The document outlines the timeline of thriller movies from the 1920s to the 21st century. It begins with Alfred Hitchcock releasing some of the earliest thrillers like The Lodger in the 1920s-1930s. It then discusses how Hitchcock continued directing suspenseful thrillers in the 1940s-1950s that were notable for using technicolor and casting glamorous stars. The timeline notes a shift towards more graphic violence in thrillers starting in the 1970s-1980s. It concludes by stating that while modern thrillers still borrow from past themes, many incorporate more graphic horror elements like gore and brutality.

1. The Timeline of
Thriller Movies

2. 1920s–1930s
In 1926, Alfred Hitchcock released his
first thriller which was his third silent
film, The Lodger (1926), a
suspenseful Jack the Ripper story. His
next thriller was Blackmail (1929). This
was notable because it was his and
Britain's first sound film.

3. 1940s
Hitchcock continued to release suspense-
thriller films, directing Rebecca (1940),
which is about the unusual romance
between a young woman and an
emotionally distant rich widower –
overshadowed by a vindictive
housekeeper. He also released
Suspicion (1941) about a woman in peril
from her own husband, Saboteur (1942)
and Shadow of a Doubt (1943).

4. 1950s
In the 1950s, Hitchcock
added technicolor to his thrillers so they
were no longer in black and white.
Hitchcock also casted exotic locales and
glamorous stars. He released Strangers
on a Train (1951) which is about two train
passengers: tennis pro Guy and Bruno
who staged a battle of wits and traded
murders with each other, Dial M for
Murder (1954), To Catch a Thief (1955)
and Vertigo (1958) which is about a
retired police detective who becomes
obsessed with the disturbed enigmatic
'wife' of an old friend

5. 1960s
In 1960 Hitchcock released the shocking
and engrossing thriller Psycho, which was
about a loner mother-
fixated motel owner and taxidermist. This
also had the famous shower scene with
the sound motif of the ‘screaming
violins’. J. Lee Thompson released Cape
Fear (1962) which was about a man
that had a menacing ex-con
seeking revenge at an attorney and his
family. The 007 films inspired other spy
films like the 'Harry Palmer‘, a spy
mystery trilogy featured a reluctant and
unglamorous British secret serviceman

6. 1970s – 1980s
This is the decade where violence started to
be out in the thriller genre, with
Frenzy (1972), Hitchcock's first British film in
almost two decades, being given an R rating
for its vicious and explicit strangulation
scene. Steven Spielberg's created a low-
budget early TV movie Duel (1971), which got
a cult following. Other films that were made
include Clint Eastwood's Play Misty for
Me (1971), Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look
Now (1973), and Phillip Noyce's Dead
Calm (1989)

7. 1990s
The decade started with Rob
Reiner's Misery (1990), with an
unbalanced fan named Annie who
terrorizes, in her care, an incapacitated
author named Paul. He also released
Sleeping with the Enemy (1991), with a
battered wife who left her sadistic
husband to find a better life was
vengefully pursued. Other films released
during the 1990s include; Jonathan
Demme's The Silence of the
Lambs (1991), David Fincher's Seven
(1995) and Anthony Minghella's
psychological thriller The Talented Mr.
Ripley (1999).

8. 21st Century
Thrillers today do borrow themes and
elements from those in the past
years. However there are a number of
recent thrillers that maintain the aspects
of the horror genre like having more
gore/sadistic violence and brutality.
Recent thrillers include; Eden
Lake (2008), The Last House on the
Left (2009), P2 (2007), A History of
Violence (2005) and Firewall (2006)