Film: styles & Genres

Much of 20th century science fiction foretold technological and social developments beyond the year 2000. Since then, a key theme has been: what...

This is the first collection to look at the most recent manifestations of the ancient hero on screen. It brings together a range of perspectives on...

The Italian Gothic horror genre underwent many changes in the 1980s, with masters such as Mario Bava and Riccardo Freda either dying or retiring an...

Focusing on crime fiction and films that artfully combine comedy and misdeed, this book explores the reasons writers and filmmakers inject humor...

After a century of reinvention and, frequently, reinterpretation, Western movies continue to contribute to the cultural understanding of the Uni...

This richly detailed examination of two branches of American entertainment focuses on the various ways that radio stations and air personalities ha...

For many years, conspiracy theories have been among the most popular story elements in Hollywood films. According to the conspiracy culture, Gov...

This analysis of how filmmakers have portrayed England's Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), and the audience's perception of Elizabeth based upon th...

Best-selling horror novelist Clive Barker had a rocky start with the first attempts to convert his stories into a visual medium. Directors and scre...

From 1928 through 1982, when Columbia Pictures Corporation was a traded stock company, the studio released some of the most famous and popular film...

From Vampira to Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, female horror movie hosts have long been a staple of late-night television. Broadcast on local sta...

Flash Gordon, Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars and Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, the most expensive and popular movie serials ever made, have b...

From the inception of the science fiction film, writers, directors, producers, and actors have understood that the genre lends itself to a level...

Classic comedy routines and individual gags have been around for literally hundreds of years; the best of these ribticklers making their merry way ...

This filmography covers the noir titles released in the classic noir era, October 1940 to June 1962. All sub-genres are covered including British, ...

This examination of dark comedies of the 1970s focuses on films which concealed black humor behind a misleading genre label. All That Jazz (1979...

Once upon a time, science fiction was only in the future. It was the stuff of drive-ins and cheap double-bills. Then, with the ever-increasing rush...

America's executive office and its occupant have found their way into numerous films--more than 400 since 1903. Ranging from respectful biograph...

The most memorable Hollywood musicals of 1930s showcased the talents of stars like Fred Astaire, Jeanette MacDonald, Bing Crosby and Alice Faye....

American moviegoers have long turned to the Hollywood Western for reassurance in times of crisis. During the genre's heyday, the films of John F...

Beginning in 1948 with Paramount's Saigon and Universal's Rogue's Regiment, Hollywood has produced hundreds of features and made-for-television ...

Superhero films are one of the most enduring genres of cinema, and their popularity is only increasing in the 21st century. These ten critical essa...

Written by international experts from a range of disciplines, these essays examine the uniquely British contribution to science fiction film and...

What is evil? How do we understand it in our culture? The thirteen essays in this critical volume explore the different ways in which evil is po...

The figure of the zombie that entered the popular imagination with the publication of William Seabrook's The Magic Island (1929)--during the Ame...

Since the early 2000s, zombies have increasingly swarmed the landscape of popular culture, with ever more diverse representations of the undead ...

James Bond entered the world in 1953 with the novel Casino Royale by Ian Fleming. Since then, the British secret agent codenamed 007 has become th...

This book examines the recent popularity of the dystopian genre in literature and film, as well as connecting contemporary manifestations of dystop...

A world-weary detective, a seductive femme fatale, a mysterious murder - these elements of classic film noir live again in more recent hardboiled d...

What is Blaxploitation? In the early 1970s a type of film emerged that featured all-black casts, really cool soul, R 'n' B and disco music soundtra...