Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a sensational play, film or story.

1889		Pall Mall Gaz. 1 July 6/1: It is always painful to see clever actors..wasting their energies on a worthless play...It is seldom that we are treated to a more bald and empty production than this invertebrate ‘thriller’ .
1900		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘You Can’t Go By Looks’ Sporting Times 31 Mar. 1/4: When ’e intends goin’ in for a thriller, / As a man, ’e can trust, I am Mike’s bottle filler, / For ’e knows I am none o’ the ‘crooks.’.
1933		F.A. Waterhouse Five Sous a Day 151: [A]s dramatic an incident as one could ever read in a ‘thriller’ .
1989		M. Amis London Fields 3: Let me say with due modesty and caution that I have the makings of a really snappy little thriller.
1999		Guardian Guide 29 May–4 June 19: Croupier, a casino-land thriller from Get Carter director Mike Hodges, hailed as one of the best British movies in years.

2. a company of actors, specializing in melodrama.

1905

H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 334: I must say fur a bum thriller, they’re awful stuck up.

3. a sensational person.

1959

E. De Roo Go, Man, Go! 38: You’re a thriller. [...] Where’d ya get so hep?