Thriller Target Audience

Generally the target audience of the thriller genre are usually teenagers and young adults, this is because younger people are thrill seekers and enjoy the rush of adrenaline a thriller can provide a lot of due to their naturally intriguing, mysterious and action packed atmospheres. However, this may not be the case due to the existence of other sub genres like drama thrillers, fantasy thrillers, psychological thrillers etc. So depending on the sub-genre, the types of audience the film will attract will vary because people who are fans of the thriller genre as a whole may not like  sci-fi fantasy thrillers such as ‘Alien’, ‘Elysium’ or perhaps one of the latest releases ‘Arrival’ 2016. Although there is a mass audience for the umbrella genre of thriller, there are smaller niche audiences for the sub-genres.

In some cases, thrillers may be based on true events, and therefore usually attract a larger audience purely because a film tends to have a bigger impact on the audience if they know it is based on a true story. Some examples of real life inspired films would be ‘Zodiac’, ‘Monster’ and ‘A Time to kill’. All of these films were received well by the audience and their critics as they all gave fantastic performances form their lead actors, such as Charlize Theron’s performance in monster and her complete transformation of character. People who are already fans of the horror genre tend to also enjoy thrillers whether they are psychological, crime, drama etc. It’s the built up and tense atmosphere and the unpredictability of the narrative they enjoy, they can get that rush of adrenaline that horror thrill seeking audiences can usually experience with scary films.

The thriller target audience will also enjoy thriller TV shows as well as films, so shows such as: Criminal Minds, CSI, Bones, Twin Peaks, The Killing, Wayward Pines, Dexter, Hannibal and Sherlock are perfect representations of crime thriller dramas and their styles and narratives reflect some of those in films. Some of these series and movies would be a great influence for my A2 film project to gain a better comprehension of what a crime thriller would generally entail.