History of thrillers

1. Research and
Planning of
“ In Thus Life”
Brief History of Thriller Films

2. Early Thrillers
Early thrillers started to come into existed in the 1920s, for example one of
the earliest thrillers was Harold Lloyd’s comic “Safety Last (1923)” where an
all-American boy performing a daredevil stunt on the side of a skyscraper.
Another early thriller was a horror thriller German film “M (1931)” directed
by Fritz Lang starring Peter Lorre as a criminal deviant- a child killer.
Furthermore another early thriller was the crime/horror thriller “Murder in
the Zoo (1933)” directed by Edward Sutherland, starring Lionel Atwill as a
murderous and jealous zoologist.
More early thrillers such as:
- The Cat and the Canary 1927
- Gaslight 1944 – psychological thriller by Director George Cukor
- Laura 1944
- The Picture of Dorian Gray 1945
- The Spiral Staircase 1945
- Sorry, Wrong Number 1948

3. Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock was known as the master of suspense thrillers.
Hitchcock helped to shape the modern-day thriller genre and was
nominated five times as Best Director (from 1940-1960). As he
directed and produce many thrillers such as ‘The Lodger (1927)’, his
early silent film, ‘Blackmail (1929)’, his first sound film and ‘The Wrong
Man (1956). Also ‘Marine (1964)’, ‘Strangers on a Train (1951)’, ‘Rear
Window (1954)’, ‘The 39 Steps (1935)’, ‘Vertigo (1958)’ and ‘Psycho
(1960)’.
Hitchcock considered the acknowledged auteur master of the
thriller or suspense genre as he manipulates his audience’s fears and
desires and taking viewers into a state of association with the
representation of reality facing the character.

4. Influenced by Hitchcock
As Hitchcock’s tribute grew, many other film directors was inspired and start
to produce a number of Hitchcock-like thrillers. This new inspired Hitchcock-like
thrillers had the characteristics of Hitchcock thrillers as thrilling tales of
terror, intrigue, menace, revenge, obsession and insanity.
Examples of film directors inspired by the work of Alfred Hitchcock and their
Hitchcock-like thrillers:
Henry Hathaway with his intriguing ‘Niagara’ (1953).
Robert Aldrich with his violent and fast-paced nourish thriller ‘Kiss Me
Deadly’ (1955).
Charles Laughton with ‘The Night of the Hunter’ (1955).
Orson Welles with his crime thriller ‘Touch Of Evil’ (1958).
Michael Powell with his perverse, tense and reviled ‘Peeping Tom’ (1960).
J.Lee Thompson with ‘Cape Fear’ (1962).

5. Timeline of the genre ‘THRILLER’
1920s to 1930s
The start of the suspense films as this is the era, in which Alfred Hitchcock started to make the thrill and suspense in
films.
1940s
Other film directors inspired by the work of Hitchcock; starts to use his techniques in their films.
1950s
Hitchcock added technicolor to his thrillers, now with exotic locales and glamorous stars. He reached the zenith of his
career with a succession of classic films.
1960s
Hitchcock created his outstanding thriller ‘Psycho’, and some of the great thrillers are produce in these years.
1970s to 1980s
In this decade, violent started to be in the thriller genre.
1990s to present
All thrillers that existed today, includes all the Hitchcock techniques. And some thrillers in this period start to have
terrorists and governments as the antagonist in films.

6. Top 30 Thrillers so far……
Stated by Film4 (http://www.film4.com/special-features/top-lists/
top-30-thrillers)
1. The Third Man- Orson Welles 1949
2. Rear Window- Alfred Hitchcock 1954
3. The Usual Suspects- Bryan Singer 1995
4. The Silence Of The Lambs- Jonathan Demme 1990
5. Reservoir Dogs- Quentin Tarantino 1992
6. Old Boy- Park Chan-Wood 2003
7. North By Northwest- Alfred Hitchcock 1959
8. Se7en- David Fincher 1995
9. The Departed- Martin Scorsese 2006
10. Fargo- Joel and Ethan Coen 1996
11. Heat- Michael Mann 1995
12. Memento- Christopher Nolan 2000
13. The French Connection – William Friedkin 1971
14. The Talented Mr. Ripley – Anthony Minghella 1999
15. The Lives Of Others – Florian Henckel Von
Donnersmarck 2006
9.
2.

7. Top 30 Thriller continue….
16. Misery – Rob Reiner 1990
17. Leon – Luc Besson 1994
18. Marathon Man – John Schlesinger 1976
19. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Tomas Alfredson 2011
20. Shutter Island – Martin Scorsese 2010
21. Casino Royale – Martin Campbell 2006
22. Bad Lieutenant – Werner Herzog 2009
23. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – Shane Black 2005
24. A Prophet – Jacques Audiard 2009
25. The Last King Of Scotland – Kevin Macdonald
2006
17. The Sixth Sense – M. Night Shyamalan 1999
18. Headhunters – Morten Tyldum 2011
19. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Niel Arden
Oplev 2009
17. Insomnia – Christopher Nolan 2002
18. Collateral- Michael Mann 2004
19.
20.
21.

8. References taken.
 Information is taken from the following websites:
 http://www.film4.com/special-features/top-lists/top-30-thrillers
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre)
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