History of psychological thriller

The history trails all the way back to 1926 where Alfred Hitchcock released his third silent movie: 'Lodger'. This entailed the story of a psychopathic murderer who is seen killing numerous blonde women around London and is heavily influenced by Jack The Ripper. Hitchcock then followed up with films such as 'Rebecca' (1940) and 'Foreign Correspondent' (1940). Hitchcock then solidified his status as the pioneer of thriller films when he released the classic 'Psycho' in 1960. This told the story of a secretary who is on the run after being trusted $40,000 from her employer's client and stays at a motel which eventually leads to the famous shower scene. Brian De Palma then released films such as 'Sisters' (1973), 'Obsession' (1976) and 'Blow Out' (1981) which introduced several new themes such as guilt, paranoia and obsession.

The genre started to gain more popularity during the late 1990s as the film Fight Club (1999) was released. The film tells the story of an office worker looking to change his life and cure his emotional problems as well as his insomniac state. The film's unique portrayal of the character went down really well with the audiences with the film having been nominated for an Oscars as well as 32 other nominations.


In early 2000s, the film Memento was released, directed by Christoper Nolan. The film featured a very bizarre plot as it was split into two storylines separated by numerous flashbacks. In my opinion, I believe this is the poster film for the genre as it utilises the themes very uniquely and it's success was evident as it was nominated for 2 Oscars as well as 55 nominations.





To summarise, the genre psychological thriller began in the 1920s where it first started off with shock value. As the years went on, directors began incorporating different aspects into the genre such as mystery and drama. By the 2010s, psychological thrillers became one of the most popular sub genres of thriller, having mixed drama and mystery together to create unique storylines which entices audiences and making them wonder "What's going to happen next?".