Iconic Thriller Directors

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock was born in 1899 and his career began 22 years later in 1921 when he started making silent films and early talkies. His thriller film career blossomed with Rebecca (1940)



From then onwards he made many great films, lots of them classics still enjoyed by people today such as Strangers on a train, Dial M for Murder and Pyscho. Throughout his very long and extensive career he developed his own unique style which included making the audience laugh so as to create a false sense of security, adding to the tension. Blondes were a main part of his films usually turning out to be the femme fatale or being murdered.

Janet Leigh in Psycho

He liked to explore sexuality in his films and forced his audience to engage with voyeurism, watching someone involved in a sexual act or intimate behaviours such as undressing. Hitchcock was famous for being daring and experimental. An example of this is a scene in one of his silent movies, “The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog” in which Hitchcock conveys people hearing a man pacing above them by taking the floor away.

David Fincher

David Fincher is a renowned director born in 1962. His career began in 1984 and he is still directing films today.

He has made many notable films including Seven (1995) and Fight Club (1999).




Fincher is well known for producing dark, twisted films that give the audience a sense of claustrophobia. His direction style is extremely reminiscent of the ‘Film Noir Style’ with sexuality, crime and mystery all being predominant features.

Quentin Tarantino, born in 1963 started his career in 1988 and just 6 years later produced one of the most well known and one of his most distinctive films to date, Reservoir Dogs. 2 years on he bettered himself with the even more famous ‘Pulp Fiction’. Lots of his films are very gory and over the top and appear to be a caricature of gang culture and organised crime. Although his films can be very dark there is lots of humour and black comedy throughout his films. / One of his trademarks is the use of sound as instead of using a specially made film scores he opts to use popular music of the time to give the film a contemporary feel. He is also well know for not sticking to chronological story telling, two main examples being Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. 

Tarantino is continuing to impress critics with his 2009 film ‘Inglorious Basterds’ which was received extremely well by critics and proved to be his highest grossing film to date.