The document provides a history of the thriller genre from the 1920s to present day. It notes several influential early thrillers directed by Alfred Hitchcock in the 1920s-1930s that helped establish the genre. It then outlines some of the most prominent thrillers of the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s-1980s, and 1990s to present that featured themes like serial killers, obsession, and spies/covert operations. Key films that pushed the genre's evolution include Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs, and more recent thrillers that depict high levels of brutality.

1. THE HISTORY OF THE GENRE: THRILLER
By Fahim Alim

2. EARLY THRILLERS: 1920’S – 1930’S
1926 – Alfred Hitchcock’s first thriller movie; The Lodger
1928 – Fritz Lang Spies, which was a spies movie, which the movie James Bond, originates from.
1929 – Alfred Hitchcock’s second thriller movie; The Blackmail
1931 – M; which was about a criminal deviant who preyed on children
1932 – Hari; which was another spy agent movie
1933 – Murders In The Zoo; which was about a jealous and murderous zoologist
1934 – The Man Who Knew Too much
1935 – The 39 Steps
1932 – 1935 – Walter Forde, Victor Saville, George A. Cooper and Michael Powell made 28
movies between them
1938 – The Lady Who Vanishes

3. 1940’S
1940 – The Foreign Correspondent
1940 – Rebecca; an unusual romance between a young woman and a rich man
1941 – Suspicion; a woman who’s in trouble from her husband
1942 – Saboteur
1943 – Shadow of a Doubt; about a serial killer called The Mary Widow Murderer which was
a true story
1944 – Gaslight; A man plotting to make his young wife insane to inherit money
1944 – Laura; was a film noir, which was a crime based drama
1946 – The Spiral Staircase; a mute servant is trapped in a house with a serial murder
thinking she’s next
1948 – The Lady From Shanghai; a woman and her crippled husband/lawyer end up getting
involved in a murder
1948 – Sorry, Wrong Number

4. 1950’S
1950 – Hitchcock added Technicolor to his thrillers, making them more glamorous
1951 – Strangers on a Train
1953 - Niagara
1954 – Dial M For Murder; a villanous murderer attempts to kill his wife
1954 – Rear Window; a man mistakes his wife in being a spy
1955 – To Catch a Thief
1958 – Vertigo

5. 1960’S
1960 – Peeping Tom
1960 – Psycho
1962 – Cape Fear; a menacing ex-con seeks revenge on his attorney and his family
1963 – Charade; which is a romantic thriller
1965 – Repulsion
The 007 films, which were films about spies who fight international terrorism, inspired a
lot of other films like:
1965 – The Ipcress File
1967 - Funeral in Berlin
1967 – Billion Dollar Brain

6. 1970’S & 1980’S
1971 – Duel; which was directed by Steven Spielberg
1971 – Play Misty For Me; which was about
1972 – Frenzy; which was a violent and vicious film, which was rated as R due to the
strangulation scene
1973 – Sisters; Brian De Palma had different themes such as voyeurism, obsession
and dream-like scenes
Spy movies were also made throughout the two decades
1974 – The Black Windmill was an MI5 agents son being kidnapped and he has to save
him
1983 – The Osterman Weekend was Sam Peckinpah’s last film
1985 – Defence of the Realm; covert operation
1987 – The Fourth Protocol

7. 1990’S - PRESENT
In this decade, there was a popular sub-genre which was obsession, where people
were obsessed with other people.
1990 – Misery; A fan, who is a carer, terrorizes an incapacitated author
1991 – Sleeping With The Enemy; beaten wife leaves her sadistic husband
1992 – Unlawful Entry; a cop saves a woman’s life and is obsessed with her
1999 – The Talented Mr. Ripley; Matt Damon is obsessed and takes the name of a
man called Jude Law
Another popular sub-genre was FBI/detectives where officers would track down serial
killers.
1991 – The Silence of The Lambs; an FBI agent tries to track down a cannibalistic
psychiatrist called Hannibal Lectar
1995 – Se7en; a serial killer re-enacts the seven deadly sins
Thrillers Nowadays still follow some of the older themes, like brutality and high
amounts of death counts:
2008 – Funny Games