1. The History of psychological
thrillers
By Zayn Sattar

2. 1920-1930
The start of the psychological thriller
era started to begin in the 1920’s. The
film that shows this is “Blackmail" this
was a 1920s film and was based in the
streets of London.
An important thing to take into
account is the fact that the citizens of
Britain were still recovering from the
first world war and where heading
into the start of world war II

3. 1940’s
In 1949 the release of the “Third
Man” was officially available for the
British public. This was directed by
carol reed and was mostly
remembered for its atmospheric
cinematography, the performances
and music.
This was released during the second
world war and portrays parts of the
dangers influenced from the war
including the attitudes and the
civilization involved around the time.

4. 1950’s
1954 was the beginning of the
American suspense crime film “ Rear
Window “which was classed as a
psychological thriller. This was
written by Michael Haynes and was
largely influenced by Cornell Wool
Richs short story from the 1940’s, “ It
Had To Be Murder “

5. 1960’s
As the psychological thriller genre
started to develop a popular French
hit was “ Paris Nous Appartient “
translated into “ Paris Belongs To Us
"the whole plot behind this hit was
based upon actors who were
rehearsing the well known play
Pericles by William Shakespeare, and
the film gives us a portrayal of life for
bohemian Parisians in the
1950’s.this film was released in
Frances climax era where the
economy was thriving straight after
recovering from the second world
war.

6. 1970’s and 1980’s
The conversation was a film released
in 1974 and was about surveillance
and the use of it around the city.
However at the time this was
significantly important to America, as
in this era the use of CCTV was on the
rise and America was going through
the cold war as well as being in a
temporary state of paranoia.

7. 1990’s
1995 was the release of seven, this
was the film that developed the
generic conventions of psychological
thrillers and introduced the dark
side. The film events were
stimulated from the Rwanda
Genocide, this was a bleak period
for mankind as worldwide people
witnessed the massacre that took
place in Rwanda where innocent
people were slaughtered due to the
difference in the ethnic groups.

8. 21st century
The psychological thriller genre
has changed a long way from
the start in 1920’s all the way
up to now in the 21st century, as
the generic conventions have
adapted themselves to the
times. this huge change can be
shown through the film “Now
you see me”, this is a resent
release in 2013 and represents
how the whole idea of wealth
and fame has spread its way
into the industry in the current
day and age we are all living in.