Fantastic Cinema

Suburban Fantastic Cinema is a study of American movies in which preteen and teenage suburban boys are called upon to combat a disruptive force. Beginning in the 1980s, the suburban fantastic established itself as a popular commercial model combining coming-of-age melodramas with elements drawn from science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

2022 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Shortlisted for the 2022 Best First Monograph Award presented by the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies Hollywood fantasy cinema is responsible for some of the most lucrative franchises produced over the past two decades, yet it remains difficult to find popular or critical consensus on what the experience of watching fantasy cinema actually entails. What makes something a fantasy film, and what unique pleasures does the genre offer? In Encountering the Impossible, Alexander Sergeant solves the riddle of the fantasy film by theorizing the underlying experience of imagination alluded to in scholarly discussions of the genre. Drawing principally on the psychoanalysis of Melanie Klein and D.W. Winnicott, Sergeant considers the way in which fantasy cinema rejects Hollywood's typically naturalistic mode of address to generate an alternative experience that Sergeant refers to as the fantastic, a way of approaching cinema that embraces the illusory nature of the medium as part of the pleasure of the experience. Analyzing such canonical Hollywood fantasy films as The Wizard of Oz, It's a Wonderful Life, Mary Poppins, Conan the Barbarian, and The Lord of the Rings movies, Sergeant theorizes how fantasy cinema provides a unique film experience throughout its ubiquitous presence in the history of Hollywood film production.

The intersection of religious practice and theatricality has long been a subject of interest to scholars. This collection of twenty-two critical essays addresses the relationship between Roman Catholicism and films of the fantastic, which includes the genres of fantasy, horror, science fiction and the supernatural. The collection covers a range of North American and European films from Dracula and other vampire movies to Miracle at Fatima, The Exorcist, Danny Boyle's Millions, The Others, Maurice Pialat's Sous le Soleil de Satan, the movies of Terry Gilliam and George Romero's zombie series. Collectively, these essays reveal the durability and thematic versality of what the authors term the "Catholic fantastic."

​This book analyzes how contemporary popular films with fantastic themes, including Candyman, Frozen, The Cabin in the Woods, and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, cultivate neoliberal subjectivities. These films promise dramatic change, but they too often deliver more of the same. Although proponents maintain the illusion that the militant enforcement of freemarket economics will resolve racism, climate change, and imperialism, their magical thinking actually fuels the crises. Magical Thinking, Fantastic Film, and the Illusions of Neoliberalism explores the ways in which the visual economies of Hollywood fantasy compliment this particular political economy.

Have you ever read a book and thought 'They should make this into a film'? If so, read on! Packed with fun facts and figures, Fantastic Films takes you behind the scenes of the movie-making process. Along the way, you'll find out how your favourite stories make it to the big screen, from Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, to Jurassic World and Guardians of the Galaxy. Famous Faces is a fantastic series of non-fiction books for struggling readers. It is comprised of eight titles, all written especially for pupils who have a lower reading age than their chronological age, and all designed to be fun and attention-grabbing. The series is pitched at 11-14 year olds with a lower reading age of just 9-10, and each title has a length of roughly 1600-1800 words. The books are packed full of engaging images, fantastic facts and fun layouts. Each chapter is short so struggling readers aren't daunted by the amount of text.

About 2,500 genre films are entered under more than 100 subject headings, ranging from abominable snowmen through dreamkillers, rats, and time travel, to zombies, with a brief essay on each topic: development, highlights, and trends. Each film entry shows year of release, distribution company, country of origin, director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, cast credits, plot synopsis and critical commentary.