1. EmilyMorris – Pre Production
Genre Research - Psychological Thriller
A psychological thrillerisasub-genre of the thrillergenre.A keyelementof psychologicalthrillersis
a deepfocusintothe protagonist’sstate of mindwhere there isalotof emphasisuponthis.
Suspense inthissub-genre comesfromthe mindinsteadof physical threat.
Typically,the protagonistwithinapsychological thrillerwill be battlingsome sortof psychological
issue where theysometimeshave quiteafragile mental state. The characterwill alsodisplayasense
of paranoiaandcynicism. Because of the stronglinkswithafragile state of mind,thisgenre can
oftenoverlapintothe horrorgenre bydisplayingsome scenesandideasthatcouldbe considered
quite disturbing.
From the 1920’s to the 1960’s, AlfredHitchcock’sfilmsbecame the iconisthrillers,especially
psychological thrillers.In1927, Hitchcockdirected‘The lodger’whichwasblackandwhite film
consideredtobe a psychological thriller. But,due tolackof technologyatthe time,thisfilmwas
silentandsowasn’tconsideredparticularlydisturbing,therefore receivinganage ratingcertificate
of 12. In 1940, Hitchcockdirected‘Rebecca’and,withthe improvementof technology,wasable to
add soundto the filmwhichaddedtothe suspense,typicalof apsychological thriller. However,it
wasn’tuntil aroundthe 1980’s and 1990’s thatthisgenre got itsreputationforbeingparticularly
thrillingandalmostdisturbing. Thiscanbe evidencedthroughthe factthatJonathanDemme’s
‘Silence of the Lambs’(1991) receivedanage ratingcertificate of 18 comparedtothe 12 certificate
on Hitchcock’s‘The Lodger.’Astechnologyhasdeveloped,psychological thrillershave,ingeneral
become more scary especiallythroughthe discoveryanduse of differenteditingtechniqueslike lots
of fastcamera shotsat differentangleswhichisatechnique exhibitedthroughoutDarren
Afronofsky’s ‘BlackSwan’(2010).
Significantdirectorsandscreenwritersof the psycholoigical thrillergenre:
Darren Afronofsky
DavidCronenberg
DavidFincher
AlfredHitchcock
ChristopherNolan
Main themesof a psychological thriller:
Reality
Perception
Mind
Identity
Death
