History of the Thriller GenreT h i s i s s o m e r e s e a r c h l o o k i n g a t h o w t h r i l l e r fi l m s h a v e d e v e l o p e d o v e r t h e y e a r s t o s h o w a w a r e n e s s i n t o h o w ke y d i r e c t o r s a n d fi l m s h a v e c h a n g e d a n d s h a p e d t h e g e n r e .

1920’s-1930’s• Alfred Hitchcock promoted the thriller genre by creating

the silent film called ‘The Lodger’• This was his third silent film but first thriller filled with

suspense and was a Jack the Ripper type of story• 1929 Hitchcock created his second thriller film

‘Blackmail’ which was his and Britain’s first sound film

• 1928 director Fritz Lang introduced one of the earliest spy films ever made called ‘Spies’. This became a stepping stone for spy films of the future such as the James Bond

• 1931 Lang created another thriller ‘German Film’. This was a story about the serial killer Peter Kurten and his life. This set another sub-genre of crime thrillers

• 1933 Edward Sutherland produced another crime thriller called ‘Murders in the Zoo’ which was based on a murderous and jealous zoologist.

1940’s• During the 1940’s Hitchcock continued to create thriller

films and in the year of 1940 he released two suspense thrillers ‘Foreign Correspondent’ and ‘Rebecca’, this being a film to go on and win an Oscar

• He then went on to produce further thrillers including ‘Suspicion’ 1941, and ‘Saboteur’ 1942

• In 1943 he created his personal favourite ‘Shadow of Doubt’ which was based on the true case of a 1920s serial killer known as The Merry Widow Murderer

• In 1944 George Cukor created a psychological thriller called ‘Gas Light’ about a husband who plotted to make his wife go insane in order to gain her inheritance. This could be seen as a starting point for the sub-genre of psychological thrillers

• 1946 Robert Siodmak directed the film ‘The Spiral

Staircase’ which was another psychological thriller about a serial killer

1950’s• During the 50’s, Hitchcock continued to

produce thriller films adding ‘Technicolor’. This was a turning point for his films as it allowed the audience to finally see the action in colour.

• He then produced more classic films including ‘Strangers on a Train’ (1951), ‘Dial M for Murder’ (1954) and ‘Rear Window’ (1954) which all were themed with plots of murder and some kind of conspiracy theory.

• An extremely popular thriller film during the 50’s was Henry Hathaway’s movie ‘Niagara’ (1953) which starred Marilyn Monroe, who plays a wife who plots to kill her husband.

• Other well known films made during the era include Robert Aldrich’s ‘Kiss Me Deadly’ (1955), Charles Laughton’s ‘The Night of The Hunter’ (1955) and Orson Welles’ crime thriller ‘Touch of Evil’ (1958).

1960’s• In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock released one

of his most famous films, still recognised today, called ‘Psycho’.

• Prior to the release of ‘Psycho’ another hit thriller film of the 60s was produced: Michael Powell’s ‘Peeping Tom’ about a psychopathic cameraman.

• Also released during the 60’s was J. Lee Thompson’s ‘Cape Fear’ (1962), Stanley Donen’s ‘Charade’ (1963), Roman Polanski ‘Repulsion’ (1965), his first English film, and Terrence Young’s ‘Wait until Dark’ (1967).

• During the 1960’s spy thrillers became increasingly popular as we saw the release of the ‘Harry Palmer’ trilogy, inspired by 007, as well as, ‘The Spy who Came in from the Cold’ (1965), ‘The Deadly Affair’ (1967) and ‘The Triple Cross’ (1967).

1970’s-80’s• During this period, the box office saw a

wave of increasing thriller films including Hitchcock’s first British film in two decades ‘Frenzy’ (1972), given an ‘R’ rating due to its explicit content.

• This era also released Steven Spielberg’s low budget ‘Duel’ (1971), Clint Eastwood’s ‘Play Misty For Me’ (1971) and John Boorman’s ‘Deliverance’ (1972).

• Other films released during the 70s include: Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘The Conversation’ (1974), Irvin Kershner ‘The Eyes of Laura Mars’ (1978) and Brian De Palmas psycho-thriller ‘Sisters’ (1973).

• The 80s brought us ‘Dressed to Kill’ (1980), the assassination thriller ‘Blow Out’ (1981) and ‘Body Double’.

1990’s-Present• The 1990’s introduced Rob Reiners

‘Misery’ (1990), based on a book by Stephen King, and ‘Sleeping with the Enemy’ (1991).

• The 90’s also brought us the famous, Jonathan Demme’s ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (1991, where a young FBI agent is involved in a psychological war involving the cannibalistic psychiatrist, Hannibal Lector.

• 1995 also brought us David Fincher’s ‘Se7en’, starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, about a search for a serial killer who conducted the murders of involving the seven deadly sins.

• Throughout the 2000’s we have seen the thriller genre progress dramatically with more films using stunts and special effects up until the present day, the thriller genre have produced some big box office hits including Eden Lake (2008), The Last House on the Left (2009), Unknown (2011), The Bourne Series and Taken (2008) etc.