A Filmmaker's Guide to: Thrillers

In this chapter of ‘the filmmaker’s guide’ we’re actually going to be learning about literature and film together. I understand that many of you are sitting in university during difficult times and finding it increasingly hard to study and I understand that many of you who are not at university or not planning on it are possibly stuck of what to do, need a break or even need to catch up on learning film before you get to the next level. This guide will be brief but will also contain: new vocabulary, concepts and theories, films to watch and we will be exploring something taboo until now in the ‘filmmaker’s guide’ - academia (abyss opens). Each article will explore a different concept of film, philosophy, literature or bibliography/filmography etc. in order to give you something new to learn each time we see each other. You can use some of the words amongst family and friends to sound clever or you can get back to me (email in bio) and tell me how you’re doing. So, strap in and prepare for the filmmaker’s guide to film studies because it is going to be one wild ride.

Thrillers

What are they?

A genre of film/literature that involves a 'thrill' or 'chase' of some kind. Normally this is either relative to crime, espionage or has something to do with evading capture if told from the criminal perspective.

Feelings of anticipation and anxiety are normally the underlying notion for a successful thriller and so, in novels you can see why that would work. In order to get the reader reading more and more, anticipation is the key. A series that I can think of that is really good for this is the British Library Crime Classics Collection because there are many stories which require you to keep reading to find out who did what and why.

Another set of books that can be called 'thrillers' are the works of people like Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In the modern day, they can be seen in the works of Stephen King (when he isn't terrifying the crap out of us), Thomas Harris (Hannibal Lecter Series) and more recently, Gillian Flynn and Tana French.

What about in film?

In film, thrillers have constantly been some of the most-watched films of their year and their decade. Starting off with the films of Carol Reed, such as "The Third Man" (1949) which is possibly one of the most famous thriller films of all time. And later on we get one of the greatest directors ever contributing to the realm of cinematic history - Sir Alfred Hitchcock.

Let's have a look at a watchlist you could start with for the genre of thrillers:

1. Vertigo (1958)
2. The Third Man (1949)
3. Psycho (1960)
4. Get Out (2017)
5. The Man Who Knew too Much (1934)
6. Misery (1990)
7. The Firm (1993)
8. The Handmaiden (2016)
9. Panic Room (2002)
10. Black Swan (2010)

Directors such as Darren Aronofsky, Jordan Peele and Brian de Palma have been known for their incredible additions to recent thriller film history with Jordan Peele making the first all-black cast thriller in his most recent “Us” (2019) (which is an amazing film, I mean, I’ve seen it several times and it just gets better and better each time). Sam Mendes has obviously left his mark on thriller film history with his additions to the James Bond series alongside Daniel Craig (again, brilliant). And then there is the brilliant son of Norman Bates player Anthony Perkins, Oz Perkins. Oz Perkins has attempted to make arthouse style thrillers that have become some of the creepiest and eeriest thrillers to ever exist in the independent world. He’s doing really well and you can totally tell he’s the son of Anthony Perkins.

Further Reading:

• Christie, A (2013). The Murder of Roger Ackroyd . UK: Harper
• Conan Doyle, A. (2011). The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Other Stories. 2nd ed. UK: Canterbury Classics.
• Flynn, G (2014). Gone Girl. USA: Weidenfeld & Nicholson
• Harris, T (2009). Silence Of The Lambs. USA: Arrow
• Prescott, L (2020). The Secrets We Kept. UK: Windmill Books
• Shaffer, P (2020). The Woman in the Wardrobe. UK: British Library