Adam Lowenstein

Adam Lowenstein is a Professor in the Department of Film and Media Studies at the University of Pittsburgh’s Dietrich School. A leading scholar in horror studies, he explores horror cinema’s engagement with historical trauma, cultural identity, and aesthetic innovation. His research bridges genre studies, digital media, and theoretical frameworks like Frankfurt School thought, with a focus on national cinemas (including American, Australian, and Japanese cases).

Lowenstein directs Pitt’s Horror Studies Working Group and the Global Horror Studies Archival and Research Network. He co-edits The Routledge Companion to Horror and plays a key role in preserving George A. Romero’s cinematic legacy through the Horror Studies Archive. He has held visiting professorships at Columbia University, NYU, and Tel Aviv University, and received prestigious fellowships including the Guggenheim.

His research interests include surrealism, trauma studies, Jewish studies, and the politics of spectatorship. Recent work examines aging in Tobe Hooper’s films, Black/Jewish intersections in modern horror, and the aesthetics of horror landscapes. He has published widely on directors like David Cronenberg, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and the socio-political dimensions of horror narratives.

Awardees: Macgeorge Fellowship (University of Melbourne), Guggenheim Fellowship (John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation). He advises Pitt’s “Horror Genre as a Social Force” scholar community and collaborates with institutions like the George A. Romero Foundation.

Key projects include the Romero Archive (romero.library.pitt.edu) and the transnational Horror Studies Archival Network, reflecting his commitment to globalizing and historicizing horror studies.