Combining historical narrative with close readings of several significant horror films, this brief volume offers a broad and lively introduction to cinematic horror. In doing so, it outlines and investigates important issues in the production, consumption, and cultural interpretation of the genre.

• An ideal text for perennially popular courses on the horror film genre.
  
• Examines the ways in which horror movies have been produced, received, and interpreted by filmmakers, audiences, and critics, from the 1920s to the present.
  
• Provides a...

From Shane to Kill Bill: Rethinking the Western is an original and compelling critical history of the American Western film.

• Provides an insightful overview of the American Western genre
  
• Covers the entire history of the Western, from 1939 to the present
  
• Analyses Westerns as products of a genre, as well as expressions of political and social desires
  
• Deepens an audience's understanding of the genre's most important works, including Shane, Stagecoach, The Searchers, Unforgiven, and Kill...

A comprehensive analysis of the historical film--a popular and controversial genre that's been with us since the early days of cinema--and Hollywood's unique ability to reshape our viewpoints while it sensually recreates the past.

• Provides a complete guide to the unique characteristics of historical film, distinguishing among sub-genres such as historical epics, war films, biographies, topical films, and meta-historic works like Nixon and JFK
• Offers detailed analyses of groundbreaking films such as Spartacus, Schindler's List, and United...

A comprehensive analysis of the historical film--a popular and controversial genre that's been with us since the early days of cinema--and Hollywood's unique ability to reshape our viewpoints while it sensually recreates the past.

• Provides a complete guide to the unique characteristics of historical film, distinguishing among sub-genres such as historical epics, war films, biographies, topical films, and meta-historic works like Nixon and JFK
• Offers detailed analyses of groundbreaking films such as Spartacus, Schindler's List, and United...

From The Gospel According to Matthew to Jesus Christ Superstar, from The Passion of Joan of Arc to The Last Temptation of Christ and Jesus of Montreal, The Religious Film captures the glory, gore, and centrality of this important genre.

• A short, accessible introduction to religious film, exploring the genre as spectacle, as musical, and as controversy
  
• Examines the historical, cultural and critical background for religious films from the silent era through to the present day
  
• Introduces the complexities and...

The Hollywood War Film offers readers a lively introduction to the theory, history, stars, and major films constituting this vital genre, from Hollywood's earliest days to the current moment

• Combines broad historical and theoretical coverage of the genre with in-depth analysis of specific films
• Includes chapters on All Quiet on the Western Front, World War II combat films, Platoon and Full Metal Jacket, Eastwood's Iwo Jima films, and Iraq war films
• An ideal text for perennially popular courses on the war film genre

The most up-to-date study of the Hollywood romantic comedy film, from the development of sound to the twenty-first century, this book examines the history and conventions of the genre and surveys the controversies arising from the critical responses to these films.

• Provides a detailed interpretation of important romantic comedy films from as early as 1932 to movies made in the twenty-first century
• Presents a full analysis of the range of romantic comedy conventions, including dramatic conflicts, characters, plots, settings, and the function of humor
• Develops a...

Film Noir offers new perspectives on this highly popular and influential film genre, providing a useful overview of its historical evolution and the many critical debates over its stylistic elements.

• Brings together a range of perspectives on a topic that has been much discussed but remains notoriously ill-defined
• Traces the historical development of the genre, usefully exploring the relations between the films of the 1940s and 1950s that established the -noir- universe and the more recent films in which it has been frequently revived
• Employs a...