List of film genres
Appearance
Films are often divided into genres, which describe the typical subject matter -- what the film is about. This is distinct from the film style, which describes filmic conventions which can be applied to any genre. Of course, the more that genres are defined, the more likely that a filmmaker will try to combine, transcend and evade categories, so not every film can be neatly labeled.
Some of the most common film genres are:
- Action film
- Adventure film
- Animation
- Art film
- Blaxploitation
- Comedy film
- Documentary film
- Dogme 95
- Drama film
- Family film
- Fantasy film
- Film noir
- Historical drama film
- Horror film
- Martial arts film
- Musical film
- Newsreel
- Pornographic film
- Propaganda film
- Romantic comedy film
- Science fiction film
- Short
- Silent film
- Spy film
- Surrealist film
- Thriller film
- War film
- Western film
- Wu Xia film
Post-hoc descriptions
Other related terms