Research into The History Of Thriller Films - Miss Georgiou

The History of Thriller Films

The thriller genre usually include main aspects of tension and suspense and try to stimulate their audience to create anxiety and shock. They are also known to keep their audience in suspense by giving a cliff hanger, unaware of the fate to come.

Thriller films have been around since the 1920's. A man named Alfred Hitchcock made a thriller film named "The Lodger", this being his third silent film. His next thriller was a film called "Blackmail" this being his and Britain's first sound film.

1920/30s -  Alfred Hitchcock helped promote the thriller genre in the UK, he done this by introducing it with his new silent film 'The Lodger', based on the Jack the Ripper events in London.

• In 1929 Hitchcock released his next thriller film called 'Blackmail', this would be Britain's first sound film.
• A film about the serial killer Peter Kurten and his life was made in 1931 called 'German film' by Fritz Lang.
• Another crime thriller called 'Murders In The Zoo' by Edward Sutherland was produced in 1933 where Lionel Atwill played a murderous and jealous Zoologist.

From 1935 most of Hitchcock's outputs were thrillers, as he enjoyed scaring his audience; he would would even spy on his audience as they watched to witness their reaction.

1940s - Hitchcock continued to create thrillers through the 40's, 2 being 'Foreign Correspondent' and 'Rebecca', 'Rebecca' being an oscar-winner. The films include outstanding cinematography, as a film mad in 1940, there wasn't all the special technology thgat is used to create suspense and fear now. The shots used in the film grab the audiences attention quickly and has them on the edge of their seats thinking about what is oing to happen next. This is why Hitchcock is forever known as the master of suspense and one of the greatest film directors of all time.

• In 1941 'Suspicion' was released, a film based on a housewife who was in danger of being murdered by her husband.
• In 1943 Hitchcock released his personal favourite of all of his films, 'Shadow of a doubt' based on the real story of the famous 1920's serial killer, 'The Merry Widow Murderer'.
• George Cukor released his psychological thriller 'Gaslight' in 1944, the film that was about a man who attempted to make his wife insane to get her inheritance.
• 'The spiral staircase' was released in 1946.

1950s - In the 50's Hitchcock created and released more classic thriller films such as 'Strangers on a train' in 1951

• 'Niagra' by Henry Hathaway was released in 1953, this started the career of famous Marilyn Monroe as she played a housewife who plotted to murder her husband.
• In 1954 'Dial M for Murder' was released.
• 'Rear window', a film based on a paranoid man was convinced his neighbour was a killer was also released in 1954.
• 'Kiss me deadly' by Robert Aldrichs was released in 1955.

Hannibal made $58,003,121 and is therefore number one on the box office thriller films. On its opening weekend, this may be because audience's prefer to watch more iconic characters on screen, this is shown in Hannibal as the character Hannibal Lector features in a TV series and is in a iconic 1959 Hannibal film also, which has been remade. This may have drawn viewers from the original to this one as the original was a massive success and therefore automatically has a high expectations. The cell is 10th on the box office list and made $17,515,050 on its first day, the reason why the public may not have enjoyed this film as much as Hannibal is because, The Cell may not appeal to the target audience as much as they may not enjoy action thrillers as much as scary psychological thrillers such as hannibal. Also The Cell doesn't have many well known actors in unlike Hannibal which has Anthony Hopkins in who is a well respected actor and therefore any fans of his will appreciate and go and see films he is in, but with The Cell, there aren't any well known actors which may not appeal to audiences as much.