This document defines and provides examples of sub-genres for 10 major film genres: action, adventure, comedy, crime, drama, epic, horror, musical, sci-fi, and western. It describes action films as featuring chases, fights and stunts. Adventure films involve new experiences and exotic locales. Comedies are designed to provoke laughter by exaggerating situations and characters. Crime films center on criminals operating outside the law. Dramas portray realistic characters and stories. Epics add spectacle to historical or legendary events. Horror films are meant to frighten viewers. Musicals emphasize music and dance. Sci-fi films are imaginative with heroes, aliens and futuristic technology. War films acknowledge the horror of

1. Action films usually include chases and fights, high
energy, big-budget physical
stunts, battles, escapes, races against time and
crises featuring non-stop motion, break-neck rhythm
and pacing.
Sub-Genres:
•Spy
•Espionage
•Political Thrillers
•Martial Arts Films
•Races against time
Typical villain and hero
Guns or other weapons
Cars
Police

2. Adventure films are exciting stories, with new
experiences or exotic locales, very similar to or often
paired with the Action film genre.
Sub-Genres:
•Swashbucklers
•Serialized films
•Historical epics
•Expedition films
•Treasure hunts
•Disaster films
•Strange mysteries

3. Comedies are light- hearted plots
deliberately designed to amuse and
provoke laughter by exaggerating the
situation, language, action, relationshi
ps and characters
Sub-Genre:
•Slapstick
•Screwball
•Spoofs
•Parodies
•Romantic Comedies
•Black Comedy
•Satirical Comedy

4. Crime films features the sinister actions of
criminals, mobsters, bank robbers, underworld
figures and ruthless hoodlums who operate outside
the law, stealing and murdering their way through
life.
Sub-Genres:
•Gangster films
•Detective films
•Film noir
•Mysteries
•Serial killer films
•Suspense films
•Thrillers
•Courtroom dramas

5. Dramas are serious, plot driven
films, portraying realistic
characters, settings, life situations, and
stories involving intense character
development and interaction.
Sub-Genres:
• Melodramas
• Romance
• Biographical films
• ‘Adult’ films
• Sports films
• Road movies
• ‘Guy’ films

6. Epics take an historical or imagined
event, mythic, legendary, or heroic figure, and
add an extravagant setting and lavish
costumes, accompanied by grandeur and
spectacle, dramatic scope, high production
values, and a sweeping musical score.
Sub-Genres:
• Historical dramas
• Costume dramas
• War film
• Medieval romps
• Period pictures
• Adventure films
• Religious films

7. Horror films are designed to frighten and to invoke
our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying,
shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining
us at the same time in a cathartic experience.
Sub-Genres:
• Slasher
• Science Fiction
• Supernatural
• Teen Terror
• Serial killers
• Satanic
• Monsters

8. Musicals/dance films are cinematic forms that
emphasize full-scale scores or song and dance
routines in a significant way, or they are films that
are centred on combinations of music, dance, a
song or choreography.
Sub-Genre:
• Broadway musicals
• Musical comedy
• Concert films
• Performance films
• Music biographies

9. Sci-fi films are often quasi-scientific, visionary and
imaginative – complete with heroes, aliens, distant
planets, quests, fantastic places, new
technology, and extraordinary monsters. Sci-fi films
often feature multiple genres.
Sub-Genre:
• Futuristic film
• Visionary
• Horrific
• Graphic novels
• Medical miseries
• Devil machines
• Mad science
• Space invaders

10. War films acknowledge the horror and heartbreak
of war, letting the actual combat fighting (against
nations or humankind) on land, sea, or in the air
provide the primary plot or background action for
the film.
Sub-Genre:
• War dramas
• Military operations
• Anti-war films
• POW stories
• Military stories

11. Westerns are the major defining genre of the
American film Industry – a eulogy to the early
days of the expansive American frontier. They
are one of the oldest, most enduring genres
with very recognizable plots, elements and
characters.
Sub-Genre:
• Epic western
• The “singing cowboy”
• The “spaghetti” western
• Contemporary Western
• Revisionist western
• Comedy western
• Post-apocalyptic