Target Audience

Thriller films are generally watched by students between the age of 16 and 25 as they tend to be classified as a ‘15’ or ‘18’ as they generally include violence so people under the age of 15 are not recommended to watch them anyway. The subgenre would have an effect, and it also depends on the individuals taste, but the twisty plots and suspense would probably appeal to a younger audience instead of a more laid back film.

Males generally tend to be more interested in thriller films than women, although a lot of the time there is no difference. This could be due to the characters in thrillers where the main characters tend to be males such as in Shutter Island where the only women in it were some of the patients, his wife and some nurses. All of the main characters and people in charge of the institution were male which could influence the men to want to have power and attract them towards watching the film. One exception is Salt which has the main character as a woman, although this role was originally written to be played by a man, it was swapped to a woman’s role when Angelina Jolie decided she wanted to play the role.