The importance of Suspense

One of the earliest Thriller Writers was Edward Morgan Forster. He was a english novelist and was known for his well written plots that focused on class difference and hypocrisy in 20th Century Britain. Two of Forsters best known works were 'Passage to india' and 'Howards End'. Forster associated suspense with curiosity and often used this concept in his work. However, we feel there is a difference between curiosity, which is ultimately satisfied and suspense, which is ultimately relieved by the end of the story. In most thrillers, especially whodunits the audience member wants to discover who is the murderer. They do not want to wait with the kind of anxiety associated with suspense. However directors continue to use the concept as it adds extra tension to the piece. It is said that movies that are considered suspenseful seem to retain their quality and can be watched numerous times and still conjure up new or the same feeling to the audience. Suspense relates not to the question of what will happen next but to the expectation that a specific action might take place. Therefore suspense is very important in thriller films and we will bee taking that into consideration when making our thriller opening.

Shanice and Ashley

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