A major contribution to both film studies and folkloristics. It is an academic study in which the author argues that popular film genres and television programs like slasher films, vernacular comedies, killer bee movies, zombie films, and urban legend films advance the study of folklore rather than hinder it....Koven’s book is a joy to read. His material is well chosen and familiar to the average reader....His book is a good example of how to make folklore relevant to both professional folklorists and the lay reader. This is the type of book professors would want to include in a course on folklore and film that emphasizes the nexus between urban legends and slasher films. I am certain that Koven’s Film, Folklore, and Urban Legends will become required reading in the nascent research area of film and folklore. His approach to using theories and methodologies drawn from both of these fields, and applying them effectively to the study of urban legends and the concept of belief, offers invaluable insights into the study of this relatively new area of research within folkloristics.

Western Folklore

Koven provides a solid framework and compelling arguments.

American Reference Books Annual

As a whole, this group of essays provides a useful entry point to many important theories, practices and arguments about folklore and visual narrative, not least because it is in the form of essays aimed at specific questions rather than aiming to serve directly as a primer. The citations and bibliography alone are a valuable resource for anyone wishing to take up the subject. . . . Film, Folklore, and Urban Legends is a good place to start for anyone interested in working on the intersection of folklore and popular visual media.

Folklore