Difference Between Thriller and Horror

A thriller is more interested in suspense, putting you "on the edge of your seat" or in plain terms, making you nervous for the fate of the characters. A horror movie wants to make you fear for your personal safety, to make you afraid that what happened to the characters may happen to you even after you've left the theatre. 

As a good horror movie often contains a great deal of suspense and as a good thriller can be pretty scary in spots it's more down to the intentions of the film maker and the subject matter of the film. Hitchcock is regarded as a suspense director but his films Psycho and The Birds are more correctly classified as horror films because they deal with horrific subject matter and their intention is to terrify, not make you nervous about the fate of the on-screen characters. Hitchcock's film North By Northwest has a terrifically suspenseful ending but it is not particularly horrific in that it is not specifically designed to scare you into thinking you may fall off Washington's nose on your next visit to Mount Rushmore.

Since the 80's film makers who somehow feel making a horror film is beneath them have often described their films as "thrillers" when they are actually horror films further blurring the difference between the two styles.

Horror Genre

The trait of the genre of horror is that it provokes a response, emotional, psychological or physical within each individual that causes someone to react with fear. In order for that response to be elicited there are different techniques used, such as unreal figures (phantoms, mummies, etc.), or more real situations and figures (serial killers). The main ingredient within horror is that the reader or viewer can relate to it somehow and that there's always something unexpected on its way. The whole horror genre is built up upon people's fear of the unknown and anxieties. According to H.P. Lovecraft, "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."

One of the best-known contemporary horror writers is Stephen King. Beginning in the 1970s, King's stories have managed to attract a large audience, for which he was prized by the U.S. National Book Foundation in 2003.

Thriller Genre

Thriller is a genre of literature, film, and television that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as the main elements. The primary subgenre is psychological thrillers. After the assassination of President Kennedy, political thriller and paranoid thriller films became very popular. The brightest examples of thrillers are the Hitchcock’s movies. The cover-up of important information from the viewer and fight/chase scenes are common methods in all of the thriller subgenres, although each subgenre has its own characteristics and methods.

More common in mystery thrillers are investigations and the whodunit technique. Common elements in psychological thrillers are mind games, psychological themes, stalking, confinement/death-traps, horror-of-personality, and obsession. Elements such as conspiracy theories, false accusations, paranoia, and sometimes action are common in paranoid thrillers. Some argue, though, that the thriller genre is simply a pseudonym for the horror genre, both using suspense and atmosphere to cause feelings of dread in their audiences.

"Homer's Odyssey is one of the oldest stories in the Western world and is regarded as an early prototype of the thriller." A thriller is villain-driven plot, whereby he presents obstacles that the hero must overcome

Top 10 Horror Movies

1. Shutter Island - Drama set in 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding nearby.

2. Buried - Paul is a U.S. contractor working in Iraq. After an attack by a group of Iraqis he wakes to find he is buried alive inside a coffin. With only a lighter and a cell phone it's a race against time to escape this claustrophobic death trap.

3. Frozen -Three skiers are stranded on a chairlift and forced to make life-or-death choices that prove more perilous than staying put and freezing to death

4. Paranormal Activity 2 - After experiencing what they think are a series of "break-ins", a family sets up security cameras around their home, only to realize that the events unfolding before them are more sinister than they seem.

5. Let Me In - A bullied young boy befriends a young female vampire who lives in secrecy with her guardian.

6. The Last Exorcism - A troubled evangelical minister agrees to let his last exorcism be filmed by a documentary crew.

7. Piranha 3D - After a sudden underwater tremor sets free scores of the prehistoric man-eating fish, an unlikely group of strangers must band together to stop themselves from becoming fish food for the area's new razor-toothed residents.

8. The Wolfman - Upon his return to his ancestral homeland, an American man is bitten, and subsequently cursed by, a werewolf. 

9. Daybreakers - In the year 2019, a plague has transformed most every human into vampires. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher works with a covert band of vamps on a way to save humankind.

10. The Crazies - About the inhabitants of a small Iowa town suddenly plagued by insanity and then death after a mysterious toxin contaminates their water supply.

Top 10 Thriller Movies

1. “Inception” - Christopher Nolan took a break from the “Batman” franchise to make this, one of the top thriller movies of 2010. Leonardo DiCaprio start in the movie that prides itself on its brains and puzzles. The movie requires more than one viewing but is worth it in the end.
2. “Shutter Island” - Martin Scorsese directed this movie, one of the top thriller movies of 2010. Leonardo DiCaprio is a special agent who travels to a maximum security prison to investigate the disappearance of a woman. Nothing is ever as it seems in one of Scorsese’s most unusual films.
3. “Kick-Ass” - In this comic book adaptation, a young comic book fan with no powers attempts to become a super hero to help save people. In one of the top thriller movies of 2010, Matthew Vaughn directs this blackly comic movie with strong turns from Nicolas Cage and Mark Strong. It also provided the breakout role for young Chloe Moretz.
4. “Red” - Bruce Willis stars in this fun movie, one of the top thriller movies of 2010. The movie, based on a comic book, focuses on a group of retired special ops killers who find themselves the target of the CIA to keep them quiet about what they know. John Malkovich, Helen Mirren and Morgan Freeman supply great supporting roles.
5. “Book of Eli” - Denzel Washington stars in this post-apocalyptic thriller, one of the top thriller movies of 2010. Washington plays a modern day samurai, travelling across a ravaged United States protecting a special book. Gary Oldman also stars as the bad guy who wants the book for himself.
6. “Daybreakers” - In this modern take on the vampire myth, the vampires rule the world and the humans are the minority fighting for freedom. One of the top thriller movies of 2010, Ethan Hawke stars as one of the vampires who suddenly finds himself part of a small human rebellion.
7. “The Expendables” - Sylvester Stallone directs this movie, a call back to the action thrillers of the ‘80s, and what results is one of the top thriller movies of 2010. Stallone gathered a who’s-who of ‘80s stars including Dolph Lundgren, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis as well as new guys like Jason Statham and Jet Li.
8. “Machete” - Robert Rodriguez brings his “Grindhouse” trailer to life in this exploitation thriller, one of the top thriller movies of 2010. Danny Trejo stars as a former Mexican Federale who is betrayed and left for dead. Now, living in the United States, he finds himself in a fight against The Man.
9. “The Losers” - Based on a comic book, this movie follows an elite military unit betrayed by their country. One of the top thriller movies of 2010, “The Losers” is a retelling of “The A-Team” for modern times. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans star in this entertaining, thrilling adaptation.
10. “Salt” - Phillip Noyce tries to inject some estrogen into the spy genre in this, one of the top thriller movies of 2010. Angelina Jolie stars as an American spy who finds herself accused of being a Russian sleeper agent. The movie then becomes a thrilling chase flick, with Jolie holding her own against her male counterparts