red herrings or is it?

red herring is a convention of a thriller where the audience are given a false trail to follow.where they are lead to believe somthing that isn't quite true.often this will involve in a false hero that betrays our protagonist at a curtail moment it could also be a person who we believe to be dead who then turns out to be alive or even a character who you think may be the villain distracting you from the truth a good example of this is Eva Marie Saint in "north by northwest" where we are unclear on witch side this fem fatale stands