History of Thriller Films

History of Thriller Films

   

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock

Born: 13 August 1899

Leytonstone, London, England

Died: 29 April 1980 (aged 80)

Bel Air, California, United States

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was the most iconic and influential person in the world of thriller films, he was way beyond his times and produced some of the most best and well-known thriller films there are and are even still loved and admired today by many people. Hitchcock was known as the master of suspense as he would always have the audience in the cinema on the edges of their seats as he would always keep the audience guessing and with his great editing skills and narrative Hitchcock perfected the best thriller convention of suspense. Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most renowned and influential film directors and in his career he ushered the two most important periods of cinema history – the arrival of sound and the introduction of colour. He perfected his art in both disciplines, reverting back to black and white when he felt the need, and mastering not only silent pictures but sound and colour ones too. However even though he did so much to move thriller films on and make them better for the audience he unfortunately never won an oscar for best director, this was disappointing for him but he said he was not in the film industry for the accolades but he was instead in it for the viewers pleasure.

Over many years of his directing career Hitchcock directed a number of films and here are his all top 10 which was most critically acclaimed:

10. Lifeboat

9. Dial M for Murder

8. Rope

7. Psycho

6. The 39 Steps

5. Shadow of a Doubt

4. North by Northwest

3. Notorious

2. Vertigo

1. Rear Window

Hitchcock was known for his watershed and uncensored films that led him to have to change numerous shots and edits within many of his films. Hitchcock had to re-shoot the kissing scene from Notorious as at this time there was a kissing law that there could not be a kiss longer than 3 seconds to be shown within cinemas. 

Alfred Hitchcock always featured within his film, he was always at the beginning of the film, he would show himself and explain to the audience what the film would be about and explain why he wrote the film. this would give the audience a sense of him wanting their best interests at heart and really caring about the audience more than any other reader.

This the the thriller film The Birds, this one of Alfred Hitchcock's iconic films. He decided that he would direct a film about birds as this was one of his fears and thought this was going to happen in the future. Hitchcock used school children within in this clip as he has realeased that young school children show the audience innocence and this will appeal to the audience, he added this within his film so the audience would feel the emotions of the characters. Also as Hitchcock was the genius of cinematic tension he would incorporate this within his film and keep the audience on the edge of their seats.

This is the film Psycho and this clip shows the most iconic scene that everybody knows Hitchcock for which is the shower scene. Hitchcock again has incorporated this within the film as Hitchcock is afraid of water and what would happen while he was in the shower. However again Hitchcock had crossed the line within this film as at the time there was no nudity within any film and this was seen as too inappropriate but Hitchcock still decided to add this within his film to create the effect that it had on many people. If there was no nudity in the scene then it may not have been remembered even today

A modern day well known thriller director is James Collet-Serra is most well known for writing the thriller Orphan. This was a psychological thriller as it would scare the audience but at the same time make them think and try to work out what has happened. 

In the film, ate and John are grief-stricken with the loss of their unborn child. However, they rebuild their troubled marriage as Kate goes into therapy, and is sober for one year from her alcoholism. The couple adopts a nine year old Russian girl named Esther, and they welcome her home but their son is less welcoming. However, Kate begins to suspect that Esther is not an angelic little girl after all, and harbors a sinister secret.

James Collet-Serra, has directed this spectacularly it creates a lot of suspense for the audience as they do not know the true extent of Esther troubles and also that the story will not make sense until the end of the story. Serra has directed this film to keep the audience on the edge of their seats and keep them guessing and entertained throughout.