This is all about the history of the thriller genre and individuals who have worked to make it what it is.

1. The History Of Thrillers

2. The Genre
• Thriller is a broad genre of literature, films and television programmes. Thrillers
tend to draw out moods like suspense, excitement, surprise and anticipation; they
give viewers heightened feelings.
• Thrillers aim to keep the audience on the edge of their seats. Thriller genres tend to
use devices such as cliff hangers and plot twists which occur extensively in films,
literature and television programmes that chose to hold this type of genre in the
work. Usually, a thriller is driven by a plot which involves a wrongdoer or villain,
which involves creating issues that the protagonist must over come. So, for
example, if a film was about a murder mystery and the protagonist had to uncover
the traces to the murderer, that would be the obstacle that had to be over come. A
film example that uses this device is the film ‘se7en’. Two detectives attempt to
uncover traces of the offender to find his identity and location, the antagonist in this
film sets multiple obstacles (the deaths of different people) for the detectives to
overcome.
• A common theme in thrillers involves innocent victims dealing with unstable
characters, as an example, as seen in Hitchcock’s film Rebecca (1940), where Mrs.
Danvers tries to persuade the new Mrs. De Winter to leap out of the window to her
death, obviously trying to convince someone to commit suicide doesn’t portray a
very sane mind.

3. The History
• One of the earliest thriller films was Harold Lloyd's comic Safety Last! (1923),
with a character performing daredevil stunts on the side of a skyscraper, which
would leave the audience feeling tense, nervous and hanging off the edge of their
seat, which is something that the thriller genre aims to do. Safety Last has been
regarded as more of a comedy, nevertheless it was one of the first films to introduce
thriller elements into a film.
• Alfred Hitchcock played a massive part in the development of the thriller genre;
during the 1920’s – 1930’s he directed numerous thriller films bringing the genre to
popularity. Alfred Hitchcock's first thriller was his third silent film The
Lodger (1926). His next thriller was Blackmail (1929), this film was both his and
Britain's first sound film. His notable thrillers in the 1930s include, The Man Who
Knew Too Much, and The 39 Steps.
• The 1970’s was the time period that thriller films started to introduce brutality and
violence, when they became more popular it began to set down the basic codes and
conventions for a thriller genre that are so widely followed still.
• In the early 90s, thrillers had recurring elements of obsession and trapped
protagonists who must find a way to escape the clutches of the villain – these
devices influenced a number of thrillers in the following years up until the present
day.

4. Alfred Hitchcock
• Alfred Hitchcock was a British film producer.
• Hitchcock played an extremely big part to the development of the thriller genre, it
left him playing a massive part of the history of the thriller genre.
• He was often referred to as the “master of suspense.”
• He had a successful career in British cinema with both silent films and
early talkies and became renowned as England's best director. Hitchcock moved
to Hollywood in 1939 and became a US citizen in 1955.
• Hitchcock introduced many of the codes and conventions still used in thriller films
today.
• His films often ended with a shock twists.
• Hitchcock had a distinct way of filming, he uses the cinematography to extenuate
emotions and build the suspense that is expected when watching a thriller – one of
the many codes and conventions that Hitchcock introduced to the genre.

5. Changes To The Thriller Genre
• Over the course of time there has been many changes to the thriller genre. For
example, more modern thrillers often include situations that are relevant and
believable to society. For example, ‘Taken’ or ‘Unknown’ including government
and terrorist plots.
• As time has progressed the difference in music in thrillers has changed, the music
now is known to create more suspense and anxiety, whereas in comparison it was
more upbeat or light-hearted.
• Technology has advanced massively between now and the beginning of the thriller
genre; this means that directors can now create different lighting and colour more
easily and advanced with the use of technology. A director may chose to use the
advantage to create dark, shadowing lightning to further help emphasise the dark
side to characters.