Research Into The History of Thriller Films - Miss Georgiou

Overtime the thriller genre has evolved and I aim to research into its development and its effect on its specific audience. A thriller film is defined as film with an exciting plot, typically involving crime or espionage which is renowned for creating suspense, surprise and shock. 

1920's
The first thriller ever made was called Nosferatu which was made in March 1922 and directed by F.W. Murnau. It was a silent film roughly based on the famous 'Dracula' story. The fact that it was a silent film is significant as in today's thriller films sound pays a pivotal role in creating effects and evoking emotions within the audience, this meant that the F.W. Murnau had to rely souly on the other typical thriller conventions such as the 5 mise-en-scene elements. The protagonist was heavily used in creating fear as he's presented as very scary and evil.

1940's

Within the 1940's decade the thriller genre gained huge popularity and recognition from the mass audience which boosted its reputation within the growing film scene. Within this era the extremely famous film The Third Man was produced, this film was directed by Carol Reed and has been widely considered as one of the best teams of all time. This film is particularly remembered for using unique use of harsh, contrasting lighting (despite being a black and white film) this effect was used in various scenarios to create numerous effects. The Third Man also used unique music to emphasise whats being shown on screen and evoke numerous emotions within the audience. The context and locations added to the eery atmosphere which Reed was determined on creating.

1960's

Alfred Hitchcock is widely recognised as one of the most pivotal characters within the thriller genre as he used numerous new techniques to create some of the best thriller films ever made and during the 1960's he directed the film Psycho which is viewed as his best ever film. Within this film Hitchcock used numerous camera angles and shots to closely mimic human vision. This involved the audience immensely in the action as this technique had never previously been used. Psycho also features on of the most famous scenes ever, this scene see's the the antagonist being brutally stabbed and murdered by a mysterious villain. Within this famous scene Hitchcock uses 77 different camera angles within the 3 minute clip. The vast majority of the shots used are extreme close ups and on feature for a extremely short amount of time, this makes it seem more individual than the conventional thriller camera angles from that era.

1980's
In the early 1980's a film titled Friday The 13th was released and became a huge box-office smash. Friday The 13th was directed by Sean S. Cunnigham and follows a group of teenagers who are brutally murdered individually when attempting to re-open a abandoned campground. This film took huge inspiration from the films The Last House On The Left and Halloween and the director wanted Friday The 13th to be shocking, visually stunning and make you jump out of your seat. The soundtrack for this film was unique because Cunningham decided to only play music when the killer was present, this led to a severe lack in music even in shocking and suspense scenes. Due to the lack of appearance of the killer Cunningham had to design a recognisable sound which would create fear in her absence. 

This list identiefies the highest earning thriller films ever. Despite the genre existing for many decades this list shows that the highest earners from the genre range from the early 90's to today. This sudden increase in earnings in the past couple of decades could be down to the more advanced technology within the films leading to a better film or the fact that thrillers more easily accessible films and rapidly growing in popularity.

The highest earning thriller film was 'Hannibal', this blockbuster thriller has to this date generated 165,092,268 since its release in 2001. 'Hannibal' is categorised as a violent/gory thriller and follows the the focal infamous character of Hannibal Lecter. In the previous film Dr Lecter had escaped a mental asylum and has now fled to hiding in Italy. meanwhile one of his victims, Mason Verger, seeks revenge. Despite being disfigured and on a life support machine Verger plans to use Lecters one true weakspot, Clarice Sterling.


On the other hand Saw IV ranked 9th on the list with a lifetime earnings of $63,300,095 which is $100,000,000 less the than the highest earning thriller 'Hannibal'. Despite using similar themes of violence and gore the narrative of the Saw saga differs immensely to Hannibal as the Saw films revolve around the many victims having to complete extremely violent, structure and gory tasks in order to survive.