Genre Research

How the genre has developed over time.

The first thriller films were directed by a man called Alfred Hitchcock in the 1920s and 30s. His third silent thriller was called 'The Lodger' and he released it in 1926 . After this in 1929 he released the first thriller film with sound in Britain , so this was a big step forward, it was called Blackmail. At this time there was also a few other directors producing such as George A Cooper and Michael Powell.
In 1940 Hitchcock continued to direct more thriller films. He released Foreign Correspondent and Rebecca which went on winning an Oscar. In 1944 George Cukor released two psychological thrillers , Film Noir (murder investigation) and Gaslight ( husband making wife go insane).
During the 1950s Hitchcock was at the height of his career directing a few more thrillers making him become a huge success. He was creating films like To catch a thief (1955) and Strangers on a train (1951) .Whilst he was becoming a success directors like Charles Laughton and Henry Hathaway were producing.
In 1960 Hitchcock released a disturbing thriller film called Psycho. As a result the audience were left 'at the edge of their seats'. It was about a murderous hotel owner. also at this time films like The deadly affair and Billion dollar brain were released.
After two decades of foreign films in 1972 Hitchcock released an English film called Frenzy , it stood out starting the thriller genre of the 1970s.
Skipping ahead to the 1990s Jonathan Demme was famous for his crime thriller called The silence of the Lambs (1991).
In the present day thriller films have a certain level of individuality making them stand out more than ever before. Rather than being psychological , now a days they have started to become more based on horror. some examples of recent thrillers are Eden Lake and Joy Ride.




Generic Convention

Thriller films are usually set at night in the dark to create the mood and to sometimes reflect certain things. There can sometimes be a case to solve , its usually a murder. This makes the audience have many questions especially when its at the start of the film. It makes them want to carry on watching. Thriller films are usually quite realistic this helps the plot have  a bigger effect on the audience as it will look much like a real life situation.

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