This document provides a history of the thriller genre from the 1920s to present day. It describes how Alfred Hitchcock pioneered the genre with silent films in the 1920s-1930s. Psychological thrillers emerged in the 1940s-1950s due to films like Gaslight and The Spiral Staircase. Iconic directors like Hitchcock and films like Psycho further developed the genre in the 1960s. Spy thrillers increased in popularity during the 1960s as well. The thriller genre continued to evolve with films in the 1970s-1980s featuring more graphic content. Recent thrillers from the 1990s onward have utilized special effects and featured famous source material and franchises.

1. History of the Thriller
Genre
T h i s i s s ome r e s e a r c h l o o k i n g a t h ow t h r i l l e r
f i lms h a v e d e v e l o p e d o v e r t h e y e a r s t o s h ow
awa r e n e s s i n t o h ow k e y d i r e c t o r s a n d f i lms
h a v e c h a n g e d a n d s h a p e d t h e g e n r e .

2. 1 9 2 0 ’ s - 1 9 3 0 ’ s
• Alfred Hitchcock promoted the thriller genre by creating the
silent film called ‘The Lodger’
• This was his third silent film but first thriller filled with
suspense and was a Jack the Ripper type of story
• 1929 Hitchcock created his second thriller film ‘Blackmail’
which was his and Britain’s first sound film
• 1928 director Fritz Lang introduced one of the earliest spy
films ever made called ‘Spies’. This became a stepping stone
for spy films of the future such as the James Bond
• 1931 Lang created another thriller ‘German Film’. This was a
story about the serial killer Peter Kurten and his life. This set
another sub-genre of crime thrillers
• 1933 Edward Sutherland produced another crime thriller
called ‘Murders in the Zoo’ which was based on a murderous
and jealous zoologist.

3. 1940’s
• During the 1940’s Hitchcock continued to create thriller films
and in the year of 1940 he released two suspense thrillers
‘Foreign Correspondent’ and ‘Rebecca’, this being a film to go
on and win an Oscar
• He then went on to produce further thrillers including
‘Suspicion’ 1941, and ‘Saboteur’ 1942
• In 1943 he created his personal favourite ‘Shadow of Doubt’
which was based on the true case of a 1920s serial killer
known as The Merry Widow Murderer
• In 1944 George Cukor created a psychological thriller called
‘Gas Light’ about a husband who plotted to make his wife go
insane in order to gain her inheritance. This could be seen as
a starting point for the sub-genre of psychological thrillers
• 1946 Robert Siodmak directed the film ‘The Spiral Staircase’
which was another psychological thriller about a serial killer

4. 1950’s
• During the 50’s, Hitchcock continued to
produce thriller films adding ‘Technicolor’.
This was a turning point for his films as it
allowed the audience to finally see the
action in colour.
• He then produced more classic films
including ‘Strangers on a Train’ (1951),
‘Dial M for Murder’ (1954) and ‘Rear
Window’ (1954) which all were themed with
plots of murder and some kind of
conspiracy theory.
• An extremely popular thriller film during
the 50’s was Henry Hathaway’s movie
‘Niagara’ (1953) which starred Marilyn
Monroe, who plays a wife who plots to kill
her husband.
• Other well known films made during the
era include Robert Aldrich’s ‘Kiss Me
Deadly’ (1955), Charles Laughton’s ‘The
Night of The Hunter’ (1955) and Orson
Welles’ crime thriller ‘Touch of Evil’ (1958).

5. 1960’s
• In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock released one of
his most famous films, still recognised
today, called ‘Psycho’.
• Prior to the release of ‘Psycho’ another
hit thriller film of the 60s was produced:
Michael Powell’s ‘Peeping Tom’ about a
psychopathic cameraman.
• Also released during the 60’s was J. Lee
Thompson’s ‘Cape Fear’ (1962), Stanley
Donen’s ‘Charade’ (1963), Roman
Polanski ‘Repulsion’ (1965), his first
English film, and Terrence Young’s ‘Wait
until Dark’ (1967).
• During the 1960’s spy thrillers became
increasingly popular as we saw the
release of the ‘Harry Palmer’ trilogy,
inspired by 007, as well as, ‘The Spy who
Came in from the Cold’ (1965), ‘The
Deadly Affair’ (1967) and ‘The Triple
Cross’ (1967).

6. 1970’s-80’s
• During this period, the box office saw a
wave of increasing thriller films including
Hitchcock’s first British film in two
decades ‘Frenzy’ (1972), given an ‘R’
rating due to its explicit content.
• This era also released Steven Spielberg’s
low budget ‘Duel’ (1971), Clint Eastwood’s
‘Play Misty For Me’ (1971) and John
Boorman’s ‘Deliverance’ (1972).
• Other films released during the 70s
include: Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘The
Conversation’ (1974), Irvin Kershner ‘The
Eyes of Laura Mars’ (1978) and Brian De
Palmas psycho-thriller ‘Sisters’ (1973).
• The 80s brought us ‘Dressed to Kill’
(1980), the assassination thriller ‘Blow
Out’ (1981) and ‘Body Double’.

7. 1990’s-Present
• The 1990’s introduced Rob Reiners
‘Misery’ (1990), based on a book by
Stephen King, and ‘Sleeping with the
Enemy’ (1991).
• The 90’s also brought us the famous,
Jonathan Demme’s ‘The Silence of the
Lambs’ (1991, where a young FBI agent
is involved in a psychological war
involving the cannibalistic psychiatrist,
Hannibal Lector.
• 1995 also brought us David Fincher’s
‘Se7en’, starring Brad Pitt and Morgan
Freeman, about a search for a serial
killer who conducted the murders of
involving the seven deadly sins.
• Throughout the 2000’s we have seen the
thriller genre progress dramatically
with more films using stunts and special
effects up until the present day, the
thriller genre have produced some big
box office hits including Eden Lake
(2008), The Last House on the Left
(2009), Unknown (2011), The Bourne
Series and Taken (2008) etc.