History of Thriller Films-Miss Georgiou-Media

Why are thriller films still popular within today's society?

Over the years the thriller genre has shocked, scared and overall entertained audiences of all kinds. These audiences seem to love and almost crave the rush and excitement of being dragged into a whole new universe of complex and well thought-out plots, twists and also impressive acting.

Thriller films have gone over many changes over the years appealing to more and more audiences in the process. For example, in the 1930's one of the biggest and most influential thrillers was Alfred Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps". The story consists of a man and a woman (played by Robert Donat and Medeleine Carroll) going on the run after being framed for an agent's murder and attempting to foil a plot by a group of spies named The 39 Steps" from stealing top secret information. It was voted 1935's best film in Britain and is regarded by many (people and companies) as one of the greatest British movies of all time. It is also ranked as one of the best book-to-film adaptations of all time. Since its release 80 years ago there have been many other adaptations, including Broadway and West End shows, TV movies (for example by the BBC in 2008) and even a "Sesame Street" sketch.

In the 1940's, another big thriller release captivated audiences: "Double Indemnity" which was directed by Billy Wilder and starred Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson. This American production heavily praised by many critics and was nominated for seven Academy Awards but was unable to win any. However it is still hailed as one of the best American films ever and is said some by some to be one of the first (and sometimes the very first) movie in the "film noir" genre. Despite being praised by audiences and critics at them time as being an "original" thriller, some where disturbed by the plot of the film, but since the years after its release the film's popularity and critical reception has only seemed to get better receiving a rare 4 star (which at the time was the best) rating in 1977 by Leslie Halliwell. It is also seen by many as a classic.

The 1950's has been regarded by many as one of the definitive years for the thriller genre, with director's like the one and only Alfred Hitchcock producing some of his most famous pieces of work. One of these pieces being 1958's "Vertigo". The story follows former detective John "Scottie" Ferguson (played by James Stewart) who goes into early retirement after developing vertigo and acrophobia. He is then hired by Gavin Elster to follow his strangely behaving wife Madeleine (played by Kim Novak). Despite having mixed reviews from critics, the film is regarded by many to be on the long list of Hitchcock's classics. The cinematography of the film is also very significant as it is the first film to ever use the "dolly zoom" technique (which was used to represent Scottie's acrophobia). "Vertigo" is also on many "best films of all-time" lists and still captivates intrigued audiences to this day.

Alfred Hitchcock was still producing masterpieces in the next decade, with his most famous of them all coming at the start of it. 1960's "Psycho" never fails to come to mind when Hitchcock or thriller films are mentioned. The movie follows Janet Leigh as Marion Crane. A woman who steals £40,000 from her employer and goes on the run. She ends up at the Bates Motel, run by the peculiar Norman Bates (played by Anthony Perkins) and his mother Norma. But Norman is not who he says he is. With its iconic shower scene accompanied by the chilling screeching of the violin, it is definitely one of the film industry's greatest triumphs. The production received critical acclaim, was nominated for four Academy Awards and is one of the most famous thrillers of all time.

In 1975 one of the most famous movies to ever be released hit the big screen: Steven Spielberg's "Jaws". The story follows a giant man-eating Great White Shark as it attacks the seaside resort town of Amity Island. It's up to police chief Martin Brody (played by Roy Schneider), oceanographer Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw) to hunt down and stop the shark's reign of terror. With its iconic theme tune (composed by John Williams) and memorable quotes ("you're gonna need a bigger boat"), it became one of the most influential films ever and was also the highest-grossing film of all-time until it was surpassed by "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope". The film has had three sequels and two theme park rides (in Florida and Japan) and still makes audiences afraid to go in the water to this day.

Five years later in 1980, Stanley Kubrick and Jack Nicholson teamed up to create one of the most psychologically terrifying thriller films ever: "The Shining". Based on the novel by horror mastermind Stephen King, it tells the story of writer Jack Torrance (played by Nicholson) and his wife Wendy (played by Shelley Duvall) and son Danny (played by Danny Lloyd) as they volunteer to look after the isolated Overlook Hotel. The family are eventually stranded in the hotel after a snowstorm and begin to witness the supernatural occurrences which take place there, resulting in Jack spiralling into insanity. The film is filled with tons of astonishing and terrifying imagery and contains one of the most famous scenes/quotes ever ("Here's Johnny!"), which helps maintain its status as one of the best films ever.

In the next decade one of my most favourite films was released: "The Silence of the Lambs". This 1991 masterpiece of cinema stars Jodie Foster as FBI trainee Clarice Starling who is tasked to retrieve information and advice from the fantastic psychiatrist Dr Hannibal Lecter (played by Anthony Hopkins) in order to help catch "Buffalo Bill" (played by Ted Levine),  a serial killer who kidnaps and skins his victims. There is however one setback: Lecter himself is a serial killer and also a cannibal. Starling must try her best to keep Lecter out of her head and attempt to find Buffalo Bill before he takes any more victims. The film won all top-five Academy Awards (including Best Picture, Best Actress for Foster and Best Actor for Hopkins) and continues to cement its place on top all-time movie lists to this day.

One of the 2000's most well-known thrillers was 2005's "Sin City". This Frank Miller thriller hold a big all-star cast consisting of Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Benicio Del Toro, Brittany Murphy and Elijah Wood. The film is based on Miller's graphic novel of the same name and is shot very digitally to give that comic-book feel to the big-screen. The film's plot resolves around a man who is hell-bent on finding the killer of his former love and will get rid of anyone who stands in the way of his mission. The film was released at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival and a sequel (entitled "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For") was released in 2014.

One of the biggest thrillers of the 10's was Oscar-Winning director Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island". This 2010 psychological thriller was a box-office smash (grossing almost $295 million) and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo and Ben Kingsley. The story follows U.S Marshall Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio), who is hired to investigate the disappearance of one of the patients of a psychiatric facility on the eerie and isolated Shutter Island. As his stay on the island goes on, he begins to uncover more secrets about not only the facility and its patients, but also himself too.