“I Can’t Stop Watching Thrillers & Now I Know Why”

Heart-pounding drama, nail-biting stories and more twists and turns than you can count- it’s no secret that thrillers are an addictive genre. Some of the biggest shows of this year, like Severance and Slow Horses, are edge-of-your-seat thrillers. Recent additions like Cold Water, Dept Q, The Woman in Cabin 10 and Drop, prove we can’t get enough. But why are we so obsessed with them? Our entertainment writer dives into why he can’t stop watching them.

Adrenaline-fueled plotlines

Thrillers keep you gripped with constant tension, often centring on crime (like Netflix’s Dept. Q), espionage (like Slow Horses), or dystopian worlds (like Severance). And let’s be honest, they make the most bingeable shows. Breaking Bad didn’t become a hit when it came to Netflix because it seemed a bit dull at first. But the appeal might lie in the fact that, like any good escapism, we’re losing ourselves in a world we mainly can’t experience. The science behind it suggests that we often seek out thrills: Professor G. Neil Martin writes in the journal Frontiers in Psychology that “sensation seeking” may be why people watch horror thrillers. Most people won’t, and don’t get involved in crime, but might find the idea fascinating enough to watch Walter White build a drug empire from the comfort of the sofa.

Thrillers often tackle subject matter that is hard to look at but even harder to look away from

It’s hard to look away

Thrillers often tackle subject matter that is hard to look at but even harder to look away from: murders, betrayals and sometimes downright terrifying scenarios play out onscreen. Squid Game is violent, intense and tackles difficult societal issues- and is Netflix’s most-watched show ever. An article for Trinity College Dublin, published just a month after we were introduced to Gi-hun in Squid Game’s first season, again mentions that we may find shows like it addictive as a form of thrill seeking. But it’s also the action and violence that creates tension and suspense, which we find appealing, and even lets us “reflect on the human condition”, to get a bit philosophical. It’s a way of living on the edge, without much danger (other than maybe your heart rate going up).

All in the twist

Another strength of a good thriller and something that other genres have is: they’re unpredictable (or they should be). If other genres on TV and in movies are a bit too formulaic and predictable, the very best thrillers take us by surprise and keep us on edge. Severance became popular this year because of its originality and the fact that it stands out among other shows like it. It’s hard to tell where things will go next for Mark, Helly and the rest of the Innies and Outies, and it’s no wonder it won so many Emmys. Slow Horses, meanwhile, has great twists and turns, but also subverts our expectations. Jackson Lamb might be an MI5 agent, but he’s prone to looking like a slob rather than being a typical spy.

A little too real

Fantastical or flat-out horror thrillers are certainly popular, but the thrillers that we tend to get the most obsessed with are often a bit closer to reality. Netflix’s Monster series, which controversially dramatises the crimes of Jeffery Dahmer, Erik and Lyle Menendez, and Ed Gein, has had millions of views, and happens to be based on a true story. True crime podcasts are popular enough by themselves, but the genre crosses over with thrillers plenty of times. An episode of Women’s Hour on BBC Radio 4 posited that women seem to be more into real crime stories than men, and put forth some fascinating theories. Beyond a fascination with motives (a big part of psychological thrillers), it could be, according to the episode, that women are more driven by a fear of crime to stories of criminals and killers.

The verdict

Any good book is a page turner, and any good story is one that keeps you wanting to see more. Thrillers do that simple trick best, and leave you on edge and gripped, without any real danger, which is why we can’t get enough.