Typical plots in Crime-Thrillers

This plot is from 'The Others' -

"It's nearing the end of the Second World War and Grace Stewart lives with her photosensitive children in a large and silent house. After her previous servants went missing, Grace accepted the offers of work from three new servants. Since these three have entered the home, strange events occur, and Grace begins to wonder if it's her sanity getting the better of her or if there is something much more in the house with them."

This is typical as it using a vulnerable woman on her own with two children to look after. She's in a large house which she obviously can't control by herself. The sense of 'unknown' is haunting her house. This creates a mystery and an overall scary atmosphere.

This plot is from 'Zodiac' -

"Robert Graysmith is a cartoonist who works for the San Francisco Chronicle. His quirky ways irritate Paul Avery, a reporter whose drinking gets in the way of doing his job. The two become friends thanks to a shared interest: the Zodiac killer. Graysmith steadily becomes obsessed with the case, as Avery's life spirals into drunken oblivion. Graysmith's amateur sleuthing puts him onto the path of David Toschi, a police inspector who has thus far failed to catch his man; Sherwood Morrill, a handwriting expert; Linda del Buono, a convict who knew one of the Zodiac's victims; and others. Graysmith's job, his wife and his children all become unimportant next to the one thing that really matters: catching the Zodiac"

This is a typical Crime-Thriller as the characters have a case to follow and investigate. The cases most often involve a death of a victim with the killer on the loose.

Looking at these to examples, from 'The Others' I can see that they involve the typical characters, ie, vunerable woman and 'unknown' supernatural things occuring. From this I am going to use the vunerable woman idea and possibly use this type of character in my project.

From 'Zodiac' I have been inspired by the drinking addiction aspect as this links back to the crime genre. Drinking usually changes the behaviour of a person and this then sets up a clear line for some sort of danger. I am going to use the drinking aspect in my project.

Lauren