Early Forms Of Thrillers

Early 1900s

One of the most famous and earlier thrillers, released in 1923 was Safety Last. Last Safety is based on a young man played by Harold Lloyd, who takes on a dangerous daredevil stunt on the side of a skyscraper. is it a sub genre of thriller as it is also a silent comedy. The movie keeps the audience at the edge of their seats as the suspense is built as we are unable to tell whether he will make it or not.

 

Later a thriller by Fritz Lang was the chilling German film M in 1931. the film is about a serial killer who abducts and kills children. It is based  on a real serial killer known as Peter Kurten. The narrative for M is very dark and mysterious common features of thrillers. This film creates vast amounts of tension because there are constant enigmas leaving the audience guessing what will happen. however the audience are at the edge of their seats wondering if the police will catch him for the terrible crimes.

Alfred Hitchcock

Hitchcock is one of the most influential director in thrillers. Over his lifetime he made over 50 films and within those 50 he had some of the most famous silent movies as well as thrillers.  
'No list of suspense or thriller films can be complete without mention of of English film-maker/director Alfred Hitchcock' - filmsite.org

 
He helped to shape the modern-day thriller genre, starting with his early silent film The Lodger in 1927, it is based on a suspenseful Jack the Ripper story. it is based on an innocent man being chased down by society. New themes were introduced that relate to his later work. After his success with this film Hitchcock ventured into more thrillers. this became his preferred genre of film and even though he made just great work then it wasn't acknowledgment for its greatness until recently as many new thrillers use some of his most iconic films such as The Lodger, Blackmail in 1929 followed by  The Wrong Man in 1956 and many more.

His most successful and well known is Psycho in 1960. At the time he had the opportunity to use colour in his films but decided to make his last thriller in black and white. What shocked audiences about this particular thriller is that the protagonist was killed very early on and was shocking because it questions how the rest of the film would carry on. Later on the violence and the early death of Marion in the famous shower scene were all elements of Hitchcock's final thriller and some of his best work. his work in thrillers helped to develop the genre today.

Since then thrillers of today borrow various themes and elements from past decades using them in thrillers today.