★ Why do zombies run? ★
★ How was the villain born? ★
★ How do Asian horror films deal with ghosts? ★

From space to dystopian worlds,
From the martial arts world to the gunfighters' stage in the West!
Covering the entire spectrum of genre film history!

When watching a film or even making a film, if you have a solid understanding of the genre and the fundamentals, you can open up the possibility of seeing the broad world the genre encompasses with new eyes.
This book is a good guide to help readers start their journey smoothly.

- Won Dong-yeon, producer of the film "Along with the Gods"

Unfortunately, the previous Korean film industry was practically a wasteland for genre films.
Nowadays, there is no genre film that cannot be made, from zombie horror like “Train to Busan” to space opera like “Space Sweepers.”
With the flood of films releasing today, including horror, fantasy, and action, I hope many people will experience the allure of genre films anew through this book.
- Shin Cheol, Executive Director of Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival

Cinephile
Even the aspiring creators
A book for everyone who loves genre films!

When did zombies start running around? How did villains come into existence? How do Asian horror films deal with vengeful spirits? A book has been published that answers questions you've likely wondered about while watching genre films.
《Genre Film Dictionary》 broadly introduces film genres by dividing them into 12 categories (musical, space opera, heroes and villains, cosmic horror, western, zombie, apocalypse, Asian horror, war, martial arts, Hong Kong noir, and action).

Authors Kim Jeong-gon and Kim Ik-sang, who have been introducing various films to the public for over 10 years through the film-specialized YouTube channel [Film Factory Bad Taste], are true genre film experts who have watched and analyzed thousands of films.
While introducing films unknown in Korea, author Kim Jeong-gon, in particular, uncovers and reveals the value of works that have been neglected in criticism or have disappeared from the archives of film history, and author Kim Ik-sang has met audiences by planning and producing numerous genre films, including “The Exorcist” and “Scissors.”
Rather than focusing on the shining films that have made it into the pantheon of film history, they focus on films that general audiences with maniacal tastes have enjoyed or would like to see.
And then, by selecting a specific area that can reveal the uniqueness of the genre, we select films and directors that well show that background and its characteristics, and by encompassing their works in one book, we help readers better understand genre films.

When watching or making a film, a solid understanding of the genre and a solid foundation in the fundamentals opens up the possibility of seeing the broad world the genre encompasses with new eyes.
Ultimately, this book guides everyone who loves genre films, from film buffs to aspiring creators, into the long and splendid history of genre films.

The world of cosmic horror

The first film to show a strong Lovecraftian influence was the 1960 British film The City of the Dead.
"City of the Dead" is a film about the adventures of a brother who tries to find a student studying witches and magic who disappears after being sacrificed to a real witch.
Interestingly, the plot of City of the Dead is almost identical to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.
In the first part of "City of the Dead," the protagonist goes on an adventure and dies about 40 minutes into the film, which is half the running time. The remaining part of the film follows the protagonist's older brother's search for his younger brother, which is the same format as "Psycho."
Even the two works began production around the same time and had the same release date of September 1960.
Above all, "City of the Dead" is very similar in atmosphere to Lovecraft's work "Dreams in the Witch House," and the original author of "Psycho" is Robert Bloch, a self-proclaimed disciple of Lovecraft.
Unless it's a surprising coincidence, this is evidence that the British film industry at the time was already heavily influenced and inspired by Lovecraft's worldview.
And this inspiration also led to the masterpiece horror film Hellraiser by Clive Barker, a writer and director influenced by Lovecraft.
--- p.178

The first film genre, the Western

The climax of "The Wild Bunch" is a slow-motion mosaic of people being shot, flesh flying, and engulfed in explosions, all at varying speeds.
This slow motion, which extends the moment of death, gives the feeling of watching a beautiful dance performance, and is sometimes called the 'ballet of violence.'
No, actually, this scene is not pretty at all, showing too much blood splattering and flesh being torn in detail.
But it's not ugly either.
Thus, the final sequence of "The Wild Bunch" became a defining scene that redefined violence in Hollywood.
At the time of its release, The Wild Bunch received rave reviews, calling it "an American film that rivals or surpasses the films of Akira Kurosawa," but it was also heavily criticized for its excessive violence.
The expression "ballet of violence" is a modern-day viewpoint that has become desensitized to all kinds of violent scenes, but at the time, there had never been a film that depicted violent sequences so blatantly.
--- p.244

Hong Kong noir, a genre that has now disappeared

When A Better Tomorrow was released in Korea in May 1987, no one could have predicted that the film would become a landmark not only in Hong Kong but also in the Asian film industry.
“A Better Tomorrow” was not even shown in the core theaters in the city center, known as the “Three Main Lines,” and was barely able to open in the re-release theaters in the sub-city center, known as the “Hwayang-Myeonghwa-Daeji” line.
At that time, Hong Kong cinema was an era of comic action films like Drunken Master and Little Monster by Jackie Chan, which were discovered to fill the void left by Bruce Lee, as well as films by Jia Hua San Bo and zombie films produced by Sammo Hung.
Although A Better Tomorrow was a huge hit in Hong Kong, with one in five Hong Kong citizens watching it, it only received a modest 94,604 viewers when it was released in Korea.
A Better Tomorrow, a title that is synonymous with Hong Kong cinema today, was initially considered uninteresting when it was first released.
Then, “A Better Tomorrow” started to spread through word of mouth, starting with its re-release in theaters.
At that time, young people in our country followed Chow Yun-fat one by one, wearing long coats and holding a matchstick in their mouths.
This is the beginning of the 'Chow Yun-fat Syndrome'.

--- p.599~600