Genre Research: Thriller

The film we are planning to make an opening for is going to be a thriller. It is important to do research such as this in order to get a good understanding of

said genre, learn any techniques commonly used and find out about any ‘clichés’ of the genre.

Origins A film is often considered a thriller if it creates a sudden feeling of emotion, adrenaline and excitement that help drive the film’s narrative. Thrillers can often cause feelings of anticipation, surprise, anxiety and terror.

Thriller films first appeared in the 1920s with films such as The Lodger (1926), a Jack the Ripper-esque story by Alfred Hitchcock and Spies (1928), one of the first ever spy films, by Fritz Lang. During the 1930s the genre started to become more popular, with many films being made by British directors including Walter Forde, Victor Saville and George A. Cooper. Directors Fritz Lang and Alfred Hitchcock also continued to make thrillers throughout the 1930s and the decades that followed.

60s, 70s & 80sDuring the 60s, thrillers started to become more bold. Films often involved lots of death, murder and crime; the most notable film like this is obviously Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), a psychological thriller based of Robert Bloch’s 1959 novel of the same name. The film is famous for its scene where Norman Bate’s character, Perkins, murders Marion Crane (Leigh) whilst she showers. During the 70s and 80s, thriller films became far more violent. Hitchcock's 1972 film Frenzy received and R rating for its violent strangulation scene, whilst other films kept things interesting by changing the usual thriller format. For example, Steven Spielberg's 1971 TV film Duel featured a travelling salesman being chased by a faceless driver in a large truck. The film quickly gained a cult following. Horror was also becoming an increasingly popular genre during this period, which resulted in a slight decrease in popularity of the genre. Notable films of the 1980s include The Osterman Weekend, Body Double and The Fourth Protocol.

1990s – Present There were two main themes that were generally used for thriller films during the 1990s. The first was the theme of obsession. This started with the 1990 thriller Misery, which was based on a Stephen King novel of the same name. The film follows a popular writer who gets kidnapped by a fanatical admirer who forces him to write her ideal novel for her. Several other films that dealt with obsession are Sleeping with the Enemy (1991), Malice (1993) and The Talented Mr Ripley (1999).

The second theme that was commonly used was the theme of detectives/FBI agents hunting down serial killers. One of the most well known example of this is Jonathan Demme’s award-winning film The Silence of the Lambs, in which Jodie Foster plays an FBI agent who has to enlist the help of a cannibalistic psychiatrist called Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) in order to track down a deranged killer. Other thrillers with similar themes include Seven (1995) and Face/Off (1997).

Modern Thriller films tend to take inspiration from many different eras of the genre, although there tends to be more films taking inspiration from modern day terrorism and crime as well. Modern thrillers also tend to have more of an emphasis on violence and gore than their predecessors, although this is not always the case.