How do these certain thriller films create suspense?

Cape Fear, 1962

The antagonist, the convict, seems to have a sly and mischievous atmosphere surrounding him and he constantly seems uneasy. An example of this is when he is constantly looking over his shoulder. He also seems frightening and creepy when during the court case he takes a seat at the back making him seem sly and devious. He also wears a bright white suit which completely disorientates the viewer as normally the “bad guy” is placed in a darker and colder colour. But the colours have been reversed which adds to the viewers uneasiness.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, 1962

The slowly increasing pace of the music when Blanche is about to reveal her food hit’s a climax when the food is shown makes the viewer placed in a position where we become further startled by what the close up shot of the “food”. This shot is gruesome and you really feel the emotions of Blanche. Then to add to this Jane’s shrieking laugh in the background is menacing and impacts the viewer because of this.

Fatal Attraction, 1987

From 0:14
This scene is suspense filled straight away because you can hear the noise of the pot boiling. The viewer can already distinguish that something is going to be in the pot so its suspense filled until the viewer finds out what it is. The parallel editing featured shows the connection between the boy going to see the rabbit and his reaction with that of the woman finding the rabbit in the pot and her reaction. The woman shrieks with terror while also the boy cries due to losing his rabbit. Emotional stuff.

The Silence of the Lambs, 1991

This scene is filled with suspense throughout. Through the majority of it you are placed in “Buffalo Bill’s” perspective viewing Clarence. This adds to the feeling that you are almost featured in the film. Also when he reaches for her and is extremely close with night vision goggles on you are shown how close he really is to Clarence. You can clearly see how frightening it is for Clarence because of how she is unable to see and is frantically trying to feel around herself so she can have a hint of where to go. She is breathing extremely heavily showing how frightened she is. No music is featured which adds to almost being in the film. It constantly builds up tension until finally “Buffalo Bill” is featured in a slow motion shot where Clarence shoots him several times. It is extremely tense because “Buffalo Bill” shoots at the same time and the viewer is left to await who has been killed.