Thriller

The three main elements of a thriller are suspense, tension and excitement used to 'thrill' an audience by giving the a high level of anticipation.'Thriller' is a genre in which many sub-genres can be developed. Some of these sub-genres include, action thriller, supernatural thriller, science fiction thriller, psychological thriller, religious thriller and crime thriller, The sub-genre (if there is one) is generally determined by the thriller genre conventions which are developed through characters, plot/narrative, themes and micro-elements.

action thriller: protagonist is commonly a male figured hero 'coming to the rescue' against a villain/antagonist. main factors of the film are violence and guns/explosives.(Fast Five/Skyfall)

supernatural thriller: generally supernatural with superheros saving the world from a super-villain, though the protagonist tends to have an 'Achilles Heel' which is exploited by the antagonist.(Batman Trilogy)

sci-fi thriller: a theory of erasing the human population or having erased the species, uses futuristic machinery/technology and CGI to target the niche audience. (Aliens/The Matrix)

psychological thriller: themes of the mind and perception/reality are common(Black Swan), another common theme is identity - protagonist may suffer from amnesia and try to discover who they really are (Unknown).
Mental issues/psychotic characters is also common amongst an antagonist or protagonist (Seven).

religious thriller: refers to religion, questions religious beliefs and goes into great depth to 'find out the truth' (The Da Vinci Code/Angels & Demons).

crime thriller: the plot centres around a crime such as theft or murder and 'investigates' to resolve the problem
(Pulp Fiction/Reservoir Dogs).