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1. The Prestige (2006)Starring: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale
Director: Christopher NolanTwo young, Victorian magicians, Robert Angier, a charismatic showman, and Alfred Borden, a gifted illusionist, are friends and partners until one fateful night when their biggest trick goes terribly wrong. Now the bitterest of enemies, they will stop at nothing to learn each other's secrets. As their rivalry escalates into a total obsession full of deceit and sabotage, they risk everything to become the greatest magician of all time. But nothing is as it seems...
This film not only features inventor Nikola Tesla as a character, but has David Bowie playing him...seriously cool or what!
An absolutely brilliant film and a "must-see" for Steampunk fans!2. The Golden Compass (2007)Starring: Kathy Bates, John Bett
Director: Chris Weitz Based on the books by Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass takes place in an alternate universe where each human's soul is embodied in a companion animal called a daemon. The story concerns Lyra, an orphan living in a fantastical parallel universe in which a dogmatic theocracy called the Magisterium threatens to dominate the world. When Lyra's friend is kidnapped, she travels to the far North in an attempt to rescue him and rejoin her uncle.
Full of fantastical scientific machines and gorgeous sets, the whole film just screams the word "STEAMPUNK"!..3. Van Helsing (2004)Starring: Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale
Director: Stephen SommersBased on the character "Van Helsing" from Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, the film uses characters from other works such as Mr Hyde, The Wolf Man and Frankenstein in an entertaining blend of gothic fantasy.
Van Helsing is a monster hunter who works for the Vatican. He is sent to Transylvania to destroy Dracula so that the captured souls of an ancient family called Velarius can be freed.
Meeting the last of the Velarius family, a young woman called Anna, Van Helsing and his group are repeatedly attacked by the vampire brides of Dracula. Meanwhile Dracula himself has captured Anna's brother who is a werewolf and is experimenting on him in his laboratory.
Aided by Frankenstein's Monster (who has never forgiven Dracula for killing his creator Dr Frankenstein), Van Helsing must overcome repeated danger in order to help Anna and her family.
Enjoyable, action packed and full of great steampunk special effects - for instance the gas powered multi bolt firing crossbow used by Van Helsing is a perfect example of a steampunk weapon!4. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954)Starring: James Mason, Kirk Douglas
Director: Charles A. Nichols, Richard FleischerIt's 1866 and ships are disappearing in the Pacific Ocean. Rumours are circulating that the cause of the disappearances is a gigantic sea monster and the US government mounts an expedition to find out the truth.
The "sea monster" turns out to be a submarine captained by the mysterious Captain Nemo...
I don't need to say any more...nothing is more steampunk than Nemo and The Nautilus!5. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)Starring: Jim Carrey, Liam Aiken
Director: Brad SilberlingThe three Baudelaire children are left orphaned when their parents are killed in a fire. They are sent to live with a distant relative, the avaricious Count Olaf, but after a series of "unfortunate events" occur, they realise that the "unfortunate events" were not accidental and that Olaf is plotting to kill them in an attempt to get their inheritance for himself.
Visually stunning with a dark Gothic Neo-Victorian feel and plenty of laughs along the wayREAD FURTHER - movies with steampunk elements6. Hellboy (2004)
Starring: William Hoyland, John Hurt
In the final days of World War II, the Nazis aided by resurrected infamous Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin, attempt to use black magic to summon the "Seven Gods Of Chaos" to aid their cause. The Allies raid the camp where the ceremony is taking place, but not before a demon (later named "Hellboy"), has come through the portal. Joining the Allied forces, Hellboy eventually grows to adulthood, serving the cause of good rather than evil.
However, the world hasn't seen the last of the evil Rasputin...and it's up to Hellboy to save the day!
Purists may prefer to describe Hellboy as "dieselpunk" rather than "steampunk", but whatever label you stick on this film, it's full of "mad science", tentacled monsters and glorious special effects
7. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - 2003
Starring: Sean Connery, Naseeruddin Shah
Director: Stephen Norrington
Based (loosely) on the cult-classic comic by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, the plot is set in an "alternative" Victorian era England, with a "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" brought together to capture a dangerous criminal known as "The Fantom" who is plotting to start a World War using technologically adanced weapons.
The "League" comprises adventurer Allan Quatermain, seafarer/inventor Captain Nemo, vampiress Mina Harker, the Invisible Man Rodney Skinner, American secret service agent Tom Sawyer and the dangerous split personality of Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. They battle baddies Professor Moriarty and Dorian Gray in order to stop the destruction of the city of Venice and thereby save the world.
Gorgeous scenes of techno-steampunk with Captain Nemo's fabulous Nautilus submarine, six wheeled "auto-mobile" and imaginative weaponry.
8. The Time Machine (2002)
Starring: Guy Pearce, Jeremy Irons
Based on the novel by H. G. Wells about a Victorian inventor who dabbles in time travel.
When the girl he loves is killed, scientist and inventor Alexander Hartdegen resolves to travel back in time to change the events that led up to her death. He succeeds in his aim, only to witness her die again, this time caused by a different sequence of events. Realising that he cannot ultimately change fate, he decides to travel forward in time to see what lies in the future.
Eventually after a few stops along the way, Hartdegen arrives 800,000 years in the future to find that civilization has devolved to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Calling themselves the Eloi, the survivors of mankind have built their homes into the side of a cliff on what resembles Manhattan. Falling in love with an Eloi woman called Mara, Hartdegan discovers that the Eloi are hunted for food by a race of creatures called Morlocks and he is forced to use his scientific knowledge and his time travel capabilities to save the Eloi.
Great adaptation of a classic story - The "Victorian scientific" setting and time-machine sequences are wonderfully steampunk!
9. Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci
Director: Tim Burton
In 1799, police constable Ichabod Crane is sent to the village of Sleepy Hollow, to investigate a series of murders in which the victims have been found decapitated. A big fan of innovative investigative techniques such as finger-printing and autopsies, Crane arrives in Sleepy Hollow with his bag of scientific tools only to be informed by the inhabitants that the murderer is not human, but is instead, a headless undead spectre riding a black horse who terrorises the neighbourhood at night...can Ichabod's forensic approach solve the mystery or will the supernatural horseman prove a match for science?
This is a Tim Burton film and as such, is by definition stylised and more than a little on the "gothic" side, Ichabod's "investigative devices" are quite definitely steampunk though...
10. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen - 1989
Starring: John Neville, Eric Idle, Jonathan Pryce, Oliver Reed, Uma Thurman, and Robin Williams.
Director: Terry Gilliam
Baron Munchausen is a man who simply cannot help "embroidering" reality and telling exagerrated stories of his bravery and adventures. He has gained a reputation as a liar, but when he meets a little girl who truly believes in his legendary exploits, he is inspired to live up to his reputation in order to help her and her home town which is being besieged by the Turkish army.
The quest to save the day involves a variety of adventures including a trip to the moon in a hot air balloon, an encounter with the the Goddess Venus and her husband Vulcan, being swallowed alive by a sea-monster and a first hand encounter with death.
Cult classic "either love it or hate it" film. Set a little earlier than the usual Victorian steampunk era, but no less steampunk for that!
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a 2009 fantasy film directed by Terry Gilliam. Doctor Parnassus is the owner of a travelling theater and a man with a dark secret. He has the ability to guide the imaginations of other people via his "Imaginarium"- a mirror that offers his audience a life-changing experience, but his fondness for gambling led him to make a pact with the Devil over 1000 years ago. The conditions of the pact are that in return for immortality and eternal youth, Parnassus would gve his daughter Valentina to the Devil when she reached the age of 16!
Desperate to save his daughter from her fate, Doctor Parnassus persuades the Devil (known as Mr Nick) to accept a wager. Whoever is the first to seduce five souls will claim Valentina.
Parnassus enlists the help of several diverse and comical characters and promises his daughter's hand in marriage to the man that helps him win. A wonderfully imaginative plot ensues as Doctor Parnassus races against time to save his daughter in a never-ending landscape of surreal obstacles!
Sherlock Holmes is a 2009 action mystery film based on the famous fictional English detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The film was directed by Guy Ritchie.
Robert Downey Jnr plays Holmes in what an Amazon reviewer describes as an "an action hero in a brawny, visually arresting period adventure". In many ways, this is a more accurate depiction of Holmes than the somewhat "sterile" portrayal of the character in previous films and TV series - after all Holmes was a genius, manic depressive, drug addict who was far from averse to a spot of violence when necessary!
The plot revolves around a Crowley-esque sinister cult leader, Lord Blackwood, who was hanged for his numerous crimes, yet appears to have risen from the dead to seek revenge. Holmes and Watson (Jude Law) romp around Victorian London investigating and saving the world from the supernatural forces unleashed by the evil Blackwood.
The City of Lost Children (1995)
Starring: Briac Barthelemy, Guillaume Billod-Morel
Director: Marc Caro
The plot revolves around a mad scientist, Krank, who lives in an old oil rig off the coast of a surreal Dickensian French city. Krank does not have the ability to dream, and as a result he is prematurely old.
In order to supplement his dream deficit, Krank kidnaps young children in order to study and extract their dreams. Unfortunately for Krank, this scheme fails as the experience of being kidnapped and manipulated by the wicked Krank is so traumatic that the children have no "normal" dreams - only nightmares.
What makes this film "Steampunk" is Krank's "Mad Science" including a sinister cult of blind men called "Cyclops" who he uses to perform the kidnappings. In return for giving up their sight, the cult members are given a mechanical "third eye" (called an "Optacon") and a device which makes their hearing supersensitive. ..
Steamboy (2005)
Starring: Anne Suzuki, Masane Tsukayama
Director: Katsuhiro %uFFFDomo
Steamboy is set in England in 1866. Young Ray Steam receives a Steam Ball, a mysterious, powerful device, from his inventor grandfather. Governments and businesses covet the Steam Ball, and Ray finds himself in a murderous conflict over its possession. He's also caught between his father, a 19th century Darth Vader who builds terrible weapons for an American arms merchant, and his grandfather, who believes science should improve people's lives.
Wild Wild West (1999)
Starring: Will Smith, Kevin Kline
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Sinister inventor Dr. Arliss Loveless, plans to rekindle the Civil War by assassinating President Ulysses S. Grant. Gunfighter James West and master-of-disguise and inventor Artemus Gordon team up to thwart his evil plans.
Based on the 1960's TV series, the film features highly advanced steampunk technology and many bizarre mechanical inventions, including nitroglycerine-powered penny-farthing bicycles, spring-loaded notebooks, bulletproof chainmail, flying machines, steam tanks, and a giant mechanical spider!
Vidocq is a 2001 film starring Gerard Depardieu. It takes place in a steampunk version of 19th century Paris, pitting the historical figure Eugene Francois Vidocq, the French criminal, spy and pioneer private detective, against a supernatural serial killer called The Alchemist.
In late 19th century England, writer H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) unwittingly includes Jack the Ripper (David Warner) in his social circle. When one of Wells's dinner parties is crashed by the police looking for the Ripper, Jack uses the author's time machine to escape. Having escaped however, The Ripper finds himself stranded in another era when the machine automatically returns itself to H.G Wells' time.
Time After Time (1979)
Wells feels duty bound to track down Jack The Ripper before he can inflict his evil nature on the unsuspecting inhabitants of another time period and he eventually finds himself in modern-day San Francisco on the trail of his murderous former friend...
Atlantis - The Lost Empire (2001)
Animated action-adventure set in 1914. A Disney film (!) but with a difference - this one uses the artistic style of comic book artist Mike Mignola.
The film tells the story of a linguist who gains possession of a sacred book which he believes will guide him to the mythical city of Atlantis. He enlists an anachronistic band of archaeologists and excavators to find the city, but struggles against mutineers who want to sabotage the mission for their own profit.