By Kev Ishimwe. Brief History of the Thriller Genre from 1920 to present day. For A level Media Studies. Enjoy :)
The thriller genre was first really brought to the attention of large audiences by Alfred Hitchcock.
In 1927 Alfred Hitchcock, a British director, released he's first thriller film named "the lodger". This was a silent film, that used the techniques, that are now seen as the generic thriller codes and conventions.
Throughout the 1940's Hitchcock continued to direct and release Thrillers. These included: Foreign Correspondent (1940) Rebecca (1940) Saboteur (1942) Shadow of a doubt (1943)
throughout the 1950's Hitchcock made ground-breaking changes to the thriller genre. Some being adding Technicolor to his films and making them more sexy by casting beautiful blondes as the leading ladies.
Hitchcock releases: Strangers on a train (1951) Dial M for murder (1954) Rear window (1954) To catch a thief (1955) Vertigo (1958)
The night of the hunter (1955) - Charles Laughtons Touch of evil (1958) - Orson Welles Cape fear (1962) - Lee Thompson
Because of the several thriller films released during this period, they set down the basic codes and conventions we use now.
Thriller films during this period began to edge closer to horror, adding violence into their films, while maintaining a clear difference between the two genres.
Frenzy (1972) Alfred Hitchcock Dual (1971) Steven Spielberg Play misty for me ( 1971) Clint Eastwood Deliverance (1972) John Boorman Don't look now (1973) Nicolas Roeg
Misery (1990) Sleeping with the enemy (1991) The hand that rocks the cradle (1992) Unlawful entry (1992) Single white female (1992) Malice (1993)
The 21st Century saw thrillers move even closer to the horror genre with blood, gore and deaths. They also added the codes and conventions of action films to spice thing up.
Instead of re using narratives from past thriller films they decided to reinvent the plots. They did this by including plots that involved the government, terrorism and world wide issues.
Eden lake (2008) The last house on the left (2009) Captivity (2007) hostage (2005) Unknown (2011)
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