AS Media coursework

1. The History and Development of
a Psychological Thriller
Cliona Martin – AS Media

2. Summary
The genre of thriller is used in literature, film and television
programming with the use of suspense, tension and excitement
as main elements. They heavily stimulate the viewer's moods
making them feel anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation,
uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and/or terror. The most common
use of subgenre to thriller is mystery, crime and psychological
thrillers, however there are also many other subgenres.

3. Literary Devices and Techniques
• Plot twist – There are certain films that advertise the fact they contain a
lot of plot twists and have asked the audiences to refrain from revealing
spoilers for example ‘Psycho’.
• Unreliable narrator – Relating back to a plot twist, an unreliable narrator is
a common literary device used in psychological thrillers and traces it back
to Edgar Allan Poe’s influence on the genre.
• MacGuffin – This is a goal or item that helps to move the plot. The
MacGuffin is frequently only vaguely defined and it can be used to
increase suspense.

4. Themes
Many Psychological Thrillers have emerged over the past years, all in various
media (film, literature, radio, etc.). Despite these very different forms of
representation, general trends have appeared throughout the narratives. Some
of these consistent themes include:
• Reality
• Perception
• Mind
• Existence/Purpose
• Identity
• Death
In this genre of film, the characters/character often battle their own minds,
seeking to determine what is real, who they are and life’s purpose. These
subgenres often help develop the plot of a Psychological Thriller film, shaping
the characters personalities. For example, the lead character will usually find his
or her so-called “true identity”, or perhaps their inner demon, during the film
such that a major archetype within these films is often the “loss of innocence”.
Psychological Thrillers can be complex which leads viewers to have a second or
third viewing to “decipher its secrets”.

5. 1920’s – 30’s
Alfred Hitchcock's first thriller was the third silent movie The
Lodger (1926), which was a Jack the Ripper story. This film was
a psycho thriller because it dealt with a psychopath murderer
and so had a typical story line of this genre. Hitchcock also
produced thrillers such as Blackmail (1929)- his first sound
film, Murder!, Number Seventeen, The Man Who New Too
Much. These were all suspense films.
The chilling German film M (1931) directed by Fritz Lang, told
the story of a criminal deviant who preyed on children.
Other British directors, such as Walter Forde, Victor Saville,
George A. Cooper, and even the young Michael Powell made
more thrillers in the same period; Forde made nine, Vorhaus
seven between 1932 and 1935.

6. 1940’s
Hitchcock continued to perfect his recognition in the suspensethriller genre with films such as: Foreign Correspondent (1940)
and the Oscar winning Rebecca (1940) about an unusual
romance between a young woman and an emotionally distant
rich widower. Gaslight (1944) was a psychological thriller
directed by George Cukor that told the story of a husband that
plotted to turn his wife insane in order to acquire her
inheritance.

7. 1950’s
Hitchcock then added colour to his thrillers
when he produced classic such as: Strangers on
a train (1951), Dial M for Murder, To catch a
thief, Vertigo, and North by Northwest. Niagara
(1953) by Henry Hathaway starred Marilyn
Monroe and tells the story of a woman who
plots to kill her husband. Spy films were also
quite popular in this decade.

8. 1960’s
After Hitchcock's classics in the 50s, he released a
shocking and engrossing thriller called Psycho (1960)
about a loner mother-fixated motel owner and
taxidermist. This was an iconic film because of the
famous shower scene in which a woman is stabbed
brutally. This scene has been re-enacted in many
modern films and it has become an icon of the thriller
genre. Inspired by Psycho, Michael Powell produced the
film ‘Peeping Tom’ which is about a psychopath
cameraman. Roman Polanski's first film in English, the
frightening and surrealistic ‘Repulsion’ (1965) – with
Catherine Deneuve as a young woman who becomes
increasingly mad.

9. 1970’s – 80’s
In this decade, thrillers started to get more vivid and Hitchcock’s
‘Frenzy’ (1972) was given an R rating because of the explicit
strangulation scene. Brian De Palma usually had themes of guilt,
voyeurism (obsession with spying on others having sex),
paranoia and obsession in his films. Similar plot elements include
killing off a main character early on, switching points of view, and
dream-like sequences. His films include, the psycho-thriller
‘Sisters’ (1973), a film about dual personalities, ’Obsession’
(1976) which was somewhat inspired by Vertigo, ‘Dressed to Kill’
(1980), and the assassination thriller ‘Blow Out’ (1981). The
decade ended with Phillip Noyce's ‘Dead Calm’ (1989), a
psychological thriller with Nicole Kidman, who must fight for her
life on a yacht against a crazed castaway. This film showed
elements of obsession and trapped protagonists that inspired
many thrillers in the 90s.

10. 1990’s
The decade started with Rob Reiner's ’Misery’ (1990) which tells
the story of a psycho fan. The theme of obsession was becoming
popular and many films featured it: Unlawful Entry (1992), Single
White Female (1992), Malice (1993)- starring Nicole Kidman, and
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). Another emerging theme of
thrillers was the FBI/agent hunting a serial killer and the most
famous example of this was the picture winning, The Silence Of
the Lambs (1991) by Jonathan Demme. This was classified as a
crime thriller but it also merged into the psycho thriller
subgenre as it dealt with a psychological issues. David Fincher's
Se7en (1995) is another example of a crime thriller that was
famous. Recent thrillers have a lot of influence from the horror
genre and tend to use more gore. But some of the best work
contains some of the original conventions that made thrillers so
captivating.