Film Utopia

Our journey through Dario Argento's filmography reaches the 1990s, a decade where even the director's most devoted admirers begin to admit the wheels wobble a little.

In this third chapter of our five-part retrospective, Steven and Sean revisit Argento's contribution to Two Evil Eyes (1990), before tackling Trauma (1993), The Stendhal Syndrome (1996), and The Phantom of the Opera (1998). For Sean, much of this decade proved to be u...

The journey through Dario Argento's filmography continues as Steven and Sean arrive at what many consider the director's creative peak: the 1980s. If the previous decade established Argento as the master of Giallo, this one saw him push his style into ever stranger, more operatic territory, blending murder mysteries with supernatural horror and some of the most astonishing visuals ever committed to film.

This fortnight, we revisit ...

The Italian Horror journey continues as Steven and Sean begin a brand-new five-part retrospective on the work of Dario Argento, charting his theatrical filmography decade by decade. With new episodes arriving fortnightly, we begin where it all started: the 1970s, the decade where Argento emerged with black-gloved killers, garish rooms, impossible camera movements, and enough stylised murder to permanently alter horror cinema.

For t...

This month on Film Utopia, Sean drags a deeply reluctant Steven kicking and screaming into the blood-soaked world of cult Italian filmmaker Lucio Fulci. Sean, naturally, argues that Fulci was far more than just “the gore guy,” championing the dreamlike atmosphere, bleak surrealism, and nightmarish logic that made his films unlike anything else in horror cinema. Steven, meanwhile, stubbornly refuses to budge from his pos...

This month on Film Utopia, Steven, Benjamin, and Sean head back to 1984, a year where blockbuster spectacle, cult oddities, and bleak-as-hell TV movies somehow all coexisted quite happily; and barely any were sequels or retreads. Hollywood, please take note!

As is tradition, we go month by month, revisiting the highs, the lows, the first watches, and the films that have aged like fine wine… or questionable milk. We also dig ...

This month on Film Utopia, it’s Sean’s director pick, and he’s gone for a lean but fascinating body of work: Duncan Jones. With just four theatrical features, Steven, Benjamin, and Sean take the rare opportunity to slow things down and really get into the weeds.

We go deep on the quiet brilliance and existential ache of Moon, unpack the knotty mechanics and moral implications of Source Code (spare a thought for th...

The Italian Horror tour descends into velvet-draped madness as Steven and Sean tackle the horror legacy of Mario Bava; a filmmaker whose gorgeous lighting, elegant murders, and stunning brunettes didn’t just shape Gothic and Giallo cinema, but practically colour-graded it into existence.

Across first-time watches and long-standing favourites, we work our way through the candle-lit hallway of Bava’s greatest hits (and st...

Steven, Benjamin, and Sean wind the clock back to 1986 and take a month-by-month wander through one of the most eclectic, chaotic, and fondly remembered years in modern cinema.

From summer blockbusters to cult oddities, we revisit our first watches, reassess our long-held opinions, and shamelessly don the nostalgia goggles as each of us picks a favourite from every month of the year. Along the way, we celebrate the era-defining hig...

For this year’s Christmas episode, Film Utopia heads back to Middle-earth as Steven, Benjamin, and Sean tackle The Lord of the Rings Extended Editions in full – from The Fellowship of the Ring to The Return of the King. Not a misty-eyed holiday special, but a long, honest fireside reckoning with one of cinema’s most beloved trilogies.

While still a fan overall, Steven uses the extended runtime to reflect on the cr...

This week on Film Utopia, Steven, Benjamin, and Sean hop in the cinematic time machine and cruise back to 1995, a year stacked so high with bangers, bruisers and cult classics that even John Doe would struggle to catalogue them.

We stroll month-by-month through our first-watch memories and rediscover why ‘95 was an all-timer. There’s expected reverence for Se7en, Casino, and Heat (the holy trinity of grimy crime masterp...

With Benjamin off-world, Steven, Sean, and special guest Max suit up for a deep-dive reaction to Predator: Badlands. After a quick surveying of the state of the modern Disney/Trachtenberg-verse, touching on Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers, we zero in on the new film itself and each give our tuppence on this latest entry in one of our most beloved movie series’.

How does Badlands stack up against the broader Predator lega...

This spooky season, Film Utopia sharpens its glove and dives head-first into the complete A Nightmare on Elm Street movie series; the final corner of what we lovingly call “the Big Four” of 80s horror, following our previous years’ deep dives into Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Hellraiser.

Steven, Benjamin, and Sean stalk their way through the original six films plus Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, Freddy vs Ja...

Occasional Film Utopia collaborator and Alien nut Max joins Steven and Benjamin for their reaction to the new Disney+ series, Alien: Earth. With somewhat mixed expectations from the gang due to varying opinions on Disney's efforts with last year’s Alien: Romulus, will Noah Hawley’s series hit the spot, or will it be a nuked site from orbit?

From interesting plot points to bizarre design choices, underdeveloped characte...

Film Utopia’s epic 1980s Fantasy retrospective reaches its end as Steven, Benjamin, and Sean look beyond their beloved decade to see what became of the genre in the years that followed. From Disney’s magical 90s renaissance to Tim Burton’s gothic daydreams, through to Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter reviving the genre in the 00s, we briefly trace fantasy’s evolution and slow retreat into remakes, reboots ...

Film Utopia’s summer quest reaches the tail end of the 1980s as Steven Benjamin, and Sean reminisce about the fantastical twilight of the decade. From the muscle-bound chaos of The Barbarians, to the satirical fairytale perfection of The Princess Bride, the surreal stop-motion wonder of Alice, the “best leave that one in childhood’s memory” Willow, and the gleeful absurdity of Erik the Viking, we explore how...

The Film Utopia summer quest thunders onward as Steven, Benjamin, and Sean venture into the fantastical mid-80s; 1984 – 1986. An era when fantasy cinema became darker, more kid-friendly, and occasionally farcical.

From the dreamy surrealism of A Company of Wolves and the childlike wonder (and childhood trauma-inducing) The NeverEnding Story to the neon-drenched Dungeonmaster, the ever-present loincloth-clad barbarian sights o...

The Film Utopia summer quest continues in this second instalment on fantasy cinema of the 1980s as Steven, Benjamin, and Sean tackle the shimmering, sword-swinging, and body oil-drenched years of 1980 to 1983.

From popular mainstays such as Hawk the Slayer (1980), Clash of the Titans (1981), Conan the Barbarian (1982), The Dark Crystal (1982) and Krull (1983), to side quests veering into the more eclectic cult offerings of Heavy M...

Before the loincloths, elf-muppets, crystal balls, dying horse trauma, and mullets of 80s fantasy cinema, there was… quite a lot, actually! In this opening episode of our new series on 1980s fantasy films, Steven, Benjamin and Sean gather round the mic to set the stage and trace the tangled narrative roots of fantasy, both on and off the screen, from a time before things got all neon-coloured and swordy.

We dive into everyt...

Steven and Sean continue their exploration of Italian genre cinema with a laid-back chat about the filmography of Lamberto Bava.

Unlike his father, horror maestro and Giallo godfather Mario Bava, Lamberto carved out his own unique legacy by straddling the line between art horror and sleaze – usually opting for the latter – with a mix of gore, kinetic pacing and trashy fun; trading in typical Giallo elegance for rubber ...