History of Thriller Movies

The History of the Thriller Genre.

Thriller is a genre of literature, film and television that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements. There are lots of subgenres of thrillers, 3 of the main ones being mystery, crime and psychological thrillers. Thriller films became very popular after the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, specifically political thrillers. One of the earliest 'thrillers' was Harold Lloyd's comic Safety Last (1923), with the all-American boy performing a daredevil stunt on the side of a skyscraper. The most famous thriller movies are the Hitchcock movies, specifically Psycho, a 1960 American psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Click to watch Psycho - the famous shower scene

This timeline shows the increase of thriller movies made and watched from 1960-2010

Thriller Film Timeline

1920s: 
Safety Last (1923),
Blackmail (1926) - directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Alice White, detective Frank Webber's girlfriend, is invited by an artist to visit his studio. The man tries to rape Alice and she kills him with a knife to defend herself. A criminal sees the murder and he keeps the lady's glove from the crime scene in order to blackmail her. Frank is assigned to the murder case
The Cat and the Canary (1927) the cat and the canary clip

1930s:
The Bat Whispers (1930) the bat whispers clip
M (1931)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931) Based on the story by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Henry Jekyll believes that there are two distinct sides to men - a good and an evil side. He believes that by separating the two man can become liberated. He succeeds in his experiments with chemicals to accomplish this and transforms into Hyde to commit horrendous crimes. When he discontinues use of the drug it is already too late...
The 39 Steps (1935)
The Lady Vanishes (1938)

1940s: Rebecca (1940)
Laura (1944)
Gaslight (1994)
The Spiral Staircase (1945) Disabled women in small town at the beginning of century are becoming prey of a serial killer. Helen, mute girl who works for the Warren family, fears that she could be the next victim.
Notorious (1946)
Sorry Wrong Number (1948) watch clip
the Lady From Shanghai (1948)
The Third Man (1959)

1950s: Strangers on a Train (1951), Rear Window (1954), The Wrong Man (1956), Vertigo (1958), North By Northwest (1959)

1960s: Pyscho (1960), The Birds (1963), Torn Curtain (1966),

1970s: Frenzy (1972) The Godfather (1972), The Godfather, Part 2 (1974), Jaws (1975)

1980s: The Shining (1980)

1990s: The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Leon (1994), Pulp Fiction (1994), The Usual Suspects (1995), Fight Club (1999)

2000: Memento (2000), The Dark Knight (2008)

2010: Inception (2010)

Group Meeting #2 - 24th January

Today we assigned people to the characters in our thriller. Steven is to play the husband, Lauren is to play the woman who he is having an affair with and I am to play the wife/murderer.
We also consolodated our plan and decided on the filming location. We are going to film our forest scene at the Ercall which is the hill before the Wrekin.

What Makes A Good Thriller Opening?

• Something unexpected
• Clues to other parts of the story
• Something unusal happening which makes you want to know more

This lesson we looked at and analysed the thriller film Leon, made in 1994


Describe the camera movement and what it means:
Flying forward through city - a kind of establishing shot to show where the scene is located. During the end scene the camera movement is very quick - emphasizing the panic that the man is feeling when he is being terrorized by Leon. Tracking people showing their importance to the story.

Describe the types of shot used including close ups:
Close ups of Leon and the restaurant owner during their discussion. only focuses on one part of their face to conceal their identity as well as show them to be intimidating. Close up on the glass of milk - thought to be an innocent drink but the toughness of Leon is reinforced when he 'downs' it in one.

What props or objects are used and why?
a glass of milk - innocent drink but Leon drinks it in one gulp.
case of cocaine - showing what the source of the trouble is (drug businesses)
cigarettes - again showing that Leon is a tough guy

Describe the camera angles:
Mostly midshots. High angle shots looking down the stairs and low angle shots looking up the stairs. close ups on faces to show expressions.

Typical Thriller Films

"Suspense thrillers focus either on victims of crimes or on pursued or isolated criminals'
-Steve Neale

What  kind of things would you expect to see  in a thriller?

• surprises
• twisted plots
• mystery/engimas
• cliffhangers
• victims/criminals
• police

How do thrillers typically create a feeling of suspense or tension?

• Offkey music
• Ordinary objects, activities and places become sinister
• anticipation and expectation
• despair and doubt
• accumulation of clues

Different Types of Thrillers

• Murderous passion - focuses on husband/wife/lover. one of them ends up dead. EXAMPLE: Blood Simple
• Psycho traumatic - main character is so damaged by past events that he commits more crimes. EXAMPLE: Pyscho
• Innocent on the run - an innocent person is accused of a crime they haven't commited and is on the run from the police and other criminals. EXAMPLE: North By North West
• Story based on changes in identity - changes in identity, EXAMPLE: Face Off and Detour
• Political thriller - EXAMPLE: Day of the Jackal and Manchurian Candidate.
• Film Noir - A thriller with strong use of low key lighting, EXAMPLE: Mildred Pierce.

Group Meeting #1 - 19th January

Group Members: Emily, Steven and Lauren.

By the end of this meeting we had already created the plan for our thriller opening.

First Plan For Our Thriller Opening:

• Location - forest
• Point of view shots of a wife who is spying on her husband who is on a walk with another woman
• Shows husband kissing the woman, close up shot of wife's face saddening as she watches, then shows her hands tightening around a knife.
• Woman #2 runs off into forest to try and find her dog who has run off
• Midshot showing wife walking up to husband and then the next shot is of him dead, implying that she killed him.
• Wife runs off into the forest in the general direction of the other woman
• Woman walking through forest desperately trying to find her dog
• Cross cuts between the point of view of the wife following her/hiding behind trees and moving closer to the woman
• As soon as the wife gets close enough, the woman turns round as she sees the wife and there is an extreme close up of her eyes widening in fright.

We decided we would show the film in black and white to make it seem darker and more sinister.