History & Development of the Thriller Genre

Picture collage that I created which shows the development of the thriller genre throughout the years -
Top left to right - Contemporary:
First being introduced to thrillers in 1920s; mystery/crime thrillers started to develop; spy/espionage thrillers were becoming popular and the iconic 'red herring' was created by Alfred Hitchcock.
Bottom left to right - Modern: 
Audiences are put in suspense; as well as in tension on the edge of their seats; they are also excited and adrenaline-fuelled as a result; to evoke these emotions, violence also became a big factor nowadays  instead of just plots like in contemporary times.

The thriller genre started as early as the 1920s where director Alfred Hitchcock essentially founded the thriller genre with 'The Lodger' (1926). It was a silent film likening itself to a Jack the Ripper type of story that clearly demonstrated that plot and narrative were core for creating a successful thriller. With his new-found success he found himself starting to make more films throughout the years but not all of them were thrillers. However, it was not until 1935 that he realised that audiences engaged with thrillers and therefore the outcome of most of his creations were thriller genre films. 

In this period of time, other directors, specifically British director,s capitalised on thrillers. This included: Walter Forde ('The Ghost Train', 1941), Victor Saville ('Dark Journey', 1937) and Michael Powell ('Peeping Tom', 1960). 

 

Alfred Hitchcock is regarded as such a influential director that in 2012, a film directed by Sacha Gervasi commemorates his work specifically his most notable work on 'Psycho'   

 

L to R: Walter Forde, Victor Saville, Michael Powell 

The first sub-genre to be really developed was the spy/espionage genre approaching WWI because of growing tensions amongst countries and the necessity for national defence that could be provided by (fictional) agents. All the directors above were drawn to this concept and made many films (even past its origin era) based on the British Secret Service defending the country against foreign enemies such as 'The Ipcress File' (1965) which starred British actor Michael Caine as a secret agent sent to investigate the kidnapping and brainwashing of British agents.

Though moving on from the early 1940s, the 1950s held a new type of sub-genre, psychological thrillers. It became increasingly popular with Hitchcock classics such as 'Dial M for Murder' (1954), 'Vertigo' (1958) and 'North by Northwest' (1959). This popularity was due to the fact that films could be shown in technicolour rather than black and white, as well as exotic locations being shown with big stars making names for themselves.

  

Top: Film poster of 'From Russia with Love' from the James Bond series portraying the exotic themes of the film 

Bottom: Pictures of location 'reccies' for the Haggia Sophia in Istanbul

Besides Hitchcock's most notable film 'Pshyco' in the 1960s, not many films were made by him in this period of time. Except for 'Frenzy' in the 1970s which was his first film to receive an 'R' (Restricted) rating for being extremely violent, it is now an exemplar introduction for other thriller films of the modern era who then used violence to gain suspense. They have developed in this way because audiences were attracted to this them as well as the fact that it made the plot climax more exciting and audience reactions were more intense .However, the thriller genre has continued to keep on developing all the way to the present time where it has expanded and stemmed towards other sub-genres such as action, science-fiction and supernatural thrillers.