When Time Is the Enemy: The Ticking-Clock Thriller ‹ CrimeReads

Which is why I find the stories built around ticking clicks so suspenseful. Films-from High Noon to Escape from New York to Back to the Future to practically every James Bond or Mission: Impossible movie-are full of ticking clocks. Even when they're not race-against-the-clock thrillers from start to finish, some kind of clock is often there. Think about the movie Aliens. Remember, toward the end, when Ripley climbs into the elevator, dropping into the bowels of the space station to search for the child Newt. As Ripley loads her guns and stuffs her pockets full of ammunition, preparing herself physically and mentally for the task ahead, the moment is stressful enough. But that's not all! As she's pulling the straps of her flame thrower onto her shoulder, an alarm is ringing and a disembodied voice declares she has fifteen minutes to "achieve minimum safe distance." The task before her, finding a little girl lost on a space station infested with murderous aliens, is practically impossible even without a deadline, but she has to do it before the whole base explodes in a nuclear mushroom cloud.