Cat Lester

My primary research area is horror films for children in Hollywood cinema. This was the basis of my PhD thesis and subsequently my first monograph entitled Horror Films for Children: Fear and Pleasure in American Cinema, published by Bloomsbury in 2021. The introduction is available to read for free. My journal article on children's horror for 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.

My recent and current research continues to explore the intersections between children, horror and cult texts. This research includes projects on children’s horror television, race and childhood in horror cinema, and various activities relating to the British animated film Watership Down (1978). This work on Watership Down began with a symposium in 2018 which explored the production, aesthetics, reception and ongoing cultural legacy of this landmark of British animation. This developed into an open access edited collection which was published by Bloomsbury in 2023 as part of the Animation: Key Films/Filmmakers series. The collection was recipient of the Honourable Mention for Best Edited Collection from the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies Awards in 2024.

I am also generally interested in issues of spectatorship, aesthetics, value and representation (especially of the intersection of childhood with other identity categories) in children's cinema, horror and animation.

I am Principal Investigator on the AHRC-funded Youth & Horror Research Network, which commences in September 2023.

I completed my PhD at the University of Warwick in 2016, which explored horror films made for children in Hollywood cinema (available to read here). I was also a sessional tutor at Warwick from 2014-2018, and at the University of Worcester from 2017-18. 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).

• Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education, University of Birmingham
• PhD Film and Television Studies, University of Warwick
• MA Popular Cultures, University of Hull
• BA English and Film Studies, University of Hull