how is suspense created in a thriller you watched in class ?

As a class, we watched the thriller film 'The Stepfather' which from experience i can say intrigued every single person in the room and had everyone on edge. There was three parts of the film which specifically caught my attention because they were such suspenseful moments, that even i was too on edge to take notes. Haha.

The first part of the film which i found very suspenseful, in a way to keep the audience questioned, was when David (Stepfather) tells Michael (oldest son) that he wants a meeting in the basement. Straight away the audience is wary as to why he would like to meet in that particular place. Seeing as the location of the basement itself is a very discrete and omnious place therefore it gives off a negative vybe about it. This is also emphasised by the low strings being played as michael walks down the stairs. This builds suspense and has the audience grasped in to find out why David has mysteriously chose to meet Michael in the basement.

The second part of the film which i found very suspensful is when the audience is faced with a 'false plateau'. This is when the old lady (The neighbour) is in her house and she is looking around her house and the cat jumps out in front of the camera, straight away the audience was thinkin it would be David who jumps out and kills her but obviously we were tricked by the film-makers and i found this to b a very suspenseful moment as so did the rest and the class as some even screamed.

The third part of the film which i found very suspenseful was when Michaels dad is being suffocated by David and Michael hears something in the basement. He then opens the door and the audience all want Michael to go down the stairs, find his father being violated, and kill david as we are all against him at this point. This is when 'False Plateau' works its' function as Michael just asks David if everything is alright but doesn't actually go down the stairs to truly see what was behind closed doors. This is very suspenseful as it had the audience intrigued to see what would happen when Michael goes down the stairs but yet again we are playd a trick on.

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