History of Thriller Films - Miss Georgiou

Introduction

Thriller films films are still popular to this day because people enjoy the idea of being scared. Also, people like the idea of it not being real so it's more exciting for them to watch. People like the idea of tension being built up as they watch a thriller film and they like sitting in the cinema not knowing what might happen.


Timeline of Thriller Films

1930s - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

This thriller was directed by George King. It is about a barber called Todd Slaughter, whom is also known as Sweeney Todd, that owns his own barbers in Fleet Street, London. He persuaded rich customers into his shop where he would sit them down and the chair would drop them straight into the basement. If the big drop does not kill them, he would cut them up instead. His neighbour, Mrs Lovatt would then get rid of the body in return of some of the stolen money. Sweeney Todd then gets found out because he tries to murder the partner of the lady he wants but the fall does not kill him. Mrs Lovatt tries to hide him but he gets away and hands Sweeney Todd in. After he finds out that people know what he is doing, he sets his barber shop on fire and the fire ends up burning him.
The audience enjoy this type of thriller film because it is very realistic which makes it more interesting for them to watch. They also enjoy it because it creates a lot of tension as he has to lure his victims into his shop.
The themes used in this thriller are obsession as Sweeney Todd doesn't just kill one person, he kills many. Also, class is another theme used because the barber murders people of a high class. This shows that he must have been jealous as he wasn't of the same class.
The clip below is conventional to the thriller genre because the antagonist pretends to be nice to the protagonist but then kills him. This makes the audience feel scared for the protagonist but angry towards the antagonist. The shadows are also conventional to the thriller genre because they build up suspense as the audience don't know what the antagonist is going to do next. Therefore, an enigma is created keeping the audience engaged in the rest of the thriller film.

1940s - Bewitched

This thriller film was directed by Arch Oboler. This film is about a woman called Joan Ellis who hears a voice inside her head of another personality at her engagement party. This voice tells her to leave her fiancé and head to New York which she does. Whilst she is in New York she meets a lawyer whom she falls in love with but the voice tells her to leave him. Once she left, she returned to her ex fiancé and the voice takes over her actions and ends up killing him.
The film was made on a tight budget but was still of a very high standard. Towards the end of the film, special effects are used where they use a double-exposure effect to show the different souls of Joan and the voice.
The audience like this type of film because it shows another side to the way people act if they have a mental illness. People also enjoy this film because they know it wouldn't happen in real life so they don't need to be as scared to watch it.
The clip below is conventional to the thriller genre because the low key lighting creates tension as the audience don't know what is going to happen next. Also the shadows create suspense which is conventional as it means the audience don't know if one of the shadows might be the antagonist. This creates an enigma for the audience keeping them engaged within the rest of the thriller film.

1950s - Jack the Ripper

This thriller film was directed by Monty Berman and Robert Baker. It is about a serial killer names Jack the Ripper who goes out killing prostitutes. The Inspector from Scotland Yard meets his friend that is also a detective and asks him to help with the investigation. They then find out who the killer is as the public become more frightened.
The audience enjoy watching this type of thriller because a lot of tension is built up to find out who the murderer is. Also, people like the idea of having to use clues to find the answer in murder mystery films.
The main theme in this film is a murder mystery which the audience like because tension is always being built up making the film more exciting to watch.
The clip below is conventional to the thriller genre because they use low key lighting which shows shadows building up tension. The music is also conventional to the thriller genre because it is up beat and creates suspense.

1960s - Jigsaw

This thriller film was directed by James Goldstone. The thriller is about a man named Jonathan Fields that is put on conscious after someone placed sugar cubes with LSD into his coffee. When he wakes up, he find a woman drowned in his bath and blood all over his hands and his clothes. Fields has amnesia so the only thing he can think of doing is asking a private detective to help him find out what happened. They both end up finding out that the head of where he works, Dr. Edward Arkroyd, had been having an affair with the woman found dead. Then they realise that he had also been killed and Haley, who had been after his job had murdered both of them. At the end, Fields and Haley had a fight and Fields fall out the window leading to his death.
The audience like this type of film because they can feel like they are part of the film as they have to use clues to find out who the murderer is.
The main theme is murder mystery. As the decades go on, this theme is becoming much more popular.
The clip below is conventional to the thriller genre because during the opening, the location is shown which is empty and quiet. This is a perfect location for a thriller because it's a good place for an antagonist to kill their victim.

1970s - Jaws

This thriller film was directed by Steven Spielberg. It's about a girl called Chrissie Watkins that leaves a night time beach party and goes down to the sea. When she starts swimming, something pulls her under. Her body is then found the next washed up onto the beach. The cause of death was from a shark attack. As there had been no other shark attacks in the surrounding area, the police decide she was killed in a boating incident. Later on, a boy is also killed from a shark attack. A tiger shark is caught which they believe to have been the shark making the attacks. A few nights later, a half-sunken fisherman's boat is found with a great white sharks tooth in the hull. The Mayor does not believe that the great white shark is responsible for the attacks so does not close the beach off from the public. On the fourth of July, the beach is full of tourists and the shark enters an estuary and kills a boater. The police keep attempting to catch the shark but it keeps breaking the engine on the boat so one of them, Hooper, enters the water in a shark proof cage hoping to inject the shark with strychnine but the shark breaks the cage so Hooper had to drop the injection and return to safety. The shark attacks the boat and kills one of the men. An explosion is then made and the shark gets killed.
The audience like this type of thriller because it is realistic which makes it more scary for them to watch. Also, the music used in this film creates a lot of tension making it a lot more frightening for the audience to watch.
The clip below is conventional to the thriller genre as the music builds up tension as it the beat gets faster and faster from being nice, calm music to fast, tense music. This relates to the audience because it makes the feel sorry for the girl getting killed by the shark.

1980s - Rampage

This thriller film was directed by William Friedkin. The film is about a serial killer called Charles Reece that drinks their victims blood because of paranoid delusions. He is then arrested and the film is mostly around his trial. The prosecutor had always been against capital punishment but after meeting one of the victims family, he decided that Reece deserved it. After Charles Reece's brain is scanned, they find that he is insane so were debating whether the death penalty was acceptable. At the end of the film, he is sent to a mental hospital where he sends a letter to the a man whom Reece had killed both the wife and child of. The letter asked the man to go and visit him. Right at the very end of the film, it tells the audience that his hearing will be in six months.
The audience like this type of film because it is gruesome so it makes them feel very scared as they know the victims would have gone through pain.
The clip below is conventional to the thriller genre because he uses a knife to cut the police officers throat and a knife is a popular weapon for an antagonist as it used in most thriller films. This makes the audience frightened because it is quite realistic.

1990s - The Intruder

This thriller film was directed by David Bailey. It's about a woman called Catherine that enters police station covered in blood that admits to murdering her husbands first wife. She hands in the murder weapon but the detective doesn't believe her because the crime was committed three years earlier. From then on, the storyline is told in flashbacks. Catherine and Nick met at a gallery but as she was leaving, she is robbed. Nick helps her and after realising that she's hurt, asks her to go back to his apartment for the night. They fall in love and get married. As Nicks ex wife, Stella, died, he does not like to talk about it so Catherine asks his friends. She finds out that someone came into their house and attacked her three years earlier. Soon, Catherine realises that her belongings keep getting wrecked but when she goes to show Nick, the evidence goes missing. This makes Nick feel like she is suffering from the same delusions as Stella. Catherine then found Stellas diary and finds out that Stella had suspected Nick of cheating on her which makes Catherine very suspicious. She speaks to their friend, Charlie, telling him that she thinks Stella is still alive. He replies saying that he thinks a wormhole is allowing Stella, whom is living in the past, to communicate with Catherine in the present. Catherine then finds out that Stella was jealous of an unknown woman who she then thinks is herself. Nick then reads the diary after it went missing and Stella had wrote Catherines name and threatens to kill her. Nick and Catherine agree to stay at a hotel. Whilst Nick is going to meet her there, Stella attacks her with scissors so Catherine shoots her. In the police station, they let Catherine go due to lack of evidence.

The audience enjoy watching this type of film because people do have these type of delusions in their head so it is realistic. Also, tension gets built up a lot when objects go missing making it scarier for the audience to watch.
The clip below is conventional to the thriller genre because there is a fighting scene where the girl screams. There is also a part of the clip where a glass drops on the floor and liquid comes out making it look like blood. This builds up tension for the audience.

2000s - The Happening

This thriller film was directed by M. Night Shyamalan. This film is about a science teacher, Elliot Moore, his wife, Alma, and the daughter of their friend, Jess. They try to escape a life threatening plague which makes whoever is infected commit suicide. The apocalyptic threat to humanity comes out of nowhere with many violent and unexplained deaths going round the country. The cause is unknown which makes Elliot want to go on an exciting journey to Pennsylvanias farmland to try and find out where the killer came from. In the end, they realise that no one is safe.

The audience like watching this type of film because the suspense is built throughout the film making it scarier to watch.
The clip below is conventional to the thriller genre because people fall off buildings and die. This relates to the audience because they feel sorry for the people dying as they are all innocent.

List of the top 10 thriller films

Hannibal is ranked number 1 because it has brought in the biggest life time gross across thousands of theatres. Also, people would want to go and watch it because it is a series of films adding to 13 altogether. This means the audience can get into it more as they know there is another episode coming out. As a result, the film will create enigmas for the audience so they will come back to watch the next one and find out what happens. The film is quite realistic being about a serial killer which means the audience are more frightened which they usually like. 

The Cell is ranked number 10 because it didn't get as high a lifetime gross as Hannibal. Also, as it is about 2 different minds, it could be quite confusing for the audience. As it is in the top 10 however, the audience would have found it scary to watch from the violent part of the brain. 

Red Dragon is ranked number 5 because it's lifetime gross is lower than Hannibal's but higher than The Cell's. I think it was close to Hannibal as they share characters and ideas.

All three of these films are psychological thrillers which shows that the audience obviously enjoy watching this type of film.

Conclusion

This research task has assisted me in thinking of a narrative for my thriller opening sequence because I have found out that the best thriller films are psychological. This means that I also want my thriller sequence to be psychological as well because I know that it will be popular. This task has also helped me understand the most conventional features which make up a thriller. For example, the lighting as it builds up suspense for the audience.