Typical characters in psychological thrillers

Psychology involves the mental and internal process of the body and mind. In a psychological thriller the behaviours of the characters must reflect their mental state. This means that it is typical for these films to use characters that have been affected mentally in some way. For example characters with dark pasts is commonly used.

People who have been treated badly or have dark pasts is often used for example in the recent film The Gift, in this film a couple encounter an equaintance however it turns out to be someone who has been bullied by the husband in the couple and he is really back for revenge.

Another typical character used is convicts and criminals, a good example of this is the film seven. This film is about Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his modus operandi. These type of characters are often used because they are seen to be crazy/mentally ill. 

Alongside this comes another typical character which is detctives, these are often used in the same films as criminals and convicts for example in the film seven previously talked about. They work well in the genre as their job can cause high levels of stress and anxiety which is often linked with insanity. Another good example of this would be The Cell, this is a film about a detective trying to capture a serial killer. He is very stressed and finding it hard to capture him so turns to a new experimental technology, to enter the mind of the comatose serial killer in order to learn where he has hidden his latest kidnap victim.