Through out the years thrillers have changed dramatically. 1930's and 1940's thriller films are based on more crime thrillers, they didn't have any monster killers and was based on true life situations. Thrillers back in the 1930's and 40's were more realistic then thrillers we have today. The thriller conventions we have today are low key lighting, pain, blood, and elements of suspense. Thrillers back in the 1930's and 40's were also mainly based around a romance where the men character's run off with a woman to protect themselves or to keep them from trouble. Having a mystery element was common in thrillers back then also. In the 1960's and 1970's thrillers started moving on from a mystery theme to a fast paced horror theme. There was more killing in thrillers from the 60's and 7o's with the murderer having a hidden identity. The characters in the film showed more pain and created an element of suspense for the audience. Thriller films we have today are all fast paced and are more edited to build tension for the audience. Some are gory and the killers are monsters for example the film mama the killer is a monster.
In the 70's and 80's thrillers started to become a lot more vivid, killing scenes were more violent and explicit. A lot of plot elements included the strange killing off the victim in early stages of the film a lot like psycho, another element that a lot of thrillers included was obsession. Many plots were based around killers being obsessed with their victims.
Recent thrillers have a lot of influence from the horror genre and tend to use more gore, also recently there has been a lot of thriller films based on paranormal activity like ghosts and demons for example paranormal activity 1 and the devil inside are film where you can't see the villain at all this makes it more scary for the audience as you can not see the killer (hidden identity).
Over the years the thriller genre has developed due to the advance in technology, audience and narrative.
70's thriller films:
- The thrillers in the 70's were violent and we based or real-life fears. Films such as Jaws which was made in 1975 was based on real life shark attacks. The film is based on a gigantic great white shark begins to menace the small island community of Amity, a police chief, a marine scientist and grizzled fisherman set out to stop it. This made the audience in that particular time anxious because there fears were of real life situations.
- The thrillers in the 80s developed towards the supernatural thriller genre.Film such as Beyond Evil is about someone who moves into an island mansion that has been vacant for 100 years. The last person that lived there was a black magic practitioner. She has made a pact with the devil after being murdered by her husband to come back and get revenge. She does this by possessing the person living in the house.
90's thriller films:
Over time the conventions to the thriller genre has change. There has been a increase of blood and gore and over time they have used twists to shock the audience. Thrillers have changed through the years as the early thrillers was not allowed to show any proper violence for example showing someone getting stabbed was not allowed to be included into films also erotic scenes like sex scenes could not be shown this is very different to recent years where as extreme amount of sex scenes and violence can be shown in thrillers.
Top Box office thrillers:
Top Box office thrillers:
| Rank | Title (click to view) | Studio | Lifetime Gross /Theaters | Opening /Theaters | Date | ||
| 1 | Hannibal | MGM | $165,092,268 | 3,292 | $58,003,121 | 3,230 | 2/9/01 |
| 2 | The Silence of the Lambs | Orion | $130,742,922 | 1,642 | $13,766,814 | 1,497 | 2/14/91 |
| 3 | Basic Instinct | TriS | $117,727,224 | 1,884 | $15,129,385 | 1,567 | 3/20/92 |
| 4 | Seven | NL | $100,125,643 | 2,528 | $13,949,807 | 2,441 | 9/22/95 |
| 5 | Red Dragon | Uni. | $93,149,898 | 3,363 | $36,540,945 | 3,357 | 10/4/02 |
| 6 | Saw II | Lions | $87,039,965 | 2,949 | $31,725,652 | 2,949 | 10/28/05 |
| 7 | Saw III | LGF | $80,238,724 | 3,167 | $33,610,391 | 3,167 | 10/27/06 |
| 8 | The Bone Collector | Uni. | $66,518,655 | 2,623 | $16,712,020 | 2,587 | 11/5/99 |
| 9 | Saw IV | LGF | $63,300,095 | 3,183 | $31,756,764 | 3,183 | 10/26/07 |
| 10 | The Cell | NL | $61,334,059 | 2,476 | $17,515,050 | 2,411 | 8/18/00 |
This post demonstrates some understanding of how thriller films have changed and developed over the years. You have started to consider some examples, but further discussion of the narrative is needed, to show further understanding of the thriller genre.
ReplyDeleteYou have also included the box office information, but you have not discussed the role of the audience in enough detail. How do narratives appeal to an audience? Consider the ratings above