Famous directors of Psychological Thrillers

One of the most famous directors of Thrillers is Sir Alfred Hitchcock, who has been named The Master of Suspense.

Hitchcock always said he's choose suspense over surprise and explained his choice with this aphorism: "There's two people having breakfast and there's a bomb under the table. If it explodes, that's a surprise. But if it doesn't...."

He also liked to make voyeurs of the audience with the use of point-of-view shots from obscure places.

Hitchcock popularised the 'MacGuffin which he often used in his thrillers, and since then, many other thrillers. This is when a protagonist in the film desires a particular thing (place, person, object...) for a reason unknown to the audience. An example is the plans for the airplane engine in The 39 Steps.

Another director famous for his Thrillers is Christopher Nolan.

A great article that explains 'Why Christopher Nolan films look like Christopher Nolan films' is in the link below, but the main points of it are:

One of the features that might make an audience infer it is a Nolan film, is the use of IMAX.

He also makes use of colour- his final project is always "epic and crisp" which is enhanced by the larger format of IMAX.

For almost all of his films, Nolan works with the cinematographer Wally Pfister, who contributes to the widescreen, aesthetically pleasing films we see Nolan directing.

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/07/the-reason-christopher-nolan-films-look-like-christopher-nolan-films/260087/

A third director who is well known within this genre is Darren Aronofsky, the director of Requiem for a Dream and The Black Swan.

In his early films (Requiem for a Dream), he was renowned for his extremely short shots. While most films have 600-700 cuts, Requiem has over 2000.

Black Swan is one of his more recent films and one he filmed using a muted palette and grainy style to showcase the acting and narrative instead.

Similarly to Nolan, Aronofsky has worked with the same cinematographer for 6 films and this type of close relationship between a director and cinematographer enhances the quality of the film.



One last director who has had influence in the world of Psychological Thrillers, is David Fincher.

He has directed a number of films in this genre, and therefore has many distinctive features that label his films as his own:

Single Frame Inserts- when there's a flash on the screen in the middle of a scene.
Silhouettes
Low-key lighting with blue and green tints
Wide shots
Displays end credits as slideshows rather than the traditional method
Low angles
Flashbacks