Thrillers: the art of keeping the viewer on their toes. Discussing action-packed films in the Watchman podcast

Almost any modern film or TV series with a dark, tense atmosphere fits the definition of "thriller". When we see an indication of this genre on movie sites, in online cinemas or on streaming services, we understand that they will most likely not be joking in the frame. And for many it will come as a surprise that the first thriller in the history of cinema was just a comedy! What we are talking about, you will find out in the latest issue.

In this podcast, presenters Alexei Khromov and Mikhail Volnyh try to define the concept of "thriller", recall the rise in popularity of the genre in the 1990s and how he almost killed horror movies. And at the same time they find out whether it is possible to shoot high-quality thrillers in Russia.

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00:53 - what a thriller is in a nutshell: how it appeared and when it became popular.

06:48 - how to define genre boundaries and in what cases an action movie, melodrama or fantasy becomes a thriller.
13:17 - why movie sites, critics and ordinary viewers hang the label "thriller" on everything incomprehensible and mystical.
18:06 - why the picture "Barton Fink" can be considered the ideal representative of the genre.
22:50 - how thrillers almost ousted horror from screens in the 1990s.
31:17 - about "Cargo 200" and Russian attempts master the genre.

What to watch

We've put together a list of movies that were mentioned in the podcast:

• Safe at Last, directed by Fred Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, 1923.
• "Tenant", director - Alfred Hitchcock, 1927.
• "M", director - Fritz Lang, 1931.
• Spies, directed by Fritz Lang, 1928.
• Drive, directed by Nicholas Winding Refn, 2011.
• "Seven", directed by David Fincher, 1995.
• "Kinda Tough Pointers", directed by Edgar Wright, 2007.
• Mulholland Drive 2001 directed by David Lynch.
• «Dead man", Directed by Jim Jarmusch, 1995.
• Barton Fink, directed by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, 1991.
• Fargo, directed by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, 1996.
• No Country for Old Men, directed by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, 2007.
• Scream, directed by Wes Craven, 1996.
• "Human Hunter" directed by Michael Mann, 1986.
• "Cargo 200", director - Alexey Balabanov, 2007.
• "Needle", director - Rashid Nugmanov, 1988.