The History of the Thriller Genre...

The first actual thriller is called ‘Safety Last’ and it was Harold Lloyd’s comic. This was in 1923.Some of the other earliest thriller films were, The Cat and the Canary, The Bat Whispers and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. These were made in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

However, probably one of the most well known thriller directors/film makers is Alfred Hitchcock. He was born in England in 1899 and is most well known for his psychological thrillers and silent films.

He is regarded Britain’s greatest film maker and he made over 50 films in his career (that was prolonged over six decades). It was him who started to incorporate murder, violence and crimes of passion into his films, and that has shaped thrillers that are made today. Some of his films that have been most influential to the way thrillers are made, would be Rear Window and Psycho.


Some key points that can be expected to be seen in a thriller film:
Establishing Shots are used at the beginning of a lot of thrillers, to set the scene for the audience, but sometimes Close Up shots are used instead. This would be to introduce the audience to a character, but also by using an extreme close up, is creates a sense of mystery. Why do the audience need to see a character that clearly? To identify with them?

The lighting in a thriller film is usually very dark, with low saturation, giving a sense of coldness, and this could link to the days when the original thrillers were only in black and white, so a lot of the filming would be very dark and mysterious. The use of the colour red can be seen in many thriller films, and it’s to symbolise the danger that will be happening in the film. It could also show bloodshed.

Something else that is a key point in the thriller genre, I think, is the use of music and sound. A large percentage of thriller films, whether they be very old, or modern, orchestral music is a huge part of the film. Using violins, cymbals and cellos, it creates a chilling feel to the scene. Often this type of sound is added when leading up to a climatic part of the film.
Another aspect of sound, that is more important in thriller films than any other genre, is the use of sound effects. Some of the most stereotypical sound effects for thrillers are the sound of a knife being sharpened (that sort of sound), a high pitched screaming, heavy breathing, twigs/branches snapping etc...

I think the difference between the thriller films made today, in comparison to the films made in Hitchcock’s era, is that there is much more gore and violence shown in today’s films. When thrillers first started being created in the late 1920s and early 1930s (and even into the 40s/50s and 60s) films were much more focused on the psychological aspect, making the audience scared by the sounds used and camera shots; there wasn’t much violence or gore shown, which left more to the imagination, and I think this is a better way to direct a thriller, than today’s idea, of horrifying the audience with menacing scenes of violence.