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  1. Dartmouth Libraries
  2. Research Guides
  3. Dartmouth Libraries Guides
  4. Film Genres
  5. Bible films

Film Genres

This guide highlights library resources for some of the more popular film genres.
  • Introduction
  • Streaming services
  • Action films
  • Amateur films
  • Animation
    • Stop-motion animation
  • Animé
  • B movies
  • Biographical films
  • Blaxploitation films
  • Children's films
  • Comedies
  • Cult films
  • Crime films
    • Gangster films
  • Detective & mystery films
  • Documentary films
  • Ethnographic films
  • Experimental films
  • Exploitation films
  • Film noir
  • Historical films
  • Horror films
    • Slasher films
  • Independent films
  • Indigenous films
  • James Bond films
  • LGBTQIA+
  • Mockumentary films
  • Musicals
  • Newsreels This link opens in a new window
  • Police films
  • Religious films
    • Bible films
  • Road films
  • Science fiction
    • Star Trek films
    • Star Wars films
  • Science films
  • Shakespeare on film
  • Short films
  • Silent films
  • Sports films
  • Superhero films
  • War films
    • Anti-war films
  • Vampire films
  • Westerns
  • Zombie films

Other library resource(s)

  • Resource logoReligion and film from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Terry Lindvall
    • On Campus or VPN
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    ISBN: 9780199791286
    In 1911 one of the earliest documents examining the nature and function of cinema came from the Reverend Herbert A. Jump of Connecticut, a pamphlet entitled The Religious Possibilities of the Motion Picture. His thoughtful reflections on the novel medium envisioned a fertile marriage between the moving pictures and the church, leading to revival and reform.

Internet resource(s)

  • Bible film blog
    • Link
    This blog says it is the largest source of information about Bible films.
  • Bible films from Wikipedia
    • Link
    This is a list of movies (including television movies) based on the Bible (Old Testament and New Testament), depicting characters or figures from the Bible, or broadly derived from the their revelations or interpretations.

Keeping up with Film Studies journal literature

Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for all facets of Film Studies? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's, you can download and read the articles you want from the journals for which we have subscriptions.

You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.

Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's also available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.

A short definition

... Certain types of films are identified as religious films, including biblical epic films, such as The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille, 1923), and films about the life of Jesus, including The Last Temptation of Christ (Martin Scorsese, US/Canada, 1981) (see also biopic). This taxonomy also includes films with religious themes such as redemption/salvation (The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, US, 1994)), the struggle between good and evil (Seven (David Fincher, US, 1995)), and transcendence (Divine Intervention (Elia Suleiman, France/Palestine, 2002)), and/or religious scenarios, including the flood (Noah (Darren Aronofsky, US, 2014)), the afterlife (Wandafuru raifu/After Life (Hirokazu Koreeda, Japan, 1998)), and revelation (End of Days (Peter Hyams, US, 1999)).    ...

Kuhn, A., & Westwell, G. (2020). Religion. In A Dictionary of Film Studies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 9 Jan. 2021

Finding library resources for Bible films

  • bible films
    This subject search will find books on film with Bible centered stories.
  • bible in motion pictures
  • jesus christ in motion pictures

Introductory reading(s)

  • Cover artBible and cinema: fifty key films by Adele Reinhartz, ed.
    • On Campus or VPN
    • E-Book
    Call Number: eBook
    ISBN: 9781136184000
    Movies which have drawn inspiration from the Bible, either directly or indirectly, have been extremely popular since the earliest days of cinema. Bible and Cinema: Fifty Key Films introduces a wide range of those movies, which are among the most important, critically-acclaimed and highest-grossing films of all time, ...
  • Cover artThe Bible in motion: a handbook of the Bible and its reception in film by Rhonda Burnette-Bletsch, ed.
    • On Campus or VPN
    • E-Book
    Call Number: eBook
    ISBN: 9781614515616
    This two-part volume contains a comprehensive collection of original studies by well-known scholars focusing on the Bible's wide-ranging reception in world cinema. It is organized into sections examining the rich cinematic afterlives of selected characters from the Hebrew Bible and New Testament; considering issues of biblical reception across a wide array of film genres, ranging from noir to anime; featuring directors, from Lee Chang-dong to the Coen brothers, whose body of work reveals an enduring fascination with biblical texts and motifs; ...
  • Cover artClose encounters between Bible and film: an interdisciplinary engagement by Laura Copier; Caroline Vander Stichele, eds.
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .B53 C56 2016
    ISBN: 9781628371581
    This volume showcases the divergent approaches from film studies and cultural studies that can be used in the visual analysis of biblical and religious themes, narratives, and characters in cinema. It is the first volume that specifically addresses issues of methodology, theory and analysis in the study between bible and film. As such, this collection is of interest to scholars in Film Studies and Theology/Religion/Biblical Studies, who are invested in doing interdisciplinary research in the expanding field of religion and film.
  • Cover artThe Bible in film - the Bible and film by J. Cheryl Exum, ed.
    • On Campus or VPN
    • E-Book
    Call Number: eBook
    ISBN: 9789004151901
    Exploring the interface between the Bible and film offers exciting opportunities for both biblical scholars and moviegoers alike. The eleven contributors to this provocative and wide-ranging collection deal critically and creatively both with films about the Bible and biblical characters, including the recent controversial The Passion of the Christ, and with a wide range of contemporary films in which biblical themes play a significant, and sometimes surprising, role.
  • Cover ArtThe Oxford handbook of the Bible and American popular culture by Dan W. Clanton; Terry R. Clark, eds.
    • On Campus or VPN
    • E-Book
    Call Number: eBook
    ISBN: 9780190461416
    The study of the reciprocal relationship between the Bible and popular culture has blossomed in the past few decades, and the time seems ripe for a broadly-conceived work that assesses the current state of the field, offers examples of work in that field, and suggests future directions for further study. This Handbook includes a wide range of topics organized under several broad themes, including biblical characters (such as Adam, Eve, David and Jesus) and themes (like Creation, Hell, and Apocalyptic) in popular culture; the Bible in popular cultural genres (for example, film, comics,and Jazz); and "lived" examples (such as museums and theme parks). ...

Selected book title(s)

  • Cover artThe Bible on silent film: spectacle, story and scripture in the early cinema by David J. Shepherd
    • On Campus or VPN
    • E-Book
    Call Number: eBook
    ISBN: 9781107042605
    Between the advent of motion pictures in the 1890s and the close of the 'silent' era at the end of the 1920s, many of the longest, most expensive and most watched films on both sides of the Atlantic drew upon biblical traditions. David J. Shepherd traces the evolution of the biblical film through the silent era, asking why the Bible attracted early film makers, how biblical films were indebted to other interpretive traditions, and how these films were received. ...
  • Cover artHoly horror: the Bible and fear in movies by Steve A. Wiggins
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .H6 W445 2019
    ISBN: 9781476674667
    What, exactly, makes us afraid? Is it monsters, gore, the unknown? Perhaps it's a biblical sense of malice, lurking unnoticed in the corners of horror films. Holy Writ attempts to ward off aliens, ghosts, witches, psychopaths and demons, yet it often becomes a source of evil itself. Looking first at Psycho (1960) and continuing through 2017, this book analyzes the starring and supporting roles of the Good Book in horror films, monster movies and thrillers to discover why it incites such fear. ...
  • Cover artImages of the word: Hollywood's Bible and beyond by David Shepherd
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .B53 I43 2008
    ISBN: 9781589832756
  • Cover artInsights from filmmaking for analyzing biblical narrative by Gary Yamasaki
    • On Campus or VPN
    • E-Book
    Call Number: eBook
    ISBN: 9781451496291
    In this volume, Gary Yamasaki develops an innovative approach to biblical narrative, exploring the way stories are treated in film-making and using that as a model for analyzing biblical stories. In our culture, the voluminous exposure we have to movies has resulted in our being conditioned to experience cinematic stories in a particular manner: for example, seeing them as events rather than objects and the story worlds of movies as distinct from the real world. However, biblical stories are not typically viewed through this cinematic-story lens, making our analysis of biblical narrative out of step with what has become our natural mode of experiencing stories. This book demonstrates how fresh interpretive insights emerge when we read biblical stories like we watch movies. Book jacket.
  • Cover ArtJesus, the Gospels, and cinematic imagination: a handbook to Jesus on DVD by Jeffrey L. Staley; Richard Walsh
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .J4 S73 2007
    ISBN: 9780664230319
    Movies about the life of Jesus continue to be a fascinating way to consider how the Gospels present an image and a narrative of Jesus. In Jesus, the Gospels, and Cinematic Imagination, Jeffrey Staley and Richard Walsh use their biblical knowledge and admiration for films to summarize eighteen popular Jesus movies and to show exactly where each movie parallels the Gospel accounts of Jesus's life. The authors provide teachers and students easy access to both Gospel and film parallels, enhancing the value of these select films as teaching tools and useful resources for pastors, those leading discussions of films, and libraries.

Finding journal titles and articles

  • Journal logoThe journal of religion and film: JR & F
    • Open Access Icon
    Call Number: Electronic journal
    The Journal of Religion & Film is a peer reviewed journal which is committed to the study of connections between the medium of film and the phenomena of religion, however those are defined. We encourage multiple approaches to the study of religion and film, including (but not limited to) the analysis of how religious traditions are portrayed in films; exploration of the religious concepts that may be found or utilized in the interpretation of films; ...
  • Resource logoFilm & television literature index by EBSCO Publishing
    • On Campus or VPN
    • Database
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    Use this index to find articles about this genre.
  • Resource logoATLA religion database by American Theological Library Association
    • On Campus or VPN
    • Database
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    This is a searchable database of citations to journal articles, essays in multi-author works, and book reviews in the fields of religious and theological studies. Journals representing all the major religious faiths, major denominations, and numerous language groups are included.
  • Resource logoThe web of science citation databases by ISI (Institute for Scientific Information)
    • On Campus or VPN
    • Database
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    The online version of 3 separate ISI indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index and, Social Sciences Citation Index.

Selected film titles

For more bible films, search the library's online catalog.

  • Movie poster artBen-Hur by William Wyler
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #579
    ISBN: 9780790758459
    A prince of Judea leads his nation against the wrath of the conquering Romans. His self-imposed destiny brings tragedy to himself and his people, as he learns to fight, to love, to hate and, finally, to forgive.
  • Movie poster artExodus. gods and kings by Ridley Scott
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #18560
    The defiant leader Moses rises up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses, setting 400,000 slaves on a monumental journey of escape from Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues.
  • Cover artGodspell by David Greene
    • DVD
    Call Number: DVD ML 1500 .S39 G63 2000
    ISBN: 9780767827928
    Film adaptation of the off-Broadway musical based on the Gospel According to St. Matthew. Set in contemporary New York City, the film features a cast drawn from both the original New York and various stage companies.
  • Cover artThe secret of Kells by Nora Twomey & Tomm Moore
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #14812
    ISBN: 9781422992371
    Young Brendan lives in a remote medieval outpost under siege from barbarian raids. But a new life of adventure beckons when a celebrated master illuminator arrives from foreign lands carrying an ancient but unfinished book, brimming with secret wisdom and powers. To help complete the magical book, Brendan has to overcome his deepest fears on a dangerous quest that takes him into the enchanted forest where mythical creatures hide. It is here that he meets the fairy Aisling, a mysterious young wolf-girl, who helps him along the way. But with the barbarians closing in, will Brendan's determination and artistic vision illuminate the darkness and show that enlightenment is the best fortification against evil?
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  • Last Updated: Jun 5, 2025 3:16 PM
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Tags: action films, adventure films, amateur films, anti-war films, Arts, b movies, baseball films, basketball films, blaxploitation films, boxing films, comedy films, cop films, crime films, cult films, detective films, documentaries, ethnographies, exploitation films, film & media studies, film noir, football films, gangster films, historical films, hockey films, horror films, independent films, James Bond films, mockumentaries, musicals, religious films, road films, science fiction films, science films, Shakespeare on film, silent films, slasher films, soccer films, sports films, star trek films, star wars films, superhero films, surfing films, vampire films, war films, westerns, zombie films

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