Film genre

A drama film is a film that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, crime and corruption put the characters in conflict with themselves, others, society and even natural phenomena. This film genre can be contrasted with an action film which relies on fast-paced action, and physical conflict but superficial character development. All film...

Horror films are movies that strive to elicit fright, fear, terror, or horror from viewers. In horror film plots, evil forces, events, or characters, sometimes of supernatural origin, intrude into the everyday world. Horror movies usually include a central villain. Early horror films often drew inspiration from characters and stories from classic literature, such as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, Phantom of the Opera and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Later horror films, in contrast,...

Martial arts film is a film genre that originated in the Pacific Rim. This genre is a type of action film characterized by extensive fighting scenes employing various types of martial arts. This genre has mainly been produced in China, peaking in the 1970s, and has been dominated by Hong Kong action cinema and its kung fu and wuxia films. Famous actors include Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li. This genre is no longer limited to Asian films - there are many action movies starring western...

Romantic comedy films are movies with light-hearted, humorous dramatic stories, centered around romantic ideals such as a true love able to surmount most obstacles. Romantic comedy films are a sub-genre of comedy film as well as of romance film. Because of their proven appeal to women, movies of that type are generally regarded as being "chick flick". The basic plot of a romantic comedy is that two people, usually a man and a woman, meet and then part ways due to an argument or other contrived...

For the film with Jet Li and Jason Statham, go to War (film). War film is a film genre concerned with war, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. Sometimes they focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles. Their stories may be fiction, based on history, docudrama or occasionally biographical. Most war films often include a romance somewhere in the...

The spy film genre deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way or as a basis for fantasy. Many novels in the spy fiction genre have been adapted as films, although in many cases (such as James Bond) the overall tone is changed.The spy film genre began in the silent era, with the paranoia of invasion literature and the start of the First World War. These produced the British 1914 'The German Spy Peril' (centred around a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament) and ...

A family film is a film genre that, like a children's film, is suitable for young children, but with the difference that a family film has been carefully written, directed, cast and acted so that it will appeal to all members of a typical family (or if not typical, at least representing the cultural ideal): To meet these contradictory requirements, producers sometimes look for scripts whose plots depict problems that all these types of people might identify with. An example is Beethoven (1992...

The slasher film (sometimes referred to as bodycount films and dead teenager movies) is a sub-genre of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer (sometimes wearing a mask) who stalks and graphically murders a series of adolescent victims in a typically random, unprovoked fashion, killing many within a single day. The victims are usually photogenic teenagers or young adults who are away from mainstream civilization or far away from help and often involved in sexual activities or...

A parody or spoof film is a comedy that satirizes other film genres or classic films. The main conventions for this genre are:

An independent film, or indie film, is a film that is produced outside of the Hollywood studio system, a series of monopolistic practices by several major American film studios (MGM, Paramount Pictures, RKO, Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox) which controlled the production, distribution, and exhibition of films in the US from the early 1920s through 1950s. Though its monopolistic practices were officially ended by the Paramount Decision in 1948, all five of the Golden Age majors continue...

The teen film (also called teen movie or teenpic) is a film genre targeted at teenagers and young adults in which the plot is based upon the special interests of teenager, such as coming of age, first love, rebellion, conflict with parents, teen angst and alienation. Very often these in itself serious subject matters are presented in a glossy, stereotyped or trivializing way. Films in this genre are often set in high school, or contain characters that are of high school age. Sexual themes are...

While most films have some aspect of romance between characters (at least as a subplot) a romance film can be loosely defined as any film in which the central plot (the premise of the story) revolves around the romantic involvement of the story's protagonist. Common themes include the characters making decisions based on a newly-found romantic attraction. The questions, "What am I living for?" or "Why am I with my current partner?" often arise. The appeal of these films is in the dramatic...