ABSTRACT

Over the last decade, forms of ‘bad cinema’ have increasingly been recognized as ‘legitimate’ areas of study in film studies. Exploitation cinemas and cult cinemas now regularly appear in undergraduate film studies programs (though admittedly more often than not as topics rather than as the focus of full courses), scholarly publications in the field have increased with a number of monographs and edited collections on various forms of bad and paracinema being published in the last few years (with yet more in the wings) and major academic conferences on various forms of exploitation and paracinema have taken place, providing valuable forums for research and debate (Monash University’s ‘B for Bad Cinema’ conference – in which these papers were originally presented – was the only national film studies conference in Australia in 2009). Bad cinema, it seems, is finding a place in film and cinema studies.