A good thriller showcases intense excitement: building up suspense, tension and anticipation of things to come. The aim for a thriller film is to make the audience alert and on the edge of their seats. The protagonist in these films is set against a problem- an escape, a mission or a mystery. No matter what sub-genre a Thriller film falls into, it will emphasize the danger that the protagonist faces. The tension with the main problem is built on throughout the film and leads to a highly stressful climax.
Sub-Genres of Thriller
1. Action Thriller: An action thriller uses physical action to create suspense within the film. This will include physical stunts, chases, fights, battles and races. Often, these scenes will contribute to the overall sense of danger that the protagonist is facing.
The Bourne Identity
2. Crime Thriller: A crime thriller is a sub-genre that incorporates the suspenseful aspects of a thriller with a crime film plot. This sub-genre's plot usually centres on a serial killer, murderer, robbery, or manhunt. They tend to focus on the criminal and the protagonist, using action and psychological aspects to build tension and suspense.
Gone Girl
3. Psychological Thriller: In addition to the traits of a regular Thriller, a Psychological Thriller incorporates elements of drama and mystery film. The suspense in this sub-genre comes from the mind, rather than from physical threat. The protagonists in Psychological Thrillers must rely on their mental resources to solve the situation. Because of their nature, many Psychological Thrillers cross over into the Horror Genre.
Frozen
4. Science Fiction Thriller: Science Fiction Thriller incorporates hypothetical, science-based themes into the plot of the film. Traditionally, a Science Fiction film will incorporate heroes, villains, unexplored locations, fantastical quests, and advanced technology. Often this sub-genre will explore the "future-gone-bad" theme, including plots that revolve around alien invasions, dystopia scenarios, and super-diseases.
District 9
5. Religious Thriller: Religious Thrillers focus on religious themes, including religious questions and ceremonies. Though some films can revolve around a specific church, mainly including supernatural experiences, exorcisms, demon possessions and church cover-ups are typical themes of Religious Thrillers.
The Da Vinci Code
Timeline of How the Thriller Genre has Evolved
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Alfred Hitchcock brought the genre to life by creating a silent film called ‘The Lodger’- a Jack the Ripper inspired narrative. Hitchcock was also influenced by German expressionist technique. ‘The Lodger’ included scenes of sexual nature but rarely any as in the ‘20s and ‘30s this type of theme was not seen as socially acceptable. As a result of this film a Hitchcock scholar Donald Spoto described how ‘The Lodger’ would pave the way for Hitchcock’s later work and how it was “the first time Hitchcock revealed his psychological attraction to the association between sex and murder, between ecstasy and death.” Then came the first British film with sound- Blackmail in 1929; another Alfred Hitchcock film.
The 1940s saw the beginning of sectioning the Thriller genre into separate sub-genres this was due to the psychological thriller ‘Gaslight’ created by George Cukor. Alfred Hitchcock continued to create suspense filled thrillers including Oscar-winning ‘Rebecca’ in 1940. Around 1946 a few films about people getting terrorised by serial killers were released.
In the ‘50s Hitchcock added Technicolor to his films and reached the high-point in his career when he released ‘Strangers on a Train’ in 1951, ‘Dial M for Murder’ in 1954 and ‘Vertigo’ in 1958. Other notable films of the ‘50s include ‘The Night of the Hunter’ directed by Charles Laughton in 1955 and ‘Touch of Evil’, a crime thriller, directed by Orson Welles in 1958. Orson Welles also acted in his film.
Hitchcock released a disturbing thriller film called ‘Psycho’ which left the audience terrified. ‘Psycho’ is about a loner mother-fixated motel owner and taxidermist. Other notable psychopathic films in the ‘60s include ‘Peeping Tom’ directed by Michael Powell. The famous thriller ‘Wait until Dark’ released in 1967 and directed by Terence Young starrer Audrey Hepburn as a victimized blind woman in her Manhattan apartment.
After two decades of foreign films Hitchcock kicked off the 70s with a violent start as the film ‘Frenzy’ was released in 1972, and was given rating R for its vicious and explicit strangulation scene. In 1974 the film ‘Conversation’ was released by Francis Ford Coppola, ‘Conversation’ is a spy thriller film about someone who uncovered a murder whilst being spied upon. In 1978 Peter Hyam proposed the government’s conspiracy-theory idea that the first mission to Mars landing was complete in the film ‘Capricorn One.’
A prominent director of the ‘70s and ‘80s was Brian De Palma who used the themes of guilt, paranoia and obsession with plot elements include killing off main characters early on, switching point of view and dream-like sequences. His noteworthy films were ‘Sister’ in 1973, ‘Obsession’ in 1976, ‘Dressed to Kill’ in 1980 and the assassination thriller ‘Blow Out’ in 1981.
In the ‘90s there was recurring elements of obsession and trapped protagonists, these devices influenced a number of thrillers in the following years such as Rob Reiner’s Misery in 1990. In 1991 Jonathan Demme created the highly acclaimed crime thriller called ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ which was a typical crime thriller at the time. Also the notable crime thriller ‘Se7en’ in 1995 which was about the search for a serial killer who re-enacts the seven deadly sins.
Thriller have recently begun to overlap with the horror genre therefore having more gore and sadistic violence, brutality and terror. Recent films in which this occurred include The Last House on the Left in 2009, Vacancy in 2007 and Hostage in 2005.
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