Thriller:

Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: (18)

This is a very unconventional film & musical.

Most musicals are light-hearted &enjoyable to watch, however, this film is a gothic musical thriller.

It is directed by Tim Burton, a very iconic director – who also directed Edward Scissorhands. Burton has a very distinctive & unique style of film-making.

Characters in Burton films always wear a lot of makeup & the costumes are always exaggerated – either very bright or very dark, dull costumes.

In Sweeney Todd the costumes & lighting are very subdued, to add a gloomy, negative effect to the film.

This film is very conventional within Burton’s style, but very unconventional in comparison with other filmmakers.

The Fugitive: (15)

This film has a reasonably conventional storyline. It could be argues that this film could also be categorised as crime, as the killer is not identified until late in the film.

I think this film is a thriller because not only do you have the conventional plot of the police attempting to catch the killer, you also follow the journey of an innocent, convicted person & their struggle for freedom & justice.

 

 

 

Memento: (15)

As with The Fugitive, this film could also be categorised as ‘crime.’ There is a very unconventional way of switching and identifying the past & the present throughout this film. This is highlighted by the use of black & white for one time period & full colour for another. There is continual cross-cutting between the two timeframes as the plot develops.

This film has a very complex storyline, similar to lots of thriller/crime films which are left of cliff-hangers.