THRILLER MOVIES

GENRE RESEARCH

DEFINITION OF A THRILLER

Thrillers are a genre of literature, film, and television

programming that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as the main

elements. A common subgenre is psychological thrillers.

ALFRED HITCHCOCK (1920’s)

He has helped to shape the modern-day

thriller genre, beginning

with his early silent film The

Lodger (1926), a

suspenseful Jack the

Ripper story.

The LodgerHitchcock had clearly been watching contemporary films by Murnau and

Lang, whose influence can be seen in the ominous camera angles and

claustrophobic lighting, which are typical features of a thriller.

The Spiral Suitcase

ROBERTSIODMAK(1940’s)

He directed the American psychological thriller The

Spiral Suitcase (1946). It is

based on Ethel Lina White's novel Some Must Watch.

The Spiral Staircase tells the story of a pretty young mute woman working as a

servant in a magnificent old gothic mansion, who finds herself the intended victim of a serial killer. This beautifully filmed thriller

has every glorious cliché in the book – thunder storms, creaking doors, flickering

candles, dark corridors, square-jawed heroes, inept policemen, red herrings,

unlikely plot developments, and a psychopathic murderer.

MICHAEL POWELL(1960’s)

He directed the 1960 film Peeping Tom.

While this film was

denounced when first

shown, it now has a cult following.

Peeping TomThe gruesome story is about a

psychopathic killer (Karl Boehm) who photographs his victims

immediately prior to murdering them–he gets his kicks out of viewing the helpless terror on

their faces.

BLAKE EDWARDS(1980’s)

He directed the 1988 film

Sunset which was based on

Rod Amateau’s novel of the same name

about how Earp actually did serve as a technical

adviser for some early

silent westerns.

SunsetWhilst making a silent film about the life of the legendary lawman Wyatt Earp, veteran actor 'Tom

Mix' discovers that the real Earp is on the film set as a technical

advisor. The two become friends, but when a murder takes place,

the two become partners and set about tracking down the killer.

SUB-GENRES

These are sub-genres of the

thriller genre which give more detail to

how a thriller should be laid out,

in addition to giving specific examples of

specific films for each sub-genre

category

Psychological thriller

Mystery thriller

Crime thriller

Disaster thriller

Political thriller

Religious thriller

Conspiracy thriller

Supernatural thriller

OFTEN TAKE PLACE WHOLLY OR PARTLY IN EXOTIC SETTINGS

THE HERO MUST THWART THE PLANS OF AN ENEMY

THE HEROES IN MOST THRILLERS ARE FREQUENTLY "HARD MEN" ACCUSTOMED

TO DANGER

AN OMINOUS OR MONSTROUS ELEMENT IS COMMON TO HEIGHTEN TENSION

ELEMENTS THAT DEFINE A THRILLER

A THRILLER IS DEFINED NOT BY THEIR SUBJECT MATTER BUT BY

THEIR APPROACH TO IT“

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