whole film is about the seven deadly sins.

There is a large variety of imagery in this opening sequence. It is edited in a very quick-fire fashion, one image/short piece of footage after another, so that we're never paying attention to something for any longer than a few seconds. It makes the opening very eerie and spooky especially as they flicker. This creates a very ghostly effect. Another part of the sound in this part of the opening is the evident scratching noises which sound very animalistic. Also, this is an indication of the violence that may or may not unfold later on in the film. There's a drumbeat to ensure that a rhythm is kept in the audio, as it is a music piece. But, this Drumbeat only kicks in later on in the sequence, speeding up the action and helping to build up suspense.

Disgusting imagery, such as the photographs of bodies, the drawing of the mangled hands and the sequence of the person in focus shaving skin off their fingers, all disgust and unnerve the viewer. The images of the bodies highlights that this person has a fascination with the death of others. As for the music and sound during this there is a lot of mechanical sounds, such as Gears, Creaking, Tape Rewinds and Electricity. The nature of these sounds are used in unison with the images which to some viewers can be very disturbing. This also can add a unnatural sense to the audio. It ties in to one piece of imagery, the old razor blade, to give a sense of atmosphere of what's going on in the footage.

Analysis : Marnie Thriller

Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie Opening Credits

 Dramatic music, building a small amount of suspense. Short fast notes, with a high pitched tone. This combined with the violins creating tones almost as if it were somebody screaming, this makes the viewer feel on edge and out of their comfort zone. As the title continues the music builds. As soon as the title of "Marnie" appears the music changes and becomes softer, it becomes more romantic sounding.

-Scene One-

 When the music stops and the actual picture starts, there is no music the only sound is of a woman walking and the sound of high heels on the concrete. When it focuses on her, you can see that the picture is purposely dull, grey / brown colours, but apart from the bag which she is holding, which is a bright yellow colour. There is an added enigma as the appearance of the woman holding the bag but you’re unable to see her face.

-Scene Two-

 There is juxtaposition from the scene changing from the woman holding the bag to when it jumps to a close up of a Mr Strat, shouting the word robbed, this is done where by he is practically saying it straight at the camera. He repeats the woman’s name twice, which is Marine Holland. We now know that the money is in that yellow bag by the way it has been depicted in the first scene. After this has happened Mr Strat speaks the woman's name whom told the money, which would be Marian Holland. The way in which this was done almost makes the viewer remember her name. When asked to describe the woman, he finds it hard to describe the woman because she is attractive. We already know that the description matched the woman we first saw in the first scene.

 Panning across the scene to the two main characters, Shaun has purposely been made bigger to convey visual hierarchy this tells the view that a more dominant presence has entered. The viewer can see that Mr Rutland and Mr strat are talking about the robbery where Rutland realises who Strat is talking about and is quiet sexist when speaking about her. He referees to her as 'The one with the legs' which it without a doubt degrading. Whilst he’s looking away from the camera, and describing Marian, this conveys the fact that he’s day-dreaming about the woman.

-Scene Three-

Switching back to the earlier scene, you see the woman again holding the yellow bag but still unable to see her face, this shot mirrors the first shot from the first scene. As she is is walking we notice that she is in a hotel as she is walking down a corridor with rooms either side with a bellboy holding her luggage, as they are approching the end of the hallway Hitchcock walks out of one of the hotel rooms. Of course this is usual for almost all Hitchcock films since he likes to feature himself in his films.

-Scene Four-

As the you see in the next scene calm music gradually progressing throughout the scene. We can see her wrapping her clothes up, placing them in separate suitcases and placing some neat and some untidy. We later see her open the yellow bag, the one that we've seen in both scenes before hand, and we see her take the money out an throw it in a suitcase. But also we see her remove the change her ID, and selecting from multiple fake ID cards.

In the last scene we can see the woman walking through what looks to be a train station. We see her go lock away her old clothes, along with her old ID badge and clothes as well as taking the key given to her when she locks away her clothes and then dropping the key through a grate so that it’ll be harder to find her identity.

Thriller Definition

Thriller is a genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as its main elements. Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods, giving them a high level of anticipation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and terror. Films of this genre tend to be adrenaline-rushing, rousing and fast-paced.