history of thriller films

Introduction
Thriller is a genre that is still popular because the storyline of a thriller movie always tends to build up tension between the audience and also has a lot of suspense. Audiences usually get attracted to thriller movies as they are exciting and give the audience a high level of anticipation. Most thriller movies leave a strong impact for the audience to start imagining the end of the movie. This is what makes thriller more exciting because audiences are left at the edge of their seats with the anticipation to find out what the finale is.

Timeline of thriller films

The triumph of Sherlock Holmes is a 1930's thriller movie about a detective who tries to stop a criminal organisation from destroying and bringing harm to John Douglas who was the person to send them all to prison. Sherlock Holmes attempts to solve the murder and eventually prove the criminal organisation guilty. This movie would have been quite popular at the time as it is always a different story and always creates an atmosphere of tension between the characters and the audience.
Sherlock Holmes was pretty popular at the time and as time went on, more parts came out and it became a classic movie.

This image represents a thriller movie because it shows one of the characters holding up a gun to another guy, which shows that he is blackmailing him into saying or doing something, otherwise he may lose his life. This makes the audience think that he is a potential villain or killer which build up tension within the audience and they would feel scared for the character being threatened.

The amazing mr.x is a 1940's thriller film, about a woman who after two years of her husband's death, she feels that he is still present with her. Christine Faber experiences weird manifestations which makes her feels insecure and terrified, and wants to find out exactly what it is that is making her feel like that. Christine and mr.x decided to contact the spirit that they think is present around them. There are suspicions that christine's husband is still alive. A thriller film like this would be really popular in the 1940's because it's different and many people wanted an experience they would remember and enjoy.
This screenshot is from the scene where Christine and Mr.x are contacting the spirit and experience some strange behaviour. This shows that a well as experiencing some thriller, there is an element of horror in the movie, this would cause the audience to be paying attention to the movie because as well as the characters, the audience want to know who or what is bothering the characters. The audience would really be into the movie because there is an element of dramatic irony, as the audience knows something that the characters don't know yet. This causes a level of anxiousness because the audience wants the characters to find out and the fact the the audience is anticipated about what may happen.

Jack the ripper is a 1950's thriller film is about an investigation going on to prove that jack the ripper is an avenging doctor who is going around murdering people. The outcome of this film was a huge success as the box office made $1.1 million. The reason why audiences would have really enjoyed this movie would have been because because of the story line and the way the characters were portrayed. As well as that, the plot twist in the movie gave the audience an unexpected shock and a different perspective to things. As you can see in the screenshot it shows a character in a cape and hat, this seems to be Jack the ripper. Automatically, seeing jack the ripper like this would make him seem like the villain, as its very dark around him and he seems quite big and evil.

This film would have been a classic in the 1950's as it has an different perspective and the murder mysteries made the movie interesting to watch. As a whole finding out who the culprit was and leaving the audience shocked is what made the movie a hit. The way this thriller has been made as you can see in the screenshot had been made in a way to trick the audience into thinking that the main character was the culprit, by making the atmosphere different around him.

The 1960's Rosemary's baby is a thriller film based on a woman who moves into a new apartment with her husband, which apparently has some history about an old woman who went senile and disappeared. Rosemary meets a young woman who gives her a goodluck charm, which turns out to be something much more dangerous. The spiritual side got to rosemary and the former resident was accused of being a satanist. When rosemary is informed that she and her husband should have a child, she dreams about being raped by satan. The baby is then found to be the son of a satan and Rosemary does not believe it. This movie would be popular as it connects to spirits and the real world which makes the audience feel interested and also frightened at the same time. The story makes this movie a really good thriller as it has a really good mystery to it and finding out the story has an impact on the audience.



Death wish a 1970's film is about a guy paul whose wife had been killed by some thugs in his new apartment. As paul was seeking for revenge he kills people and feels emotional as he had never done anything like this before, however from his urge to get revenge he kills anyone doing anything bad. However after his gun being found, his innocent act of being wounded had ended as he was told to leave the country. his act of vigilantism still continued. This clip from the film shows two muggers trying to attack paul, but then paul being fully equipped, and ends up killing them both. This film was popular in the 1970's mainly because of the storyline of how paul is a saviour by killing dangerous people but being a killer himself is bad. There was actually a huge controversy about how criminals are being murdered but then the people that killed them aren't to good themselves. However, overall this movie was a success as the audience was attracted to the suspense and mystery of the film and storyline.

The 1980's film a view to kill is a classic james bond movie, where he is targeting Max Zorin, who is planning to destroy California's Silicon valley. This film would have been a really famous thriller film at the time because this is the seventh James Bond film and the last to star the famous actor Roger Moore. This meant there was a larger and more interested audience as they wanted to see this film classic and the storyline to this movie. This clip has been taken from the movie and the scene is where Zorin and Bond are fighting each other. The reason why this would be a great thriller scene would be because it would get the audience to the edge of their seats to find out who will live and who will die. The location of this movie also makes it more frightening for the audience as it's high up, and so whenever one of the characters is in danger or close to falling of the edge, the audience would feel very anxious. Being the 7th James Bond movie, this film would have been expected to be popular and to have a large fan base, that is also another reason as to why this thriller would have been popular at the time.

A 1990's film is Poison Ivy is a popular film of that time. This movie is about a teenage girl who makes friends with a girl named ivy who seems to be nice to her, however ivy has an interest in older men and takes advantage of sylvie's dad. The element of thriller in this movie is quite different as its about younger girls rather than older, which probably attracted teengaers also to watch the movie. The reason why this movie would have been quite popular at the time is because it would have been expected to be something not so dramatic, but the different things that happen in the movie makes the audience more anxious and interested as to what might happen.
In this screenshot is the character sylvie, the scene where ivy is at the balcony and sylvie was hallucinating and thinking it was her mother. later in this scene she pushes ivy off the balcony. Leading up to the dramatic ending, the tension builds up because sylvie slowly makes ivy step backwards into the balcony, which makes the audience think that someone might get hurt. This would make the audience feel excited because they know that the villain might die.

In conclusion, by summarising the history of thriller films, i can see that thriller movies have evolved well and that most thrillers have been successful and have worked well. From the 1930's-1990's i can see that thrillers have become more and more serious and also have gave a bigger impact on audiences, which is the reason why they got more popular.