Psychological Thriller Characters

In Pyschological Thrillers the film usually revolved around an Antagonist and a Protagonist.

Antagonist Characteristics:

• Stereotypically the antagonist is usually male - the male gender connoting strength, dominance and making them more suitable for the role.
• The antagonists intentions are usually to stalk their victims, playing mind games with them and mixing imagination and reality together in order to confuse them and make them fearful, also making them weak and easier prey.
• Their is usually a dark history behind the antagonist sometimes shortly seen in a film, giving a small explanation to their erratic and clever behaviour.
• The antagonist is mostly seen hunting down people, hungry for blood, killing victims in inhumane ways due to their sick minds.
• Their is usually an eery mood following the antagonist, their behaviour strange compared to those of a normal human, with a lack of empathy for others.

 


 
 
 

Protagonist Characteristics:

• The protagonist is usually introduced as naive and vulnerable. Their past shown through their current personality, many having gone through a tough time, sometimes death, mental health or any other major trauma's, making the character have a vulnerable side for the Antagonist to use.
• They usually have a mental health issue, emotionally unstable, or are battling something in their mind, whether that be bad memories, guilt or remorse.

• Sometimes the protagonist has battle scars showing their past history, reminding the of the trauma they have been through, wether these marks be scars, tattoo's or bruises.

Other characters may be called "pawn's" these characters acting with the antagonist to lure the protagonist into horrible situations triggering their past memories unsettling the protagonist using vile methods to disturb them. An example could be that they kill someone close to them in the same way a past family member died, in the same specific place they died also. Pulling on their victims strings, making them weaker.