Fantasy Film proposes an innovative approach to the study of this most popular cinematic genre. Engaging with the diversity of tones, forms and styles that fantasy can take in the cinema, the book examines the value and significance of fantasy across a wide range of key films. This volume extends critical understanding beyond the often narrowly defined boundaries of what is seen as "fantasy".

Fantasy Film uses key concepts in film studies - such as authorship, representation, history,genre, coherence and point of view - to interrogate the fantasy genre and establish its parameters. A wide range of films are held up to close scrutiny to illustrate the discussion.

Moving from Alfred Hitchcock's dark thrillers to Vincente Minnelli's vibrant musicals, from George Méliès' 1904 Voyage à travers l'impossible to the X-Men series, the creative dexterity and excitement of film fantasy is evoked and explored. The book will be invaluable to students and fans of the fantasy genre.

James Walters is Professor of Screen Aesthetics and Criticism at the University of Birmingham, UK. He is the author of Visions in the Frame: Mise en scène between Film and TV (2025), Television and Repetition (2023), the BFI TV Classic The Thick of It (Bloomsbury, 2016), Fantasy Film (Bloomsbury, 2011), and Alternative Worlds in Hollywood Cinema (2008). He is the co-editor of Television Performance (2019) and Film Moments: Criticism, History, Theory (2010). His work has appeared in numerous edited collections and international journals including Journal of Film and Video, Critical Studies in Television, Journal of Popular Television, Film Studies and Movie: A Journal of Film Criticism.

Introduction
1. Approaching Fantasy Film
2. Fantasy, History and Cinema
3. Fantasy, Authorship and Genre
4. Fantasy, Childhood and Entertainment
5. Fantasy, Imagination and Interiority
6. Fantasy, Style and Coherence
Conclusion
Annotated Guide to Further Reading
Filmography
Bibliography
Index