Conventions of the Thriller in 'Kill Bill: Vol.2'

Kill Bill: Vol.2 is renowned cult movie director Quentin Tarantino’s sequel to the insanely over-the-top and highly influential revenge story Kill Bill: Vol.1. At the end of the first film, Uma Thurman as the wronged and rampaging assassin known only as The Bride has narrowed her ‘to kill’ list down after facing off with Lucy Liu, and is swiftly progressing to her primary target, ex-boss Bill (played by David Carradine), but her nemeses will do everything in their power to delay their inevitable reduction to literal blood fountains. And this time The Bride’s daughter is thrown into the mix. Incorporating an intricate set of revealing flashbacks, brutal fight scenes, unforgettable dialogue and intertextual nods to Tarantino’s admired directors, both films have a pride in place on the wall of great Thrillers, with a huge cult following to boot. The sequel bagged two Golden Globe nominations; one for best actress and the other for best supporting role.

The scene analysed in our media course was that of The Bride’s attempt at killing Budd, Bill’s less than desirable redneck brother. But Budd is wittier than we are led to believe, waiting for The Bride’s path of espionage and slaughter to come to his dirt-ridden trailer. The scene inevitably ends in our heroine’s incarceration.

As the scene begins, Budd rolls into view in his rusty old car to the camera. Straight away we as the consumers see the conventions of a Thriller bleed through; a barren and featureless landscape, one where we can be watched from all angles by evil eyes; next, an unsettling image of the car headlights nearing us, applying a sort of morbid anticipation for the danger ahead. The shape comes out from the darkness like some demonic spectre in search of prey; the light and dark chiaroscuro tones also apply, plus the gunk and erosion about the car hint toward the moral decay of such low places in society. As Budd starts to suspect company, he retreats into the trailer -itself a symbol of his ‘loser’ status and seedy activities, ever present in Thrillers- allowing the Bride to rise up from the low and claustrophobic spot where she has hidden. As she prepares to have a stab at Budd, he looks out of his blinds onto the savanna, projecting a cold and artificial light in prison-like bars. He switches on a tape of the Johnny Cash song ‘I Don’t Hurt Anymore’ (oh, the irony!) and waits, shotgun cocked, for The Bride to storm in. Gun beats sword, quite blatantly. What follows is a carefully selected set of dialogue shots to place Uma’s character at a lower level of power, at the mercy of the film’s loser, and difficult spots like these crop up again and again during a Thriller’s run time.