Film Utopia

Film Utopia
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In-depth movie talk hosted by three fellas with a passion for film. Detailed retrospective movie reviews and filmography discussions of directors, actors, composers, and more!

  1. 4d ago

    126. Dario Argento Part 4: Sleepless, Shitcock & Serial Killer Dwarfs.

    Our Dario Argento retrospective enters the 2000s, and, frankly, things have not improved. In the fourth instalment of our five-part journey through Argento's theatrical and TV filmography, Steven and Sean tackle Sleepless (2001), The Card Player (2004) and Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005), before turning to Argento's two contributions to Mick Garris' Masters of Horror: Jennifer (2005) and Pelts (2006). By this stage, the golden era is very much behind him, and neither Steven nor Sean find much here to get excited about. Sleepless arrives armed with Argento's familiar bag of tricks; elaborate murders, red herrings and a killer hiding in plain sight, but undermines itself with moronic characters, staggeringly poor performances and a red herring involving a dwarf serial-killer that has to be seen to be believed. Then there's The Card Player, which looks suspiciously like it was shot on a broadcast television camera and appears to have been constructed around a simple filmmaking principle: if in doubt, show someone looking at a computer screen. Repeatedly. Do You Like Hitchcock? fares little better, or, as Sean christens it, “Do You Like Shitcock?” With an utterly unlikeable protagonist, laughable Hitchcock references, Argento's increasingly distracting self-inserts and one of the most bafflingly stupid escape sequences we've ever encountered, there's plenty for us to sink our teeth into. Thankfully, the Masters of Horror episodes Jennifer and Pelts provide a modest recovery. Neither represents a return to Argento's glory days, but both deliver what we're here for: nasty little horror stories, inventive premises, memorable gore and enough gruesome imagery to remind us that the old bastard still knows his way around a splatter set-piece. So, come for the Argento retrospective, stay for the increasingly savage lambasting. The gloves are still black. The plots are increasingly questionable. And somewhere, somehow, someone is probably still looking at a computer screen.

  2. Jul 30

    125. Dario Argento: Part 3 – The 1990s: A Decade of Decline... or Just Misunderstood?

    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 unexplored territory, while Steven arrived armed with previous viewings and the hope that a fresh revisit might reveal a few overlooked gems. If the 1970s gave us the birth of modern Giallo and the 1980s delivered operatic horror at its most stylish, the 1990s feel like Argento searching for a new identity. The results are... mixed. We find plenty to admire in Trauma, a film that proudly wheels out many of Argento's signature obsessions; black-gloved killers, elaborate murders, enough red herrings to keep a fishmonger in business, and a mystery that constantly dares you to look in entirely the wrong direction. It's an entertaining ride, even if it occasionally loses its way. The biggest surprise of the decade, however, is The Stendhal Syndrome. Both of us come away enormously impressed by its intelligent screenplay, unusual structure, psychological ambition, and one of Asia Argento's finest performances. It's a film that deserves far more attention than it typically receives and stands as the clear highlight of Argento's later career. Then there's The Phantom of the Opera. Good grief. What should have been a lavish Gothic romance instead leaves us scratching our heads at its baffling character motivations, muddled storytelling, and narrative leaps that would make even Argento's most dreamlike films raise an eyebrow. Stylish? Occasionally. Entertaining? Debatable. Coherent? Absolutely not. A fascinating decade of highs, lows, missed opportunities, and one genuinely underrated masterpiece as we chart the point where one of horror's greatest auteurs began taking a decidedly more uneven path.

  3. Jul 16

    125. Dario Argento: Part 2 – The 1980s: Raven Wings, Fairy Tales & Fear.

    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 Inferno (1980), Tenebrae (1982), Phenomena (1985), and Opera (1987); four films we both regard as belonging firmly within Argento's golden era, albeit for very different reasons. We discuss Mario Bava's invaluable visual contributions to Inferno, marvel at Argento's uncanny ability to turn cats, rats, dogs, chimpanzees, and a flock of ravens into arbiters of murder, and celebrate Tenebrae as one of the most endlessly rewatchable Gialli ever made, packed with ingenious clues, glorious red herrings, and enough razor-blade carnage to satisfy the most blood-thirsty of horror fans Sean declares his undying affection for Phenomena, revelling in its gloriously unhinged moments and fearless commitment to absolute lunacy. Steven... would love to enjoy it more, but his lifelong fear of insects keeps getting in the way. Finally, we arrive at Opera: a breathtaking technical achievement featuring some of Argento's most inventive set pieces and one of his strongest murder mysteries. Steven considers it one of the director's finest hours, while Sean finds himself wishing its final act had landed with a little more conviction... and sense. Stylish, surreal, blood-soaked, and unapologetically excessive, this is Argento firing on all cylinders. Every murder is a set piece, every clue is a trap, and every frame is painted like a nightmare.

  4. Jun 25

    124. Dario Argento: Part 1 – The 1970s: Razor Blades, Red Rooms & Red Herrings.

    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 this first chapter we focus exclusively on Argento's theatrical horror and thriller output, leaving The Five Days and his television work on the sidelines, as we revisit The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Cat O'Nine Tails, Four Flies on Grey Velvet, Deep Red, and Suspiria. Ever the movie geeks they are, Steven and Sean come armed with plenty of background knowledge on both the films and Argento himself. Still, we attempt to approach these rewatches with fresh eyes and reassess what still works, what surprises us, and what decades of horror fandom may have built up in our minds. There’s predictable admiration for Argento’s latter 70s masterpieces, with Deep Red and Suspiria receiving the sort of glowing praise they routinely inspire (expect the usual enthusiastic gushing over Suspiria). Elsewhere, battle lines are drawn over the Animals trilogy, with Steven proudly flying the flag for Cat O'Nine Tails, while Sean showers Four Flies on Grey Velvet with perhaps more affection than anyone reasonably should. join us as we step into the first decade of one of horror cinema’s most influential and distinctive voices.

  5. May 28

    123. Lucio Fulci: Beauty, Brutality & (the) Beyond

    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 position that Fulci’s work is riddled with ropey dubbing, shonky production values, and unapologetic trashiness. Thankfully, things remain surprisingly amicable as we work through a curated selection of Fulci’s horror, murder mystery, and Giallo work, including One on Top of the Other, A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin, Don’t Torture a Duckling, The Psychic, Zombie Flesh Eaters, City of the Living Dead, The Black Cat, The Beyond, The House by the Cemetery, The New York Ripper, Manhattan Baby, Conquest, Murder Rock, The Devil’s Honey, Aenigma, and A Cat in the Brain. Along the way, we discuss Fulci’s evolution from stylish thriller director to the undisputed godfather of eyeball trauma, his fascination with surrealism and decay, his uneasy relationship with narrative coherence, and why his films continue to inspire horror fans decades later. Dreamlike, gruesome, atmospheric, ridiculous, mesmerising. Lucio Fulci cinema is many things, but Steven would just prefer if at least one actor sounded like they were in the same room as each other.

  6. Apr 23

    122. 1984 in Film

    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 into the awards season, box office battles, and notable births, painting a full picture of a year that refused to sit still. Sean once again flies the flag for the weird and wonderful, bringing deep cuts like Blastfighter, Razorback, and the soul-crushing Threads. Steven rolls out the encyclopaedia to spotlight the year’s busiest actors while indulging his love of 80s fantasy with nods to The NeverEnding Story and The Company of Wolves. Benjamin, naturally, lobs in a few curveballs—The Killing Fields and Top Secret! among them. And of course, we pay tribute to the heavy hitters: Ghostbusters and Gremlins (released on the same day!!!), alongside The Terminator, Body Double, Beverly Hills Cop, Star Trek III, and Amadeus. We wrap things up by revealing our personal Top 12s, our “Dirty Dozen” of the year, where nostalgia, taste, and mild chaos collide. A packed, nostalgic trip through one of cinema’s most stacked years.

  7. Mar 26

    121. Duncan Jones: Small Filmography, Big Ideas

    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 the poor bloke whose complete existence gets hijacked), and assess Warcraft as a surprisingly earnest attempt to wrangle decades of lore into something resembling a coherent blockbuster. Then there’s Mute; a film that takes a hard left into some genuinely bleak territory, giving us plenty to chew on in terms of character, tone, and just how dark mainstream sci-fi is willing to get. Somewhere in the middle of all this, we inevitably derail into an argument about Planet of the Vampires (again), with Benjamin doing a frankly questionable job as referee. A thoughtful, occasionally chaotic deep dive into a filmmaker whose small output punches well above its weight.

  8. Feb 26

    120. Mario Bava: Shadows, Stilettos, and Slaughter

    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 strangest detours), including Black Sunday, The Girl Who Knew Too Much, Black Sabbath, The Whip and the Body, Blood and Black Lace, Planet of the Vampires, Kill, Baby… Kill, Five Dolls for an August Moon, Hatchet for the Honeymoon, A Bay of Blood, Baron Blood, Lisa and the Devil, and Shock. There’s glowing praise for Blood and Black Lace as the visual and structural blueprint for future Giallo, a heated debate over the ending of Planet of the Vampires (in which one host is categorically wrong but refuses to admit it), and a mutual lambasting of the 70s fashion choices of Baron Blood. We also dig into just how outrageously influential these films were, from A Bay of Blood basically inventing Friday the 13th, to Planet of the Vampires laying the groundwork for Alien, and take several opportunities to respectfully swoon over Fabienne Dali, Barbara Steele, and especially Edwige Fenech, all while marvelling over Bava’s ability to make murder look impossibly cool. Stylish, opinionated, and occasionally thirsty, join us for a tribute to one of horror’s true architects. Mario Bava. The man who made shadows dance, colours leap, and murder look like theatre.

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About

In-depth movie talk hosted by three fellas with a passion for film. Detailed retrospective movie reviews and filmography discussions of directors, actors, composers, and more!

Information

  • Creator
    Film Utopia
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    127
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2024 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Film Utopia