Controlled analysis

Imdb user review
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, or as it is originally titled Men Who Hate Women, is one of the best contemporary thrillers I have seen in a while. It combines a suspenseful plot and brutal violence with a deep exploration of its title character. It goes beyond its plot, revolving around a missing persons investigation, to become an at times disturbing character study. Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace are essential to the film's success. Both actors inhabit their roles convincingly, making us care about people who could have been stock characters. Although the bulk of praise has gone to Rapace, Nyqvist's performance is also worth attention. As Blomkvist, he provides a stable counterpart to Rapace's impulsive Lisabeth Salander, at times coming across as the more sympathetic character.Much has been made of the level of graphic violence, particularly sexual violence, in this film. Although this may be off-putting to some viewers, it helps establish one of the film's most important themes: the impact of violence on its victims and its capacity to warp the human personality. The most graphic scenes, which come early in the film, help establish this theme, and play an important role in characterization as well.Hopefully, this film will be remembered at Oscar time. It is far better than most of the dreck that Hollywood has on offer. "

I agree with the aspect of the user rating I have highlighted in yellow, although it may be off-putting to some viewers I feel that the violence and graphic scenes actually develop the character of Lisbeth, not only does it allow the audience to sympathise with her but when she gets her revenge it strengthens her character and allows the film to further challenge the genre by having such a strong female character.
The Guardian film review
"Originally (and pertinently) entitled Men Who Hate Women, this first story has now been adapted for the screen and finds its way to the UK having already become a European box office smash; the other two have also been filmed and their release here will presumably depend on how this is received. For what it's worth, I predict healthy returns. It is a forensic procedural with explicit violence, sex, sexual violence, violent sex and crime-scene photos of the sort that were once never shown, then just glimpsed and now blandly lingered over in every detail.
Michael Nyqvist plays Michael Blomkvist, a reporter facing an unjust prison sentence for criminal libel. Before his jail term starts, he is hired by a wealthy industrialist to solve the mystery of a niece who disappeared 40 years before, and who, poignantly, once babysat Blomkvist as a boy. He uncovers a string of hate crimes, and teams up with a super-sexy badass computer hacker with emotional issues called Lisbeth (Noomi Rapace), the eponymous tattooed girl. This film is probably too long, and it's only after the first hour that the narrative engines are properly revved, but director Niels Arden Oplev really socks it over. A must for the existing fanbase: others might have preferred it in two or three TV episodes."

Analysis of thriller aspects within Shutter Island (2010, Martin Scorsese)- unfinished

Shutter Island is a 2010 film set in 1954 America. The main character Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from hospital for the criminally insane on "shutter Island" and is supposedly hiding nearby. According to IMDB it is classed a Drama, Mystery Thriller and I shall be exploring these thriller aspects within this analysis.

Scorsese instantly sets the genre through use of the location and the island's possession of thriller generics. The film begins with a small boat moving towards the island, the main character is vomited and the camera is unsteady to mimic the violent waves and to make the audience feel uncomfortable and to heighten the tension within the film from the beginning. Various types of extreme angles are used to begin with connoting absurdity and surrealism essentially foreshadowing the ambiguous events that go on at the Island. The still shot to the right is a long establishing shot of the Island. The Island is a generic location as is incredibly isolated as nothing surrounds it but violent waters. Water plays a great role in the film and could be seen as a way of separating Teddy psychically and mentally from the real world. The sea prevents him from leaving the island as seen in the still (top right) and in the still (bottom right) the rain distorts Teddy views creating a strong sense of surrealism and making Teddy vulnerable.

Analysis of thriller conventions within Psycho

Psycho is a Alfred Hitchcock thriller film made in 1960 starring Anthony Perkins and Vera miles. It is the story about a young female named Marion steals $40,000, she leaves town and encounters a motel proprietor named Norman Bates who seems dominated by his mother.  

User comment taken from IMDB

"When Psycho came out, the horror industry of movies was merely monsters, zombies, werewolves, and vampires. So when Psycho hit screens, the audience was finally introduced to psychological thrillers. It hit with such a huge bang that the audience was shocked...with fear and suspense. Psycho created what the thriller genre is today. It sliced through clique monster movies and changed it forever. Still today when you look at Norman Bates and his extremely freaky look when you see him watching the inspector's car sinking into the swamp sends chills down my spine. And when Marion Crane met her bloody demise in the middle of the movie, Hitchcock proved to everyone that this movie is different, different from every other movie you have ever seen. The cinematography in this movie is fabulous, the music is marvelously freaky, the acting is magnificent, the story is exceptional, and everything else about the movie is great. Too bad the sequels and the new remake was complete trash."

Generalised thriller conventions in Psycho;

• Claustrophobic locations
• Use of Femme Fatale
• Use of Ambiguous characters
• Use of murder (though not specific to the genre)

One of the first signifies of the thriller genre in this scene is through the sound, at the start this point we hear non-diegetic music which creates a melachonic atmosphere, building sympathy within the audience towards Marion as she is pictured alone sitting in an hotel room doing calculations and writing down figures, she looks at them and sighs, then tears them up. The room she is sitting in is unglamourous, dark and shadowed; which mirror her villainous character. Perhaps her ripping up the calculations was done purposefully by Hitchcock as metaphor or foreshadow of what will later occur to her as she conforms to her classic femme fatale role -deviant woman who is later tamed or eliminated.

    Marion then enters the bathroom and takes the paper and flushes it down the toilet, implying that Marion is "flushing away" her hopes of survival away. As visible in the still to the left Marion closes the door and essentially confines herself creating a claustrophobic environment and building suspense. She then continues by taking off her dressing gown and reducing her clothing until completely naked. We see close ups of her feet as she climbs into the bathtub and violently draws the curtains closed, implying that she is blocking out the world, "washing away" the crimes she has committed and creating a sense self-security however, as seen in the still shot to the right, the audience sees she is not secure or safe and feel effects of dramatic irony. She is in a position of vulnerability as she naked, in a confined space with nowhere to escape. At this stage we hear only diegetic sound of her turning the shower; which creates realism allowing the audience to relate to Marion's unsuspecting attitude.

We see various close ups of Marions head in order to see her emotions, to allow the audience to relate and also close ups of the shower head. The point of view "worms eye view" shot to the left makes the water seem somewhat menacing and violent connoting danger, which makes the audience feel as though Marion is small, vulnerable and quite insignificant. 

The camera changes to a mid shot of the shower curtain, revealing a silhouette. The camera  remains stationary as the silhouette becomes closer to the curtain; the tension increases as the audience realise the figure has aggressive intent and also when questioning who the figure is. The use of black and white film is particularly effective at this stage as the silhouette would appear less sinister and mysterious if it didn't contrast with the whiteness of the shower curtain; the blackness of the silhouette also creates strong connotation to death and evil. As the figure draws back the curtain the shots are swift and last no longer than a few seconds which has been done perhaps to highlight the brutality of the stabbing. Each separate shot would shock -especially a 1960's audience, as the viciousness had perhaps not been seen before. The deigetic music heightens the tension within the scene as it is; loud, urgent and resembles screams.

      After the stabbings the camera slowly pans down tow the bottom of the bath that is now flowing with blood, shocking the audience as it displays the severity of his murder.