Thriller Genre History

Throughout the decade’s literature, film and television has featured the broad genre of thriller as a means of creating tension, suspense and apprehension. Directors have combined various thriller elements to create exciting narratives which stimulate the audience’s imaginations and provokes different moods and emotions. The thriller genre is a category of fiction with highly melodramatic elements and tends to overlap with various other genres such as crime. It dates back to ancient epic poems such as Homer's Odyssey; which used similar thriller narrative techniques, although thriller films began to develop in the early 1920's and has increasingly become hugely popular. 

Thriller Films Through The Decades
1920's - 1930's	Thriller films began to emerge in the early 1920's with producers such as Alfred Hitchcock releasing his first silent thriller movie ‘The Logger’ which was full of suspense and based on Jack the Ripper. Hitchcock’s distinctive storytelling technique influenced the rise of other thriller films such as German film ‘M’ directed by Fritz Lang and tells the story of a criminal deviant who preyed on children. During the 1920's-1930's thriller narratives developed; which helped distinguish this genre within the film industry.
1940's	During the 1940's Hitchcock continued to lead the thriller genre and became known as the master of suspense thrillers. ‘Foreign Correspondent’ (1940) and the Oscar winning ‘Rebecca’ (1940) about an unusual romance between a young woman and an emotionally distant rich widower. Advances in technology meant that films became more accessible and modern with great unlikely plot developments, red herrings and interesting stories based on real life characters; with murder investigations, espionage and documentary style movies becoming increasingly popular.
1950's	The 1950's saw colour motion pictures being introduced to the film scene via Alfred Hitchcock. This era became the highest point of Hitchcock’s career as his release of more thriller films heightened his success with classic psychological crime thriller ‘Strangers on a Train’ being one of his best films during the 50’s. Marilyn Monroe also became hugely popular; and starred in a number of commercial motion pictures which earned her sex symbol status.  Henry Hathaway’s thriller ‘Niagara’ about a femme fatale who plots to kill her husband was one of the movies Monroe starred in during this time.
1960's	The 1960's saw a mix of genres emerging. The highlight of this era was ‘Psycho’; another thriller movie directed by Hitchcock and despite the mixed reviews it received when it was first rereleased, ‘Psycho’ is now regarded Hitchcock’s greatest movie. Romantic thriller ‘Charade’ directed by Stanley Donen was greatly different to the typical thriller as it contained humour as well as various plot twist and enigmas which left the audience highly intrigued. The 60’s also saw the continuous rise of Audrey Hepburn who was hugely popular during Hollywood’s Golden Age.
1970's - 1980's	During this time the thriller genre became increasingly violent .Hitchcock’s first British film ‘Frenzy’, was rated R for its shockingly violent and explicit content. Other directors such as Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood released successful thriller movies; with Spielberg’s low-budget TV movie ‘Duel’ earning a cult following. Themes of films also became more elaborated with directors such as Brian De Palma exploring themes of obsession and paranoia within various plot elements. Phillip Noyce's psychological thriller ‘Dead Calm’ starring Nicole Kidman; ended the 80’s decade of thriller films and due to its portrayal of obsession it continued to influence other movies in the 90’s.
1990's	The 90’s thriller genre began with Rob Reiner's ‘Misery’ which was based on Stephen King’s psychological horror novel ‘Misery’. Following from this several films including ‘Sleeping with the Enemy’ and ‘Unlawful Entry’ were influenced by Reiner. During this decade thriller films about obsession and espionage became increasingly popular.  Jonathan Demme’s award winning crime thriller ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ and  David Fincher's crime thriller ‘Se7en’ were two of the most famous thriller movies of the 90’s.
Present day	Throughout the decades thriller films have continued to develop by accumulating various narrative elements across the years. The different themes and aspects of thriller’s contribute to its uniqueness as a literary and film genre. Today’s thrillers involve a mixture of interesting sub-genres, but overall the tense and anxious situations with high levels of suspense form the foundation for the thriller genre.