Planning: Psychological Thriller and Torture Porn Analysis

Psychological Thriller

Alfred Hitchcock is considered to be a God of suspense films, as it was he who first produced many of the recognised techniques.

Peter Hutchings states that a psychological thriller is one "with domesticated settings in which action is suppressed and where thrills are provided instead through investigations of the psychologies of the principal characters."

Plot twists are a common feature within these sort of films. A plot twist is a change in the direction of the outcome of the plot. They are used to keep viewers engaged by providing them with some form of surprise. In addition to plot twists, unreliable narrators are utilized to help enhance this sort of genre because they tend to mislead viewers and influence them to believe a totally different theory. This contributes to the element of surprise or confusion because it forces people to delve deeper mentally and try and come to a definitive conclusion, however it is not always possible. A final feature of a psychological thriller is a MacGuffin. A MacGuffin is a goal which the protagonist attempts to achieve, but it doesn't hold much importance to the overall plot.

Se7en is a well-known psychological thriller because it successfully implements the aforementioned techniques. A plot twist which can be seen in Se7en is when John Doe, the antagonist, who has confessed to numerous killings, has offered to show the detectives where a final victim is situated. But to the viewer's surprise, he has Detective Mills' wife's head delivered to them. Mills, who is a fiery individual, eventually finds out and through anger, kills Doe. Killing Doe meant that his own wishes to serve the Almighty Power had been fulfilled.

Torture Porn

Torture porn, or splatter film, is seen as a sub-genre of horror film and primarily focuses on the gore. In comparison to general horror films which leave the graphic violence in the lurch through highly regarded shots like cut-away, torture porn tries to inflict fear in viewers by displaying the "physical destruction of the body and the pain accompanying it." Furthermore, torture porn doesn't seem to have any clear plot order and it appears that each scene comes along naturally.

is a widely recognised splatter film because it slowly progresses through the stage of pain and each scene is acted out in an extremely detailed manner. The antagonist is portrayed as a mentally-twisted individual who thrives on the pain he delivers. This characteristic of gore can be seen when a student within the movie is stripped and chained to a chair, to the point that his dignity has completely been taken. His body parts are then individually targeted with malicious weapons and he is made to voice his discomfort. Moreover, the torturer provides the protagonist with a brief glimpse of freedom, as well as hope, before stripping him of that privilege.