How thriller films have changed and developed over time

How thriller films have changed and developed over time

The genre 'thriller' can be defined as films which creates and uses suspense, fear and excitement to entertain the audience. They are intended to have intense effects on their viewers, causing them to feel anything from uncertainty and surprise to extreme terror. 

When looking back at the history of thriller films, there is one director who stands out as one of the most critically acclaimed, and successful directors of this genre, commanding recognition as a pioneer of the way for thriller films. From the years of 1921 to 1976, Alfred Hitchcock directed around 60 films throughout his lifetime, in both the British film industry, then later moving to Hollywood to continue his career.

Alfred Hitchcock

His first thriller was a silent film called 'The Lodger', made in 1926, a suspenseful recreation of the infamous tale of Jack the Ripper, and this was the first of many iconic thriller films created by Hitchcock. Undoubtedly the most famous film to be directed by Hitchcock is the 1960's classic, Psycho. As the first film of its kind, Hitchcock pioneered the way of 'slasher' films, where the victim was attacked, and killed by the use of a knife. 

Psycho features one of the most well known scenes in all of cinematic history, 'The Shower Scene,' were lead female protagonist Marion Crane is attacked and murdered. This one scene features 77 different camera angles, and 50 different cuts. Due to the lack of editing technology available to Hitchcock in the 60's, the scene required this many camera angles and shots in order to make the scene seem realistic and threatening to the audience, as it disguised the fact that no images of actual violence were included in the sequence.

An image from Hitchcock's 1960's classic, Psycho, in The Shower Scene where Marion Crane is attacked.

During the 1950's (pre Hitchcock's Psycho, but the time period thought to be the peak of his career) the genre of thriller films began to take off, with megastars such as Marilyn Monroe being cast in them. Starring in Henry Hathaway's 1953 thriller Niagra, Monroe played the part of a femme fatale who plans to murder her psychotic husband. 

The 1970's saw the creation of Hitchcock's first British film in 20 years, which received a rated "R" certification due to an extreme strangulation scene. Steven Spielberg also directed a low budget TV film during this era which appealed to a specific target audience and gained a cult-like following. 

The 1990's saw the rise of the Scream film series, directed by Wes Craven, which centres around main protagonist and targeted victim Sydney Prescott, who is stalked by a number of attackers dressed in the formidable, yet iconic, ghostface costume. 

Many thrillers feature sub genres which enable the director to develop the plot further, and appeal to an even wider target audience. 

For example, psychological thrillers - films in which the main conflict between characters is emotional or mental, until the resolution (usually a violent one) is found. An example of a psychological thriller is Hitchcock's Psycho, in which the mentally deranged Norman Bates murders a number of innocent victims dressed as his mother. The strange acts committed in this film cause it to fit exactly into the sub-genre of 'psychological thriller'.
Another sub-genre, conspiracy thriller, the innocent victim discovers the hidden intentions of the enemy and attempts to confront them, foiling their plans. An example of a conspiracy thriller is The Da Vinci Code in which a professor of religious iconography and symbology from Harvard University is the prime suspect in a violent murder.