the history of the thriller genre

The history of thriller genre

 

Thriller is a genre which is used in literature, film and television to create suspense, excitement and tension. The genre of thriller film developed from well known novels. Then later these novels were studied and adapted and later reproduced into a thriller film. Homer's Odyssey is one of the oldest stories in the Western world and is regarded as an early prototype of the thriller. A genuine, standalone thriller is a film that provides thrills and keeps the audience cliff hanging at the edge of their seats as the plot builds to a climax. The atmosphere in a thriller film is also enhanced through the lighting and use of music. An example of this is from the opening of the film ‘Alien’ by Ridley Scott in 1979. In the opening of this film, the lighting is minimal and dull; this creates the atmosphere of suspense and mystery which links into the thriller genre. This was an early example of a thriller film we know this as it has the codes of convention of the thriller film today. The low key lighting used in the helps to hide the identity of the killer in the Ridley Scott movie. This is a convention of all thriller films and commonly seen in thriller films.

 

One of the most well known and popular thriller films is ‘Psycho’ which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and was produced during 1960. This film is a psychological thriller based on the American 1960‘s time period. The film was adapted from the1959 novel which was written by Robert Bloch also called ‘psycho‘. Both the film and novel are based on the cases on convicted serial killer Ed Gein, this therefore allowed the directors of the film to associate the film with other genres such as horror, drama and mystery, as well as the thriller. The early version of the thriller film show techniques used in thriller film today such as contrapuntal sound to highlight the killing, this can also be seen in jaws. Many opinions on the thriller genre are that over time it has changed from being more psychological to being more gore based. In recent years, thrillers have been slightly influenced by the horror genre; they have more gore/sadistic violence, brutality, terror, and body counts. Technology has also changed making the genre more engaging and exhilarating for the audience. This includes more developed shot such as more angle shots such as high angles, ground level. This makes thriller more exciting for the audience seeing different point from different angles. Among angles technology has also increased the mise en scene this makes it the films seem more realistic and the and therefore the audience become more amerced in the film, also with the added use of non digetic and digetic music. However, not all thrillers must contain a thousand miles an hour plots to keep it within the thriller genre.

 

Over the last thirty year there a now a long list of character that can included into the thriller genre such as : Characters in thrillers include convicts, criminals, stalkers, assassins, down-on-their-luck losers, innocent victims (often on the run), prison inmates, menaced women, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, fugitives, private eyes, drifters, duplicitous individuals, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends, and more. The themes of thrillers frequently include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder. This portrays that the genre has increased over the last few years to become more diverse therefore making it more entertaining as there is there’s not a common theme.

 

The thriller genre was a popular genre during the past fifty years and is still increasingly popular within the industry today. High stakes, non-stop action, plot twists that both surprise and excite, settings that are both vibrant and exotic, and an intense pace that never lets up until the adrenalin packed climax. However the genre has changed in the past few years as there are now many sub genres of thriller films, the most common use of this subgenre to thriller are mystery.