History of Thriller Films - Miss Georgiou

Why Do You Think The Thriller Genre Is Still Popular Today?

I think that the reason why this particular genre remains so popular to this day is that thriller films appeal to a niche audience which keeps people intrigued and entices them to want to watch more. Also, the feeling of fear excites the audience as it creates an idea of anticipation and gets the adrenaline rushing. Furthermore, each thriller film is unique in its own way. For example, different use of characters and story lines etc. Many films belonging to this genre create a psychological effect on the audience, basing the main plot on true events which again excites the audience keeping them transfixed and on the edge of their seat. Some people could also relate to these experiences making them enjoyable to watch.
Today, the thriller genre remains extremely popular with a wide viewing audience. All thriller films combine elements of pure suspense, tension and excitement to engage their audience. Many now include themes of mystery, psychology and crime.
When researching different thrillers, I noticed that the way they are made and what is included has developed significantly over the years. For example older thrillers use plots that are somewhat unrealistic to what we see now, due to the lack of technology that film makers have access to now.


History Of Thriller Films - 
1930s - Present



The Black Cat (1934)

Directed by Boris Karloff Edgar G. Ulmer, The Black Cat, was the box office hit of the year. Released in 1934, the film is based upon a newlywed couple enjoying their honeymoon in Hungary when they come across a Hungarian psychiatrist who has spent the last 15 years of his life in an infamous prison camp. The couple are then involved in a tragic coach crash in a desolate area where one of the newlyweds, Joan Alison, is injured. It is decided that Joan would be taken to the psychiatrist's friends house, Poelzig. Joan is wrongly treated and is given a hallucinogen which causes her to behave very erratically. Poelzig's dark past comes to light when it is revealed that he allegedly betrayed the fort during a war with the Russians and was responsible for the death of many Austro-Hungarian soldiers. The psychiatrist, Werdegast kills Poelzig's cat  however he carries another black cat around as he preserves the bodies of dead women. Poelzig then plans to sacrifice Joan Alison as part of a satanic ritual. Werdegast eventually kills Poelzig striking down the mad architect who used to be his friend. He is then killed himself after he blows up the house to let the two lovers escape.

This clip from The Black Cat shows a struggle between the two main characters, Werdegast and Poelzig. One of them is shown to be tied up and stripped of his clothes while another is threatening to burn him and cut his body up piece by piece. This creates a feeling of tension as the film is building up to a death which would excite the audience and keep them hooked to find out what happens to these particular characters. As it was made in the 1940s, the film maker didn't have access to the technology used in thriller films today and is why this film was made in black and white. Although this clip doesn't necessarily scare the audience, we can feel the eeriness between both the characters therefore creating tension. As both characters in this scene are dressed in a similar way, it is hard to identify the villain so we assume that they are both the villain to a certain extent. However, the man on the left has a more menacing look on his face whereas the man on the right has weak posture due to being tied up and looks more scared therefore we can now guess that the man on the left is the main villain in this film. Also, as the man on the right is standing over the other guy, we can assume that he must be the dominant character within this particular scene by the positioning of these characters. This particular clip is conventional to the thriller genre as it creates elements of tension and suspense represented through the body language and relationship between the two characters. As one is showed to be more dominant over the other, this could connote that the characters featured in the clip are enemies supported by the fact that one wants to kill the other. This is also conventional as thriller films always include a build up to a climax which is usually a death.



Stranger On The Third Floor (1940)

Released in 1940 by RKO Radio Pictures Stranger On The Third Floor is a psychological thriller and film noir directed by Boris Ingster and starring Peter Lorre. It is commended as the first "true" film noir of the classic period from 1940-1959. Stranger On The Third Floor is a story about an innocent man wrongly accused of a crime who is desperate to clear his name. Reporter Michael Ward is the significant witness in Briggs' murder trial and is responsible for his incorrect conviction. Afterwards, suspicions of Ward's testimony arise and Ward's neighbour is mysteriously killed in a completely identical way to the man in the diner that Briggs is accused of murdering. A search for the sinister stranger that Ward came across in a stairwell is carried out to clear Briggs' name. Based on the clip,  this film has many conventional aspects for a thriller such as; an urban setting, heavy and mysterious shadows, voice over narration, a dream sequence, low camera angles focusing upwards on multi storey buildings and an innocent protagonist falsely accused of crime who is determined to clear himself. All of these conventions help to keep the audience in suspense and wonder what will happen next. By including the narrative of a murder being committed and the wrong man being accused, this introduces a psychological theme as the innocent man is so convinced that he didn't do it although the police aren't convinced. This can play on the audience's mind as well as the character's which is conventional for a thriller film.


Vertigo (1958)

Vertigo is an American thriller released in 1958 directed and produced by world renowned director Alfred Hitchcock. James Stewart stars as former police detective John "Scottie" Ferguson who was forced into early retirement after an incident in his line of duty caused him to develop Acrophobia, an extreme fear of heights. He is called upon by an acquaintance to follow his wife, who has been behaving strangely but Ferguson slowly becomes curiously obsessed with her. A series of dark events begin to unfold and people begin to die. This film is a story of deceit, love and madness.
Vertigo was the first thriller to start using colours instead of having the images in black and white.

In the following clip, the constant changing of the music changes from romantic, when Judy and Scottie kiss, to eerie and sinister when the nun comes in and Judy appears to fall from the clock tower. This initially creates a tense atmosphere and builds up the suspense leading up to Judy's death. This would keep the audience interested within the film and on the edge of their seat encouraging them to watch on further therefore making this film conventional to the thriller genre. Furthermore, within thrillers, an idea of being followed or watched is always evident. In this clip, prior to her death, Judy was shown to feeling as though she was being followed which ultimately leads to her twist of fate as she ends up deceased therefore making Vertigo an example of a conventional film.


Psycho (1960) 

Another of Alfred Hitchcock's stunning work, Psycho details the story of a hard working Arizona girl, Marion Crane, who is forced to go on the run due to her stealing $40,000 entrusted to her by her boss. She is desperate to marry the love of her life, Sam Loomis, but are unable to be married due to a majority of his life and money being dedicated to his work. She plans to run away and join Sam in his hometown of California in order to start a new life together. On her way, Marion is faced with the obstacle of driving in pitch black with torrential rain lashing down on her, she decides to turn off the highway and comes across a desolate motel. Exhausted from her journey and the stress of her criminal act, Marion spends the night here but dark secrets lie beneath the past of the owner of the motel. It is run by Norman Bates, a distinctive young man dominated by his invalid mother. News then breaks of Marion's disappearance and private detectives are hired to help track her down which leads them to Bates Motel.

This infamous shower scene from Hitchcock's legendary thriller has used various media techniques in order to create a sense of tension in order to keep their audience in suspense and want to watch more. Juxtaposition is used with the image of the main character, Marion Crane, partaking in a natural and ordinary everyday activity such as taking a shower with the images of her brutal murder by a mysterious figure.  Ominous music is played over the scenes of Crane getting murdered, acting as an example of parallel sound, to further the feeling of tension and scare the audience. Also, this is conventional to the genre as the killer is shown only as a silhouette so the audience are kept in the dark of who it could be therefore prolonging the suspense and making the viewer guess who could be lurking behind the shadow.




Airport 1975 (1974)

Airport 1975 is an action thriller film released in 1974 and directed by Jack Smight. When an in-flight collision leaves the pilot of a flight bound for Los Angeles incapacitated, stewardess Nancy Prior, played by Karen Black, with no flight experience is forced to take over the controls and land the plane.She is guided by boyfriend Alan Murdock (Charlton Heston), a retired test pilot who attempts to talk Prior through piloting and the best way to land the Boeing 747 aircraft. To add to this, the apprehensive passengers who include a noisy nun and a cranky man begin to irritate the already tense atmosphere.

Within this clip showing the initial crash leaving an aircraft pilotless, tension is effectively created through the use of the pilot in the smaller plane suffering from a heart attack losing control of his plane. As the plane loses control, mysterious music is played to build the effect. suddenly, out of nowhere, the plane crashes into the airliner, by making this sudden and unexpected, it helps to heighten this and make the audience want to watch more. Furthermore, by adding in the images of the passengers screaming, this generates a panicked atmosphere. This is conventional to the thriller genre as the involvement of the passengers within the scene of the plane crashing helps to evoke feelings of suspense as the audience wonder if they will make it out alive or perish along with the aircraft. This also creates feeling of sympathy from the audience as the passengers are completely innocent and don't deserve to die in this way.







Fatal Attraction (1987)

Fatal Attraction is a 1987 American Psychological Thriller film directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Michael Douglas, Glenn Close and Anne Archer. Dan Gallagher is a successful New York lawyer with a blossoming marriage of 6 years to his wife, Beth with whom he has a 6 year old daughter. However, Dan spends a weekend with editor, Alex Forrest which is the source of trouble for Dan. According to him, it was a one time thing but Alex thinks very different. When he makes it clear that there is no future for him, Alex becomes very obsessive with Dan starting with the constant phone calls escalating to Alex even visiting the apartment Dan has put up for sale as well as meeting his wife. Alex's obsession knows no limits and becomes progressively violence and Dan soon realises it's not the affair he needs to hide, its protecting himself and his family from the danger that his inconsiderate actions have put him in.

The use of screams at the beginning marks a danger has arisen and needs to be resolved. This creates an initial sense of apprehension due to the audience left in the dark about what is happening until the character, played by Michael Douglas, bursts into the bathroom to see his stalker attacking his wife. The brawl scene remains tense throughout as it is uncertain who will live and who will die which is conventional to the thriller genre. By having Alex appear to die and then come back to life after being drowned again, prolongs the scene and is portrayed as showing that in this situation, anyone could be hurt. Beth ultimately ends the scene by shooting Alex straight through the chest and consequently, ends the suffering caused by Alex's obsession. This is conventional for a thriller film as the use of a character appearing to die and then coming back to life creates an element of shock for the audience as it is unexpected and they didn't see it coming.


Misery (1990)

In this dark thriller directed by Rob Reiner, James Caan portrays romantic novelist Paul Sheldon, well acclaimed for his well known character, the films namesake 'Misery' Chastaine. After the completion of his latest book, Sheldon sets off on his journey back to New York from the Silver Creek lodge. Shortly into his drive, his car swerves off the ice ridden road in a torrential blizzard. Paul is critically injured but is rescued by nurse Annie Wilkes who reveals that she is his "Number one fan". She takes him to her remote home in the mountains where her dark secrets come to light. Annie is somewhat unstable with her mental health and after discovering what happens to heroine Misery in Paul's latest book, she becomes deadly. Paul is left drugged, crippled and at Annie's mercy.










In the following clip, it shows psycho Annie go into a fit of rage as she discovers that her favourite heroine, Misery, has been killed off in the latest book. The use of Annie's screaming shows her superiority as she is standing over a vulnerable Paul who is laid up in bed having been injured very badly. This creates a shift of authority and creates suspense as the audience are left wondering if Paul will escape from Annie's home alive or if he will fall into her clutches. This is conventional as the audience feel empathy towards Paul as he is being treated in a horrific way by someone who is supposed to be his 'biggest fan' and questions are raised to the state of mentality as this is not a normal thing to do to someone creating a psychological theme which is evident in thriller films.





The Happening (2008)

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, The Happening is an American thriller following science teacher, Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg) his wife, Alma (Zoey Deschanel) and Jess, the daughter of a friend (Ashlyn Sanchez) as they attempt to escape a deadly plague which causes anyone who is infected to commit suicide.The apocalyptic threat to humanity arrives out of nowhere with a series of violent and unexplained deaths spreading gradually across the country. The cause of the terrifying phenomenon remains unknown prompting Elliot to go on a remarkable journey to Pennsylvania's farmland to try and confound the invisible killer. Soon it becomes clear that no one is safe.








This is one of the many heinous scenes in The Happening. The use of sinister music played over the images of various people appearing to fall from the construction building. This acts as an example of foreshadowing of what is to come, implying that these aren't just accidental deaths and that there may be something more disturbing going on that the characters may not be aware of yet. This is supported by the characters' body language and facial expressions as they are horrified by what they are seeing therefore building tension as the audience wonder what has started to happen and what else may lie in store therefore making this particular film conventional to the thriller genre. Furthermore, the inclusion of a mass death where people drop from buildings is very suspicious and therefore creates an enigma for the rest of the narrative to unfold which is a technique used in most thriller films.




Top 10 Thriller Films

During the second research task, I looked into audience figures for the top 10-17 thriller films. Below is a picture showing what each film is rated and how many people went to see it upon its first release.

Looking at this table, I have noticed that there are many sequels to the original thriller films, one of these being Saw having a total of 7 films in this particular franchise. We can also see that Hannibal was ranked the best thriller film overall. The first Saw was released in 2004 and each new year saw a new Saw film being released. Based on my knowledge, I know that sequels are never more popular than the original film however my research shows otherwise, Saw II being the most popular Saw film making a total of $87,039,965 (Lifetime Gross/Theaters). Although a majority would say that sequels are better, they would not have their huge success if it wasn't for the original.

Also, another thing that I noticed was how the modernness of the film affected how much money it made the whole time it was released. For example, released in 1991, The Silence of the Lambs is ranked at Number 2 and falls higher than those that were released more recently therefore having more access to technology within the art of film making. I would expect a film like this to be at a lower position due to not having this access to the modern technology available now. This film made a total of $130,742,922 in comparison to a more recent thriller film such as, Saw 3D, making only $445,710,178. The Silence of the Lamb's narrative is based upon a young FBI agent, Clarice Starling, being assigned to a difficult case in which he has to help find a missing woman to save her from a psychopathic killer who skins his victims alive. the agent chooses to get an insight into the crazed killer's mind by getting help from another psychopath, Hannibal Lecter, who was formerly a well respected psychiatrist. Lecter is a very powerful manipulator who FBI agent, Jack Crawford believes holds the answers to their questions and will be able to locate the killer. However, he is not prepared to give out any information until Clarice gains his full trust. On the other hand, Saw 3D is based upon a battle over infamous serial killer Jigsaw's terrible legacy, a group of his survivors seek help from a support group led by a fellow survivor, who has a few dark secrets of his own. Meanwhile, cop Hoffman seeks revenge from Jigsaw's wife and sets out on a murderous rampage in order to end her. In my opinion, I believe that The Silence of the Lambs was a more successful thriller as it is more conventional to the genre due to the narrative compelling its audience by keeping them in suspense throughout and creating twists and turns along the way whereas Saw 3D based more upon the gore of the infliction of injury upon Jigsaw's victims which is more conventional to a horror than a thriller rather than the suspense. Comparing both Saw 3D and Silence of the Lamb's success rates, you could say that they were not equally successful for the times in which they were released. For example, upon first release, The Silence of the Lambs made $140,722,922 compared to Saw's $55.185,045. You would expect Saw 3D to have made more as it was released in 2010 therefore meaning that there was wide access to cinemas in this era however back in 1991, when The Silence of the Lambs was released, there wasn't as easy access to cinema but still made more money.

To conclude, I believe that a thriller film will be most successful if the narrative is strong and unique and very likely to make a large sum of money. The sound and editing techniques added in after the initial filming can only boost the overall effects of the film but it all comes down to the narrative. This Box Office research task has shown me that, although a sequel to a particular film is less likely  to  be as successful as the original film but if the narrative of that film is strong and interesting, it can lead to having a series of many more successful films. A good example of this is is the Saw franchise. This research task will aid me in creating my own thriller sequence as it has reminded me to ensure that the narrative needs to be original and strong in order to set it aside from the many other thriller films already released. I need to also make sure that the sequence doesn't give too much away as I will only be making the opening and I have to engage my audience and make them want to watch on to see what will happen.