Which Audiences are drawn to the Thriller Genre?

The type of audience that would watch a certain thriller depends highly on the subgenre the story is within. The audience that would watch an action thriller (e.g. The Dark Knight) is different to an audience that would watch a religious thriller (e.g. The Sin Eater), although both films share the same overall thriller theme they have very different sub genre’s, which have an entire different set of rules and conventions to follow, to give the audience what they want to see. Many different thriller sub genres appeal to a wide range of audiences, and those audiences are affected by many factors including:

Age

Age of the viewing audience is a great factor in determining what film genres they may be interested in. For thrillers I would have to say the age range would be 16+, as teenagers are maturing they are likely to watch films that require more attention and overall are more enjoyable to watch then younger themed films. Certain thriller sub genres appeal to the younger audience e.g. Action thrillers 16-30; crime thrillers follow a similar range 18-35, the top 3 voted thrillers on imdb.com are all crime thrillers. As the age range increases the action content within the films tends to fall, Action thrillers as genre suggests have a high action content, fight scenes, guns, explosions. Crime thrillers whilst still containing a moderate amount of action are more plot driven and the action just helps with the suspense along the way. Psychological and Religious thrillers are a lot more story driven compared to action thrillers and appeal to an older audience, as they are less interested in action and more interested in the story unfolding onscreen. Examples of good Psychological/Religious Thrillers include The Hannibal series including Silence of the lambs/Red Dragon/Hannibal, and The Da Vinchi Code/Angels and Demons

Gender

Gender is also seen as important when targeting a specific audience for a thriller. Generally I would say Action/Crime thrillers appeal much more to a male audience, the action-taking place in these sub genres contains violence, and can be off putting to women. Thrillers that would appeal to a female audience may be sub genres such as, low action Psychological thrillers, Religious Thrillers, Erotic thrillers such as Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct where the female lead is a femme fatale are quite empowering for a female audience to watch, so action isn’t completely left out.