High angle shots are often used in order to reveal the setting to the audience and give the appearance of the character being watched. This makes the character seems vulnerable (particularly as the characters in supernatural thrillers often have a vulnerability surrounding them in the first place) and builds up a tension for the viewers of something bad happening to them.
Supernatural thrillers will also contain a lot of medium close-ups or close ups. This is the show the emotion on the character's face so that the audience can relate to what they're feeling, therefore building up a relationship with the character. A character's use of facial expressions (whether they're scared, relaxed or happy) particularly in context with the setting can reveal a lot about the individual, so the audience is able to connect more with the character and the story.
In a tense, fast paced scene, supernatural thrillers tend to use a lot of montages. This builds up a tension and give the audience a well rounded view of the scene taking place through rapid change in different shots.
The storylines of supernatural thrillers often focus around some of the undiscovered or forbidden questions in life, emphasising the unknown, which make them widely suspenseful. The theme tends to incorporate a sense of mystery, often relying on an individual within the story trying to find out or realising the truth of something, which creates a constant sense of anticipation. The storyline will also tend to focus on supernatural elements or events, a few examples being aliens, ghosts, miracles or life after death. A lot of attention to the character's reaction to a supernatural event, and how it effect there psychological being, will usually also feature within a supernatural thriller.
'Sixth Sense' and 'The Others' both focus on the question of what happens to us after death, with both films using ghosts as there element of supernatural within their separate storylines. In both films, the main characters learn the truth of their unusual situations, and the plot also focuses on the their reactions to these realisations.
In 'The Others', the lead Grace comes to the realisation that after numerous explainable events, that her and her children are all dead and live on as ghosts within their home, after believing that they were been 'haunted' themselves.
The ending scene of 'Sixth Sense' shows the lead character coming to terms with the realisation he is not living anymore, and why he is only able to communicate with a little boy who can see the dead (another example of unmasking the truth.)
In 'Carrie,' a young girl (after a number of unexplained events) learns that she has supernatural ability that allow her to have power over her peers. Her learning the 'truth' of these abilities adds an element of suspense to the plot as she discovers what she is capable of.
Overall, the storyline of Supernatural Thrillers tends to circulate around a disequilibrium, which upsets the balance of normal life (for instance, the family beings disrupted by ghosts in 'The Others'.) The main character(s) ultimately have to uncover the mysteries in the film which can often result in twist which pleases the audience (for instance, Malcom Crowe discovering he is a ghost in 'Sixth Sense) which can have new equilibriums where the characters accept the changes in their lives. Plot twists are important in the supernatural thriller genre as they keep the audience occupied and give them pleasure when they realise it.
