James Francis
  • Instructional Associate Professor
Scholars@TAMU

Biography

Dr. Francis specializes in film (horror studies), children’s literature, and creative writing. He is the author of Remaking Horror: Hollywood’s New Reliance on Scares of Old, which chronicles the contemporary film industry phenomenon of horror-movie remakes. He has published book chapters in Dexter: Investigating Cutting Edge Television and TV Goes to Hell: An Unofficial Road Map of Supernatural as part of his background in television and media studies; The Scientist in Popular Culture: Playing God and Working Wonders and Bloody Women: Women Directors of Horror related to his specialty in Horror Studies; and The Tennessee Williams Annual Review connected to his interest in Queer Studies. He is the editor for Images in Motion: Exploring Visual Storytelling; furthermore, he is contributing author and editor to Howdy or Hello?: Technical and Professional Communication, Surface and Subtext: Literature, Research, Writing, and Marvels and Wonders: Reading, Researching, and Writing about Science Fiction and Fantasy, all open-educational resource textbooks created by the TAMU English 210 OER Committee, TAMU English 203 OER Committee, and TAMU SF/F OER Committee, respectively, in order to provide free-access educational resources to the student population to enhance teaching and learning practices and increase academic equity. Dr. Francis is currently researching and co-authoring two genre studies monographs on horror musicals and A.I. in science-fiction film with former students of the English Department and its UPREP Program.

Research Interests

  • Film (Adaptation, Horror, Folk and Fairy Tales)
  • Narratology
  • Queer/Gender Theory
  • Popular Culture Studies

 

Research Areas

  • Film Studies
  • Creative Writing
  • Children’s Literature

Educational Background

  • Ph.D., Middle Tennessee State University, 2010
  • M.A., Texas A&M University, 2005
  • B.A., Texas A&M University, 1999

Awards & Honors

  • College of Arts and Science Undergraduate Mentoring Award, Spring 2024

  • TAMU Team Sustainability Champion Award (ENGL210 OER Committee), Spring 2021

  • Texas A&M Department of English Merit Award, Spring 2020
  • John N. McDaniel Excellence in Teaching, Fall 2009

Selected Publications


  • Francis, Jr James, et al. Surface and Subtext: Literature, Research, Writing. Pilot Edition. College Station: Texas A&M English 203 OER Committee, 2021. 



    Howdy or Hello Cover
    McKinney, Matt, Kalani Pattison, Sarah LeMire, Kathy Anders, and Nicole Hagstrom-Schmidt, eds. Howdy or Hello?: Technical and Professional Communication. Contributing author and editor. College Station: Texas A&M English 210 OER Committee, 2020. 


    Remaking-Horror - Francis
    Francis, Jr James.  Remaking Horror.  Hollywood’s New Reliance on Scares of Old .  McFarland, 2013

    This book chronicles the American horror film genre in its development of remakes from the 1930s into the 21st century. Gus Van Sant’s 1998 remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s  Psycho (1960) is investigated as the watershed moment when the genre opened its doors to the possibility that any horror movie—classic, modern, B-movie, and more—might be remade for contemporary audiences.


    Other Publications

    • “MaXXXine Considers What Happens When a Final Girl Leaves Texas” Interview conducted by Meher Yeda. TexasMonthly, July 2024.
    • “Frankenstein Goes West: Shelley’s Scientist in Lovecraft, Gordon, and Yuzna Horror” in The Scientist in Popular Culture: Playing God and Working Wonders. Lexington Books, April 2022.
    • “Angela Bettis: Gender in the Space of Collaborative Horror” in Bloody Women: Women Directors of Horror . Lehigh University Press, April 2022.
    • “Kids’ Stuff: Horror’s Childhood Connection.” Fangoria Magazine, January 2022.
    • “Why did the television reboot become all the rage?”  The Conversation, June 2018,
    • “That’s So Gay: Camp, Drag, and the Power of Storytelling in Supernatural.”  Supernatural: TV Goes to Hell. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, Fall 2011.
    • “The Lighter Side of Death: Dexter as Comedy.”  Dexter: Investigating Cutting Edge Television. London: I. B. Tauris, Spring 2010.
    • Short Fiction Creative Writing: Storytelling with a Film Perspective. LAP, 2010.
    • “Horror and Noir.”  LGBTQ America Today: An Encyclopedia. Volume 1: A-F. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2009. (401-05)
    • “Tennessee Williams (1911-1983).”  LGBTQ America Today: An Encyclopedia. Volume 3: P-Z. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2009. (1266-67)
    • “Camping Out: Sexuality as Aesthetic Value in Tennessee Williams’ And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens. . .”  The Tennessee Williams Annual Review 9 (2007): 131-142.
Scholars@TAMU