The Lost World (1925 film) in the context of "Wallace Beery"

The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in that the genre required a setting that was both remote in time and space to the film audience and that it contained a positive hero who tries to make right in their world. Some critics such as Taves limit the genre to naturalistic settings, while Yvonne Tasker found that would limit films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) from the genre. Tasker found that most films in the genre featured narratives located within a fantasy world of exoticized setting, which are often driven by quests for characters seeking mythical objects or treasure hunting. The genre is closely associated with the action film, and is sometimes used interchangeably or in tandem with that genre.

The setting and visuals are key elements of adventure films. This ranged from early technical showcases such as The Lost World (1925) and King Kong (1933). These films set up exotic locations as both beautiful and dangerous. This would be a continuing trend for Hollywood adventure films. The other major Hollywood style was the historical adventure typified by early films in the style of The Black Pirate (1926) and The Mark of Zorro (1920) which feature less intense violence. Historical adventure was a popular Hollywood staple until the mid-1950s. While the historical adventure film would be parodied or presented as highly camp, special effects-driven adventure films began to dominate the market towards the late 1970s, with films such as Star Wars (1977) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). This trend continued into the 21st century.

Natural horror is a subgenre of horror films in which nature runs amok, typically in the form of animals or plants that pose a threat to human characters.

Though killer animals in film have existed since the release of The Lost World in 1925, two of the first motion pictures to garner mainstream success with a "nature runs amok" premise were The Birds, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and released in 1963; and Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg and released in 1975. Following Jaws, numerous horror films of a similar narrative were produced, including Grizzly (1976), Piranha (1978), and Alligator (1980).

Raymond Frederick Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 – May 7, 2013) was an American-British animator and special effects creator who is regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of both fields. In a career spanning more than 40 years, he built upon the techniques of his mentor, Willis H. O'Brien, to develop a form of stop motion model animation known as "Dynamation" and advance the field of cinematic special effects. Though not credited as a writer or director on any of the feature films he worked on, the role he played in shaping those he made during his peak years has led to him being regarded as "cinema's sole visual effects auteur," and the creatures and sequences he animated are considered some of the most iconic in the history of cinema.

Inspired by O'Brien's work on The Lost World (1925) and King Kong (1933), Harryhausen spent his adolescence developing his skills with stop motion, leading to him working under O'Brien on Mighty Joe Young (1949) and The Animal World (1956). He took charge of the animation on The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) before teaming up with producer Charles H. Schneer, with whom he would make 12 films over 26 years. These include It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955), The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), First Men in the Moon (1964), The Valley of Gwangi (1969), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973), Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977), and Clash of the Titans (1981), after which he retired from feature filmmaking. He also created the special effects for One Million Years B.C. (1966), produced by Hammer Films.

Harry O. Hoyt (August 6, 1885 – July 29, 1961) was an American screenwriter and film director whose film career began in 1912, during the silent era. He graduated with a degree in literature from Yale University in 1910. His 1925 film The Lost World, based on the book by Arthur Conan Doyle, is notable as a pioneering effort in the use of stop-motion animation. His brother, actor Arthur Hoyt, also appeared in The Lost World.

In November 1912, he married the former Florence Stark in Norwich, Connecticut. Together they had a son, Devereux Gerrard Hoyt, and daughter Daryl Hoyt.

Willis Harold O'Brien (March 2, 1886 – November 8, 1962), known as Obie O'Brien, was an American motion picture special effects and stop-motion animation pioneer, who according to ASIFA-Hollywood "was responsible for some of the best-known images in cinema history," and is best remembered for his work on The Lost World (1925), King Kong (1933), The Last Days of Pompeii (1935) and Mighty Joe Young (1949), for which he won the 1950 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.