Curated playlist
Film genres
- Detective fictionWhen Poe's detective Dupin first appeared in 1841, the word detective did not yet exist in English.
- Drama (film and television)Before cinema existed, a drama was a play that was neither comedy nor tragedy.
- SatireIn 1784, Benjamin Franklin anonymously joked that Parisians should rise earlier to save candles.
- Horror filmAs of 2025, only one horror film has ever won the Academy Award for Best Picture. That film is The Silence of the Lambs.
- Slasher filmEvery major studio turned down the film Halloween, and one executive said it was not scary.
- Dark humorSaint Lawrence reportedly joked while being burned alive on a rotisserie. It made him patron saint of comedians.
- B movieGeorge Romero shot Night of the Living Dead on weekends for $114,000. This B movie changed American cinema.
- Independent filmIndependent filmmakers once fled to Hollywood to escape process servers. Edison's patent trust sued those it refused.
- CartoonIn 1843, Punch magazine used the word cartoon to mock planned paintings for the Palace of Westminster.
- Splatter filmBlood Feast, made in 1963 for an estimated $24,500, is widely considered the first splatter film.
- Music videoTop of the Pops needed music videos because pop stars were often on tour. Film inserts stood in for them.