1. GENRE
RESEARCH
THRILLER MOVIES

2. DEFINITION OF A THRILLER
Thrillers are a genre of literature,
film, and television programming
that uses suspense, tension, and
excitement as the main elements. A
common subgenre is psychological
thrillers.

3. ALFRED
HITCHCOCK
(1920’s)
The Lodger
He has helped Hitchcock had clearly been watching
to shape the contemporary films by Murnau and Lang,
modern-day whose influence can be seen in the ominous
thriller genre, camera angles and claustrophobic lighting,
which are typical features of a thriller.
beginning with
his early silent
film The Lodger
(1926), a
suspenseful
Jack the Ripper
story.

4. ROBERT The Spiral Suitcase
SIODMAK
The Spiral Staircase tells the story of a pretty young
(1940’s) mute woman working as a servant in a magnificent
old gothic mansion, who finds herself the intended
He directed the victim of a serial killer. This beautifully filmed
American thriller has every glorious cliché in the book –
thunder storms, creaking doors, flickering candles,
psychological dark corridors, square-jawed heroes, inept
thriller The policemen, red herrings, unlikely plot
Spiral Suitcase developments, and a psychopathic murderer.
(1946). It is
based on Ethel
Lina White's
novel Some
Must Watch.

5. MICHAEL Peeping Tom
POWELL The gruesome story is about a
(1960’s) psychopathic killer (Karl Boehm) who
photographs his victims immediately
He directed the prior to murdering them–he gets his
1960 film kicks out of viewing the helpless terror
Peeping Tom. on their faces.
While this film
was denounced
when first
shown, it now
has a cult
following.

6. BLAKE
EDWARDS
Sunset
Whilst making a silent film about the
(1980’s)
life of the legendary lawman Wyatt
Earp, veteran actor 'Tom Mix'
He directed the discovers that the real Earp is on the
1988 film Sunset film set as a technical advisor. The two
which was based become friends, but when a murder
on Rod Amateau’s takes place, the two become partners
novel of the same and set about tracking down the killer.
name about how
Earp actually did
serve as a
technical adviser
for some early
silent westerns.

7. SUB-GENRES
These are sub-genres  Psychological thriller
of the thriller genre  Mystery thriller
which give more detail  Crime thriller
to how a thriller should
be laid out, in addition  Disaster thriller
to giving specific  Political thriller
examples of specific  Religious thriller
films for each sub-  Conspiracy thriller
genre category  Supernatural thriller

8. ELEMENTS THAT DEFINE A
THRILLER
OFTEN TAKE PLACE WHOLLY OR PARTLY IN
EXOTIC SETTINGS
THE HERO MUST THWART THE PLANS OF AN
ENEMY
THE HEROES IN MOST THRILLERS ARE
FREQUENTLY "HARD MEN" ACCUSTOMED TO
DANGER
AN OMINOUS OR MONSTROUS ELEMENT IS
COMMON TO HEIGHTEN TENSION

9. “
A THRILLER IS DEFINED NOT BY THEIR
SUBJECT MATTER BUT BY THEIR
APPROACH TO IT
”