Dr Catherine Lester

• PhD Film and Television Studies, University of Warwick
• MA Popular Cultures, University of Hull
• BA English and Film Studies, University of Hull

I completed my PhD at the University of Warwick in 2016, which explored horror films made for children in Hollywood cinema. I was also a sessional tutor at Warwick from 2014-2018, and at the University of Worcester in 2017. Prior to doctoral study, I obtained a BA English and Film Studies and MA Popular Cultures at the University of Hull, before taking a brief sojourn into publishing in the areas of children’s books (Random House Children's Publishers, My Little Big Town) and academic journals (Taylor & Francis).

• Introduction to Film (Year One)
• Film Theory and Criticism (Year Two)
• Children’s Film and Television (Year Three)

I am particularly interested in supervising projects on the intersections between the horror genre and children's media and/or animation, especially projects on this theme that are centred on non-US or non-filmic media. I will also consider projects in the broad areas of children's media, horror, genre studies, animation, and representation in any of the above.

I am currently supervising postgraduate research projects on topics including: motherhood in 21st century horror films; non-binary representation on television; contemporary Spanish horror cinema. I am available as an internal and external examiner.

Please note that I am unable to be primary supervisor on Creative Writing projects.

My primary research area is horror films for children in Hollywood cinema. This was the basis of my PhD thesis (available here) and I have developed this research into a monograph entitled Horror Films for Children: Fear and Pleasure in American Cinema, published by Bloomsbury in 2021. My journal article on the subject in Velvet Light Trap (2016) was awarded runner-up for Best Doctoral Student Article 2018 by the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies and was short-listed for Screen’s Annette Kuhn Essay Award 2017.

I am continuing to explore the intersections between children’s media and the horror genre with recent and ongoing projects including a study of children’s horror anthology programmes (e.g. Goosebumps) and the relationship between animation and horror in children’s cinema. This interest in animated horror led to a symposium on Watership Down (1978) in 2018 which explored the production, aesthetics, reception and ongoing cultural legacy of this landmark of British animation. An edited collection arising from this event is forthcoming for Bloomsbury's 'Animation: Key Films/Filmmakers' series. I am also interested in issues of spectatorship, aesthetics, and representation (especially, of children) in children's cinema, horror and animation.