What is a subgenre? If you are familiar with what a genre is, then you are already halfway there, but there might be more to subgenres than meets the eye. In this post, we will be providing a definition for “subgenre”, looking at examples of subgenres, and exploring how multiple genres and subgenres can nest within each other.
What is a Subgenre
First, let’s define subgenre
Understanding subgenres will be much easier if you already have a grasp of what genres are. Our ultimate guide to movie genres can fill in the blanks if you need a refresher.
SUBGENRE DEFINITION
What is a subgenre?
A subgenre is a smaller and more specific genre within a broader genre. Each genre can contain several subgenres, and there can even be additional more niche subgenres within other subgenres. Every primary genre can be thought of as a family with its various subgenres populating its family tree. It is important to note that a subgenre is NOT as simple as a hybrid or mashup of multiple genres, though a subgenre may be created to reflect a common genre combination such as horror-comedy or action-thriller.
If we go back far enough in the lineage of storytelling, we eventually arrive at ancient Greek theater, which reached its height around 700 BC. Within ancient Greek theater, there were only two recognized genres: comedy and tragedy. All of the stories told on these ancient stages fell into one of these two categories, but could be further classified into subgenres. These days, we have more primary genres to choose from such as drama, comedy, horror, thriller, musical, or action. From these parent genres, we can then classify individual stories into more specific subgenres.
Subgenre Characteristics:
- Smaller, more specific genres within other genres
- NOT genre hybrids or mashups
- Subgenres can exist within other subgenres
Subgenres of Movies
Subgenres within subgenres
As mentioned in the definition section, several subgenres can exist within one parent genre, and multiple subgenres can even exist within other subgenres. But, what does that look like in practice? Within the action genre, we can find several subgenres. One popular action subgenre is the martial-arts film, but our classification doesn’t have to end there. Within the martial-arts genre, we can further divide films into kung fu and wuxia subgenres, amongst others. Check out our rundown of the best action films ever made for some high-octane examples.
What is Wuxia? • subgenres of film
There are dozens and dozens of movie genres and subgenres. There are almost too many to count, but this handy infographic gives you a good idea of what’s on the table.
Genre and Subgenre infographic guide • movie subgenre
Genres begin as broad classifications based on the content of a story and the style of it’s presentation. As we dig deeper with subgenres and subgenres within subgenres, we are refining that classification to become more and more niche.
Subgenres of Film
Subgenres examples
Now that we have a firm grasp of what exactly a subgenre is, let’s dig into some examples from all across the cinematic spectrum. Let’s start by looking at a few subgenres under the horror umbrella, which is perhaps the genre with more subgenres than any other.
- Slashers - Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween
- Creature Features - Jaws, Them!, Piranha
- Hauntings - The Haunting, Poltergeist, The Others
- Possessions & Exorcisms - The Exorcist, The Last Exorcism, The Exorcism of Emily Rose
- Killer Kids - Children of the Corn, Village of the Damned, The Omen
- Killer Dolls - Child’s Play, Puppet Master, Annabelle
- Aliens - Alien, Xtro, Species
- New French Extremity - Martyrs, Inside, High Tension
- Hillbilly Horror - The Hills Have Eyes, Wrong Turn, I Spit on Your Grave
- Torture Porn - Saw, Hostel, Human Centipede
- Body Horror - Videodrome, The Thing, Society
- Zombies - Night of the Living Dead, Train to Busan, Shaun of the Dead - Check out our lists of the best zombie movies and the best zombie comedies for more killer examples.
- Satanism - Rosemary’s Baby, The Day of the Beast, The Witch
- Giallo - Deep Red, Pieces, Blood and Black Lace
- Home Invasion - The Strangers, Don’t Breathe, You’re Next
And this is just scratching the surface of horror subgenres. Check out our rundown of the best horror films ever made and the most underrated horror films for even more variety.
Even under the already niche subgenre of exploitation films, there are literally hundreds of hyper-specific subgenres ranging from Blaxploitation to Ozsploitation and everything in between
Exploring grindhouse and exploitation films • subgenre examples
Next, let’s look at a few comedy subgenres.
Slapstick - Mr. Bean, Playtime, Three Stooges
Spoof - Airplane!, The Naked Gun, Blazing Saddles
Parody - Black Dynamite, OSS 117, Austin Powers
Satire - Dr. Strangelove, Sorry to Bother You, Jojo Rabbit
Screwball - Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, It Happened One Night
Mockumentary - This is Spinal Tap, Best in Show, Borat
Raunch - American Pie, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Superbad
Rom-Coms - When Harry Met Sally, Always Be My Maybe, There’s Something About Mary
For even more laughter-inducing films, check out our lists of the best comedies of all time and the best dark comedy films and TV shows.
Screwball comedies defined • subgenre meaning
And finally, let’s close things out by looking at some subgenre examples from the drama genre.
Slice of Life - Boyhood, Smoke, The Wrestler
Chamber Drama - Glengarry Glen Ross, Buried, Locke
Legal Drama - 12 Angry Men, A Few Good Men, The Judge
Political - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Frost/Nixon, The Ides of March
Historical - Barry Lyndon, Lawrence of Arabia, Braveheart
Coming of Age - Almost Famous, Eighth Grade, Edge of Seventeen - For more examples from this subgenre, check out our rundown of the best coming of age films of all time.
Sports - Rudy, Remember the Patriots, Field of Dreams
As you might guess, there is some overlap between genres and subgenres, and some films might simultaneously fit the criteria of multiple niche subgenres. There are plenty of films that mix and match subgenres or that shift tone and genre throughout, like Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite. Genres are useful for classification and for setting expectations but should not be seen as a limitation. Busting genre barriers and defying conventions can be a great way to set a film apart from its peers.
UP NEXT
Ultimate Guide to Movie Genres
To explore even more genres and subgenres, take a look at our ultimate guide to movie genres. We’ll break down what constitutes a genre, how genres are combined, and explore more than 90 different genres and subgenres across the entire storytelling spectrum, coming up next.
Up Next: Ultimate Guide to Movie Genres →
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