9.

List of film genres and sub-genres

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The following list of film genres and sub-genres has been adapted from “Film Sub-Genres Types (and
Hybrids)” written by Tim Dirks29.

Genre Film sub-genres types and hybrids

Action or adventure • Action or Adventure Comedy • Literature/Folklore Adventure

• Action/Adventure Drama Heroes
• Alien Invasion • Martial Arts Action (Kung-Fu)
• Animal • Man- or Woman-In-Peril
• Biker • Man vs. Nature
• Blaxploitation • Mountain
• Blockbusters • Period Action Films
• Buddy • Political Conspiracies, Thrillers
• Buddy Cops (or Odd Couple) • Poliziotteschi (Italian)
• Caper • Prison
• Chase Films or Thrillers • Psychological Thriller
• Comic-Book Action • Quest
• Confined Space Action • Rape and Revenge Films
• Conspiracy Thriller (Paranoid • Road
Thriller) • Romantic Adventures
• Cop Action • Sci-Fi Action/Adventure
• Costume Adventures • Samurai
• Crime Films • Sea Adventures
• Desert Epics • Searches/Expeditions for Lost
• Disaster or Doomsday Continents
• Epic Adventure Films • Serialized films
• Erotic Thrillers • Space Adventures
• Escape • Sports—Action
• Espionage • Spy
• Exploitation (ie Nunsploitation, • Straight Action/Conflict
Naziploitation • Super-Heroes
• Family-oriented Adventure • Surfing or Surf Films
• Fantasy Adventure • Survival
• Futuristic • Swashbuckler
• Girls With Guns • Sword and Sorcery (or “Sword and
• Guy Films Sandal”)
• Heist—Caper Films • (Action) Suspense Thrillers
• Heroic Bloodshed Films • Techno-Thrillers
• Historical Spectacles • Treasure Hunts
• Hong Kong • Undercover
• James Bond series • Video Game Movies
• Jungle and Safari Epics • War Adventure
• Women in Prison

29 “Film Sub-Genres Types (and Hybrids)”. Web. http://www.filmsite.org/subgenres2.html. Accessed 25 May 2016.

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Genre Film sub-genres types and hybrids

Comedy • Absurd • Parenthood Comedies

• Action Comedies • Parody
• Anarchic Comedies • Political Comedies
• Animals • Populist
• Black Comedies (Dark Humour) • Pre-Teen Comedies
• British Humour • Remarriage Comedies
• Buddy • Road
• Classic Comedies • Romantic Comedies (“Rom-Coms”)
• Clown • Satire
• Comedy Thrillers • School Days
• Comic Criminals • Screwball Comedies
• Coming of Age • Sex Comedies
• Conceptual • Slacker
• Crime/Caper Comedies • Slapstick
• “Dumb” Comedies • Social-Class Comedies
• Fairy Tale • Sophisticated Comedies
• Family Comedies • Spoofs
• Farce • Sports Comedies
• Fish-out-of-water Comedies • Stand-Up
• Gross-out Comedies • Stoner Comedies
• Horror Comedies • Supernatural Comedies
• Lampoon • Teen/Teen Sex Comedies
• Mafia Comedies • Urban Comedies
• “Meet-Cute” Screwball or Romantic • War Comedies
Comedies • Western Comedies
• Military Comedies • Zombie Comedies
• Mock-umentary (Fake Documentary)
• Musical Comedies

Crime and gangster • “Bad Girl” Movies • Mafia (Gangster), Organized Crime,
• Blaxploitation Mob Films
• Buddy Cop • Mysteries
• Caper Stories • Neo-Noir
• Cops and Robbers • Outlaw Biker Films
• Courtroom Drama • Police/Detective
• Crime Comedy or Drama • Post-Noir
• Detective/Mysteries • Procedurals
• Espionage • Prison
• Femme Fatales • Private-Eye
• Film Noir • Suspense Thrillers
• Gangs • Trial Films
• Hard-boiled Detective • True Crime
• HeistHood Films • Vice Films
• Juvenile Delinquency • Victim
• Law and Order (Legal) • Who-dun-its
• Lovers on the Run Road Films • Women’s Prison Films

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Genre Film sub-genres types and hybrids

Cult Any genre or sub-genre may be considered a “cult film”.

Drama • Adaptations, Based upon True • Literary Adaptation

Stories • Love
• Addiction and/or Alcoholism • Marital Drama
• Adventure Drama • Medical
• Adult • Melodramas (“Women’s Pictures”,
• African-American Tearjerkers or “Weepies”)
• Americana • Message Movie
• Autobiographies/Biographies • Musical Drama
• Biopics (Biographical) • Newspaper
• British Empire • Nostalgia
• Buddy Film • Odd Couple
• “Chick” Flicks or “Guy-Cry” Films • Period Film
• Childhood Dramas • Police Drama
• Christmas Films • POW Drama
• Coming-of-Age • Presidential Politics or Political
• Costume Dramas Dramas
• Courtroom Dramas • Prison Drama
• Crime Dramas • Propaganda
• Dance • Prostitution
• Diary Films • Psychological Drama
• Disease/Disability • Race Relations, Interracial Themes
• Disaster • Religious
• Docu-dramas • Resistance
• Ensemble • Reunion
• Erotic Drama • Road Movie
• Espionage • Romantic Dramas
• Ethnic Family Saga • Rural Drama
• Euro-Spy Films • Sexual/Erotic (Steamy Romantic
Dramas)
• “Fallen” Women
• Shakespearean
• Fantasy Drama
• Showbiz Dramas
• Feminist
• Slice of Life
• Film a Clef
• Soap Opera
• Gay and Lesbian
• Social Problem Film, Social
• Generation Gap
Commentaries
• Hagiographies (Religious Figures)
• Small-town Life
• Heavenly Drama
• Sports Dramas or Biopics
• High School
• Supernatural Drama
• Holiday Film
• Teen (or Youth) Films
• Holocaust
• Tragedy
• Hood Films
• True Crime Drama
• Inspirational
• Urban Drama
• Investigative Reporting
• War-Military Dramas
• Legal/Courtroom
• Women’s Friendship
• Life Story
• Youth Culture

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Genre Film sub-genres types and hybrids

Epics or historical • Alternate History (What if …?) • Medieval (Dark Ages)

• Biblical • “Period Pictures”
• British Empire • Religious
• Dark Ages • Roman Empire
• Greek Myth • Romantic Epic
• Hagiographies • Sword and Sandal
• Historical or Biographical Epics • War or Westerns (Epic)
(Biopics)
• Indian History
• Literary Adaptation

Horror • B-Movie Horror • Older-Woman-In-Peril

• Cannibalism or Cannibal Films Films (“Psycho-Biddy”/“Hag
Horror”/“Hagsploitation”)
• Classic Horror
• Paranormal
• Costume Horror
• Post-Apocalyptic (or Apocalyptic)
• Creature Features
Horror
• Demons or Demonic Possession
• Psychic Powers
• Dracula
• Psychological Horror
• Erotic
• Reincarnation
• “Found Footage”
• Sadistic Horror
• Frankenstein, other Mad Scientists
• Satanic Stories
• Ghosts
• Sci-Fi Horror
• Giallo (European, Italian specifically)
• Serial Killers
• Gore
• Sex Horror
• Gothic
• Slashers or “Splatter” Films
• Haunted House, other Hauntings
• Supernatural Horror
• Halloween
• Survival Horror
• Horror Comedy (Humorous)
• Teen Terror (“Teen Screams”)
• HP Lovecraftian
• Terror
• Macabre
• Vampires
• Man-Made Horrors
• Witchcraft
• Monsters
• Wolves, Werewolves
• Natural Horror
• Zombies
• Occult

Musicals and dance • Animated • Fantasy Musical

• Backstage Musicals • Film-Opera
• Ballet • Folk Musicals
• Beach Party Films • Hip-Hop Films
• Musical Biographies • Operettas
• Broadway Show Musicals • Rock-umentary
• Comedy Musicals • Romantic Musicals
• Concert Films • Show-Biz Comedy
• Dance Films • Stage Musicals
• Dramatic Musicals • Western Musicals
• Fairy Tale Musicals

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Genre Film sub-genres types and hybrids

Science fiction • Action or Adventure Sci-Fi • Near Future

• Alien Invasion • Other Dimensions
• Aliens, Extra-Terrestrial Encounters • Outer Space
• Anime • Parallel (or Alternate) Universe
• AI (Artificial Intelligence) • Post-Apocalyptic (or Apocalyptic)
• Atomic Age • Pre-historic
• Classic Sci-Fi • Psychological Sci-Fi
• Creature Films • Pulp
• Disaster • Punk Sci-Fi (ie Steam Punk, Nano
• Dystopic or Dystopia Punk, Atom Punk, Cyber Punk, and
so on)
• End of World
• Religious or Theological
• Exploration
• Robots, Cyborgs and Androids
• Fairy Tales
• Sci-Fi Comedies
• Fantasy Films
• Sci-Fi Horror
• 50’s Sci-Fi
• Sci-Fi Thrillers
• “First Contact”
• Space Opera
• Futuristic (or Future Noir)
• Space or Sci-Fi Westerns
• Galactic Empire
• Speculative
• Lost Worlds
• Star Trek
• Mad Scientists
• Super-Hero Films (for example,
• Militaristic
Supermen and Others)
• Monsters and Mutants
• Supernatural
• Mythic Fables or Mythology
• Tech-Noir
• Natural Horror
• Time or Space Travel
• Virtual Reality

War • Action Combat • Prisoner of War (POW)/Escape

• Aerial Combat, Aviation • Propaganda
• Afghanistan-Iraq Conflict • Resistance
• Anti-War • Revolutionary War
• Civil War • War-Spy
• Combat • Submarine
• Escape • Vietnam War
• Gulf War • War Adventure
• Historical • War Epic
• Korean War • War Romance
• Military • World War I
• Military Comedy • World War II

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Genre Film sub-genres types and hybrids

Westerns • Animal • Marshal Westerns

• B-Western • Military
• Biographies • Modern Western
• Cattle Drive • Musical Western
• Cavalry • Outlaws
• Comedy Westerns • Psychological Westerns
• Epic Westerns • Revenge Westerns
• Euro-Westerns • Revisionist
• Frontier • Road-Trail Journeys
• Gunfighters • Romantic Westerns
• Historical • Science-Fiction Westerns
• Hybrid Westerns (with horror, noir, • Shoot-outs
road movie, martial arts, and so on) • Space Westerns
• Indian War or Indian Westerns • “Spaghetti” Westerns
• Issue Western • Spoof Westerns
• Traditional

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