Rate My Professor Harry Benshoff

Dr. Harry M. Benshoff serves as Professor and Chair of the Department of Media Arts in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at the University of North Texas. He earned a BA in English from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1985, followed by an MA in Critical Studies from the University of Southern California in 1992 and a PhD in Critical Studies from USC in 1996. Before joining UNT as a Visiting Assistant Professor in 1999-2000, he was a Full-Time Lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, from 1996 to 1999. At UNT, he advanced to Assistant Professor from 2000 to 2006, Associate Professor from 2006 to 2012, and Professor since 2012, concurrently holding the position of Department Chair.

Benshoff's research interests encompass film genres, film history, film theory, and multiculturalism, with emphases on queer cinema, horror films, gender and sexuality in media, blaxploitation horror, and fan cultures such as Dark Shadows. Key publications include his authorship of Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film (Manchester University Press, 1997), Dark Shadows (Wayne State University Press, 2011), and Film and Television Analysis: An Introduction to Theories, Methods, and Approaches (Routledge, 2015; second edition, 2024). He co-authored with Sean Griffin America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality at the Movies (Blackwell, 2004; third edition, 2021) and Queer Images: A History of Gay and Lesbian Film in America (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006), and co-edited Queer Cinema: The Film Reader (Routledge, 2004) and edited A Companion to the Horror Film (Wiley-Blackwell, 2014). His contributions extend to numerous book chapters and articles on topics including queer horror in the 21st century and reception studies of films like Brokeback Mountain. Among his honors are the American Library Association Choice Outstanding Academic Title award for Queer Images (2007), UNT SGA Honors Professor (2012), and multiple research grants from UNT and the Greater Denton Arts Council. Benshoff teaches undergraduate courses such as Film and Television Analysis, African American Film, Lesbian, Gay, and Queer Film and Video, and Gender and Sexuality in the Horror Film, alongside graduate seminars in qualitative media theory and film authors.