What makes an effective 'Thriller'?

• Martin Rubin suggests that there is no such thing as a 'Thriller'. The 'Thriller' is in fact a Meta genre that gathers several other genres under its umbrella.


• Thriller components work better with some genres than others. It works well with spy; crime; horror but not well with musicals or war films.

In my opinion an effective thriller film should:

• Only tell the audience as much as the characters know.


• Have music building tension/mystery.


• Should keep the audience in a state of suspense and uncertainty.


• There's always unanswered questions(narrative enigmas).


• Thrillers play with the mind of the audience.
  

As our group have chosen to make an opening for a Psychological thriller, I will do some research to see what things I can learn about psychological thrillers. One film I would like to look at is Psycho (1960) which is a masterwork of suspense and horror. The acting, cinematography, editing and music in this low-budget film helps create the huge effect it makes on the audience.It shows two murders and paints a paints a disturbing portrait of a psychopathic killer.
Anthony Perkins gives a brilliant performance as Psycho's main character, Norman Bates. At first Norman seems to be an attractive, vulnerable and likable man living with his mother. But as Norman says, "We all go a little mad sometimes."
I am not sure wether Alfred Hitchcock's powerful, complex psychological thriller, Psycho is in fact a thriller or whether it is a horror. Although in essence it is still a psychological thriller, when I saw the "shower scene" I think I could seriously argue whether I would still classify it as a thriller. I think that Mrs. Bates is the antagonist of the film, given the films twisted ending, and Norman is the protagonist, but that Mrs. Bates is a true horror symbol as a knife-wielding killer.
I dont understand how they cannot classify Psycho under the Horror genre with scenes like the part when Mrs. Bates kills the investigator at the top of the stairs. I think this film definitely makes an effective thriller.