History of thriller films- miss georgiou

History of thriller films

1940s: 

• Alfred Hitchcock created a thriller film named 'Rebecca' this film won an oscar
• This film was about a young woman who met a man, they dated and ended up getting married within two weeks, she found out that he already had a previous wife and that the marriage was apparently perfect, the heroine of the film is intimidated by the previous wife (Rebecca) as she feels her husband is still in love with Rebecca, the heroine tries her best to be a good wife but the husband become angry at insignificant things and the heroine is unsure how far she can take this marriage, Rebecca body is found in wreckage of a boat and the husband admits to the heroine that the marriage was not as perfect as first thought and that Rebecca was having an affair, and that she was pregnant with another mans baby, after a heated argument Rebecca fell and hit her head, causing death, maxim, the husband took the body out to the boat and left, the new wife helps maxim conceal the body from the police, making it look like a suicide but the man Rebecca cheated on maxim with (jack favell) finds a note proving she was not suicidal, maxim shows the police the black mail he had been receiving from jack favell and maxim becomes a suspect in the murder of Rebecca, the investigation into the murder reveals that Rebecca had been visiting a doctor in which jack favell thinks it is because of her being pregnant when in fact she was not pregnant but suffering from cancer, it is decided rebecca commited suicide and only a few know the full story, rebecca tried to coax maxim into killing her to ruin him, when he returns to his manor he discovers it has been burned down.
• Alfred Hitchcock went on and created many more successful thrillers
• He relied on sound and editing to create thrills in his films
• Most films used stereotypical monsters such as draculas and mummies
• We know Rebecca is a thriller film as it created suspense, shock and surprise, as you can see in the clip sound is used very effectively to create suspense, as the man is on the edge of the cliff non diegetic sound is used, a high pitch sound creates the thought in the audiences mind that he is going to jump off and the film is building it up, trying to create a bigger shock, but as he steps forward a voice can be heard shouting at him to stop, creating surprise that he has been stopped, the fact that it is in an isolated area the audience are surprised someone is up there, at the right time to stop the man from jumping
• Slow timing of shots is used at the beginning to create suspense as well, the slow 'walk' up to the mansion creates suspense as we wonder what is going to happen, the low key lighting adds to this suspense as well, the impaired vision of the audience builds suspense as the audience cannot see the whole picture, they wonder what is around the corner, therefore are on the edge of their seats
• Shock is created when the audience discover how Rebecca died and that Maxim was lieing the whole time, the audience create a relationship with Maxim as they become suspicious of him and slightly fear him as they are unsure as to whether he is telling the full truth
• Surprise  is created when they discover Rebecca was trying to get Maxim to kill her to ruin his reputation, the audience feel sympathy for Maxim as they see that he has gone through a hard time and does not deserbe it

1960s

• Psycho was a big part in the development in thrillers, with such a small budget the psychological thriller entertained massive audiences and was very controversial as it killed off the main character within the first 45 minutes, this was a huge gamble on Hitchcocks behalf
• The story is about a couple who can hardly afford to get married due to the boyfriends debts, a client asks to buy a house for 40,000, the main actress decides to run with the money and give it to her boyfriend so they can pay off the debts he has, she stays at a motel for the night and has a meal with the owner, while talking they discuss the mental health of his mother who stays with him, marion suggests for her to be institutionalized which angers norman (the owner), during the conversation marion decides to return the money, she takes a shower and during this is brutally murdered, norman is convinced his mother commited the crime and tries to get rid of the body to protect her, he throws marion into a river with all her belonging which includes the money,  the detectives try to find out who the murderer was so interview norman, he seems extremely nervous which makes him very suspicious, he mentions that she met his mother, they ask to speak to her but he refuses to let them, the detective calls sam and lila (marions sister) telling them that he will call them back in one hour with more information, later he again tries talking to normans mother, while looking for her a figure appears and murders him as well, sam and lila are worried due to not getting a phone call having waited three hours they go to the sheriff, the sheriff is puzzled as he claims that the mother of norman died ten years ago, the sheriff calls norman asking about the private detective, norman claims he asked questions and left, norman then hides his mother in the basement due to him worrying about the next people asking what has happened to marion and the private detective. Sam and Lila go to the motel pretending to be a couple rent a room at the motel so they can search the room marion was in, they see a scrap of paper with 40,000 written on it as well as there being no shower curtain, neither believe normans mother is dead so develop a plan, sam will distract norman with conversation while lila searches the house of norman to try to find his mother, while Lila is searching, the conversation between Sam and Norman becomes an argument and Norman angrily kicks them out and asks where sams wife is, sam fights norman but is overpowered, Lila sees Norman approaching so hides in the basement, she sees Normans mother in a rocking chair and calls out, she gets no response so taps her on the shoulder to discover her dead, Lila screams, Norman comes down in a wig and dress holding a knife, shwoing it was him murdering the other dressed as his mother the whole time, before he gets to Lila, Sam manages to overpower Norman. He is then arrested and interviewed by a psychiatrist, it is discovered that he killed his mother and her lover due to being jealous and kept her corpse to make her live forever in his eyes, he developed a split personality and when he felt an attraction toward a woman the mother side of him would become enraged and kill the woman (like Marion), he had also killed two young woman previously in this 'mother' state 
• Psycho was one of the most famous thriller films in history, the 'shower scene' was an extremely successful scene, the use of suspense, surprise and shock was very effective and has set the tone for thrillers since, suspense is created by the non diegetic soundtrack, as she is walking to the shower the suspense is built up and the audience realise that something big is going to happen, shock is created when the antagonist enters the shower, again using non diegetic sound track, she he pulls the shower curtain a high pitch noise is used, the audience are shocked as to how violent the antagonist is, creating a sense of fear toward him in the audience.
• It was extremely successful at creating the three main conventions, shock, surprise and suspense
• Shock - shower scene, audience couldn't believe that marion (the main character) was being killed so early on and couldn't understamd why she was being killed, also shocked because the figure looks like an elderly woman and they are shocked as to why an old woman would do this, the audience create a relationship with Marion as they feel sympathy for her as they feel like she was innocent and had no reason to be killed, also knew she was a good person as she was going to return the money
• surprise when they find out Norman was the killer/antagonist all along and that normans mother is in fact dead, the audience create a relationship with Norman as they feel fear of him as he is mentally unstable, you can see this as he is clearly the killer  and he dresses as a woman which is seen as strange by the audience
• suspense when Lila is searching for Normans mother and cannot find her, also when Norman is walking toward her and she rujns down to the basement as we wonder whether he will find her, then when he finds her and is walking toward her and finally when Sam is having a fight with him the audience wonder whether Sam will come out on top

1980

• Blade runner was one of the most successful films which involved the themes 'sci-fi' and 'thriller'
• The story was about a 'bladerunner' named Rick, his job was to track down 'replicants' which were androids and destroy them, he is informed that four replicants have illegally travelled to earth, possibly to increase their life span, he observes a test which shows how replicants react differently to certain questions compared to humans, this separates the humans from the replicants making it easier to find them, Rick begins his investigation at the Tyrell corporation and discovers one of Dr tyrells assistants is a replicant, the assistant has been given false memories making her think she is a human, the assitant later visits Rick at his apartment to prove she is human, he reveals what has happened to her and she leaves distraught, Rick searches Leons (a replicant used for tests) room, he finds out one of the replicants work at a strip club, he goes there and kills that replicant, Rick is then told to kill Rachael (the assistant of Dr Tyrell) he goes to kill her but Leon stops him, Leon is then killed by Rachael and Rick and Rachael return to Ricks room, he promises not to hunt her, the final two replicants discover the other two have been killed, Sebastian (a man who works closely with Tyrell) tells the two replicants that their lifes will be cut short due to a genetic disorder, sebastian and one of the replicants break into Tyrells and the replicant demands more life, Tyrell explains this is impossible, the replicant shoots Tyrell and escapes with Sebastian. Rick enters Sebastians apartment and is ambushed by the replicant who didn't go to Tyrell, Rick kills this replicant and is then chased by the last replicant, as Rick is running across the roof tops he falls short of one of the building, the replicant makes it with ease, Rick is about to fall but then the replicant pulls him up and saves him, the replicant then dies from the genetic disorder.
• This creates all the codes and conventions needed for a thriller, shock, suspense and surprise
• Surprise are created when the replicant saves Ricks life, the audience can't believe he saved rick, the audience create a relationship with the replicant as they feel sympathy toward him as he is dieing after saving Ricks life
• Shock is created when the replicant ambushes Rick, the audience do not expect this and are engaged to see who will come out on top, this creates a relationship between the replicant and the audience, they know that Rick is experienced so if the replicant can ambush him then it must be dangerous so they fear the replicant
• Suspense is created when Rick is hanging on the edge about to fall, the audience are on the edge of their seats wondering how Rick is going to survive this situation, this creates a relationship between Rick and the audience, they feel sympathy toward him as they are sure he is going to die

2000- recent

• Until today thrillers still take ideas from past movies
• Recently films have been connecting the horror genre to thrillers more often than they used to
• They are much more action orientated than they were in previous decades
• They more popular thrillers nowadays are psychological thrillers, these have proven to be extremely successful, for example shutter island and inception, both big box office hits and were psychological thrillers
• Shutter island is about a two men, one named Edward the other named Chuck, who go to 'shutter island' and into a hospital for the criminally insane to investigate the escape of a missing patient, these two men discover something that suggest there are 67 patients although there are meant to be 66, Edward reveals he is seeking revenge for the death of his wife as one of the patients is the man who killed her, the two men investigate a ward they believe the government test certain drugs in. The two return to the main hospital area and are separated, she explains to Edward that she is the real Rachael Solange (the alleged escaped prisoner) and that he is really a prisoner, she warns him that everything he is given to consume probably has drugs in it to test, Edward returns to the hospital and cannot find Chuck, he is told he never had a partner so becomes extremely confused, he escapes the hospital and goes to the top of the lighthouse where he believes chuck is being held prisoner, he finds the hospital administrator and is told his real name is in fact Andrew and he is a patient of shutter island because he killed his wife, because she killed their three kids, the man he thought was Chuck reveals walks in and reveals he is actually Edward/Andrews psychiatrist, it is revealed that he was allowed to undergo this 'fantasy' to try to help him recover and face the truth, Andrew/Edward remembers that he did kill his wife and served as a US marshall, they all believe this is good for his recovery and is a big step, the next morning Andrew/Edward goes outside and is confronted by Chuck, Andrew/Edward still believes in the fantasy world and it is believed the treatment was unsuccessful.
• This again has all the conventions needed for a thriller film, Suspense, surprise and shock
• Suspense is created in the dark scene as seen in the clip, it uses lighting and sound to create suspense and the audience feel as if something shocking is about to happen, the dark/low key lighting restricts the view of the audience meaning its difficult to see, this means anything could pop up and shock the audience from where they cannot fully see, the music builds up creating a thought in the back of the audiences mind that something bad is going to happen to the protagonist, the audience feel sympathy toward the protagonist as they can see he is in a situation that is extremely dangerous
• Shock is created in the dark scene as well, the music is used to build up the shock and then a man appears at the end of the scene in his cell, the audience become shocked over nothing because of the build up of suspense, the audience have a fear of the man in the cell now though as they are suspicious of him due to the build up before seeing him
• Surprise is created when we find out that the whole thing is really a fantasy and Edward is actually a patient, the audience do not expect this, creating surprise, the audience feel sympathy toward the protagonist as he clearly believed the whole thing, they understand how damaging this must be and feel extremely sympathetic toward him

Jurrasic park was an adventure/sci-fi/thriller, it was given a PG rating meaning it was much more accessible than other films as all age groups can go and watch it in the cinema, the main theme was around dinosaurs, there was also a massive sense of danger as the dinosaurs had escaped from their exhibit.

X-men: The last stand was a 12A, meaning the younger audience couldn't watch it, which is a huge loss as some of their min audience which would have read the comic books cannot see the movie, this was obvioulsy a big loss in their profit on the movie.